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Appendix 4 Tunings and Vocal Scales in South Sumatra No single tone system prevails over large areas of South Sumatra, or in many cases within the practice of particular musico-lingual groups. Tunings of the one type of ensemble tend to vary even within and between neighboring villages.4 This is especially so in the case of the metal gong-type instruments, due to the vagaries of forging and the fact that they tend to change pitch over the years and are not necessarily retuned. Each group of musicians possesses a remarkable tolerance of pitch variability. Given this aesthetic attitude, exact pitches of tones in cents or cycles per second are therefore not given in that book; it suffices to notate their approximate pitches by a capital letter (e.g., C D E♭ F G A♭ B C for a Western harmonic minor scale) and to add a plus or minus sign over or under a note if it sounds up to an approximate quarter tone above or below the designated pitch, respectively. C1 designates the octave above “middle C” and C1 the octave below it, and so on. The following observations are based on the tunings of fixed-pitch instruments (gong-chimes) and scales used by vocalists and instrumentalists who imitate them (especially strings, winds, and even an accordion/harmonika) among a few groups of musicians in the South Sumatran countryside. Reference is also made to a historical Javanese gamelan set tuned in the Javanese pélog and sléndro tone systems from the former Palembang sultan’s palace (chap. 7). Gong-Chime Ensembles in South Sumatra A variety of single- or double-row gong-chimes (sets of small kettle-gongs) are found among many upstream and downstream musical-linguistic groups in South Sumatra. The single-row instruments are variously called kenong, tabuhan, or kromongan. Double-row gong-chimes called kromongan or kromong occur in some parts of the downstream Kayuagung area, comprising a lower-pitched ngeromong row and a higher-pitched ngelitang. The gong-chimes are found in ensembles of the same names, that is, kenong, tabuhan, kromong, or kromongan. Approximate tunings and tone systems employed by some groups of instrumentalists are notated below either at actual pitch or transposed to the octave on middle C (and marked *) to facilitate comparison of intervals. The tunings of the gong-chimes, which are arranged in a row resting on crossed cords in their frames, are given from left to right of the player. Some gong-chime tunings are tuned to hemitonic pentatonic scales, including {E F G B C} and {E F A B C} (e.g., as recorded in the town of Tanjungsakti in 1989), while others have an anhemitonic four-tone palette, including {C1 D1 G1 A1 } (e.g., as recorded in Sukajadi [Pageralam] in 1989), or a hemitonic four-tone palette, including {D♭ C1 E D} (also occurring with the gongchimes arranged in the order {D♭ D E C1 }, as recorded in Jokoh [Pageralam] in 1989). Tonal hierarchies mainly favor the tonic (notated as C) as the central tone and the fifth and the third above it respectively as the second and third most important tones, as in the kenong tuning {G1 C D E G A C1 } (in Tanjungsakti in 1989, where the final and most frequently used tones are C, E Kartomi_Text.indd 379 6/15/12 2:29 PM 380 appendix 4 and G), or the tonic and the fourth and fifth above it, as in the tabuhan tones {G1 D1 C1 G C1 D1 } (in Jokoh in 1989). Some gong-chime ensembles are tuned to a hexatonic scale. For example, the double row of kettle-gongs in the tabuhan in Kayuagung in 1971 is tuned to {G1 A D1 G1 C1 A1 G} (in the ngeromong row) and {G E1 D C1 B A D1 } (in the ngelitang row), that is, in ascending scalic order, {A B C D E G}, in which the final tone on {C} is emphasized by four gongs tuned to that pitch, three gongs tuned to D, and two gongs tuned to {G}; thus, the tonal hierarchy ranks the tones in the following order: {C D G A E}. Other gong-chimes (arranged from left to right) have three-tone scales, for example, {E C♯ C♯ A} and {C♯ A C♯ A E C♯} (transposing to C♯ E G *) in the tabuhan in Burai Lama recorded in 1971. Some Scales Used by Vocalists and Instrumentalists The limited tonal...

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