On this page, you can access the multimedia components of my dissertation. In the full text—which can be accessed at the University of British Columbia's thesis repository, cIRcle (https://doi.org/10.14288/1.0454312)—the figures that contain multimedia content such as video and audio redirect here. Readers can watch the video components that form a crucial part of the dissertation's findings, though it is recommended to view them alongside reading the dissertation. Figures that do not contain multimedia are available in the dissertation document only.
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation investigates the nature of ensemble musicianship in Balinese gamelan. Its two parts analyse and theorise the roles of embodied knowledge, gesture, and timing in ensemble entrainment (sensorimotor synchronisation and interpersonal coordination, after Clayton et al. 2020), in the context of traditional and contemporary gamelan music respectively. Through several case studies drawn from a year of fieldwork across Bali, these factors are examined from a variety of angles. An analysis of the previously under-researched improvised interlocking parts (ngoncang) in North Balinese ceremonial gamelan is used to explain how musical knowledge is used actively during performance. A novel combination of video analysis and timing measurement reveals the nature of cueing gestures (abah) in kebyar performance, highlighting the close connection between social values and cognition in musical performance. Then, the adaptation and transformation of traditional conceptions for new musical expressions is contextualized culturally and historically, which lays the groundwork for extensive analyses of new compositions. Compositions for the ensembles Nata Swara and Gamelan Yuganada are used to show what happens when Balinese musicians are faced with new challenges, including irregular metric structures, non-traditional layering processes, the incorporation of fixed media electronics, and the use of staff notation. Together, the chapters create a picture of what it takes to play with the precision (kekompakan) and group togetherness (kebersamaan) for which Balinese ensembles are famous, but for which there currently exists no holistic explanation. While the examples given are local to Bali, the ideas developed herein have implications for broader theories of interpersonal musical entrainment and group interaction that remain under active debate within music studies.