Book Review
Jul. 25th, 2010 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariMusic in Central Java
by Benjamin Brinner
This is yet another in the Oxford UP Global Music Series. It centers around a subject near and dear to me - Javanese gamelan. I took two classes in gamelan at Wesleyan and loved every minute of them both. Playing in the gamelan was a terrific experience and I miss it. (Also, my teacher at Wesleyan, Sumarsam, is mentioned and pictured in this book.)
Music in Central Java was surprisingly comprehensive for its length, covering gamelan instruments and music in detail and even providing a full synopsis and discussion of a wayang kulit performance. This book was also very intensive in terms of listening exercises: there were a lot of them, many of which involved very detailed and careful listening in order to discern both larger structures and small details of the music. In addition, Brinner included a lot of notation and diagrams to go with the listening exercises.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. It elaborated and explained a lot of what I'd learned from playing in the gamelan, while also providing fresh perspectives on the subject matter.
by Benjamin Brinner
This is yet another in the Oxford UP Global Music Series. It centers around a subject near and dear to me - Javanese gamelan. I took two classes in gamelan at Wesleyan and loved every minute of them both. Playing in the gamelan was a terrific experience and I miss it. (Also, my teacher at Wesleyan, Sumarsam, is mentioned and pictured in this book.)
Music in Central Java was surprisingly comprehensive for its length, covering gamelan instruments and music in detail and even providing a full synopsis and discussion of a wayang kulit performance. This book was also very intensive in terms of listening exercises: there were a lot of them, many of which involved very detailed and careful listening in order to discern both larger structures and small details of the music. In addition, Brinner included a lot of notation and diagrams to go with the listening exercises.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. It elaborated and explained a lot of what I'd learned from playing in the gamelan, while also providing fresh perspectives on the subject matter.
