View source for Pelog

{{short description|Indonesian musical scale used in Gamelan}}
[[File:Pelog on D.png|thumb|300px|''Pelog'' approximated in Western notation.<ref name="Lindsay">"The representations of ''slendro'' and ''pelog'' tuning system in Western notation shown above should not be regarded in any sense as absolute. Not only is it difficult to convey non-Western scales with Western notation, but also because, in general, no two gamelan sets will have exactly the same tuning, either in pitch or in interval structure. There are no Javanese standard forms of these two tuning systems." Lindsay, Jennifer (1992). ''Javanese Gamelan'', pp. 39–41. {{ISBN|0-19-588582-1}}.</ref>[[File:Pelog on D.mid]]]]
[[File:Pelog bem.png|thumb|300px|''Pelog bem''.<ref name="Lindsay"/>[[File:Pelog bem.mid]]]]
[[File:Pelog barang.png|300px|thumb|''Pelog barang''.<ref name="Lindsay"/>[[File:Pelog barang.mid]]]]
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Pelog.ogg|title=''Pelog selisir''|description=''Pelog selisir'' scale, played on a ''[[gangsa]]''}}

'''Pelog''' ({{langx|su|ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪|translit=Pélog /pelog/}}, {{langx|jv|ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀}}, {{langx|ban| ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄|translit=Pélog /pelok/}}) is one of the essential tuning systems used in [[gamelan]] instruments that has a [[heptatonic]] [[scale (music)|scale]].<ref name="Pelog">{{Cite web|title=Pelog|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelog|access-date=4 August 2021|work=Merriam-Webster}}</ref><ref name="Pelog scale">{{Cite web|title=Pelog scale|url=https://kbbi.web.id/pelog|access-date=4 August 2021|work=Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI)}}</ref> The other, older, scale commonly used is called ''[[slendro]]''. ''Pelog'' has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches. Even in ensembles that have all seven notes, many pieces only use a subset of five notes, sometimes the additional 4th tone is also used in a piece like western accidentals.

==Etymology==
'''Pelog''' is a Javanese term for one of the scales in [[gamelan]]. In Javanese, the term is said to be a variant of the word ''pelag'' meaning "fine" or "beautiful".<ref>Lindsay (1992), p. 38.</ref>

==Tuning==
Since the [[musical tuning|tuning]] varies so widely from island to island, village to village, and even among ''gamelan'', it is difficult to characterize in terms of intervals. One rough approximation expresses the seven pitches of Central Javanese ''pelog'' as a subset of 9-tone [[equal temperament]]. An analysis of 27 Central Javanese gamelans by Surjodiningrat (1972) revealed a statistical preference for this system of tuning.<ref>Braun, Martin (August 2002). "[http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/pelog_main.htm The ''gamelan pelog'' scale of Central Java as an example of a non-harmonic musical scale]", ''NeuroScience-of-Music.se''. Accessed on May 17, 2006</ref>

As in ''slendro'', although the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next, the intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within the same Javanese ''gamelan''. This is not the case in Bali, where instruments are played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart so as to produce [[beat (acoustics)|interference beating]]. The beating is ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers, producing [[stretched octave]]s as a result. This contributes to the very "agitated" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain ''gamelan'', these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state.

Sundanese gamelan has its own ''pélog'' tuning. Both Javanese-like ''pélog'' and Sundanese pélog (''degung'') coexist in Sundanese music. Javanese-like pélog has the 2nd note more neutral (Javanese 2 [ro], Sundanese 4 [ti]) and Degung has the 1st note leaning (closer to Javanese 1 [ji], Sundanese 5 [la]). The Javanese pélog is only found in ''gamelan pélog'' instruments, while degung is found widely on any instrument, such as ''calung'', ''angklung'', and ''gamelan degung.''

Notation equivalents for ''pélog'' in both Javanese and Sundanese notation:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ji ro lu pat mo nem pi

5 4 3 -3 2 1 +5 la ti na ni mi da leu

==Usage==
===Java===
Although the full ''pelog'' scale has seven tones, usually only a five-tone subset is used (see the similar Western concept of [[musical mode|mode]]). In fact, many gamelan instruments physically lack keys for two of the tones. Different regions, such as Central Java or West Java (Sunda), use different subsets. In Central Javanese gamelan, the ''pelog'' scale is traditionally divided into three ''[[pathet]]'' (modes). Two of these, called ''pathet nem'' and ''pathet lima'', use the subset of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6; the third, ''pathet barang'', uses 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. The remaining two notes, including 4 in every ''pathet'', are available for embellishments on most instruments, but they do not usually appear on ''[[gendér]]'', ''[[Gambang (instrument)|gambang]]'', or [[interpunctuating instrument]]s.

The notes of the ''pelog'' scale can be designated in different ways; In Central Java, one common way is the use of numbers (often called by their names in [[Javanese language|Javanese]], especially in a shortened form. An older set uses names derived from parts of the body. Notice that both systems have the same designations for 5 and 6.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto"
!''Number''
! colspan="2" | Javanese number
! colspan="2" | Traditional name
|-
! !! Full name !! Short name !! Full name !! Literal meaning
|-
|1 ||''siji''||''ji''||''bem''|| head
|-
|2 ||''loro''||''ro''||''gulu''|| neck
|-
|3 ||''telu''||''lu''||''dhadha''|| chest
|-
|4 ||''papat''||''pat''||''papat''||four
|-
|5 ||''lima''||''ma''||''lima''|| five
|-
|6 ||''enem''||''nem''||''nem''|| six
|-
|7 ||''pitu''||''pi''||''barang''|| thing
|}
===Sunda (West Java)===
In Sunda, the notes of [[gamelan degung]] have one-syllable names. A peculiarity of Sundanese solfège is that scale degrees are given in descending order.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 1em auto"
| '''[[Gamelan degung|Sundanese pelog degung]]'''
| '''Javanese pathet lima'''
|-
| 1 (''da'')
| 6
|-
| 2 (''mi'')
| 5
|-
| 3 (''na'')
| 3
|-
| 4 (''ti'')
| 2
|-
| 5 (''la'')
| 1
|}

===Bali===
In Bali, all seven tones are used in ''[[gamelan semar pegulingan]]'', ''[[gamelan gambuh]]'', and ''gamelan semara dana'' (a seven-tone ''[[gamelan gong kebyar]]'' ensemble). All seven tones are rarely heard in a single traditional composition.

Like in the [[music of Java]], five-tone modes are used, which are constructed with alternating groups of three and two consecutive scale degrees, each group being separated by a gap. Unlike Java, there are only five names for the notes, and the same five names are used in all modes. The modes all start on the note named ''ding'', and then continue going up the scale to ''dong'', ''deng'', ''dung'' and ''dang''. This means that the same pitch will have a different name in a different mode.

==== Classical modes ====

The three most common and well-known modes are ''selisir'', ''tembung'' and ''sunaren''. ''Selisir'' is the most often encountered, being the tuning of the popular ''[[Gamelan gong kebyar]]'', and may be considered the "default" pelog scale.

Two other modes, ''baro'' and ''lebeng'', are known from ''gambuh'' and ''semar pegulingan'', but are rarely used and more loosely defined.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth-Century Balinese Music|first=Michael|last=Tenzer|date=2000|author-link=Michael Tenzer|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226792811|location=Chicago|page=29|oclc=41527982}}</ref> ''Baro'' has at least four different interpretations;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McGraw|first=Andrew C.|date=1999|title=The Development of the "Gamelan Semara Dana" and the Expansion of the Modal System in Bali, Indonesia|journal=[[Asian Music (journal)|Asian Music]]|volume=31|issue=1|pages=63–93|doi=10.2307/834280|issn=0044-9202|jstor=834280}}</ref> one common one (3-4-5-7-1, according to I Wayan Beratha and I Ketut Gede Asnawa) is shown below. ''Lebeng'' contains all seven tones, but only in ''semar pegulingan''; in ''gambuh'' it is pentatonic, but has a more elusive character.<ref name=":0" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 1em auto"
|-
! !! colspan="5" | Classical Balinese modes
|-
!Tone !! Selisir !! Tembung !! Sunaren !! Baro !! Lebeng
|-
|1 || '''ding'''|| dung || — || dang || '''ding'''
|-
|2 || dong || dang || dung || — || dong
|-
|3 || deng || — || dang || '''ding''' || deng
|-
|4 || — || '''ding''' || — || dong || ''deung''
|-
|5 || dung || dong || '''ding''' || deng || dung
|-
|6 || dang || deng || dong || — || dang
|-
|7 || — || — || deng || dung || ''daing''
|}

==== Other modes ====

With the advent of the ''gamelan semara dana'' and renewed interest in seven-tone music, a number of other modes have been discovered by extending the 3/2 rule to other possible positions. They fall into two groups: the ''pengenter'' modes and the ''"[[slendro]]"'' modes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vitale|first=Wayne|date=2002|title=Balinese Kebyar Music Breaks the Five-Tone Barrier: New Composition for Seven-Tone Gamelan|journal=[[Perspectives of New Music]]|volume=40|issue=1|pages=5–69|jstor=833547}}</ref>

The two ''"slendro"'' modes, ''slendro gedé'' and ''slendro alit'' are named for their resemblance to ''[[slendro]]'' proper. In these modes, ''ding'' is often placed at the first note of a two-note sequence in the 3-2 pattern, reflecting common practice in ''slendro'' ensembles. ''Slendro gedé'' is associated with the tuning of [[Gamelan gender wayang|gender wayang]], while ''slendro alit'' is identified with the four-tone scale of gamelan [[angklung]].

The ''pengenter'' modes were discovered as theoretical extrapolations by I Nyoman Kaler. They exist only in recent modern compositions.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 1em auto"
|-
!Tone !! Slendro gedé !! Slendro alit !! Pengenter gedé !! Pengenter alit
|-
|1 || — ||(dong) || dong || deng
|-
|2 || deng || — || deng || —
|-
|3 || dung || deng || — || dung
|-
|4 || dang || dung || dung || dang
|-
|5 || — || dang || dang || —
|-
|6 ||'''ding'''|| — || — ||'''ding'''
|-
|7 || dong ||'''ding'''||'''ding''' || dong
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Music|Indonesia}}
* [[Cengkok]]
* [[Music of Indonesia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[Michael Tenzer|Tenzer, Michael]] (1991). ''Balinese Music''. {{ISBN|0-945971-30-3}}.

{{Gamelan}}
{{scales}}
{{Musical tuning}}

[[Category:Gamelan theory]]
[[Category:Heptatonic scales]]
[[Category:Musical tuning]]
[[Category:Hemitonic scales]]