When composer John Pitts contacted me about reviewing his newest book, Extreme Heterophony: a study in javanese gamelan, I was intrigued for two reasons. Not, mind you, because I had any idea what it was about! But because, firstly, there has been an increased effort in the music education community to explore more diversity in styles, composers, and repertoire, and secondly, because some friends of ours recently moved to the island of Java. I thought it would be interesting to become more acquainted with some of the ethnic music of that area.
When I reviewed John’s first book, Indian Ragas for Piano Made Easy, I found it to be a very stretching and out-of-the-box musical experience for me. I have to admit, when Extreme Heterophony first arrived, I flipped through it and then quickly set it to the side; it felt like I was perusing a book written in another language! [As a side note: I wonder if this is how our students first feel when they start piano lessons and we give them a book?] Even when I sat down and began reading in earnest, I struggled to understand. Not in any way a reflection of the writing, but purely my own lack of familiarity with most of the terminology related to this fascinating music culture. Thankfully, John Pitts includes definitions and explanations throughout the book to help readers such as myself navigate this unfamiliar language.
Heterophony is defined as “the simultaneous performance of differently decorated versions of the same melody by different voices or instruments.”
Extreme Heterophony then is “a musical texture of multiple independent layers simultaneously performing a range of widely disparate versions of the same melody – like a theme and variations, but all played at the same time (and without the theme).
The book contains an excellent Table of Contents that gives readers an overview of gamelan and enables them to flip to information about specific instruments and what is played on them, and then to piano arrangements demonstrating the kind of thing each instrument might play based on the single theme.
Thankfully, a video created by John gives a multi-layered musical demonstration so that you can get an aural picture of what this would sound like on piano or keyboard. To most of our Western-oriented ears, the dissonance inherent in such an approach is a bit uncomfortable, but what a great way to introduce ourselves and our students to the musical diversity that exists around the globe! There is plenty of room for exploration for both individuals wanting to learn more about Javanese music and for ensemble groups to experience playing it together. Thanks to John Pitts for all the time and research invested in this project to “broaden [our] musical horizons into this enigmatic and alluring sound-world.”
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