ACHAR LASKEWICZ,
Theoretical Work
Paper presented at the International Project on Musical Signification's
international conference in Bologna Italy, November 14-16 1996, currently
awaiting publication in the proceedings of the conference.
CONTENTS:
(i) Abstract
(ii) Complete Paper
The Balinese
Musical Text embodied in Time and Space
abstract for a paper by Zachar Laskewicz
The nature of Balinese performances can be compared to that of a text in a
broad conception of this term, in the sense emerging from the Latin word textus
involving a 'weave' of elements which combine to create a cultural whole:
Balinese musical texts weave their way in out of the lives of the Balinese,
simultaneously creating and perpetuating Balinese culture. These 'musical' texts
are indeed cultural texts that are inextricably intertwined with the life of the
Balinese, involved in such a way that it is impossible to disentangle them from
their social and ritual context. The analysis of texts embedded in a such a
complex 'multi-medial' context is logically the first problem encountered within
the paper. On closer examination, one quickly realises that 'musical'
performances on Bali, even those that are not used for particular ritual
functions, involve a complex matrix of events and actions that play an important
role in understanding the meaning-based function of musical elements in
performance. Traditional forms of musical analysis designed for Western formal
music are clearly inadequate for understanding these 'living' musical
performances, and the problematic nature of Western analysis forms an important
point of discussion within the paper.
Our particular forms for music analysis have evolved from a literary
consciousness in which music is seen as existing in permanent 'iconicized' units
of knowledge [scores] whose performance become simply a second place
event of lesser importance: we raise the iconic essence of the score high
above the incomplete form of the performance or interpretation. Musical
perfection is reached in our minds by existing firstly on paper, the performance
is reduced of sensual meaning and becomes simply an imitation of the permanency
inscribed on paper. We have turned music into an analytical langue,
divorced from the synthetic totality of langage. We have reduced our
music of time and space, both elements important in understanding the Balinese
performance.
The Balinese musical text is one which is deeply inscribed in the memories and
the bodies of the Balinese people, and it is only through their performance that
the knowledge inherent in them is transmitted. Unlike our own musical texts
which we have turned into objectified sources for performance, the Balinese
musical text is alive, and is only meaningful in the context of its performance.
With this realisation, a theoretical approach demands a sensuous and
experiential assessment. It is through the performance itself that 'knowledge'
is transmitted, and with such a realisation it becomes clear that a
phenomenological methodology is the only possible path to take.
By using a combination of Peirce's sign trilogy (icon, symbol and index) and the
habitus of Pierre Bourdieu, a new model is created for examining the
cultural force of the music which allows the indexical element of the
performance to be brought to the fore. Such an approach demands a transferal of
the emphasis to the indexicality of the performance. Through a sensuous
actualisation of ancient icons, Balinese musical texts become a powerful
deictical pointing arrow: they act to direct the attention of the audience and
the gods to the symbolic actions which occur, making them through their
performance a part of the observer's reality. The music makes the reality
tangible, experiencable and sensuous.
Major references
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Jakobson, R. and Pomorska, K.
(1980) Dialogues, Flammarion, Paris.
Kersenboom, S. (1995) Word, Sound, Image: The Life of the Tamil Text
, Berg Publishers Limited, Oxford.
The Balinese
Musical Sign Embodied in Time and Space
by Zachar Laskewicz
Time and change seem to be two words that have an intimate connection with
one another. No matter how we may like to prevent time from bringing irrevocable
change into our world, we don't seem to be able to prevent it. Even the theories
we create to gain a deeper insight into reality seem to be sensitive to the
changing force of time, despite the fact that we often see them as being
transcendent of the natural world. Theoretical models are designed to give a
fitting insight into the surrounding reality, and although the 'reality' itself
does not actually change in any large way, our method of interpreting it does,
and this results in a gradual transferal to new theoretical models based on new
needs. Such changes have resulted in us interpreting our world in radically
different ways. The philosophy of Charles Peirce has offered contemporary
'science' with the possibility of a new theoretical paradigm, one based in a
non-essentialist approach to interpreting reality, but applicable in general to
all human understanding. Peirce was reacting against the prevailing
Cartesian/Kantian essentialist paradigm which was based in a transcendent view
of knowledge. Through his innovative theories, he suggested that 'reality' could
only be understood by means of signs: signs act to 'mediate' between the
'true' reality and our perception of it. By using signs, we can approach the
'reality' we never actually have direct contact with. Peirce tried to create a
phenomenological theory of signs which would create new ways of understanding
human knowledge, although his ultimate dream became the creation of a theory of
signs in which the objectified rules of logic would determine how the sign is
experienced and cognised by individuals. This would be a new logic which would
give an insight into the (real) 'reality', a new language for contemporary
science. Because of Peirce's epistemological horizon, we can expect that his new
scientific language would ultimately be connected to a rather static model of
human understanding, despite the potential inherent in his earlier philosophical
work. Peirce, trapped in his quest to find an iconic language to encompass all
human cognition, ended up creating an approach which "reduced the role of
signs to being blind vehicles for communication" (Parmentier, 1985). He had
created an approach to reality based in the objectification which he was
initially trying to transcend, and unfortunately in using Peirce in its pure
form we are in many ways subscribing to a reductive paradigm. The current
dissatisfaction with contemporary theory demands a rethinking of Peirce's
approach to the sign, one based in the physical embodiment of experience and not
in a quest for objectified, transcendent knowledge.
Unfortunately, an objectified approach is still an implicit given in our current
'scientific' disciplines, and is so deeply embedded in our way of thinking that
it is difficult if not impossible for many to consider that there might be
other-equally valid-ways for understanding 'knowledge', whatever that may be.
The theories we use to come to a better understanding of reality seem to be
based in the belief that through improving our existing scientific theories, we
can come closer to understanding that real reality which through the
existing theories still escapes us (although only just). It seems amazing now
that Roman Jakobson wrote the following in 1919: "the overcoming of statics,
the expulsion of the absolute - here is the essential turn for the new era, the
burning question of today" (Jakobson, 1990, pg. 165). This is surprising
because it is precisely this 'overcoming of statics' which we are still
grappling with in contemporary fields of research: despite much 'evidence' which
would suggest the contrary, it is difficult to accept that our way of
understanding knowledge is only one of many different ways, and therefore that
so-called 'scientific' approaches to interpretation is the product of a
particular western paradigm. New winds of change are beginning to blow away the
debris of the past, which can be strongly felt in fields such as linguistics,
psychology, sociology and anthropology. In these fields, one can observe a
movement against static 'idealised' or 'objectified' models of meaning grounded
in a Descartian/Kantian approach to meaning. This new approach is based in the
realisation that it is only through semiotic 'mediation' that we come closer to
an essentially 'unfathomable' reality, and that every culture has its own
filtering system for translating that knowledge into a culturally understandable
system of signs. Many that turned to Peirce soon after he was rediscovered are
rethinking his work, taking a second look because of newer developments.
'Science' as we understand it in the western world is finally being seen as the
particular way we have in our culture of filtering information, of
creating a sign system.
Many other disciplines, however, remain untouched by the new developments. The
objectified paradigm remains strongly present and doesn't seem about to change:
these disciplines are still grounded in the quest for a sort of transcendental
scientific 'truth', one which in the Descartian sense is both real and
pure. This approach, embedded in staticity and a search for the absolute, has to
be overcome, and I feel that it is through radicalisation in the field of
semiotics that this can occur. Musicology, the discipline which seems always to
lag years behind the others, is still waiting in the calm period before the
storm: theoreticians are still embedded in an objectified approach to 'musical'
reality, one which seems to be searching for universally applicable knowledge, a
pure musical truth. In this paper, we will be looking at influencing factors
from fields as diverse as cognition and psycholinguistics to bring to musicology
something that is reflecting a general paradigm change in other disciplines.
So what have the winds of change brought to contemporary theory? We are ushering
in a new age in semiotics in which the 'sign' is being analysed in a completely
new manner. Influenced by developments in different fields, the previously
static image of the sign is receding and a newer dynamic 'sign' is emerging. We
are no longer interested in the sign itself, viewed as an abstracted entity that
is 'interpreted' by an anonymous human individual, but we are looking at the
complex context in which the sign is created, in which the semiosis occurs. This
involves a multimedial approach to the sign, one which recognises the
physicality involved in a human understanding of meaning. In this paper we will
be discussing a new approach to the musical sign based on the concept of
'embodiment'. Going against the prevailing 'scientific' approach to musical
meaning which still sees itself searching for some kind of universal musical
'truth', our new model for musical meaning is grounded in understanding the sign
within an embedded cultural situation, which means taking account of the
so-called 'subjectified' way the individual has of understanding the sign. The
main point here is that signs are 'embodied' in physical acts and the
physicality of the human body, and are realised in the form of cultural
performance within the parameters of time and space. In this paper, I will be
trying to bring back three essential elements that are necessary in
understanding the Balinese musical sign, elements which have been lost in our
'objectified' approach to musical meaning: time, space and embodiment. For the
Balinese, it is difficult to talk abstractedly about musical signification
outside the context of the performance. It is only in the performance that the
knowledge is transferred, and talking about it outside this context seems a
futile endeavour. The existing theoretical models, involved in a purely sound
based approach to the musical sign, are entirely out of place in a Balinese
context. New theoretical models based on a realisation of the essential
'physicality' of the musical sign are necessary.
In order to take the first steps towards such a theoretical model, a basis for
the 'embodied' musical sign will be formed by rethinking the paradigm in which
many areas of science (including musicology) are still embedded. This includes
discussing the philosophical repercussions of 'embodied' meaning. The static
approach to western musicology will then be discussed, and a new model for the
'embodied' musical sign will be presented in which the individual becomes
empowered in the sign's creation and the sign itself is moved from a central
position. Finally, embodiment as a new approach to the sign is related to
Balinese 'musicality'. As time and space are such important elements which go
into understanding the Balinese musical sign, alternative notions of these
parameters which are unique to the Balinese culture are also brought into the
discussion. Before concluding, the essential 'embodiment' of the Balinese
musical sign is discussed by demonstrating particular examples from contemporary
Balinese performance.
We will begin by questioning the general acceptance of an 'objectified' approach
to meaning in contemporary western scientific disciplines, one which is also
present in contemporary musicology, musical semiotics, and musical cognition
(cybernetics). The traditional approach involves a quest for highly objectified
knowledge: in the case of musicology, it involves an analysis of 'sound' objects
abstracted from their performance and through this the creation of a
'universally applicable' theory for the human understanding of musical sound.
According to Johnson, the theoretician responsible for a book involved with the
essential 'embodied' nature of human meaning, this view on the objectified
nature of meaning and rationality "has been held for centuries by
philosophers in the Western tradition." He goes on to say that such an
approach has come to define the only dominant research program in a number of
related disciplines in the last several decades (Johnson, 1974, pg. x-xi). An
objectified approach to meaning is based in the assumption that
"science", by creating theories, moves continuously closer towards the
(one and only) correct description of 'reality'. And, according to Johnson,
"even though we will never achieve the final complete account, it is
believed that genuine empirical knowledge involves universal logical structures
of inference whose results can be tested against theory-neutral 'objective'
data" (Johnson, pg. xiii). This view is currently perpetuated in western
science and in western education-we all remember the objective purity of the
Cartesian plane, one which exists in an objectified, mathematical space. Here
Descartes was attempting to demonstrate that the 'method' used for attaining
certain knowledge is a "universal mathematics" which would allow us to
trace out all the possible connections among our ideas in an orderly and
complete fashion (Johnson, pg. xxvii). This Cartesian legacy was handed down by
Kant to his successors, and has resulted in the current crisis in Western
theory. What has been accepted for so long as a basic given in science, is now
being being realised in the context of its history, a necessity bourn out of
western philosophical needs. The central theme of this legacy, according to
Johnson, was that "human rationality consists of the formal element of
cognition, distinct from any particular material content or sensation, any set
of images, any emotions, or any bodily processes.[...] In short, Kant reinforces
an unbridgeable gap between reason and bodily experience." Johnson goes on
to say that these Cartesian and Kantian themes have reinforced a recurring set
of ontological, epistemological, and logical dichotomies that have been
profoundly influential on western ways of thinking; and that these rigid
dichotomies have made it extremely difficult to bring 'embodiment' back into a
model for human meaning as 'meaning' is generally considered to be transcendent
of the human body (Johnson, pg. xxix). With semiotics, Peirce attempted to
overthrow this objectified way of looking at human meaning, but was ultimately
unsuccessful. Transcending this paradigm was also the goal of his French
counterpart, De Saussure, who attempted the same in his quest to understand the
subjective complexity of langage. Unfortunately, he got caught in a
static quest for the purity of langue-an objectified image of
communication, an abstract system of understandings that all humans share. In
reaction to this prevailing scientific paradigm, changes are taking place which
are emphasising the importance of the 'body' in understanding human meaning.
Here the sign is observed within the context of its enactment in physical space
and real time, and in this paper we will be trying to bring 'embodiment' back to
the musical sign.
This static approach to meaning which is essentially transcendent of the human
body is inherently present in western musicology. Our primary unit for musical
analysis is the 'score', an objectified form which through notation has become
'disembedded' from its context and its performance. By using the score as a
basis for musical analysis, we are immediately taking a transcendent view of
musical meaning: for us the music exists in its most pure form on paper, and it
is only in this secure zone that 'real' analysis can take place. Here we form
part of the general western quest for a pure, homogeneous method for
interpreting meaning, one distant from the dangerous subjectivity of the
performance. The very fact that we consider that we can find meaning in music
outside of its performance because it exists in the more permanent form of a
score seems to me dangerously reductive, and certainly inapplicable to other
cultures whose 'musical knowledge' is never represented in the form of notation.
Moreover, if the score is taken as the basic form of representation, three
important elements are removed without which signification could not take place:
time, space and sound. Still, we attempt to apply our objectified notions of
musical experience as a universal given, although it remains a philosophical
product of western society.
An 'embodied' approach to musical meaning rejects the score as a basic means for
understanding musical experience, and brings performance back to the analysis.
This can be seen as being a move from product-the idolisation of 'works'
of individual geniuses, abstracted from their embedded contexts-to process-realisation
that music is an embodiment in performance of a multi-levelled embedded context.
Firstly I would like to demonstrate the pervasiveness of a product-based
approach to musical meaning in western thought. Nattiez, in his important volume
concerning music and discourse, states that "we would not know how to speak
of music without referring to sonority, even when the reference is
only implied." He then goes on to say that "sound is a minimal
condition of the musical fact." (Nattiez, pg. 42-43). This basic accepted
'given' of western musicology is highly problematic, and from the perspective of
the 'embodied' musical sign is rejected outright. It is based in the assumption
that the musical 'product' is more important than the 'process' in understanding
musical meaning, that 'meaning' can be taken from the objectified form of the
'product', which in terms of 'embodied' meaning is reduced of importance. A
sound-based product approach to the musical sign assumes that although
different cultures enjoy as part of their definition of music quite different
conceptions, if we cut away all the surrounding layers which add to the cultural
signification in a performance setting (for example dance, movement, language,
text, images, costumes, even hallucinatory drugs), then we end up with a pure
state of sound in all cases, even it is is only implied. The Balinese
consider 'musical experience' to be something far broader than simply the sound,
and reducing music in the way we like to do is therefore a dangerous reduction,
although such an approach is the basic goal of western musicology. A
non-objectified, embodied method for looking at the musical sign must,
therefore, become the "essential turn for a new era, the burning question
of today."
A movement from 'product' to 'process' is involved with a realisation that the
musical sign becomes 'embodied' in real time performances. Johnson, in his
important volume concerning the embodied nature of human meaning, attempts to
demonstrate that our notion of meaning and rationality is closely involved with
the physicality of our bodies. The relationship of the human body with space,
and its interaction with the world, plays a highly important role in our
understanding of 'meaning': human meaning is very much 'embodied' in human
practice. According to Johnson, the body has been ignored by objectivism because
is has been thought to introduce subjective elements alleged to be irrelevant to
the objective nature of meaning (Johnson, pg. xiv). Objectivism assumes that
reason is transcendent, not tied to any aspect of human understanding. In
reaction to this dangerously reductive paradigm, new waves of thinking are
beginning to bring the 'body' back as an essential element in signification.
Johnson implies that as humans "our consciousness and rationality are tied
to our bodily orientations and interaction in and with our environment. Our
embodiment is essential to who we are, to what meaning is, and to our ability to
draw rational inferences and to be creative" (Johnson, pg. xxxviii). It is
from this interpretation of human meaning that we can begin to build the basic
elements of the 'embodied' sign, one based on a 'non-objectivist' theory of
meaning. Here, understanding is treated as a "historically and culturally
embedded, humanly embodied, imaginatively structured event" (Johnson, pg.
175-176).
In order to approach the 'embodied' musical sign, we have to take the emphasis
off the sign itself and empower the individual who is the party responsible for
'embodying' the sound in performance. Traditional notions of music and the
'musical work' have to be rethought in light of this, and I would like you to
consider the following: as composers, performers and also simply as listeners,
we create the musical meaning. When we experience 'music' in any form we aren't
the passive listeners, but the active creators "thinking the music in
ourselves." My main point here is that music has meaning because we assign
meaning to it: we create it. It is only through taking this perspective that the
importance of embodiment can be understood. Such an approach has also been
implied in contemporary musicological thought. To demonstrate this I would like
to discuss again Nattiez's theories, who in discussing the work of Molino
presents a dynamic theoretical structure for understanding music as a 'symbolic
form'.
"Three dimensions of this symbolic phenomenon thus emerge: (a) The
poietic dimensions: [...] the symbolic form results from a process of
creation that may be described or reconstituted. (b) The esthesic
dimension: 'receivers', when confronted by a symbolic form, assign one or
many meanings to the form. [...] (c) The trace: the symbolic form is
embodied physically and materially in the form of a trace accessible to
the five senses."
(Nattiez, pg. 11-12).
In this model, the individuals involved in the creation of the 'symbolic form'
are empowered in the fact that they are considered as the parties who 'create'
the meaning. The sign evolves dynamically from the individual in the form of a poietic
process, which is then dynamically reconstructed into meaning by the interpreter
in a process known as the esthesic. The third division, the trace,
is also referred to by Nattiez as the material reality of the work, the analysis
of the work's immanent configurations or as the neutral level. This
level of understanding music is a direct link with the objectified approach
already discussed, and unfortunately it is the basis for contemporary musicology
which is grounded in the belief that any 'meaning' inherent in the work can be
achieved by analysing this 'product' (trace). Many consider this to be
amply provided for by the score, abstracted from the dynamics of the poietic
or the esthesic processes inherent in the performance. In my opinion this
approach hasn't been very successful because in such a perspective 'music' is
totally lost in the process of objectification. General developments in other
disciplines are, however, forcing musicology to takes its emphasis off the level
of the product or trace, and create a more dynamic image for the
musical sign as is represented by a recognition of embodiment.
Before we discuss in further detail implications associated with an embodied
sign, I would like to further empower the individual in the emergence of the
sign by bringing in the work of an important theoretician working in the fields
of cognition and literacy studies, Frank Smith. In his article discussing a new
approach to the way the brain processes information, Smith presented a model in
which the brain was seen as an 'artist', actively involved in the creation of a
'theory of the world in the head', a theory which is continuously tested against
the constant stream of new information. This theory shapes both the way we look
at past experience, and the way we look at the future. In his perspective, the
individual is seen as being an active force in the internalisation of knowledge.
The brain is not simply a 'data-base' churning and processing information in a
preset format, but is creatively constructing reality.
"My metaphor pictures the brain as an artist [...] What is it that we have
in the brain that enables us to make sense of the world, to interpret signals
and makes sense of information? I have argued elsewhere that the brain contains
nothing less than a theory of the world, a theory that is an interpreted
summary of all past experience [...] that is the basis not only of our present
understanding of the world but more importantly of our predictions of the
future."
(Smith, pg. 199)
Our theory of what the world is like provides us with a set of expectations.
When our ongoing experience fits our expectations, everything is fine; the new
experience makes sense, we comprehend it. But when the new experience is out of
line with our expectations, we are forced to modify those expectation to make
room for the new experience. The individual is, therefore, empowered: he/she is
not seen as the passive being which simply takes in and classifies information,
but as the party actively involved in creating the world in a dynamic and
continually changing process, a non-static image for human meaning.
"The world in the head is dynamic, constantly changing, both in the course
of its own enterprises and it its interactions with the world. [...] Fantasy is
not reality manipulated; reality is a fantasy constrained by the objective world
[...] reality is fantasy that works."
(Smith, pg. 200)
Such a non-objectified image for understanding human cognition has affected
other scientific disciplines, most particularly psycholinguistics, which is
involved with the study of language acquisition in children. The prevailing
model for language acquisition, one presented by Chomsky which is an elaboration
of an essentially static view of human meaning, sees language acquisition as an
inevitable process in which the child follows a 'preset' course for learning
language over which the child has no control. The new theoretical paradigm has
led to irrevocable theoretical and practical changes within this field: now the
child is seen as being an 'active' party, involved in 'creatively constructing'
language by doing it, by purposefully interacting with the world.
"'Creative construction' characterises children's activity in language
learning as one of active sense making. The child participates in a social world
and out of diverse experience-linguistic and nonlinguistic-the child constructs,
builds, sense."
(Lindfors, pg. 158)
For an 'embodied' perspective on the musical sign, such a practical approach to
understanding meaning is highly important: in this example, meaning is
understood as being related to its physical performance by the individual: sense
is literally 'built' by the child. Contemporary psycholinguistic research has
suggested that the sign is closely involved with the physicality of our human
bodies, certainly as has been clearly demonstrated in relation to language
acquisition: as children our whole notion of meaning is bonded to our physical
connection with the world as we act creatively to construct the reality that
surrounds us.
"What does the one to two-year old notice particularly? What he acts on
physically. A child acts on hats, shoes, and socks, but a diaper is
something that is done to him, in a sense; he 'gets diapered.' Keys can
be grasped, jangled, shaken, and bitten, but what can a child do to a table or
crib? Tables and cribs are just there."
(Lindfors, pg. 166-167).
Contrary to popular belief, we are not passively building reality around us in a
pre-fashioned form, which Chomsky's work on language acquisition would have us
believe. Through contemporary psycholinguistic research, we are now beginning to
see the linguistic sign as being connected to a far more complex process of
physical expression: a child is no longer seen as the 'passive party' in an
inevitable process of language acquisition, but rather as an active and
inventive participant. In this sense, we realise that our sense of meaning is
intimately connected to the performance of an action. Here we view the sign as
being something created and experienced in real time and space and through our
bodies, 'embodied' in the physicality of the individual. Here we approach the
dynamic nature of 'embodied' meaning.
So what can we learn from these alternative perspectives? Firstly, that meaning
is based in the physicality of the human body. Secondly, that we form a theory
for understanding the world by interacting with that world in a temporal and
spatial context. Thirdly, that the sign emerges in the dynamic context of its
creation, as a tool for understanding the world. Although Johnson is relating
his ideas of embodied meaning to a world of linguistic science, Frank Smith his
dynamic recognition of the brain as an 'artist' to literacy studies, and
Lindfors her ideas of the 'creative construction' of meaning to language
acquisition, these new currents in thought seem to me to be highly significant
for looking at 'musical' meaning, which is very much involved with the dynamism
of performance. An embodied approach recognises that musical experience can not
only 'express' itself in multimedial forms, but that we, as humans, are
'multimedial' beings, that we can understand and express musicality in more
forms than simply sound. A process-based approach recognises, in turn,
that the meaning is not inherent in the work itself, but that we create the
meaning ourselves by using the five senses. Here, the notion of 'musicality' is
seen as being a cognitive function, a way of experiencing and interpreting
reality, a way of perceiving the world. Musicality is something that may
become expressed in certain culturally accepted forms-which is very often sound
(although not always)-although an embodied, multimedial approach recognises that
the 'trace' is of lesser importance when compared to the dynamics involved in
the sign's emergence. We, as performers, listeners and composers, are empowered.
This image for human meaning, where the individual is seen as an active party in
his/her creation of the world, is an exciting one, far distant from an
objectified approach which sees meaning as being transcendent of the individual
and the subjectivity of the performance. I would like to posit that our brain
actively forms its image of the world based on what it experiences as suggested
above, and that music plays an important role in this formation. When we
experience 'music', in any form, we aren't the passive listeners, but the active
creators, or artists , creating the musical meaning and using it to help
adjust our 'theories of the world'.
We now come closer to the embodied sign itself. How can we define such an
entity? The embodied musical sign is one which is realised as an act in
performance, one in which any 'signification' from the sign is involved directly
in the dynamics of its performance. Here, the individual is brought back into
the model by recognising the individual as an 'artist' (in Smith's sense) who
expresses in the form of a cultural performance symbolic potentialities or
choices which give the sign its richness: here the act of listening and
performing are considered to be important creative 'acts' involved with musical
semiosis, and the 'trace' itself, the (sound-based) material reality of the
performance, is considered to be of lesser importance. The semiosis of the
'embodied' musical sign is one involved with the parameters of space and time,
parameters which are removed in an objectified approach to musical meaning, an
approach which is unfortunately still pervasive in contemporary western
musicology. Without these important elements, the 'embodied' musical sign cannot
exist, and as it will be revealed in this paper it is impossible to view the
Balinese sign in any other way, because it is very much embodied in the now of
the performance. The embodied sign is enacted in an embedded cultural context,
and as such cannot be disembedded from it.
The musical sign, then, is embedded in organic and sensuous reality and is
realised in performance. It is through such a 'personal embodiment' that we are
able to understand the musical sign. We can recognise now that it is in this
embodiment, this sensuous firstness, that the musical sign receives its
'meaning', that the musical sign transmits its 'knowledge'. The degree to which
the Balinese surround themselves with abstract 'musical' symbolism was quite
influential in helping me to form this image of musical experience. Balinese
life is unthinkable without 'music' which is used constantly in the form of both
ritual and secular performances. It is difficult not to suggest that this plays
an important role in the formation of the Balinese perception of the world.
Music, therefore, is far more than the 'sound it makes', but is a way of
experiencing reality, of interfacing between the world and our perception of it,
helping to form our theory of the world in the head. The individual
expresses music in the dynamic act of performance, which helps to perpetuate the
culture. Music is therefore not simply a reflection of a cultural situation: it
is a direct means of cultural perpetuation.
The essential physicality of Balinese music is impossible to avoid. In every
musical piece, there is a dynamic physicality associated with all musical
sounds, and the dance is referred to in the same context. Music and dance are
considered within Balinese culture to be natural correlates of one another, and
as such cannot be separated in analysis. According to Sanger (1989, pg. 57)
"there is no word in Balinese which means the same as the English word
'music'." In fact, the Indonesian word musik, which approximates to
the English term, is actually a product of western influence brought about
during the colonial period. Any meaningful research into Balinese 'music' must
consider dance as an essential element. Music and dance are both dynamic
realisations of the human body and the environment in performance, and this
'embodiment' is therefore essential to Balinese musical signification. The
Balinese begin to learn to play music and to dance from a very young age. In
Bali, music is a pervasive cultural entity which is so closely intertwined with
other forms of Balinese 'education' that it inevitably forms an incredibly
important part of their understanding of the world. Through the Balinese musical
performances, 'knowledge' is transmitted. Their 'theories of the world' are
continually tested and retested in performance, and if the communication
potential begins to decrease, the performances are quickly changed to suit new
circumstances. Dramatic changes on Bali during the last 150 years have brought
about the necessity for Balinese music to change and adapt itself to an altered
world: the results have been remarkable. Despite the romantic associations which
would suggest otherwise, the needs of the Balinese people are not satisfied by
the 'continual repetition of age-old traditions', but are vital and changing.
This is a direct reflection of the 'dynamic' notion of the sign as related to an
'embodied' concept of meaning. The Balinese musical sign can only be understood
in this context.
Since it is evidently highly important to consider the parameters of space and
time to understand the Balinese 'embodied' musical sign, it will be necessary to
have a look at alternative notions of these concepts which are ingrained in the
way the Balinese relate to the world. Firstly, it is important to note that the
very Balinese sense of rationality is based on alternative spatial and temporal
notions. According to Eiseman, "one of the first things a careful
investigator learns is the principle of desa kala patra [terms taken from
Sanskrit]: that whatever one learns in Bali is largely determined by where
he is, when he is there, and the circumstances under which the
learning occurs" (Eiseman, pg. xiv). Their whole notion of 'truth',
therefore is based on particular temporal and spatial circumstances: what is
'true' one day, could be entirely different at another time or place, which can
sometimes prove frustrating to a western visitor who has embedded in his/her
sense of rationality a more strict notion about the interpretation of reality
and truth, the permanency of knowledge which is embedded in a western scientific
approach. This is an important beginning point, and explains the necessity of
being aware of alternative 'filtering systems' which help affect the way our
'theory of the world in the head' is formed.
On Bali the concept of 'spatiality' has far wider reaching implications because
of its multi-levelled symbolic nature, penetrating physical and religious space
in a remarkable manner:
"In Bali, a direction describes a vector not just in physical space, but in
cultural, religious, and social 'space' as well. As a result, every Balinese
seems to possess a built-in sense of direction. And if for some reason this
feeling is lacking, the individual is visibly uncomfortable and
disoriented." (Eiseman, pg. 3).
The importance of spatiality to the Balinese can be related to the Hindu
religion adopted by the Balinese, one involved with maintaining a sense of
balance by keeping the forces of 'good' and 'evil' at bay by constant religious
practice. The terms kaja and kelod are important here. Kaja
refers to the direction of the mountains, and kelod to the direction of
the sea, and therefore have essentially physical-spatial references. The sea is
the dangerous lurking-place for demons, and the mountains are the abode of the
gods, so although the terms kaja and kelod are often used for
horizontal vectors (i.e. North/South), they also have a vertical connotation.
The analogy here is obvious: what is 'up' is associated with the heavens,
whereas what is down is associated with the netherworld. It is the
greatest Balinese insult, for example, to point your shoe in someone's direction
because the foot has direct contact with the ground. These vectors have more
than simply spatial connotations. They have also complex ritual significance
which transcend any notion of physical space as we understand it, dictating, for
example, where in a room a person will sleep, in which part of the house
offerings will be made, the way buildings will be built and ultimately the
structure of the village itself. These vectors represent a basic
spatially-orientated understanding of the spiritual self. This plays an
inevitable role in the way signification occurs in Balinese performances. If
performers, for example, are disoriented or lose their sense of direction, they
are not able to dance or play music and need to orient themselves to the
direction of the mountain and the sea before being able to perform again.
"Unless a Balinese can orient himself properly in this universe of balance,
dictated by kaja and kelod, up and down, he feels uncomfortable
and lost because he is not in harmony with his environment and the forces of
good and evil within it."
(Eiseman, pg. 5).
Time is also an important parameter in the Balinese interpretation of reality.
The Balinese Hindu concept of circular time relates quite closely to the Indian
Hindu notion, where one human life span is considered as only one stage in a
continual series of births and rebirths (samsara - reincarnation)
inherent in a cyclical conception of time, working towards moksa, the
final union with god. In Balinese culture, however, this circular notion of time
is so strong, that the cyclicality speaks literally 'up' the generations. When a
father has a child, he is renamed as 'the father of. . .', where each new
generation sees the return of ancestors awaiting rebirth. The complex Balinese
calender also plays an important role. Although the Balinese calender system
involves the interfacing of three different calenders, including the Hindu lunar
calender and the Western calender accepted nationally within Indonesia, the
ritual events are largely involved with an ancient Balinese calender. Firstly,
coherent with the Hindu cyclical conception of time, the years are not
progressive. They do not 'count' them as they pass by: a given year is not
differentiated from one that has already passed. They do not, therefore, see
themselves on a road towards the future, awaiting ever newer and brighter
developments which our culture cherishes in the form of 'progress'. In this
respect, ethnomusicology has often attempted to make a connection between the
Hindu cyclical nature of time and the colotomic structure of the music which
sees the constant return of the same musical pattern, interspersed by a
pervasive 'gong structure'. The musical performance itself does not have a
'beginning' or an 'end' in the traditional sense, but is considered simply to
'manifest itself during the performance.' Tenzer suggests that "the
periodic and regenerative structures of gamelan melodies make an apt metaphor
for the life, death, and reincarnation cycles so central to Balinese Hindu
belief." (Tenzer, pg. 21).
The Balinese calender is highly complicated because it is made up essentially of
a number of different weeks each of a different length (for example a one day
week, a two day week, a three day week and so on), which all run concurrently
and are connected together in an extremely complex fashion. When the first days
of two or a number of weeks fall on the same day, this is usually considered to
be an auspicious day for a temple celebration of some kind. Considering the
number of weeks, and the logical result of first days falling concurrently, it
is obvious that temple celebrations occur very often. The system is in fact so
complicated, that the Balinese often have to consult with a priest to see which
day would be the most auspicious to perform certain rituals. Musical
performances are necessitated so often by religious events that it seems to the
observer that the Balinese involve themselves in other chores as an unpleasant
interruption to one long temple festival.
"Music is ubiquitous in Bali; its abundance is far out of proportion to the
dimensions of the island. The Hindu-Balinese religion requires gamelan for the
successful completion of most of the tens of thousands of ceremonies undertaken
yearly. At a plethora of traditionally mandated religious events, the gods
descend in numbers to inhabit their designated shrines for the length of the
festivities, awaiting the lavish musical entertainments that their village hosts
are expected to provide. For the procession of offerings into the temple, there
is music; for the spilling of cremated souls' ashes into the sea, there is
music; for the exorcism of evil spirits, there is music; and for the ritual
filing of teeth, there is music" (Tenzer, pg.12)
In a religious context, the performance of music and dance directs the attention
of the audience and the gods to the action which occurs. The music is seen as
being inevitable and eternal, but at the same time changes regularly to suit the
changing context in which it occurs. Music makes reality tangible, experiencable
and sensuous. Music is not purely used in the context of religious performances.
In addition to the complex array of performances which are necessary for the
Balinese religions, there is also another array of performances-not including
tourist performances-which are considered a necessary part of Balinese life:
"The Balinese embellish this rigorous schedule of sacred musical events
with a wide range of more worldly occasions in which gamelan also assumes a
crucial role. There are flirtatious street dances, frenzied bull races, and
gamelan performances for guests and dignitaries. A regular cycle of gamelan
competitions and festivals provides a forum for people to demonstrate their
pride in their musical abilities and their dedication to the cultivation of a
priceless cultural heritage for its own sake, independent of the ritual needs
that it fills."
(Tenzer, pg. 13)
Musical performance, then, is evidently a necessary element of Balinese life,
and it plays an important role in the perpetuation of Balinese culture. Now it
is important to look a little closer at individual performance events and how
important a role time, space and 'embodiment' play in their signification. A
primary level of 'embodiment' in Balinese performance can be expressed by the
importance of dance in structuring the music in ritual performances. In older
ritual compositions which are still often used at temple festivals, such as the
'baris' or the 'barong', the dancer communicates directly with the drummer who
in turn communicates the musical structure expressed by the movements of the
dancer to the musicians. The whole structure of the music is based on the
embodiment of the dancer's movements, and this is certainly a factor which
affects the way the sign emerges in performance. There is a complete connection
between music and dance structure, and the dancers and the musicians even share
an abstract 'language' which they use to refer to the sounds and movements.
"In Bali these two art forms are wedded in spirit, nuance, structure and
even terminology. Balinese choreography, in its purest interpretation, is a
detailed and subtle, physical embodiment of the music that accompanies it. Music
and dance together are a mutually reflective duet-two realizations of the same
abstract beauty, each clothed in the attributes of its form. For the gods, dance
is as important a part of their visits to the earthly plane as is music. For the
Balinese people these two arts are an inexorable combination, and to participate
in the performance of either is a coveted privilege." (Tenzer, pg. 12-13).
This situation where the development of the music is completely dependent on the
dance is, however, not so common in contemporary Balinese music. As has already
been mentioned, Balinese performance is not the 'repetition of age-old
traditions', but a dynamically developing and changing musical form. In 1915 in
North Bali, when Indonesia was still under Dutch control, a new form of gamelan
emerged which came to be known as gamelan gong kebyar. This gamelan was a
"radical modernisation" of the standard temple orchestra, and was to
spread right across Bali in the coming generations. Here, music and dance became
more 'equal' in that they were merged together so that the changes in dynamics,
the number of repetitions, and alternations in speed were fixed for both the
musician and the dancer (Sanger, pg. 61). The word 'keybar' actually
means the striking of a match, which evokes the essential brashness of kebyar
performance: explosive changes in dynamics and extreme virtuosity.
Performance of gong kebyar, be it with or without the accompaniment of dance, is
very much a physical realisation of space. This awareness of space is an
important element within the performance and is directly represented in the
positioning of the instruments. The preset positioning of the instruments
reflects basic Balinese musical structures: rhythmic patterns played by
different instruments which combine to form a whole, becoming through this
unique interlocking more than simply a combination of the parts. This is a
unique type of musical unity created by the division of melodies reminiscent of
the mediaeval form of hocketting, although much more highly decorated and
essential to the structure of the entire composition. This musical structuring
is known as kotekan, and is structured by two different musical parts,
one known as polos and the other as sangsih. In the diagram
overleaf, the 'interlocking' of these two musical parts is demonstrated. The
important fact here is the necessity of the realisation of kotekan in a
physical, spatial situation. The basic melody is decorated using the kotekan
form by a group of usually 8 instruments known as the gangsa. They are
arranged in a particular geometrically symmetrical way so that a polos
performer is sitting always next to a sangsih performer, just as the
polos performer always sits in front of someone playing sangsih and
vice versa. The spatial arrangement of the musical structure is demonstrated
also in the diagram overleaf. Although a western ear would hear this as 'one
melody', and would be inclined to interpret it as such, the dynamics of the
unity involved in the musical performance force us to realise that the the
spatial dynamics of kotekan certainly affect the signification of the
Balinese music in a performance setting, affecting both the performers and the
listeners who are aware of the physical realisation of kotekan. Here the
embodiment of a purely musical structure is seen in relation to its realisation
of space and its embodiment in a physical action.
Another performance form which involves a special realisation of space is known
as Baleganjur. Evolving from a form of processional performance used in
ritual gamelan, in the recent past this music has developed into an incredibly
popular form outside of the context of the ritual event. Performers holding
drums (kendang), gongs and cymbals (ceng-ceng) proceed in a procession along the
street. The cymbal players are divided into two groups, each which play a kotekan-like
rhythmic structure (also divided into polos and sangsih). In this musical form,
signification is intimately connected to the motion of the performers in space
and in relation to one another. Weekly street performances and competitions of Baleganjur
have become regular events in Balinese life.
Even in performances of gong kebyar, the Balinese have a unique physical
relationship with their instruments which involves a very florid, almost
dance-like approach to instrumental performance. The players spin their mallets
and decorate their movements before connecting the mallet to the instrument in a
dynamic session of kotekan. The ambiguity between the physicality of
'musical' performance and the musicality of 'physical' performance is taken to
its extreme in the last performance form we are going to discuss: Kebyar
Trompong or Kebyar Duduk. This is a dance form which became
enormously popular soon after the emergence of gamelan gong kebyar in the
1920s. It was essentially a dance form based entirely on the movements involved
in playing an instrument. The name refers firstly to the gamelan instruments (kebyar)
and secondly to the 'sitting position' involved in the performance of the
movements (duduk). The dance itself evolved from the physical process
required to play the trompong, where the length of the instrument itself
necessitated the player to move from one end to the other, and as such was
usually played by two or more performers. The originator of this dance form,
known as Mario, wanted to play this instrument alone and thus invented a large
number of stylised movements that would allow him to reach from one end to the
other. This performance become independent of the instrument and recognised as a
dance form in its own right, although the dancer in Kebyar Duduk can
still be seen as "an instrument, not as a person." (De Zoete,1970). In
addition to the Kebyar Duduk form, where the instrument mallets have been
replaced by fans, there is also a form known as Kebyar Trompong in which
the instrument itself is situated in the centre of the stage, and the dancer
actually spends much of his time moving up and down the instrument while playing
it. He moves from holding the fans to holding the mallets, as well as from
moving to a position behind to a position in front of the instrument during the
performance. This unique combination of dance and music combined is a clear
demonstration of the 'embodied' complexity of Balinese musical thinking.
For the Balinese, music and dance are tangible and cogent realisations of space
and the environment embedded in the present. Embedded in time and space and
becoming in every performance 're-embodied' in a new physicality, the Balinese
musical performance is an important element in the perpetuation of Balinese
culture. It is through the rediscovery of ancient forms of movement and sound
that are continuously given contemporary meaning in the dynamics of the
performance that signification occurs, and it is only in this 'embodied' context
which musical experience is considered significant. There is no doubt in my mind
that the factors of embodiment and the realisation of the performance in a
spatial and temporal context are incredibly important to the signification of
the Balinese performance event, and I hope you will agree that a western
'sound-based' and 'objectified' approach to musical meaning is not only
insufficient but irrelevant to Balinese performance. The signification involved
with the realisation of the physicality of the human body within the contexts of
space and time have been robbed of us by developments within western philosophy
and science. I think, however, that we can learn something about the
sensuousness of musicality from the physical dynamism of the Balinese
performance, and can apply it to our own diverse forms of 'musical'
communication. As much as our objectified models for looking at human meaning
would like to prevent it, time continues to play irrevocable havoc on human
epistemologies, and I feel sure that the winds of change will bring embodiment
also to musicology.
Major References
Covarrubias, M. (1988) Island of Bali, Oxford: OUP.
De Zoete, B. and Spies, W. (1970) "Dance and Drama in Bali" in Traditional
Balinese Culture, Jane Belo (ed.), Columbia University Press.
Eiseman, F. (1989) "Kaja and Kelod: Spatial and Spiritual Orientation"
in Bali, Sekala and Niskala, Volume I: Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art,
Berkeley: Periplus Editions.
Jakobson, R. (1990) On Language, ed. Linda R. Waugh and Monique
Monville-Burston. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Johnson, M. (1974) The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning,
Imagination and Reason, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Kersenboom, S. (1995) Word, Sound, Image: The Life of the Tamil Text,
Oxford: Berg Publishers Ltd.
Lindfors, J. (1991) Children's Language and Learning, Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
Nattiez, J. (1990) Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Parmentier, R. (1985) "Signs' Place in Medias Res: Peirce's Concept
of Semiotic Mediation" in Semiotic Mediation, E. Mertz, R.
Parmentier (eds.), Orlando: Academic Press.
Sanger, A. (1989) "Music and Musicians, Dance and Dancers: socio-musical
interrelationships in Balinese Performance" in Yearbook for Traditional
Music, 3(b).
Smith, F. (1985), 'A metaphor for literacy: creating worlds or shunting
information?'. In D.R. Olson, N. Torrance and A. Hildyard (eds.), Literacy,
Language and Learning: The Nature and Consequences of Reading and Writing, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 195-213.
Tenzer, M. (1991) Balinese Music, Singapore: Periplus Editions.
