Music Appreciation: Colin McPhee’s Tabuh-Tabuhan

Name Instructor Course Date Music Appreciation Introduction Western classical composers integrated exotic elements in their music, while others appropriated some elements especially from East Asia, with some choosing to appropriate at the structural and surface level. Musical exoticism elements of native music culture and dance in alien cultures especially non –music styles adapted and adopted by westerners (Locke 47). Composers who translate and not appropriate the music focus on preserving the authenticity of their non-western music, but then interpret the music to Europeans and North Americans audiences. In the exoticism spectrum, Colin McPhee’s Tabuh-Tabuhan is part of transcultural composing as the exotic subject is the Balinese gamelan and not the ‘othered subject’. Benjamin Britten’s opera Death in Venice integrates elements of exoticism when he represents homosexuality and uses transcultural composing by adapting the gamelan. Tabuh-Tabuhan Tabuh-Tabuhan for piano and orchestra was inspired by the music of Bali, Indonesia. McPhee integrated elements of Asian music at a time when Asian exoticism was increasingly popular among the Western classical composers. Other than his attraction to the percussive sounds Indonesian music, McPhee was attracted to Bali as there was acceptance of homosexuality and, he even influenced the queer identity among the western composers inspired by the gamelan (Auner 164). While Balinese music is characterized by metallic sounds, McPhee used these sounds at a slower pace and the piece can be played in an orchestra. Colin McPhee was successful in blending Balinese music in western orchestra by transcribing elements of the gamelan. In Balinese music, dance was a common feature, and the Tabuh-Tabuhan piece is also appropriate. The connection between dance and music highlights that the gamelan inspired music was transformed in a way that supports dance momentum. Even the adaptation of Tabuh-Tabuhan, which integrates Balinese dance depend on how the choreographers and composers work together or interpret the music. Additionally, when the Balinese dance and music are appropriated they are recognized for their ‘otherness’ as they are different from western music. Recognizing the roots of non western music styles is necessary to represent the music the way it is, and where possible even preserving part of the music mystery (Debussy 279). The music has slow movement, which infancies the melody as was common in Balinese Music and he successfully evoked Asian music in the gamelan-inspired piece. Even as McPhee created the Tabuh-Tabuhan on his own the style integrates elements of Bali music including the sectional structures, irregular ostinatos, cross rhythms and even the layered texture. Integrating the exotic effects in his music influenced McPhee to consider composition through rearranging, with the personal work integrating composed motifs, rhythmic patterns and melodies that were fused (Auner 164). McPhee re-created and realigned elements of Balinese music. The Tabuh-Tabuhan ends with a gong like sound, and while it is only for a few seconds, this is consistent with the Balinese tonalities where cymbals and gongs sounds are common. Additionally, the gongs are used in Balinese dances, but McPhee transformed his work by using elements from diverse sources. McPhee re-created the gamelan orchestra and Tabuh-Tabuhan used varied metric and rhythmic forms as was common Balinese music. While Tabuh-Tabuhan targeted the Western symphony orchestra, McPhee enlarged the percussion section Balinese music was and is associated with percussive instrumentation, but McPhee believed that the music was absolute as there was no ...