A New Gamelan

Music of Indonesia had "haunted" Lou Harrison from an early age, to the point where he went to Asia to study it. Upon his return, he decided to design and make Asian instruments using Western materials. With the help of Bill Colvig, they made two gamelans, (actually one that plays in two modes), out of steel and aluminum tubes as well as slabs of aluminum. The gamelan was then tuned to two separate modes of intonation: "U" mode (pentatonic scale), and "Gamelan 711", which includes prime numbers 7 and 11 of the overtone series. Lou Harrison explains "just intonation" and "just tuning" with examples heard on a new gamelan designed and built by himself with Bill Colvig. The gamelan consists of xylophone-like arrays of conduit pipe which can be played by as many as seven players at one time. Included are several prerecorded improvisations by a full complement of musicians.