Gamelan Pacifica is an American musical ensemble, as well as a non-profit music and dance foundation that focuses on cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. Formed as a community group in 1980, the group plays the gamelan, and is as of 2022 ensemble in residence at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. The ensemble is directed by Jarrad Powell.[1][2][3]

Their instruments were built by composer and instrument builder Daniel Schmidt using aluminum. The American gamelan is a Javanese-style iron and bronze double gamelan (in pelog and slendro).[citation needed]

The ensemble's repertoire is traditional, with a focus on Central Javanese style; also modern and contemporary compositions from within the international gamelan repertoire. Their album Nourishment contains an arrangement of Philip Glass's Glassworks (1982) opening movement; Lou Harrison's Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Javanese Gamelan (1982); pieces by three other composers; and traditional pieces.[citation needed] They have performed a just 11-limit tuning pelog scale using harmonics 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15, used in the first movement of Lou Harrison's Scenes from Cavafy (1980), while the second movement uses a slendro based on the 7-limit intervals 8/7 and 7/6.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Profile". Gamelan Pacifica. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Benary, Barbara; Jody Diamond; Richard North; Marc Hoffman. "Gamelan Groups in the USA". American Gamelan Institute. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  3. ^ Diamond, Jody; Benary, Barbara (2001). ""Indonesian music," In The United States and Canada.". In Koskoff, Ellen (ed.). The Garland Encyclopedia Of World Music and Dance. Vol. 3. pp. 1011–1033.
  4. ^ (2010). "Liner Notes", Scenes from Cavafy: Music for Gamelan album, p.5-6.
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