Week 3: Balinese Gamelan Ensemble

By watching the 2 videos, the importance of the context of the musical performance really stands out. If you just listen to the music, both performances were quite similar; but once you watch the video, they become more different. Although both performances were done in a quite intimate setting, the "Ratna Ayu" one had a much more official feel due to the stage and the lighting set-up. The music in both gradually increase in intensity, but I felt the first setting was more dramatic. The dancing and the costumes gave the music a different feel. The dancers drew away the audience's visual focus and made the music as supplement. Whereas in the second clip, the focus was more on the actual music being played since all the musicians were dressed in plain white and there were no dancers.

In the "Gamelan Bali Nyepi" clip, the performance was more relaxing since it was performed within the community and outside. Although the rhythm seem more strict, like it had a marching beat, I felt that the overall mood of the music was more relaxed than the "Ratna Ayu" piece. I noticed that all the performers that were visible in the "Gamelan Bali Nyepi" video were male. Were their female performers that just got missed by the camera angle? Or is it suppose to be an all male ensemble? Did the fact that it was all male have any influence on the piece of music they performed?