Balinese discourses on music: Musical modernization in the ideas and practices of shadow play performers from Sukawati, and the Indonesian College of the Arts

While many Western scholars have discussed the technical aspects of Balinese music, or the traditional contexts for performance, little has been written in Western languages about Balinese discourses on their music. This dissertation examines the human reality and experience of music in Bali through an analysis of oral and written Balinese discourses on music, mainly by musicians and dalangs (shadow play puppeteers) from the village of Sukawati---renowned for the shadow play tradition---and scholars, teachers, administrators, and students from the Indonesian College of the Arts (STSI) in the city of Denpasar. These two areas provide a useful contrast between the musical thought of a traditional village and that of an urban, modern college. At the same time, these discourses interrelate since many of the Sukawati performers are faculty or students at the college.; This dissertation intertwines different strands of discourse in order to explore the effects of modernization on the study and performance of Balinese music. In particular, I explore changes in performance practice and audience response; modern arts education and its emphasis on research, scholarship, and theory in institutional learning; the ongoing importance of prayer and taksu (divine inspiration) to performance; the social and economic role of Balinese arts in Indonesia's cultural policy; and, the political function of Balinese arts for cultural diplomacy.; The material I have used is derived from lengthy discussions I had with Balinese musicians, shadow puppeteers, and scholars, and close readings of Balinese texts on music, gathered during periods of field study and archival work in Bali in 1990, 94, and particularly in 1996. In addition, my previous musical studies of gender wayang in Bali in 1985, 86, and 88 laid the musical groundwork for this study.; A concentration on Balinese discourses enables individual performers and scholars to represent themselves to a greater extent than previously seen in ethnomusicological scholarship, making this study more of a critical discussion among equals than a Western interpretation of "others." This approach permits a rare view into contemporary Balinese conceptions and practices of music.