Annotated Bibliography

Agawu, Kofi. “Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions.” Routledge, 2003, pp. 55-259.

In this scholarly book, Agawu addresses a common conception regarding African rhythm in a critical respect, particularly within the context of Western academia. To show how colonial settings influenced these perceptions, he presents the historical development of ‘African rhythm’ as a mainly encoded and exoticized concept of African music. He uncovers the bias in analyzing African music conducted by academics, a key reason why it must feature in postcolonial discourse. This work is necessary to shed light on how cyclical and temporal conceptions outside of Western convention imposed external rhythmic perceptions on Javanese gamelan and similar forms of non-Western music.

Bonus, Alexander E. “Maelzel, the Metronome, and the Modern Mechanics of Musical Time.” Oxford University Press EBooks, Oxford University Press, Dec. 2021, pp. 303–40, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190947279.013.16.

This chapter examines the cultural and historical relevance of Johann Maelzel’s metronome, a tool that has greatly influenced how people perceive rhythm and time in music today. Bonus looks at how Maelzel’s creation promoted mechanical accuracy and uniformity in musical performance, reflecting and impacting the values of the Industrial Age. The article highlights the differences between the more flexible, cyclical conceptions of time in traditional music, such as Javanese gamelan, and the strict, linear time measurement. It can offer a critical viewpoint on how non-Western musical traditions differ from Western temporal frameworks and how these differences have influenced them.

Brett, Thomas. “Virtual Drumming.” The Cambridge Companion to Percussion, Mar. 2016, pp. 82–94, https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781316145074.007.

This chapter overviews the development of electronic percussion from its beginnings in the 1930s to modern times. Brett looks at the historical development of rhythm machines and electronic drums, how these technologies have shaped music, and how they impose control and sanctions time. By utilizing a more profound understanding of rhythmicality and the two subcategories Brett examined in the interplay between rhythm, technology, and the human experience of time, one might get a helpful perspective on how mechanization and repetition in music can lead to different temporal conceptions. Comprehending how the cyclical timing systems of Javanese gamelan reflect cultural notions of time may be aided by reading the paper’s examination of how electronic percussion prompts artists to consider time, especially the difference between machine and human timing.

Cameron, Daniel, and Jessica Grahn. “Perception of Rhythm.” The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm, Cambridge University Press, Sept. 2020, pp. 20–38, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631730.004.

In this book chapter, the author discusses the general concepts of rhythm perception in cognition and neuroscience studies. As much as this book does not explicitly deal with Javanese music, it is pretty helpful in relating the cultural experience to the perception of rhythm. The authors describe how different cultures perceive metric structures similarly, directly relating to how the Javanese listeners perceive colotomic structures in gamelan music. The chapter also addresses how musical training influences the perception of rhythm, which might be helpful when considering how Javanese musicians process cyclical patterns. In sum, this source provides some general knowledge on the cognitive aspects of rhythm perception within different cultures. It can help situate more detailed studies of Javanese auditory perception of music.

Green, Barry. The Mastery of Music: Ten Pathways to True Artistry. Broadway Books, 2005.

Green demonstrates how ten distinct attributes of the human spirit and soul—such as self-assurance, passion, discipline, inventiveness, and relaxed focus—are necessary for mastering the kind of musical excellence displayed by true virtuosos. He also goes over concrete methods that any musician, composer, or conductor can use to advance their craft. His invigorating talks, in which he skillfully integrates every instrument and technique, inspire both the overly-rehearsed performer and the inhibited student to rediscover the thrill of impassioned expression.

Kippen, James. “Rhythmic Thought and Practice in the Indian Subcontinent.” The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm, Sept. 2020, pp. 241–60, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108631730.020.

In this chapter, Kippen presents a detailed analysis of the rhythmic patterns in the Indian subcontinent with a particular reference to the concept of tala, which is quite distinct from the Western hierarchy of small and large measures. He explains how tala serves as a context of musical production, especially in the arts of Hindustani and Karnatak, in which non-hierarchical beats such as claps, waves, and finger counts create a cycle of time. Kippen also points out the corporeality of tala and how it structures improvisation and creativity in music. Overall, this work will be useful for analyzing cyclic perceptions of time in different forms of musical culture and developing a comparative analysis of Javanese gamelan’s colotomic organization. Tala’s examination of cyclicality and its auditory and physical manifestations makes it an invaluable tool for investigating comparable structures in Javanese music.

McGraw, Andrew Clay. “Different Temporalities: The Time of Balinese Gamelan.” Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. 40, 2008, pp. 136–62, www.jstor.org/stable/20465071.

The article examines the differences in temporality and how Western music and Balinese gamelan music perceive time. It explains how Western analysis of Balinese music has ignored flexible components of tempo and dynamics in favor of notation-based elements like pitch and rhythm. This will be an important piece to understand cyclical views of time in order to write a well-researched, comprehensive piece on the subject.

Nederlanden, Christina M., et al. “Neural Basis of Rhythm Perception.” The Oxford Handbook of Music and the Brain, 2018, pp. 164-186.

This chapter provides the reader with a broad understanding of neurobiological mechanisms underlying rhythm perception. The authors further explain how the human brain interprets rhythmic structures and differentiates between beat-based and non-beat-based rhythms. They outline specific relevant areas of the brain, including basal ganglia and supplementary motor area, that are exercised during the process of perceiving rhythm. This source is useful, especially for researching how rhythmical patterns are recognized and processed by human cognition and the brain and can be applied to compare how Javanese gamelan music might be perceived in terms of cyclical time in light of colotomy. The chapter is especially relevant for investigating the cognitive foundations of rhythmic cycles in music because of its insights into how rhythm affects motor responses.

Stone, Ruth M. Music in West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture – Chapter 5 Time and Polyrhythm. Oxford University Press, 2005.

The topic of process is expanded upon in this chapter of the book Music in West Africa by talking about rhythmic patterns called time lines. Here we see a hint of what an African rhythm study could look like if it used a really comparative perspective. The chapter explains the connection between music and nature, as well as how noises can create musical patterns. Understanding musical patterns and, consequently, the framework of Central Javanese gamelan music may be aided by this chapter.

Wunderlich, Filipa Matos. “Place-Temporality and Urban Place-Rhythms in Urban Analysis and Design: An Aesthetic Akin to Music.” Journal of Urban Design, vol. 18, no. 3, May 2013, pp. 383–408, https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2013.772882.

In his study of urban rhythms, Wunderlich focuses on how movement patterns, cyclical environmental phenomena, and social interactions all contribute to the feeling of place-temporality. Comparing their approach to the theory of music, Wunderlich pointed out the existence of a temporal aesthetic in urban environments based on rhythm, tonality, and performance of time. This article presents a theoretical model for studying rhythm in urban environments, making it especially helpful for learning time nonlinearly and cyclically. This framework is beneficial when analyzing the colotomic structures in Javanese gamelan, as cyclical rhythms are essential to music’s temporal organization and personal and cultural perceptions of time.