[.ca] Balinese Music (ISBN 9625931694)

Excellent introduction:
I am Balinese and live and play the gamelan in Bali and sell the instruments. I enjoyed this book very much - it's a very clear introduction to Balinese gamelan music, and can be read, with great interest, also by people who do not play the music, but just enjoy listening to it. It will certainly increase the pleasure. There are excellent drawings and photographs

Exactly what was so sorely needed for the subject:
Dr. Tenzer is not only a well known scholar, but also an expert player and composer in the Balinese gamelan idiom, and a founding member of America's fine ensemble, Sekar Jaya. He brings his wealth of skill, knowledge and experience to this work, an essential and absolute must-have item for both enthusiast and player alike. Over the course of nine chapters he covers everything from construction and tuning; to history; to the music's place in Balinese society: today, in the modern era. This up-to-date aspect is what I found to be so invaluable about "Balinese Music". Outside of actually going to visit the island, reading this book has got to be the next best thing, giving you a very palpable sense of gamelan's power and meaning in its native cultural climate. In addition to the text, Tenzer adds a very helpful glossary of terms, as well as an index of recommended recordings, both of Balinese productions, and of those from the West. I can't find anything in this book that isn't right on the money. Colin McPhee's masterwork may be the Bible of gamelan theory, but for practice, nobody has yet outdone Tenzer's work, and I recommend it highly to everyone interested in this subject.