Editing Gamelan (section)

===Kepatihan===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een rebabspeler TMnr 60052115.jpg|thumb|upright|[[K.P.H. Notoprojo]], a famous Indonesian [[Javanese people|Javanese]] Gamelan and [[Rebab]] player, between 1945 and 1955]]
Gamelan music is traditionally not notated and began as an [[oral tradition]]. In the 19th century, however, the kraton (palaces) of [[Yogyakarta]] and [[Surakarta]] developed distinct notations for transcribing the repertoire. These were not used to read the music, which was memorized, but to preserve pieces in the court records. The Yogyanese notation is a checkerboard notation, which uses six or seven vertical lines to represent notes of higher pitch in the [[balungan]] (melodic framework), and horizontal lines which represent the series of beats, read downward with time. The fourth vertical line and every fourth horizontal line (completing a ''[[gatra (music)|gatra]]'') are darkened for legibility. Symbols on the left indicate the [[colotomy|colotomic or metric structure]] of gongs and so forth, while specific drum features are notated in symbols to the right. The Solonese notation reads horizontally, like Western notation, but does not use barlines. Instead, note values and rests are squiggled between the notes.<ref>Lindsay, Jennifer. ''Javanese Gamelan''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. Pp. 27–28. {{ISBN|0-19-580413-9}}</ref>

Today this notation is relatively rare, and has been replaced by [[kepatihan notation]], which is based on the [[Galin-Paris-Chevé system]]. Kepatihan notation developed around 1900 at the [[kepatihan]] Palace in Surakarta, which had become a high-school conservatory. The pitches are numbered (see the articles on the scales ''[[slendro]]'' and ''[[pélog]]'' for an explanation of how), and are read across with dots below or above the numbers indicating the register, and lines above notes showing time values; In vocal notation, there are also brackets under groups of notes to indicate melisma. Like the palace notation, however, Kepatihan records mostly the ''balungan'' part and its metric phrases as marked by a variety of gongs. The other parts are created in real time, and depend on the knowledge each musician has of his instrument, and his awareness of what others are playing; this "realization" is sometimes called "garap." Some teachers have also devised certain notations, generally using kepatihan principles, for the ''[[cengkok]]'' (melodic patterns) of the [[elaborating instruments]]. Some ethnomusicologists, trained in European music, may make transcriptions onto a Western staff. This entails particular challenges of tuning and time, sometimes resulting in unusual [[clef]]s.<ref>For example, in Sorrell, Neil. ''A Guide to the Gamelan''. United Kingdom: Faber and Faber, 1990.</ref>