Again, Keiler argues against this claim, saying the distortion of pitches becomes even greater for non-Western music. Bernstein claimed that the harmonic series can explain Javanese slendro music, since this is pentatonic scale-based. Keiler openly rejects this view, stating, “There is absolutely no relationship of intervallic content between this scale and the overtone series” (Keiler, 208). Not only do the exact pitches of the scale and the overtone series vary immensely, but the slendro scale is different between gamelans. With more of a melodic contour basis than exact pitch basis, Javanese slendro scale falls far outside of the harmonic series explanation. Keiler holds that claiming the harmonic series as a universal musical basis is just another example of Bernstein’s logical overreach, and furthermore, is simply a wrong
Again, Keiler argues against this claim, saying the distortion of pitches becomes even greater for non-Western music. Bernstein claimed that the harmonic series can explain Javanese slendro music, since this is pentatonic scale-based. Keiler openly rejects this view, stating, “There is absolutely no relationship of intervallic content between this scale and the overtone series” (Keiler, 208). Not only do the exact pitches of the scale and the overtone series vary immensely, but the slendro scale is different between gamelans. With more of a melodic contour basis than exact pitch basis, Javanese slendro scale falls far outside of the harmonic series explanation. Keiler holds that claiming the harmonic series as a universal musical basis is just another example of Bernstein’s logical overreach, and furthermore, is simply a wrong