Viewing page 20 of 66

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

cymbals and kettledrum-like instruments called tromping
this takes place in the small forges and is performed piecemeal but at a more or less steady pace by from 3 to 6 men working together
for this activity the metal is first melted down in the forge by the use of a piston bellows, thenm poured into an earthen mold set in theground, cooled, hammered into shape by alternate heating and anvil pounding, and then finally finished and tuned by various techniques of filing and polishing, the whole process usually taking several weeks to complete
the second activity is the pounding of the very large gongs; it is performed in one all-out effort by 15 to 20 men working at fever pitch
after the melting and molding the pounding of the large gong takes a full day of constant work, and then the gong, which does not have to be filed and polished, is finished
six men stand in a half circle around the anvil and pound the gong steadily in rapid succession as it is turned by a seventh man, and every 2 or 3 minutes, tempered by an eighth
this procedure goes on without a moment's pause from daybreak until dusk, the various workers spelling one another as they tire;
both the modes of work and the amount of labor demanded thus differ fairly radically between the two sorts of effort:
in the first, small-scale steadily procedding, humdrum endeavor, makes up the bulk of the work; the males of the patrilineal extended family, whether living in one courtyard or several, compose the work group
in the second, large-scale, all-at-once, more dramatic effort, the whole kin group is mobilized ((?))
when a craftsman securwes a contract either for a whole gamelan orm, more commonly, to replace a few worn-out instrumetns within an existing gamelon, he calls always upon his most immediate patri-kinsmen, and, without question, they set to work manufacturing the smaller pieces
with very rare exceptions, unrelated individuals never work together in these groups, not does a more distant relative participate when a closer one is available
[footnote: market relationships are, in general, as highly traditional as are methods of work
certain smith families make and repair gamelans for certain hamlets, others for others, and these relationships are enduring, passing from father to son
the fact that each smith family tunes its instruments slightly differently supports this process
the smith is often at least partially paid in kind (land, rice, etc.) or return services (such as housebuilding_ and sometimes occupies a special ritual role in the hamlet for which he makes the orchestra - e.g. he is obliged to attend the main temple ceremonies in which it is used]
acc. to Geertz, a careful plotting of the location of forges and the men who work in them shows an almost exact fit with the distribution of extended family clusters within the hamlet the workers are paid acc. to their skill, the exact division differing somewhat from group to group, and job to job

16