Discuss the tuning and scale system of traditional Javanese music, including how the Javanese system differs from the Western scale system

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• In the Western system, the octave is divided into twelve equal half steps. The Western scale system uses a "tempered" scale which makes every half-step sound exactly the same musical distance apart. The Western scale is also standardized so that the A above middle C is always exactly 440 c.p.s. All musicians in the Western music-culture have to tune their instruments to this fixed standard in order to play in tune with each other in various musical ensembles.
• In traditional Javanese gamelan ensembles, the instruments are all carefully tuned to each other within a particular ensemble, but are not necessarily in tune with instruments from other gamelan ensembles.
• The octave in the Javanese scale system is either divided equally into five tones (sléndro) or divided into a seven-toned scale of unequal intervals (pélog). Neither of these scale systems matches the tones of the Western scale system.

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