3. Gongs and others
n Around the sarons other larger metal and wood
percussion instruments add bass sounds below,
and an elaboration of the melody above. A
distinctive feature of gamelan music is the very
large gongs that punctuate the music and give it
structure. As well as the percussion instruments
are a range of others – suling flute, a bowed rebab
(two-stringed fiddle) zither (siter) and drums
(kendhang) that add further spice to the music.
4. Karawitan
n Javanese traditional music (karawitan) is highly
spiritual and the gamelan itself has mystic
religious qualities. It is held in high reverence
and each gamelan is a unique entity with its own
qualities and strengths. The Bath Spa University
College’s gamelan is named Sumekar. Gamelan
Sumekar comes from the Central Java area
around the ancient city of Jogja, and is made
from bronze and wood.
5. How it is used
n In Java the gamelan is very often used in combination
with traditional dances as part of a wayang kulit –
shadow play using ornate puppets manipulated by a
Dhalang – a traditional puppeteer. Their performances
uses a mixture of allusion, allegory, poetry and prose,
and is always related to the Hindu religious epics, the
Mahabharata and Ramayana. It is from the wayang
that many of the pieces and songs that form the basis
of the gamelan repertory. Alternatively the music can
be used to accompany Javanese dance, or may be
performer on its own, in which case it often features
singers.
n Film
6. Loud and Soft Styles
n This gamelan tradition is many hundreds of years old. It
is thought that two basic types of ensemble developed
in the Javanese royal courts - the “loud-style” ensemble
for outdoor use, and the “soft-style” ensemble for
indoor use. Since about the 17th century the
instruments of these two types have been combined
into one “complete” gamelan.
n When we start to learn to play gamelan, we begin on
the loud-style ensemble. Gradually players progress to
the soft-style instruments.
7. Gamelan concept outside Java
n The Gamelan concept is not only found in Java
but also Bali and other Indonesian islands. The
Central Javanese tradition has both slendro and
pelog tunings and plays generally slow, dignified
and gentle music, played indoors in reverberant
pavilions. Slendro is a 5-note scale, roughly
dividing the octave into five equal spacings.
Pelog is a 7-note scale with more varied
spacings. On a double gamelan there is usually a
note common to both tunings. The Bath Spa
gamelan has only slendro.
9. Bali
n In Bali the instruments themselves are
rather different and as well as a slow
style like Javanese music, they have a
‘new’ style characterised by great
exuberance, dramatic stops and starts,
dynamic contrasts, rhythmic complexity
and overt group virtuosity. The new
style uses a 5-note version of pelog.
10. Balungan
n In Javanese Karawitan the Balungan is the
skeleton melody forming the frame of a piece.
Other parts are derived from it. In fact it may
be played in its simplist form by no-one – but is
followed in everyone’s head. The speeds at
which instruments are played are governed by
the irama (tempo relationships, e.g. sounding of
the balungan at half or twice the previous speed).
11. Instrument Types
n The main groups of instruments are:
n Wilah tuned barred instruments (e.g. metal
xylophones)
n Pencon tuned knobbed instruments (e.g.
gongs)
n Suling tuned bamboo end-blown flute
n Rebab tuned 2-string fiddle
n Siter tuned stringed zither
n Kendhang drums
12. Notation
n Gamelan music is an aural tradition. However, notation
is now used for teaching purposes and for preserving
and publishing repertory. Usually just the core melody
is written down, together with a few additional symbols
and annotations.
n Notation developed in Java in the 19th century and
various methods existed. Today the most commonly
used system is the numerical one used here.
13. Slendro and Pelog
n It is much better to learn this form of notation than to
try and use or adapt Western staff notation, since the
tuning systems of the gamelan (slendro and pelog) do not
correspond to the notes of the Western tempered scale,
and the very concept of tuning itself is quite different.
n The five fixed tones of the slendro tuning are numbered
in ascending order of pitch -
n 12356
n The seven fixed tones of the pelog tuning are numbered
in ascending order of pitch 1234567
14. Core Melody Instruments
n Stretched across the centre of the gamelan is the
group of instruments one of whose main
functions is to play the core melody. These are
the instruments of the Saran family, plus the
slentem.
15. Sarons
n A saron is a metallophone with thick bronze bars pegged over a
trough resonator which is carved from a single block of wood.
n There are three different sizes of saran:
n (i) saron demung The lowest pitched; usually just called dermung.
n (ii) saron bonung Pitched an octave above the demung, and
slightly smaller:
n usually just called saron.
n saron penerus (sometimes called peking) Pitched an octave above
the Saron barung; the smallest, and highest-pitched member of the
family.
n The demung and saron barung are played with wooden mallets. The
saron penerus uses a smaller and harder mallet made from buffalo
horn, producing a very bright sound.
16. Structure Instruments
n These are placed at the back of the gamelan and
consist of two types of tuned gong -hanging
gongs and sitting gongs.
n Hanging gongs
n The hanging gongs are suspended by thick cords
from the crossbar of a large wooden frame.
They are played by striking the central
protruding boss using a soft padded beater.
17. Gongs – Underlying Structure
n (i) GONG ageng - This is the largest (about a metre in
diameter) and deepest in pitch. A good quality GONG
ageng will have a noticeable vibrato in its voice. The
GONG ageng is the most respected instrument (those in
some of the ancient gamelans of the Javanese Royal
Courts are honoured with offerings). A normal-sized
gamelan would have one GONG ageng.
n (ii) GONG suwukan - Smaller than the GONG ageng
and with a more clearly defined pitch. Most gamelans
have two or three.
n (iii) Kempul - Smaller and higher-pitched than the
GONG suwukan. A normal gamelan would have about
six.
18. Sitting Gongs
n These are made in the same way as the hanging gongs
but tend to have deeper sides. They sit on top of cords
which are stretched on wooden box frames.
n Sitting gongs are played by striking the protruding boss.
The sticks used are softened by being wound with thick
cord. The sound is damped by pressing the stick
noiselessly down onto the boss to stop it vibrating.
19. Sitting Gongs
n i) kenong
n A set of large sitting gongs on frames arranged around the
player. There is one gong for every note of the slendro and pelog
scales, although smaller gamelans may have fewer.
n (ii) Ketuk
n A small squat low-pitched gong on its own box. The beater is
allowed to fall back onto the boss after strildng, producing the
characteristic dull sound.
n (iii) Kempyang
n A small high-pitched gong on its own box.
n The ketuk and kemp yang are always played by the same musician.
The kenong player may also play the ketuk/kempyang if only one
musician is available
20. Elaborating Instruments
n At the front of the gamelan are the instruments
which fill-in and elaborate the core melody. The
elaborating instruments of the loud-style are the
bonangs of which there are two in each tuning -
the bonang barung and the slightly smaller bonang
penerus which is pitched one octave higher.
21. Bonangs
n The bonang has a two-octave range, and its small
gongs are arranged in two parallel rows, sitting
on cords stretched over a wooden bed-like
frame. The player uses two cord-wound sticks,
one in each hand, and the gongs are struck on
the boss. The layout of the gongs on the
bonangs is most ingenious and designed access
for the player.
22. Kendang - Drummer
n The rhythmic leader of the gamelan, placed in the centre, is the
drummer.
n Three kinds of drum (kendang) are in common use:
n 1. kendang ageng - large drum (also called kendang gending)
n 2. kendang ketipung - small drum
n 3. kendang ciblon - medium-sized drum
n The first two are often used as a pair, the small drum resting in
the player’s lap.
n All the drums are double-headed, having wooden bodies and
skin drumheads which are tensioned using a system of leather
straps and sliders.
n Beaters are not used, the p layer using both hands to produce a
variety of different sounds.
23. Melodic Leader
n In addition to a rhythmic leader, the gamelan
also has a melodic leader. In the case of the
loud-style ensemble this is the bonang barung in
the case of the soft-style ensemble, and of the
full ensemble, the rebab (see below) takes the
lead.
24. Soft Style Instruments
n At the front of the gamelan. on the
opposite side to the bonangs, are the soft-
style elaborating instruments. These are
technically the most difficult to play,
requiring a high degree of musicianship
and experience.
25. Rebab
n The rebab is a bowed two-string fiddle using an
underhand-style bow which is tensioned with
the fingers. There are no frets or even a finger-
board, so the stopping of the strings can be very
flexible, enabling the player to move freely in
between the fixed pitches of the gamelan scales,
and capable of expressive effects such as
portamento and vibrato. The playing style is very
lyrical, closely related to vocal music and highly
ornamented.
26. Gender
n We have already encountered a member of the gender
family in the slentem. The gender barung has 14 thin
bronze bars suspended by cord over individual
resonator tubes.
n The player uses 2 padded disc beaters, one in each hand
- the simultaneous playing and damping of the
preceding note requiring great skill and coordination.
The gender barung has a range of two and a half octaves;
the smaller gender penerus is similar but pitched an octave
higher.
27. Gambang
n The gambang is a four-octave xylophone with the
wooden bars sitting over a box resonator and
played with two small padded discs, each at the
end of a long flexible stick made from buffalo
horn. These slicks enable the fast reiteration of
notes which is so characteristic of gambang
playing, and which compensates for the almost
instantaneous decay of the sound.
28. Celempung, Sitar, Suling
n The celempung is a zither with 13 or 14 double strings
plucked with the thumbnails. More common than the
celempung. and valued for its portability is a smaller,
plainer version of it called the siter.
n The suling is a simple end-blown bamboo flute. Two
instruments are required, one with four finger-holes for
slendro and one with five finger-holes for pelog.
29. Voices
n Voices play an important part in much of the repertoire
of Javanese gamelan music, and are usually present in
two forms:
n 1. The pesinden - a single female vocalist
n The gerongan - a male chorus of 4 or more singers
n The vocal parts are not soloistic in any way, but just
additional strands in the musical texture.
n The singers usually sit at the front of the gamelan in the
centre.
30. The System
n We have seen how the layout of the gamelan reflects four main
functions in the music: (A) core melody, (B) underlying structure,
(C) elaboration and (D) leadership. (This is very much an over-
simplification, but helps us to understand the music system.)
n The feature that makes one gamelan piece different from another
is its core melody.
n At the moment of performance this melody is “realized” into a
complex polyphonic texture by the musicians. This requires
interpretative and creative decisions to be made by all the
members of the group. For this to happen all the musicians must
learn the basic principles and norms of the music system.
31. Wilujeng
n Full analysis and discussion with transcription is available in Neil
Sorrell, A Guide to the Gamelan (London, 1990), 78-120.
n There is a copy permanently available in the library – it cannot be
taken out
Playing notation on sheet.
Review of Colotomic structure of Lancaran and Ladrang forms.
Colotomy is idea of cycle in which instruments are played
according to their pitch and function. At the centre is the
balungan played by the main melody instruments – the melody is
punctuated by the lower pitched gongs – the higher pitched
elaborating instrument then weave more complicated melodic
and rhythmic patterns over the structure. The whole creates a
hugely complicated web of sound which all relates to the core
melody.
32. Colotomic Structure
n Colotomy is idea of cycle in which instruments
are played according to their pitch and function.
At the centre is the balungan played by the main
melody instruments – the melody is punctuated
by the lower pitched gongs – the higher pitched
elaborating instrument then weave more
complicated melodic and rhythmic patterns over
the structure. The whole creates a hugely
complicated web of sound which all relates to
the core melody.
33. Last Thoughts
n In such a system the student of music is not concerned with
learning many different “original compositions” as in Western
orchestral music. The student’s objective is to learn the process.
i.e. how a piece is realized both in terms of (a) what each
individual instrument plays in relation to the core melody, and
(b) how the piece as a whole is interpreted in terms of tempo,
dynamics, number of repetitions etc.
n In traditional gamelan music there are only a small number of
fixed forms (such as iancaran. the one you learned at the
workshop). This means that once the realization process for a
particular form has been learned, it can then be applied to any
piece (i.e. core melody) in that form,
