Gamelan

What is gamelan? Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian instrumental ensemble made up of mainly percussion instruments: gongs, metallophones, xylophones, drums, cymbals, flutes.

Where does gamelan come from? Gamelan comes from Indonesia There are two main styles; Balinese (from Bali) and Javenese (from Java)

Listen to the following examples of gamelan music. What does it sound like? Listen to the following examples of gamelan music. Some western composers have been heavily influenced by gamelan music. Its influences can be especially seen in minimalism which shares many of the same features – repetition, cyclic rhythms, loops etc

The Slendro Scale C D E G A The five-note Gamelan scale is called the Slendro. Gamelan notes don’t exactly match Western scales but the slendro is roughly equivalent to the notes of the major pentatonic scale on C – C,D,E,G,A

The Pelog Scale The seven-note gamelan scale is called the Pelog. C D E A B C D The seven-note gamelan scale is called the Pelog. To get an idea of what the pelog scale sounds like, play the notes E,F,G,A,B,C,D on a keyboard. Most sets of gamelan are tuned either to the slendro or to the pelog scale. Others are tuned to both – these are called double gamelan.

Instruments with keys The keys of an instrument can be bronze, iron, wood or bamboo. They are arranged in a xylophone-like manner, always horizontally. The player faces the long side of the instrument.

The Gambang is a xylophone with wooden bars

The Gender has narrow keys made of bronze. Below the keys thee are bamboo pipes which resonate with the sound, making it sound bigger and richer.

Gongs Gongs are in bronze or iron. They always have a central knob (peñcu).

The Bonang family are instruments with two rows of gongs resting on cords across a wooden frame.

The biggest hanging gong is called the Gong Ageng The biggest hanging gong is called the Gong Ageng. It usually plays on the last beat of the rhythmic cycle.

The Kempul is a smaller hanging gong.

The Kenong and Ketuk are gongs which rest horizontally on cords stretched across a wooden box.

The Rebab is a two stringed fiddle The Suling is a bamboo wind instrument, like a flute but you blow through the end, not over the side The Rebab is a two stringed fiddle

The bigger drum is the Kendang Gending and the smaller one is called the Ketipung. They’re cone-shaped with two drum skins, one larger and one smaller. They’re played resting sideways, so the drummer can play one skin with each hand.

Beats 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Inter. 1 Inter. 2 Core Mel Alto/Ten. Bass In groups compose a Balinese-style piece that consists of the following layers: 1 – an 8 or 16 note core melody which uses the notes of the slendro scale, and moves in even crotchets. 2 – an alto/tenor part which only plays notes 1,3,5 and 7 (and 9,11,13,15) 3 – a bass part which only plays notes 1 and 5 (and 9 and 13) 4 - a two-part interlocking melody of 8 beats Beats 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Inter. 1 Inter. 2 Core Mel Alto/Ten. Bass