Gamelan
What is gamelan?
Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian instrumental
ensemble made up of mainly
percussion instruments: gongs, metallophones,
xylophones, drums, cymbals.
Where does gamelan come from?
Gamelan comes from Indonesia.
There are two main styles; Balinese
(from Bali) and Javanese (from Java)
What does it sound like?
Listen to the following examples of gamelan music.
Some European composers have been 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
C
D
E
A
B
C
D
The seven-note gamelan scale is called 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
there are bamboo pipes which resonate, making the sound
richer.
Gongs
Gongs are made of bronze or iron. They are struck on
the central bump, called peñcu.
The Bonang are instruments
with two rows of gongs
resting on cords across a
wooden frame.
The biggest hanging gong is called the Gong Ageng. It
usually plays on the last beat of the rhythmic cycle.
Kempul are smaller hanging gongs.
The Kenong and Ketuk are gongs which rest
horizontally on cords stretched across a wooden box.
The Suling is a bamboo
wind instrument, which
you blow through the end
The Rebab is a two
stringed fiddle
The bigger drum is the Kendang
Gending and the smaller one is called the
Ketipung.
They are 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.
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
Inter. 1
Inter. 2
Core
Mel
Alto/Te
n.
Bass
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8