What are the characteristics of gamelan music

All gongs are made of bronze, are round with a hollow interior and are hit with soft mallets in the raised central section known as the boss. The timbre produced from the gongs depends on the size of the gong. The bass gongs are named Gong Wadon and Gong Lanang, both measuring approximately one meter in size, with slightly different pitches. These gongs have a powerful, warm and mellow sound that are struck and let resonate freely. The middle voice gongs are named Kempur and Bheri and are a downsized version of the bass gongs, however they act as the bass gong in smaller ensembles. The Bheri subdivides between Kempurs in a syncopated pattern. The treble gong is named Klintong, and is a high pitched gong producing a piercing sound. Reong, Trompong, Kempli and Kajar are all additionally single horizontal and hand held gongs. The Reong uses twelve bronze gongs suspended on a wooden frame, played by two pairs of musicians each with an designated number of gongs. Similarly, the Trompong uses ten bronze gongs on a wooden frame, played by one player only. The Trompong is generally featured as a solo instrument and plays melodic lines of the higher register. In addition, the ability to play more than one gong at one time allows the Trompong to produce chord like sounds. The Kajar and Kempli both fulfil similar roles within the orchestra as they act solely to keep the beat. The gongs are held on the lap of the musician, and can produce two different pitches; one a hollow metallic sound and the other a pitched metallic sound (e-learning, 2015)(Bali Beyond, 2014).

The membranophone in Balinese gamelan is named the Kendang. The Kendang is a cylindrical, two-headed wooden drum, held on the lap of a seated performer. The Kendeng is played by either placing an open hand on either side of the drum, or using one open hand on the left hand side, and a mallet on the right hand side. The two streams of the melody are played by the Kendeng; the higher pitch called the Lanang, and the lower pitch called the Wadon (e-learning, 2015).

The Suling is the bamboo flute and aerophone of gamelan. Suling are high pitched, and range over two octaves while using a wide range of vibrato and often bending notes of each scale. Gamelan performers who play the Suling must be able to circular breathe to ensure they can sound  continuously without interruption. The Suling performers may range from a single solo performer to a small group, dependent on the orchestra size (Bali Beyond, 2014). It must also be noted that male choruses and female solo vocalists are common within the Balinese gamelan. Vocalists are commonly evident at entertainment performances and compliment the orchestra itself.

The Rebab is a bowed string which makes up the chordophone of the Balinese orchestra. Its use is optional and generally appears for special performances only. The body of the Rebab is a coconut shell, equipped with goat skin to produce a resonating chamber. The Rebab’s timbre plays an ornamented version of the melody using vibrato and bent notes. As mentioned, all instruments in the gamelan play together as an orchestra and gamelan performers are considered to be highly-skilled. Each gamelan has a different combination of instruments and can be performed for a variety of purposes (e-learning, 2015)(Bali Beyond, 2014).

The Balinese gamelan is well known for its interlocking rhythmic patterns which are characterised by many short melodies coming together to form a whole. Colotomic structure is the term referring to instruments playing patterns of notes marking certain periods of time. Colotomic structure is the fundamental structure to Balinese music and is presented using cipher notation, which indicates the beats of each cycle that each individual must play. These patterns are cyclic and are played by the bass gongs, kempali and kajar, and the high pitched gongs. Each piece is made up of many cycles and each cycle may endure short or long durations. All the structures in gamelan music are directed towards the last note of a structure, which is the most important.

Generally, most Balinese compositions are written in simple meter where the strong beats fall on the second and fourth beats of each bar, rather than on the first and third beats of each bar like in most Western music. The gongs hold the role of marking structural points within music, and therefore only play notes with longer values such as minims or semibreves. Traditionally, in a sixteen measured cycle; the small gong will strike once every odd-numbered measure, the middle gong will strike every fourth, eighth, twelfth, and sixteenth measure, and the large gongs; Gong Wadon and Gong Lanang, will strike only on the sixteenth measure to symbolise the end of the cycle

Metallophones are constructed with a pelawah case, keys and bamboo resonators. Each metallophone has an individual name reflecting their size and pitch. Ugal, Gangsa Pemade, Gangsa Kantilan, Calung, Jegogan, and the Gender Rambat make up the metallophones in the gamelan orchestra. The Ugal is a low-register singularly played instrument with ten keys, stuck using a wooden panggul. The Ugal acts as an important melodic instrument and leads the gamelan through tempo and dynamic changes. The Gangsa Pemade and Gangsa Kantilan both also have ten keys, and are played as a paired instrument in the middle register. The Calung and Jegogan have five keys, and are played with larger padded panggul’s allowing the sound to resonate. They are generally both played as pairs and are played on every second and fourth beat, respectively. The Gender Rambat has fourteen keys, and is played with two panggul’s with soft end to create a softer timbre than other metallophones. The Gender may play melodic line or the kotekan, which is the fast, supporting interlocking harmonies (e-learning, 2015)(Bali Beyond, 2014). Once each key has been struck on a metallophone, the note must be dampened. This occurs by the player playing their thumb on the previously played note, as they hit a new note. This technique is similar to the one used in Western cultures, and is essential within the performance of the metallophone (e-learning, 2015)(Bali Beyond, 2014).

Within gamelan, two different tuning systems are used and as the tuning systems vary between gamelan orchestras, no two orchestras will sound the same. The first system is named the pelog scale which is a scale divided into seven unequal intervals with relatively small distances between them. The pelog scale is the least common of the pair, and is only used in some Balinese orchestras as many of the instruments are no longer made to have seven note intervals. The second system created is a five note form of pelog, titled slendro, with three modes labelled selisir, tembug and sunaren. Each mode is related to particular moods, times of day, and symbolism. The selsir modal notes are named; ding, dong, deng, dung and dang. The tembung and sunaren notes are named; dung, dang, ding, dong and deng. To create this five note scale for the selsir mode, the original fourth and seventh notes were replaced with a larger interval between the remaining notes, similar to a pentatonic scale. The closest notes to the selisir in Western music are C sharp, D, E, G sharp, A and C sharp. For the tembung mode, the third and seventh notes were taken out of the scale, and for the sunaren mode, the first and forth notes were taken out of the scale. When any of these notes are hit by a gamelan instrument, a sound wave is produced that travels through the air. As most Balinese gamelan instruments are played as a pair, a busy and shimmering timbre is created. This effect is carefully created and controlled by the performer to create distinctive ‘acoustic beating’ (e-learning, 2015). The beating is also called ombak, which symbolises the sound waves developed.