Gamelan is An Ensemble from Some Islands of Indonesia

Gamelan (meaning orchestra) ensembles epitomize Indonesian music to much of the world. This distinctive composite of instruments probably took form through an ancient merging of male drums and gongs sets with string and wind instruments of female ensembles. At some point, men evidently took over the playing of most instruments. Bali and Java—the centers of gamelan—produce divergent styles of music. Gamelan elaborated through court cultures in Bali and Java—where instruments took on lavish forms. There are multiple styles of gamelan throughout these islands and discussion of each is impossible here.

Javanese music tends to be soft and sustained in subtle compositions, likened to a breeze across the senses by some. While relaxing and pleasurable, gamelan is exceedingly complex and abstract in its performance and for those trying to understand it. Elusiveness characterizes gamelan of Java, reflecting other aspects of its culture—such as social interaction, stories, and arts. The astounding reality of most gamelan performances is that musicians play solely by ear—without a score or conductor. These complex musical movements can include up to 17 beats to a bar and some pieces accompanying dances may contain 15 different harmonizing layers.

Gamelan instruments in Java carry definite pitches, corresponding to two tuning systems. A complete gamelan set is actually two orchestras—never played simultaneously, but sometimes alternately, within a performance. While often capable of seven tones, most ensembles use five tones following a pentatonic scale. Javanese orchestras contain large gongs, xylophones, also called metallophones (gender is a leading type) of diverse sizes and shapes with large to small keys, and kettle gongs graduating in size along rows—all cast in bronze. Large, elongated two-ended drums (kendhang), a two-stringed bowed lute (rebab), a bamboo flute (suling), and often male or female singers complete the ensemble.

The rebab (lute) and gender (main xylophone) lead the melodies in ensembles, especially in softer sections of a performance. The gender also elaborates on melody while other metallophones complement, play in parallel octaves, or enrich the music through low, abstract tones. Bronze kettle gongs mediate the music of other instruments and signal a change in the tempo. Large, hanging gongs sound at the beginning and end of a piece and at specific intervals within the arrangement. So subtle is the timing of these intervals that some regard the sounding of the gong at the right moment as the most difficult skill in gamelan. Instruments fall into two sound groups: loud and soft. Melodic instruments are usually soft, like the rebab, gender, and suling. Gamelan ensembles usually include between 10 to 40 musicians.

Specific sections of an ensemble perform three functions: Singers and instruments carrying the central melody, instruments controlling timing of the music, and instruments underscoring the musical composition. As concisely described, “Gamelan integrates a great variety of musical lines in shifting degrees of aural clarity.”

While exquisitely crafted and carved elegance distinguishes Java’s gamelan instruments, Balinese prefer more baroquely carved designs. Gilded and often painted red, gamelan ensembles in Bali play faster music with a more vibrant tone. Balinese enjoy loud, rousing gamelan music, reflecting their exuberance in ceremonial forms. Clashing cymbals characterize Bali style and men strike metallophones with relatively large wooden mallets to increase their sound level. The gender metallophone often sits over bamboo resonators to create a more shimmering, vibrating sound. One unique type of Balinese gamelan centers on long bamboo flutes.

Tuning instruments in Bali follows two scale systems, but only one scale for each ensemble. Villages, not individuals, own gamelan instruments. Each village tunes its ensemble slightly differently so that instruments cannot be traded or stolen and used elsewhere. Thus, each village maintains an exclusive sound. Turning down a lane, one might encounter a group of young men “jamming” together on gamelan instruments in a driveway. While in Java gamelan typically appears at special occasions, the Balinese practice it constantly. Music drifts through the air in much of Bali, like part of the natural environment.

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