BONANG

BONANG

The bonang is a musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (rancak), either one or two rows wide. All of the kettles have a central boss, but around it the lower-pitched ones have a flattened head, while the higher ones have an arched one. Each is tuned to a specific pitch in the appropriate scale; thus there are different bonang for pelog and slendro. They are typically hit with padded sticks (tabuh). This is similar to the other cradled gongs in the gamelan, the kethuk,kempyang, and kenong. Bonang may be made of forged bronze, welded and cold-hammered iron, or a combination of metals. In addition to the gong-shaped form of kettles, economical bonang made of hammered iron or brass plates with raised bosses are often found in village gamelan, in Suriname-style gamelan, and in some American gamelan.

GAMBANG

GAMBANG

A gambang, properly called a gambang kayu ('wooden gambang') is a xylophone-like instrument used among peoples of Indonesia and the southern Philippinesin gamelan and kulintang, with wooden bars as opposed to the metallic ones of the more typical metallophones in a gamelan. A largely obsolete instrument, thegambang gangsa, is a similar instrument made with metal bars.A five-key bamboo version regularly used in performances by Kontra-Gapi, a modern ethnic music ensemble from the Philippines.

Gambang kayuThe bars of the instrument are made of a dense wood, generally teak. It also found in ironwood (kayu besi). The bars mounted in a deep wooden case that serves as a resonator. Instruments typically have 17-21 keys that are easily removed, and are kept in place by having a hole through which a nail is placed. Generally a full gamelan has two sets, one gambang pelog and the other one gambang slendro.A pair of long thin mallets (tabuh), made of flexible water buffalo horn tipped with felt, are used to play the instrument. Gambangs are generally played in parallel octaves (gembyang). Occasionally, other styles of playing are employed such as playing kempyung which are playing two notes separated by two keys. Unlike most other gamelan instruments, no dampening is required, as the wood does not ring like the metal keys of other instruments.The gambang is used in a number of gamelan ensembles. It is most notable in the Balinese gamelan Gambang. In Javanese wayang, it is used by itself to accompany the dalang in certain chants. Within a full gamelan, it stands out somewhat because of the high speed of playing, and contrasting timbre because of its materials and more because it has a wider melodic range than the other instruments.In Javanese gamelan, the gambang plays cengkok like the other elaborating instruments. However, the repertoire of cengkok for the gambang is more rudimentary than for other instruments (for instance, the gendér), and a great deal of variation is accepted.

Gambang gangsaThe gambang gangsa has a similar construction, although it generally has fewer keys (typically 15) and is thus somewhat smaller. It has largely been replaced by the saron family of instruments. It was formerly thought to have been a forerunner of the one-octave saron, although more recent evidence, including the appearance of the saron in reliefs at Borobudur in the 9th century, indicate that the instruments are of the same age or that the one-octave saron is older.In early 19th century writings on the Javanese gamelan, it seems to have been played like the gambang kayu; that is, as an elaborating instrument. Later, by 1890, it seems to have merely substituted for a saron, and have been restricted to a small range. Mantle Hood associated this use of limited range to a preference for certain octave arrangements of the cadences in various pathet.

GANGSA

GANGSA

A gangsa is a type of metallophone which is used mainly in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan music. It consists of several tuned metal bars each placed over an individual resonator. The bars are hit with amallet, each producing a different pitch. Duration of sound intensity and sound quality factors are generally accomplished by damping the vibration of the bar with the fingers of the free hand. The gangsa is very similar to the gendér and the saron.A gangsa is also the name of a completely different instrument, one which is indigenous to the cultures found in the mountain regions (the Cordillera) of the northern Philippines. The gangsa of the northern Philippines is a single hand-held smooth-surfaced gong with a narrow rim. A set of gangsa, which is played one gong per musician, consists of gangsa tuned to different notes, depending on regional or local cultural preferences. The number of gangsa in a set varies with availability, and depends on the tradition of a particular ethnic group of the Luzon Cordillera: Kalinga, Ifugao, Bontoc, etc.Among the Kalinga people in the Cordillera region of Luzon Island, the gangsa is played in two ways. One way is called "toppaya" and the other is called "pattung." In "toppaya" style, the musicians play the surface of the gangsa with their hand while in a sitting position, with a single gangsa resting on the lap of each musician. In the "pattung" style, a gangsa is suspended from the musician's left hand and played with a padded stick held in the musician's right hand. In the "pattung" style of playing, the players are standing, or they keep in step with the dancers while bending forward slightly.

GENDÉR

GENDÉR

A gendér is a type of metallophone used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan music. It consists of 10 to 14 tuned metal bars suspended over a tuned resonator of bamboo or metal, which are tapped with a mallet made of wooden disks (Bali) or a padded wooden disk (Java). Each key is a note of a different pitch, often extending a little more than two octaves. There are five notes per octave, so in the seven-note pélog scale, some pitches are left out according to the pathet. Most gamelans include three gendér, one for slendro, one for pelog pathet nem and lima, and one for pelog pathet barang.The gendér is similar to the Balinese gangsa, which also has an individual resonator under each key, and the saron, which, although trough-resonated, does have a set of tuned metal bars or keys. It is also similar to the Javanese slenthem, which is pitched lower and has fewer notes.In some types of gamelan, two gendérs are used, one (called the gendér panerus) an octave higher than the other. In Gamelan Surakarta, the gendér panerus plays a single line of melodic pattern, following a pattern similar to the siter. The gendér barung plays a slower, but more complex melodic pattern that includes more separate right and left hand melodic lines that come together in kempyung (approximately a fifth) and gembyang (octave) intervals. The melodies of the two hands sometimes move in parallel motion, but often play contrapuntally. When playing gendér barung with two mallets, the technique of dampening, important to most gamelan instruments, becomes more challenging, and the previously hit notes must be dampened by the same hand immediately after the new ones are hit. This is sometimes possible by playing with the mallet at an angle (to dampen one key and play the other), but may require a small pause.Both types of gendér play semi-improvised patterns called cengkok, which generally elaborate upon the seleh. These are relatively fixed patterns, but can be varied in a number of ways to suit the style, pathet, irama, and mood of the piece, as well as the skill of the performer. The cengkok repertoire for gendér are more developed and specific than those for most other elaborating instruments. Similarly, the gendér barung is likely to give cues for changing parts or irama, especially in the absence of a rebab. It may also play the buka of a piece.

GONG AGENG

GONG AGENG

The gong ageng is (Kromo Javanese meaning large gong, ngoko is gong gedhe). It is the largest of the bronze gongs in the Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestra. Unlike the more famous Chinese orTurkish gongs, Indonesian gongs have fixed, focused pitch, and are dissimilar to the familiar crash cymbalsound. It is circular, with a conical, tapering base of diameter smaller than gong face, with a protruding polished boss where it is struck by a padded mallet. Gongs with diameter as large as 135 centimeters (54 inches) have been created in the past, but gongs larger than about 80 centimeters (32 inches) are more common especially to suit the budget of educational institutions.The gong ageng is considered the most important instrument in a gamelan ensemble: the soul or spirit of the gamelan is said to live in it.Gong ageng are often proffered ritual offerings of flowers, food and or and incense before performances to appease spirits believed to inhabit it. Commonly, less expensive iron gong ageng or a slit-type gong are made to fulfill the role of the bronze gong, though at the loss of sound quality- for poorer regions and villages. The cost of expertly pure cast & beaten bronze has seen a rise in bronze-plated and bronze-laminated iron gongs for the undiscerning expatriate.