Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The group of instruments which play the closest to the balungan are sometimes also called the balungan, or balungan instruments. These are the saron family and the slenthem. In many pieces, they play the balungan. However, they can also elaborate on the parts in a variety of techniques.
The saron barung and demung usually play less often and more simple parts. These are the usual techniques for playing them: Mbalung: playing the balungan melody as notated, without elaboration; Tabuhan pinjalan: playing an interlocking pinjalan pattern between the saron barung, demung, and slenthem, which fills in the offbeats of the balungan
Instead of the rhythmic structure provided by the colotomic instruments, and the core melody of the balungan instruments, the panerusan instruments play variations on the balungan. They are usually the most difficult instruments to learn in the gamelan, but provide the most opportunity for improvisation and creativity in the performer.
Music in Java: History Its Theory and Its Technique (1949/1973) edited by Jaap Kunst, ISBN 90-247-1519-9. An appendix of this book includes some statistical data on intervals in scales used by gamelans. A Gamelan Manual: A Player's Guide to the Central Javanese Gamelan (2005) by Richard Pickvance, Jaman Mas Books, London, ISBN 0-9550295-0-3
The kepatihan cipher system records the two fixed elements of Javanese gamelan music: the melodic framework (or balungan (literally, skeleton)) represented by numbers, and the set of punctuating gongs that define the form, represented by circles and other symbols. All of the other parts are not notated, but realized by the players at the time ...
A typical large, double gamelan in contemporary solo will include, in the sléndro set, one saron panerus (or saron peking), two saron barung, one or two saron demung, one gendér panerus, one gender barung, one slenthem (or "gender panembung"), one bonang panerus and one bonang barung (each with twelve gongs), one gambang kayu, one siter or celempung, one rebab, one suling, one pair of kethuk ...
It is reserved for the most austere repertoire, typically playing a paraphrase of the balungan. The parts played by the bonang barung and bonang panerus are more complex than many instruments in the gamelan; thus, it is generally considered an elaborating instrument. Sometimes it plays melodies based on the balungan, though generally modified ...
The melodic framework of a piece, sometimes called the balungan, is played on the slenthem. The kendhang, two-headed drums played with the hands, control the tempo of the music and signal changes in irama. Different drums are used according to the style of the music; some lively and others more restrained.