Metallophones

In Javanese gamelan, the Metallophones usually play the melody part. Generally, the metallophones are a kind of "xylophone" with metal bars. The Metallophone family is basically divided into two groups:

Saron

Gender Family

Because of it's look, the wooden Gambang is sometimes considered as a metallophone.

The metal bars used in Saron and Gender are of different kinds. The Saron type has a thick and slightly curved bar. All of the bars are mounted over a single trough resonator. The mallets for Saron are made of hard wood or horn. The playing may be loud or soft. The Gender type has a thin and ribbed bar. Each bar is suspended over a tube resonator which is tuned to the pitch of that particular bar. The mallets for Gender have a head in the shape of disc which is covered by a detachable ring of padding, and the strokes are usually gentle.

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a Saron metal bar a Gender metal bar

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During playing, the player uses the right hand to grip the mallet, and uses the left hand to damp the metal bar. The player would not damp the bar immediately after it was struck, but as the next bar is being struck. To damp the sound, the player pinching the end of the metal bar between the thumb and forefinger.

Gongs

Most of the Javanese gamelan gongs are made of bronze, but sometimes they are made of iron. Although they are many different sizes of gong in Javanese gamelan, they are all in circular shape with a protruding knob at the center. During playing, the central knob is struck by a wooden mallet. Different kinds of mallet are used to struck on different types of gong.

There are two types of gongs in Javanese gamelan, refer to the way in which the gongs are supported:

The Hanging Gong

The Cradled Gong

Drums

Drums play an important part in a gamelan. The function of the drums is to play the rhythm part. In fact, the drummer is usually the leader of the whole gamelan.

In a gamelan, there are basically two different types of drums:

Kendang

Bedug

Gambang

Listen toGambang

The Gambang looks like a metallophone instrument, however, its bars are made of wood rather than bronze. There used to be two types of Gambang, a Gambang with bronze bars and a Gambang with wooden bars. Bronze Gambang used to be found in the gamelan but nowadays it is not used anymore. So, 'Gambang" is now referred to a wooden bar Gambang.

The wood used for the Gambang must be very hard. A type of wood known as berlian is normally used to make Gambang's bars. The wooden case to support these bars is like the saron's, but it is much deeper and with thinner sides. The purpose of this case is to act as a resonator. Each bar is secured on top of the case by pins. The bars are from about 58cm to 29cm. The length of the bar becomes shorter as the pitch rises. Each Gambang has approximately 19 to 20 bars.

The player need two mallets to play on a Gambang. The mallets have very long handles, approximately 35cm. They are made of buffalo horn, and are very thin and flexible. At the end of the handle, there is a wooden disc surrounded by a felt ring.

The Gambang usually play the fastest part in the gamelan.

Siter

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A musician is playing a Siter

Siter is another instrument that play the elaborations of the melody. 'Siter" came from the Dutch word "citer," In English, as "zither." It is a plucked string instrument with an oblong box resonator. Usually a Siter has eleven or twelve pairs of unison strings.

Suling

Listen to Suling

The Suling is a simple bamboo flute. A notch is cut into the the side of the top end, and this top end is surrounded by a rattan of bamboo ring, leaving a small slit where the player will put his mouth on. Suling is the simplest and cheapest instrument in the gamelan.

There are basically two types of Sulings. A five finger-holes and a four finger-holes. Each for a different tuning system. Five finger-holes for pelog system and four for slendro system.

With its different color of sound, it provides one of the most expressive lines in the ensemble. It sometimes grouped with the Rebab and the voice, but its part is freer. Compared to other counter-melody instruments, its musical phrases is shorter and disjointed, rather than as a continuous line.

Saron Demung

Pelog Demung (read this)

Slendro Demung (read this)

Among the sarons, Saron Demung has the largest metal bars and produces the lowest sound. It's pitches are one octave lower than the Saron Barung. Like those of Saron Barung and Saron Panerus, in Saron Demung, the higher the pitch the smaller the bar. The measurements of the bars are approximately 35.5cm. long and 9 cm wide. However, the thickness of these bars are not as thick as those of Saron Panerus. All Saron family metal bars are in arch shape, in which, each bar has a flat bottom and a arch top. As the pitch rises, the arch of the bar also rises. The thickness (at the center) of the largest Demung bar is approximately 1cm. The mallets for Saron Demung are the largest among the mallets used to struck on Saron instruments. The structure of Demung's mallet are the same as those of the Saron Barung.

There are two types of Saron Demung, Pelog Demung and Slendro Demung. These two types of Demung are of different tuning system.

Saron Barung

Pelog Barung (read this)

Slendro Barung (read this)

Compared to Saron Demung and Saron Panerus, Saron Barung has the medium size metal bars. It's pitches are one octave lower than the Saron Panerus, and one octave higher than the Saron Demung. Like those of Saron Demung and Saron Panerus, in Saron Barung, the higher the pitch the smaller and thicker the bar.

The mallets for Saron Barung are the same as those of the Saron Demung, but smaller in size. It has a wooden handle and a wooden barrel-shaped head. The barrel-shaped head is detachable from the handle. This barrel-shaped head is secured to the wooden handle by a hole drilled about halfway through. Because of the thickness of the metal bars, the mallets used to struck on all Saron instruments has to be very hard. During playing, the player needs to struck strongly too.

There are two types of Saron Barung, Pelog Barung and Slendro Barung. These two types of Barung are of different tuning system.

Saron Panerus

Pelog Panerus (read this)

Slendro Panerus (read this)

Saron Panerus also known by its nickname Peking. It is the smallest saron in the Saron family. Compared to Saron Barung, Saron Panerus sound an octave higher in pitch.

The metal bars of Saron Panerus are smaller than those of the Saron Barung and Saron Demung. Like those of Saron Demung and Saron Barung, in Saron Panerus, the higher the pitch the smaller the bar. The measurements of the smallest Saron Panerus bar is approximately 18cm long by 4cm wide. However, these Panerus bars are thicker than those of the Saron Barung and Saron Demung. All Saron family metal bars are in arch shape, in which, each bar has a flat bottom and a arch top. As the pitch rises, the arch of the bar also rises. The thickness (at the center) of the smallest Panerus bar is approximately 2.5cm.

Because of the size of these smaller bars, the mallets of the Saron Panerus are smaller than those of the Saron Barung and Saron Demung. However, the thickness of Panerus metal bars required a harder mallet to struck on. A buffalo horn is usually used for the head of the mallet. This buffalo head helps to produce a bright and piercing sound .

There are two types of Saron Panerus, Pelog Panerus and Slendro Panerus. These two types of Panerus are of different tuning system.

Balinese Gamelan Angklung

Balinese Gamelan music is very similar to Javanese Gamelan music. The music is in cycle too, however, it is usually faster. One of the characteristic of Balinese gamelan music is that, it has a lot of sudden changes in tempo and dynamics. Like the Javanese gamelan, the instruments in Balinese gamelan includes metallophones and gongs. However, there are more metallophones than gongs in Balinese gamelan. The metal keys in Balinese metallophones are ticker than those of Javanese. These Balinese metallophones produce very bright sound. Another characteristic of Balinese Gamelan music is the used of cymbals. These cymbals create fast rattling sound that usually cannot be found in Javanese Gamelan music.

Interlocking

Balinese music emphasis on interlocking. Usually, different groups of player play different short melody/rhythm pattern simultaneously to create a complete musical phrase. The following example is an excerpt from a Balinese Gamelan music entitled Bebranangan.

In Bebranangan, the main melody phrase is divided into three sections. Each section has only two notes. These two notes are played repeatedly with a specific pattern in cycle. Each section has a different rhythmic pattern. Three different groups of player are assigned to play these three sections, in which each group plays a different section. If these sections are played individually, they sound simply like a rapid rhythmic pattern. However, when these three sections are played together, they form a complete melody phrase.

Balinese Gamelan Music

Like Javanese gamelan music, Balinese gamelan music is a percussion-dominated musical ensemble. It is also known as a gong-chime musical ensemble. This musical ensemble consists of bronze gongs, metallophones, cymbals, and a time-beater. In Balinese Gamelan, there are more metallophones than gongs.

Balinese Gamelan music is in cycle, or in musical terms, ostinato. Usually the music will repeat over and over, until the drummer give a signer to end the performance. Also the music often performed in interlocking style. For more information, please read Javanese Gamelan Music in this page.

Rebab

Rebab is a two-stringed fiddle. This instrument are found in many Muslim countries. So, it is generally being considered as an foreign instruments in Indonesian gamelan.

Rebab has an almost heart-shaped body made of wood. The body is covered with a thin layer of skin taken from the intestine or bladder of a buffalo. The two strings are usually made of copper. In fact, what appear to be two strings is actually a single long copper string wound around the bottom of the stick and ending in two pegs at the upper part of the stick. These two strings pass over a wide wooden bridge. Unlike other Asian fiddle, the two tuning pegs of Rebab are exaggeratedly long. These two long tuning pegs will break easily, if they are not gripped closer to the neck of the instrument.

During playing, the player's palm, which hold the bow, is facing upwards. The player's third and fourth fingers should pull the hair of the bow, to create some tension. The Rebab is held vertically, or slightly tilting forwards. There is no finger board on the neck of this instrument. The player's fingers press the strings lightly, and the string should not touch the neck. However, this instrument can produce a fairly loud sound.

Gamelan

A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included. The term refers more to the set of instruments than the players of those instruments. A gamelan as a set of instruments is a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together — instruments from different gamelan are not interchangeable. The word "gamelan" comes from the Javanese word "gamel", meaning to strike or hammer, and the suffix "an", which makes the root a collective noun.

Instruments and characteristics

Gamelan are found in the Indonesian islands of Java, Madura, Bali, and Lombok (and other Sunda Islands), in a wide variety of ensemble sizes and formations. In Bali and Lombok today, and in Java through the 18th century, the term "gong" has been preferred to or synonymous with gamelan. Traditions of gamelan-like ensembles (a well known example of which is Kulintang, sometimes called "gong-chime ensembles" by ethnomusicologists) also exist in the Philippines, Malaysia and Suriname, sometimes due to emigration, historic trade, or diplomacy. More recently, through immigration and local enthusiasm, gamelan ensembles have become active throughout Europe, The Americas, Asia, and Australia.

Although gamelan ensembles sometimes include solo and choral voices, plucked and/or bowed string and wind instruments, they are most notable for the large number of metal percussion instruments. The percussion instruments of a central Javanese gamelan ensemble include:

• metallophones, such as the saron, gendér, gangsa, and ugal (sets of metals bars laid out in a single row and struck like a glockenspiel)
• cradled gong chimes called bonang and kenong (sets of large, drum-shaped gongs laid out horizontally on stands)
• hanging gongs called kempul and the large gong ageng
• xylophone-like instruments called gambang (similar to saron and gendér but with wooden bars instead of metal ones)
• drums called kendhang

The all-bamboo Gamelan jegog from Bali

Metals used include bronze, brass, and iron, with a 10:3 copper-to-tin bronze alloy usually considered the best material. In addition, there are gamelan ensembles composed entirely of bamboo-keyed instruments, of bamboo flutes, of zithers, or of unaccompanied voices with the functions of metallophones or gongs in the metal ensemble transferred to surrogates.

Gamelan music is built up in layers. At its centre is a basic melody (core melody) known as the balungan. Further layers, including singing in vocal pieces, elaborate upon this melody in certain ways, but the notes of each layer of music relate to the balungan, and generally coincide at the ends of phrases (called seleh in Javanese). There are also a set of instruments which delineate a colotomic structure, usually ending in the stroke of the largest gong.

Tuning

Celempung - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.

The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems: sléndro and pélog. There are other tuning systems such as degung (exclusive to Sunda, or West Java), and madenda (also known as diatonis, similar to a European natural minor scale). In central Javanese gamelan, sléndro is a system with five notes to the diapason (octave), fairly evenly spaced, while pélog has seven notes to the octave, with uneven intervals, usually played in five note subsets of the seven-tone collection. This results in sound quite different from music played in a western tuning system. Many gamelan orchestras will include instruments in each tuning, but each individual instrument will only be able to play notes in one. The precise tuning used differs from ensemble to ensemble, and give each ensemble its own particular flavour. The intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within each gamelan, but the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next.

Colin McPhee remarked, "Deviations in what is considered the same scale are so large that one might with reason state that there are as many scales as there are gamelans."^[10] However, this view is contested by some teachers of gamelan, and there have been efforts to combine multiple ensembles and tuning structures into one gamelan to ease transportation at festival time. One such ensemble is gamelan Manikasanti, which can play the repertoire of many different ensembles.

Balinese gamelan instruments are commonly played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats, ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. It is thought that this contributes to the very "busy" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state.

Traditional Music and Instruments of the Mongolia poeple

The traditional Mongolian Folk music is influenced by the large variety of tribes, having been united for the first time in the 13th century under the rule of Genghis Khan with Turkish tribes in order to establish the Mongolian people. The nomad shepherds in Mongolia, like other nomads in Central Asia, use to play string and wind instruments.

Percussion instruments, though, were only played in connection with Shamanism and Buddhism, the origins of which can be found in Tibetan Lamaism, as well as with the "Tsam dance", which was performed in Mongolia for the first time in the 8th century.

	- Hel khuur (Jew's harp) Nowadays, a Jew's harp is made of brass or steel, but in earlier days it was made of wood or bamboo. A spring, acting as a vibrator, is fitted into a horseshoe-shaped metal holder and is called ,tongue'. The player places the long part of the instrument close to his mouth, touching it with his front teeth and manipulating the tongue with his right hand. Changing the shape of the mouth cavity, which at the same time acts as a resonance chamber, can vary the pitch. bamboo / wood jews harp
	- Tsuur (wind instrument) The tsuur is a traditional Mongolian wind instrument (flute) made of uliangar wood (bur chervil - umbellifer). Melody and sound resemble the sound of the waterfall of the River Jeven. The "aman tsuur" made by the Altai-Uriankhai tribes are the most popular ones and produce the best sound.
	- Limbe (wind instrument) The instrument is frequently used in accompaniment, occasionally also as a solo instrument. In former times it was made of bamboo or wood, nowadays mostly of plastic, particularly those imported from China. These flutes (transverse flutes) are closely bound up with the nomads of Central Asia. The length of this instrument is approx. 64 cm, with nine holes, whereof one is the blowhole and two others are reserved for the tuning. It is often played with circular breathing*. The sound reflects what is heard in the nature or the sounds of the natural and social environment. - *Circular breathing (bituu amisgal): one note is blown while the musician inhales through his nose. The air is collected inside the cheeks and exhaled by the pressure of the cheeks' muscles (same principle as for the bagpipe). The base of the tongue is used as a valve.
	- Surnai - ever buree (wind instrument) Reed instrument - a folk oboe with a conical body made of wood or horn (ever buree = horn), widening towards the end. It has seven finger holes and one thumbhole. A metal staple carries the reed and a lip-disc in the shape of a funnel. The short form of the instrument is known as "haidi", meaning 'flute of the sea'.
	- Lavai - tsagaan buree (wind instrument) "Tsagaan buree" - white shells. White shells with whorls leading from the left to the right handside are considered a lucky charm, and therefore they are very much in demand. In order to blow them, they are equipped with a mouthpiece made from brass. According to a Lamaistic legend, Buddha himself gave this instrument to the Dragon King as a present. Vocal music - Urtyin duu (long song) - melismatic and richly ornamented, with a slow tempo, long melodic lines, wide intervals and no fixed rhythm. It is sung in verses, without a regular refrain and with a full voice in the highest register. The melody has a coat, which covers over three octaves. This requires a strict observance of the breathing rules. The breathing is actually free, but the singer has to keep to the strict rules of performance, making only the absolutely necessary breathing breaks without interrupting the melodic ornaments. The richer the voice is and the longer the singer can hold it, the more intensive is the attention paid by the auditors and the more this performance is appreciated. People usually practise these long songs while being alone in the open steppe and riding along slowly. The repertory is an expression of the liberty and the vastness of the Mongolian steppe and is used to accompany the rites of the seasonal cycles and the ceremonies of everyday life. Long songs are an integral part of the celebrations held in the round tents and they must be sung after the strict rules of performance. The Mongols don’t use time units to express the time it needs for a certain distance, but they say e.g. that their trip lasted three long songs There are three categories of long songs - The extended ones with uninterrupted flowing melodies, richly ornamented, containing long passages in falsetto. - The usual ones are shorter, less ornamented, and without falsetto. - The shortened ones have short verses, refrains and melodic courses full of leaps and bounds (Besreg song). - Bogin duu (short song) - strophic, syllabic, rhythmically tied, sung without ornaments. Short songs are never sung at celebrations, since they are spontaneously improvised and rather satirical. They are often sung in the form of a dialogue and speak of certain friends and incidents, or they are lyrical tales about love, about everyday life and about animals, especially horses. - Tuuli (heroic-epic myth) Mongolian epics report about fierce fights between the good end evil powers in a highly qualified literary poetry. The recital of epics was always bound to rituals, and it was believed to have magical power. The recitation should have a favourable influence on natural spirits, as well as the power to expulse evil spirits. Generally, the epics were sung inside the round felt tents of the shepherds during the period of their search for the winter quarters, before the hunt or a battle, and against infertility or disease. - Magtaal (praising songs) Magtaal are sung in honour of the gods of Lamaism and the spirits of nature, heralds or particular animals. Epic texts also contain praise songs for the mountains, the rivers and nature in general. This is an ancient tradition still practised up to date by the tribes in the region of Mongol-Altai in Western Mongolia. - Khöömij (guttural singing) The performance of overtone singing takes usually place during social events such as eating or drinking parties. The Mongols call their overtone singing höömij (= throat, pharynx). The singer creates a constant pitched fundamental considered as a drone, and at the same time modulates the selected overtones to create a formantic melody from harmonics. Several techniques are known, depending on the vocal source and the place of resonance: kharkhiraa = lung, khamriin = nose, tövönkhiin = throat and bagalzuuriin = pharynx. Overtone singers form and vary sound and timbre with their mouth, teeth, tongue, throat, nose and lips. They always form two distinct tones simultaneously sustaining the fundamental pitch. Overtone singing can also be heard from Turkic-speaking tribes in disparate parts of Central Asia. The Bashkir musicians from the Ural Mountains call their style of overtone singing uzlyau; the Khakass call it khai, the Altai call it koomoi and the Tuvinians khoomei. Up to date, overtone singing is a common feature of Siberian peoples as well as the Kazakhs and Mongolian tribes. Overtone or throat singing is a special technique in which a single vocalist produces two distinct tones simultaneously. One tone is a low, sustained fundamental pitch (a kind of drone) and the second is a series of flutelike harmonics, which resonate high above this drone. Who masters this singing technique may even make the overtone sound louder then the fundamental pitch, so the drone is not audible anymore. A different technique often used by overtone singers combines a normal glottal pitch with the low frequency, pulse-like vibration known as vocal fry. The Turkic tribes in the Altai use to sing their texts in such a low vocal fry register of about 25-20 Hz). Dance - Folk dance When the Zakhchin and the tribes of Western Mongolia dance their folk dances ("bij" - "bielgee"), they mainly move the upper part of the body. With their movements they express their identity and gender as well as their tribal and ethnic affiliation. Besides the gender-specific movements, there are others that imitate typical activities of their everyday life, such as the nomadic herdsmen's life, the daily work in the fields or the historical events of their tribe. This kind of dance is mainly performed during celebrations inside the ger (round tents), during festivals of the local nobility or during ceremonies in the monasteries. Every tribe has its particular forms of expression, e.g.: - the Dörbed and the Torguts accompany their dances with dance songs; - the Buryats dance in a circle, always moving in the direction of the sun; a solo singer improvises pairs of verses followed by the chorus singing the refrain; - the Bayad dance with their knees bent outwards, balancing on them mugs filled with sour mare-milk (airag). - the Dörbed balance mugs filled with airag on their heads and hands.