Gamelan

Gamelan - Some basic musical instruments from the Gamelan culture with sound samples and a performance task. Suitable for KS3 - Music

1. Gamelan

2. What is gamelan?
Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian
instrumental ensemble made up of
mainly percussioninstruments:
 
gongs, metallophones, xylophones,
drums, cymbals.

3. Where does gamelan come from?
Gamelan comes from Indonesia.
There are two main styles; Balinese
(from Bali) and Javanese (from Java)

5. What does it sound like?
Listen to the following examples of gamelan music.
Some European composers have been influenced by
gamelan music. Its influences can be especially seen in
minimalism, which shares many of the same features –
repetition, cyclic rhythms, loops etc

6. The Slendro Scale
The five-note Gamelan scale is called the
Slendro.
Gamelan notes don’t exactly match Western
scales but the slendro is roughly equivalent to
the notes of the major pentatonic scale on D -
( D E F# A B )
D E F# A B

7. The Pelog Scale
The seven-note gamelan scale is called Pelog.
To get an idea of what the pelog scale sounds like, play the
notes E,F,G,A,B,C,D on a keyboard.
Most sets of gamelan are tuned either to the slendro or to
the pelog scale. Others are tuned to both – these are called
double gamelan.
E F G A B
C D

8. Instruments with keys
The keys of an instrument can be bronze,
iron, wood or bamboo. They are arranged in a
xylophone-like manner, always horizontally.
The player faces the long side of the
instrument.

9. The Gambang is a xylophone with
wooden bars

10. The Gender has narrow keys made of bronze.
Below the keys there are bamboo pipes which
resonate, making the sound richer.

11. Gongs
Gongs are made of bronze or iron. They
are struck on the central bump, called
peñcu.

12. The Bonang are
instruments with
two rows of gongs
resting on cords
across a wooden
frame.

13. The biggest hanging gong is called the
Gong Ageng. It usually plays on the last
beat of the rhythmic cycle.

14. Kempul are smaller hanging gongs.

15. The Kenong and Ketuk are gongs which
rest horizontally on cords stretched
across a wooden box.

16. The Suling is a
bamboo wind
instrument, which
you blow through
the end
The Rebab is a two
stringed fiddle

17. The bigger drum is the
Kendang Gending and the
smaller one is called the
Ketipung.
They are cone-shaped, with
two drum skins, one larger
and one smaller. They’re
played resting sideways, so
the drummer can play one
skin with each hand.

23. In groups compose a Balinese-style piece that consists of the following
layers:
1 – an 8 or 16 note core melody which uses the notes of the slendro scale,
and moves in even crotchets.
2 – an alto/tenor part which only plays notes 1,3,5 and 7 (and 9,11,13,15)
3 – a bass part which only plays notes 1 and 5 (and 9 and 13)
4 - a two-part interlocking melody of 8 beats
Beats1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Inter.
1
Inter.
2
Core
Mel
Alto/
Ten.
Bass