The ''balungan'' ( jv, skeleton, frame) is sometimes called the "core melody" or, "skeletal melodic outline," of a Javanese

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is

heterophonic In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time ...

: the ''balungan'' is then the melody which is being elaborated. "An abstraction of the inner melody felt by musicians," the ''balungan'' is, "the part most frequently notated by Javanese musicians, and the only one likely to be used in performance."Anderson Sutton, Richard (1991). ''Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java: Musical Pluralism and Regional Identity'', p.xix. Cambridge University. . The group of instruments which play the closest to the ''balungan'' are sometimes also called the ''balungan'', or ''balungan'' instruments. These are the ''

saron SARON stands for Swiss Average Rate Overnight and represents the overnight interest rate of the secured funding market for the Swiss Franc (CHF). (Swiss Average Rate Overnight) is an overnight interest rates average referencing the Swiss Fra ...

'' family and the ''

slenthem The slenthem (also slentem or gender panembung) is an Indonesian metallophone which makes up part of a Javanese gamelan orchestra. The slenthem is part of the gendér family. It consists of a set of bronze keys comprising a single octave: ther ...

''. In many pieces, they play the ''balungan''. However, they can also elaborate on the parts in a variety of techniques. It is possible that there is no instrument playing the ''balungan'', although many musicians claim that the ''balungan'' is still present. The term has been a source of some controversy, as various writers may define it differently. Sometimes it is identified with the melody played on the ''saron'' (whose range is limited to an octave), but sometimes it is identified with a wider

tessitura In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characte ...

that is implied by the patterns on other instruments. This multi-octave melody is the one given in

kepatihan notation Notation plays a relatively minor role in the oral traditions of Indonesian gamelan but, in Java and Bali, several systems of gamelan notation were devised beginning at the end of the 19th century, initially for archival purposes. Kepatihan Kep ...

, the cipher notation used for gamelan pieces. ''Lagu'' is a related term, which is used by Sumarsam and is sometimes translated as "inner melody." It can mean the multi-octave ''balungan'', or a more implicit melody. There is no consensus on the use of either term, and they may be used differently by different writers or in different contexts.

Other uses

''Balungan'' is also the name of a tiger. It is also the name of a journal published by the

American Gamelan Institute The American Gamelan Institute (AGI) is an organization devoted to promoting and documenting all forms of gamelan, the performing arts of Indonesia, and their international counterparts. The Institute was founded in Berkeley, California, in 1981; ...

Definitions

Sumarsam argues that the use of the term, beginning directly after the introduction of notation, arose from the use of notation, theory, and pedagogy. *"The center of gravity of a gamelan composition, and the improviser's guideline, is a melody known as the 'skeleton' or 'framework' (''balungan''), played in a slow, even rhythm on he..''saron''." *"If the ''balungan'' is the same, then the elaborating parts should be the same." *"The instrumental melody called ''balungan'' (literally, 'skeleton', 'outline')." *"The balungan

gendhing ''Colotomy'' is an Indonesian description of the rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythmic time into such nested cycles. I ...

is important-if not, indeed, the most important-factor in the practice of karawitan, because as the framework of the gendhing it gives a composition its basic shape, and is used as a frame of reference and point of departure for the playing of the gamelan instruments."Supanggah (1988, p.9). Cited in Sumarsam (1995), p.152.

Other uses

Definitions

References

Further reading