The minggah or inggah is a section of a
gendhing
''Colotomy'' is an Music of Indonesia, Indonesian description of the rhythmic and meter (music), metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythm ...
composition for
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 ...
.
It follows the
merong The merong is a section of a composition for Javanese gamelan, a musical ensemble featuring metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs. Specifically, the merong is the initial part of a gendhing. A merong cannot be played on its own, but must be fo ...
, after an
ompak
The ompak or umpak ("bridge") is a section of a gamelan composition.
It refers to the opening gongan of a ladrang or ketawang, or four gongans of the lancaran. These sections are usually repeated, and can be repeated as often as desired. This s ...
. It is distinguished from the previous section by the use of
kempyang
The kempyang and ketuk are two instruments in the gamelan ensemble of Indonesia, generally played by the same player, and sometimes played by the same player as the kenong. They are important beat-keepers in the colotomic structure of the game ...
. In the minggah section, the kempyang and kethuk play in the same pattern as in the
ketawang
''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 ...
, but with no
kempul
A kempul is a type of hanging gong used in Indonesian gamelan. The kempul is a set of pitched, hanging, knobbed gongs, often made of bronze, wood, and cords. Ranging from 19 cm to 25,4 cm (7 to 10 inches) in diameter, the kempul gong h ...
, and the
kenong
The Kenong is a musical instrument of Indonesia used in the gamelan. It is a kind of gong and is placed on its side. It has the same length and width. Thus, it is similar to the bonang, kempyang, and ketuk, which are also cradled gongs. Kenon ...
only where the
gong ageng
The gong ageng (or gong gedhe in Ngoko Javanese, means large gong) is an Indonesian musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is the largest of the bronze gongs in the Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestra and the only large gong t ...
goes in the ketawang. Like the merong, it has a diversity of forms which can be specified by naming the number of kethuk strokes used. For example, consider "gendhing kethuk 2 kerep minggah kethuk 4." This means that in the minggah, there will be four
gatras per nongan. The structure would then look like:
where "{{mono, ." indicates no interpunctuating instrument plays, p indicates the stroke of the
kempyang
The kempyang and ketuk are two instruments in the gamelan ensemble of Indonesia, generally played by the same player, and sometimes played by the same player as the kenong. They are important beat-keepers in the colotomic structure of the game ...
, T the
ketuk
The kempyang and ketuk are two instruments in the gamelan ensemble of Indonesia, generally played by the same player, and sometimes played by the same player as the kenong. They are important beat-keepers in the colotomic structure of the game ...
, N the
kenong
The Kenong is a musical instrument of Indonesia used in the gamelan. It is a kind of gong and is placed on its side. It has the same length and width. Thus, it is similar to the bonang, kempyang, and ketuk, which are also cradled gongs. Kenon ...
, and G the simultaneous stroke of the
gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
and kenong. Thus, in each section, the gong plays once, the kenong divides that into four parts, and then that is divided into parts according to the given structure. Here each nongan lasts 16 beats (''keteg''), and thus the gongan lasts 64.
All minggah of this form are one
gongan (four
nongan) in length. However, the minggah may also use one of the other structures, especially the
ladrang
''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 ...
. If that is the case, the piece will be noted something like "minggah ladrang". If the other section has a different title, that will be given as well.
References
* Neil Sorrell. ''A Guide to the Gamelan''. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. Page 70-73.
Sections of gamelan compositions