A ''gamelan gadhon'' is an ensemble consisting of the 'soft' instruments of the 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 ...

. This can include '' rebab'', '' gendér'', '' gendér panerus'',

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

, ''

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 ...

'', ''

suling The suling or seruling ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument of the Sundanese people in western Java, Indonesia. It is used in the Degung ensemble. Bamboo ring flute can also be found in Southeast Asian, especially in Brunei, Indonesia, Mal ...

'', ''

siter The siter and celempung are plucked string instruments used in Javanese gamelan. They are related to the ''kacapi'' used in Sundanese gamelan. The siter and celempung each have between 11 and 13 pairs of strings, strung on each side, between ...

'',

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 ...

, ''

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 ...

'', '' kenong'' and ''

kendhang Kendang or Gendang ( jv, ꦏꦼꦤ꧀ꦝꦁ, translit=Kendhang, su, ᮊᮨᮔ᮪ᮓᮀ, translit=Kendang, ban, ᬓᬾᬦ᭄ᬤᬂ, translit=Kendang, Tausug/Bajau Maranao: ''Gandang'', Bugis: ''Gendrang'' and Makassar: ''Gandrang'' or ''Gan ...

''.

The instruments and their functions

The '' rebab'', a two-stringed fiddle, is the melodic leader of the ensemble. The ''rebab'' player signals changes between sections of a piece, and to a new piece. The '' gendér'' is a tube-resonated metallophone with fourteen keys suspended by string above metal tubes. The ''gendér'' plays improvisatory patterns called ''

cengkok Céngkok ( jv, ꦕꦺꦁꦏꦺꦴꦏ꧀, translit=Céngkok) (old orthography: ''tjengkok'') are patterns played by the elaborating instruments used in Indonesian Javanese gamelan. They are melodic formula that lead to a '' sèlèh'',Brinner, Be ...

'' which link one ''

seleh The ''sèlèh'' note or ''nada seleh'' is an Indonesian music concept used in Javanese gamelan music. In Javanese gamelan music, the ''sèlèh'' note or ''nada seleh'' is the final note of a '' gatra'', or four- beat melodic unit. As such it is t ...

'' note to the next. Each pattern can be played in many ways and the musician chooses how to play each one at the time, according to the style of the piece, the '' pathet'', the ''

irama ''Irama'' is the term used for tempo in Indonesian gamelan in Java and Bali. It can be used with elaborating instruments. It is a concept used in Javanese gamelan music, describing melodic tempo and relationships in density between the balungan ...

'', and other musical considerations. The ''

'' is a low-pitched tube-resonated metallophone played with a large padded mallet held in one hand, with the other hand is used for damping the ringing key as a new key is sounded. The melodic framework of a piece, sometimes called the ''

balungan The ''balungan'' ( jv, skeleton, frame) is sometimes called the "core melody" or, "skeletal melodic outline," of a Javanese gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the ''balungan'' is then the melody ...

'', is played on the ''slenthem''. The ''

'', two-headed drums played with the hands, control the tempo of the music and signal changes in ''

''. Different drums are used according to the style of the music; some lively and others more restrained. The ''kendhang'' player usually begins and ends on the ''ketipung'' and ''kendhang ageng'', switching to more elaborate patterns on the medium-sized ''ciblon'' drum. The gongs — ''

'' (small hanging gongs) and '' kenong'' (large horizontal gongs) — act as structural markers and punctuate the form, depending on the type of piece being played. 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 ...

'' (large gong) marks the end of each of the largest melodic phrases; these are called '' gongan'', and a piece can have one or several of these. Several other instruments can also be included: the ''

gambang A gambang, properly called a gambang kayu ('wooden gambang') is a xylophone-like instrument used among people of Indonesia in gamelan and kulintang, with wooden bars as opposed to the metallic ones of the more typical metallophones in a gamelan ...

'' (xylophone), ''

'' (end-blown bamboo flute), and ''

'' (plucked stringed instrument). Vocal parts called '' gerong'' (for male singers) or '' sindhen'' (for female singers) can be added in certain sections of pieces, as can ''

alok Alok is an Indian given name of Sanskrit origin. People with the given name Alok * Alok (DJ) (born 1991), Brazilian DJ and music producer *Alok Bhargava (born 1954), Indian-American econometrician * Alok R. Chaturvedi, Professor of Information Syst ...

'', vocal cries that accent certain parts of the form or melody.

The instruments and their functions

See also