Some basic info is on the Resources page, including the names of the instruments, the colotomic structure diagrams of some of the forms etc. This also includes mp3 files of our tuning – note that not all gamelans are tuned the same way, with variations in the intervals between the notes and in the absolute pitch of a 6.

Sundanese piece

We started with a very simple Sundanese style piece using the slendro five note scale. Sunda is the Western part of the island of Java. We learned this by ear and gained an understanding of the colotomic structure of the music – gong cycles, broken up by the other punctuating instruments. On top of this comes the balungan – often translated as basic melody but literally “skeleton”. We then added in multiple levels of elaboration of the balungan.

• Bonangs played a simple offbeat pattern emphasising the important note of each half of the gong cycle
• The smallest metallophone, peking, played a pattern leading to the end of each bar of four notes
• The sarons had a go at playing an interlocking pattern “imbal” with one on the beat and one on the off beat

The notation for this piece is written out the same way we learned it – starting with the gong note, adding in the half way note and then continuing to subdivide. Once we were repeating the cycle, Egidija started using the second biggest gong at the end of three cycles then the largest at the end of the fourth. The kenong can play 3 instead of 1 – we didn’t do that.

In the grid version of the notation, kendang refers to the drum, and kecrek is a rattly instrument that we don’t have.

Lancaran Tropongan

This is a central Javanese piece in a fast and loud style, using the seven note pelog scale. The notation is here: Lancaran Tropongan.

It is quite unusual in that it uses all seven notes of the scale, but it is still based on a five note subscale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. The 7 and 4 are just used as passing notes – they are a bit like accidentals in western music in this piece. Other pelog pieces can be based on 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and occasionally 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. 4 is very rarely used in important places in the music.

The main balungan part that most people played is at the bottom of the page. This is also what the bonang and gong players used to work out their parts. The faster line is an elaboration played by the sarons which we had a go at towards the end.

At the end of each bar (gatra in Javanese) the kettle gong (kenong) plays. These are the strong notes. Each line (gong cycle) can be thought of as having two halves, which make up a questioning and answering phrase. The kenong reinforces this by playing the half way note throughout the first phrase, and the final note throughout the second phrase.

The kempul (smaller hanging gongs) come half way between kenong strokes (but miss the one after the gong). There is a choice of which note to play – the simplest approach is just to play 5 throughout, but the player has freedom to use other notes that fit with the balungan line – as long as they play in the right places and don’t push the boundaries too far.

Ketuk and bonangs play in the weak points of the bar, on the 1 and 3 – between the balungan notes. Bonangs play the last note of the bar (the strong note) and so are anticipating this. A sense of tension and resolution comes from the different instruments coming together at the important places – end of piece, end of line, end of bar – while they may be playing several different notes at other times.

There is a full score of a different Lancaran here: bendrongan-score. This includes the drum part and you can also see the smallest metallphone (peking) repeating the notes.

Ladrang Parawisata

This is a slower, more refined piece. We played it at two tempi – firstly with two pulse beats between the melody notes, then with four. We then used this to look at the different ways each instrument elaborates the melody.

The basic notation is here: Parawisata notation. There is a recording of the Durham group playing the piece here Parawisata MP3. You can hear all the elaborating instruments. A description of how the ornamentation works is here ornamentation. The bonangs are playing “mipil”.

There is a video of the piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB8HgpMCe2E. This includes the male chorus and female singers. You’ll notice the bonangs switch to an interlocking style of ornamentation some of the time. You can see and hear some of the soft instruments that we didn’t play, in particular the gender, played with both hands, next to the singers.

Another video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=welDcST8uJY includes the rebab (bowed lute), suling (bamboo flute), siter (zither) and the gambang (wooden xylophone) is very audible although I can’t spot it on camera.