Gamelan gong kebyar is a style or genre of Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

nese gamelan

Gamelan

A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....

 music

Modernism (music)

Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with the past or common practice.- Defining musical modernism :...

. Kebyar means "the process of flowering", and refers to the explosive changes in tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 and dynamics

Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...

 characteristic of the style. It is the most popular form of gamelan in Bali, and its best known musical export.

Gong kebyar music is based on a five-tone scale

Musical scale

In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...

 called pelog selisir (tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the 7-tone pelog

Pelog

Pelog is one of the two essential scales of gamelan music native to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. The other scale commonly used is called slendro. Pelog has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for five of the pitches...

 scale), and is characterized by brilliant sounds, syncopation

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

s, sudden and gradual changes in sound colour, dynamics

Loudness

Loudness is the quality of a sound that is primarily a psychological correlate of physical strength . More formally, it is defined as "that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud."Loudness, a subjective measure, is often...

, tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 and articulation

Articulation (music)

In music, articulation refers to the musical direction performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on a single note or between multiple notes or sounds.- Types of articulations :...

, and complex, complementary interlocking

Hocket

In music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.In European music, hocket was used primarily in vocal...

 melodic

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 and rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

ic patterns called kotekan

Kotekan

Kotekan is a style of playing fast interlocking parts in most varieties of Balinese Gamelan music, including Gamelan gong kebyar, Gamelan angklung, Gamelan jegog and others. In kotekan there are two independent parts called polos and sangsih, each of which fills in the gaps of the other to form a...

.

History

Gamelan Gong Kebyar was first documented to exist in North Bali in the early 1900s. The first public performance was in December 1915 at a gamelan gong competition in Jagaraga, North Bali. Ten years later, I Mario of Tabanan is said to have created kebyar dance to accompany the music.

Instruments

Instruments in Gamelan Gong Kebyar offer a wide range of pitches and timbres, ranging five octaves from the deepest gongs to the highest key on a gangsa

Gangsa

A gangsa is a type of metallophone which is used mainly in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan music. In Balinese gong kebyar styles, there are two types of gangsa typically used: the smaller, higher pitched kantilan and the larger pemade. Each instrument consists of several tuned metal bars each placed...

. The high end can be described as "piercing," the low end "booming and sustained," while the drums as "crisp." Kebyar instruments are most often grouped in pairs, or "gendered." Each pair consists of a male and female instrument, the female being slightly larger and slightly lower in pitch. See tuning in this article to learn why this is.

Keyed Instruments

Most instruments in kebyar are keyed metallophones, with bronze keys resting on suspended chords, over bamboo resonators. The instruments often have ornately carved wooden frames. The gansa section in gamelan gong kebyar is the largest section, consisting of 13 players. Gangsa instruments are played with a mallet, called a pongul gangsa. The mallet differs in hardness depending on the instrument and its range. The keys are arranged from low to high, left to right. The key is struck with the hammer in one hand, and dampened with the finger and second knuckle of the other hand. The keys can be played in one of three ways:

1. Strike the key, and let resonate until sound fades.
2. Strike the key, and dampen immediately prior to, or simultaneous with, the striking of the next note in the melody. This is especially good for interlocking parts.
3. Strike while dampening. This gets a dry, pitched click.

Gangsa Kantilan

There are four kantilan in kebyar, two male and two female. See gendered instruments within this article. These instruments are the highest sounding in the kebyar ensemble, with its highest note being around C7. It has ten keys, and a range of two octaves, and is played with a wooden hammer. Players often sit on the floor to play this instrument.

Gangsa Pemadé

There are also four pemadé in kebyar, two male and two female. These instruments also have ten keys, a range of two octaves, and are played with a wooden mallet, but are exactly one octave lower than kantilan. Players often sit on the floor to play this instrument.

Ugal

There is usually only one ugal

Ugal

An ugal is an instrument in an Indonesian gamelan orchestra. It is a bronze metallophone played one handed with a small hammer, often in a dance-like manner. There are usually ten keys, giving a range spanning about two octaves...

in the kebyar ensemble, and it is usually female. It is played by one of the leaders of the ensemble. It is taller than the other gansa, and the player sits on a short stool, so as to allow the player to cue the ensemble visually with ease. The instrument also has 10 keys, has a range of two octaves, and is played with a wooden mallet. It is an octave lower than the gangsa pemadé.

Calung

There are two calung (pronounced chalung) in kebyar, one male and one female. These instruments have a range of one octave, five keys, and have a range in between pemadé and ugal.

Jegogan

There are two jegogan in kebyar, one male and one female. These instruments have a range of one octave, and are one octave below calung. The keys are considerably larger than those of other gangsa, and are played with a rather large, cloth-coated, rubber-padded spherical mallet.

Vertically Suspended Gong Family

Gongs come in different sizes, and provide a structure for phrasing for the music by repeating a four or eight beat pattern. This pattern is called the gong cycle. Gongs are mounted vertically.

Gong Gedé

Also referred to as just gong, gong gedé is the deepest, and most resonant. Gede, sometimes written gde, means 'big' in Balinese. Because it is the largest of the gongs, it is considered to be the most sacred instrument in kebyar. It is never dampened, always allowed to decay. Because of its deep tone, it penetrates through the ensemble and can be heard for miles. It is struck with a large, padded mallet.

Kempur

A medium-sized gong, the kempur is very similar to gong gedé as it has very similar qualities, but is just higher in pitch (about an octave and a fifth higher). It is struck with a large, padded mallet.

Klentong

Also known as the kemong, this is much smaller and higher in pitch than the kempur. It is struck with a harder mallet than either the gong gedé or kempur, which allows it to have a sharper attack.

Kettle Gong Family

Kettle gongs are round, bronze, and pitched. They are often mounted horizontally on suspended chords as part of a frame. Positioned this way, there is an opening on the bottom and a bump on top, called the boss. The kettles are arranged from low to high, left to right. They are generally played with a wooden mallet wrapped in string on one end (to soften the sound). It is either struck by the string wrapped part of the mallet, or the tip of the mallet (which is not covered in string), dampened by inaudibly touching the boss with the same mallet, and can be struck with the mallet in three ways:

1. Struck on the boss with the stringed part of the mallet, and allowed to ring.
2. Struck on the boss with the stringed part of the mallet, but dampened before the next.
3. Struck on the top of the kettle, but not on the boss, and struck with the unstrung tip of the mallet.

Reyong

Also spelled, reong, this instrument consists of 12 kettles mounted horizontally in a row on a frame. It is played by four musicians, each taking responsibility for 2 to 4 of its kettles. The players, who sit in a row, are split into two groups, the first consisting of the first and third players in the row, and the second consisting of the second and forth players. Both people in the same group play the same part, but doubled an octave apart. The parts of group one and of group two, when played together, are interlocking. The reyong has both melodic and non-melodic percussive roles.

Trompong

The trompong is not usually used in kebyar, as it is associated with older genres such as gamelan gong gdé

Gamelan gong gede

Gamelan gong gede, meaning "gamelan with the large gongs", is a form of the ceremonial gamelan music of Bali, dating from the court society of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and associated historically with public ceremonies and special occasions such as temple festivals.- Style :Usually...

. When it is used, however, it is positioned in front of the ensemble, facing the audience. Constructed similarly to reyong, it consists of 10 kettles, with a range of two octaves. It is played by only one person, and that person may be a leader of the ensemble who sits on a short stool, playing the main melodic line. The trompong is also played by a dancer in dance pieces such as Kebyar Trompong and Kebyar Duduk. Because of the size of the instrument, the melodies are composed to allow the player to slowly shift to the left or right to allow them to play lower or higher.

Tawa Tawa

The tawa tawa is a small kettle held in the lap or arm and struck on the boss by a mallet with a soft round head. It plays the beats of the gong cycle and acts somewhat like a metronome.

Kempli

The kempli is a small kettle set over cords strung on a boxlike stand. It is also a tempo keeping instrument. The kempli is usually played with a cord wrapped stick like those of the reyong and trompong. It is struck on the boss, but is dampened with the other hand to produce a sharper, dryer sound.

Kelinang

Also written klinang, it is a very small kettle, about 5 inches in diameter, either set on its own stand or held in the hands. It, too, is played with a cord wrapped stick. It plays every second beat of the tempo, usually alternating with the kempli or tawa tawa.

Kajar

The kajar is a small kettle with a recessed boss, held on the lap and played with a hard stick. The kajar plays accents to important parts of the rhythm.

Kendang

The kendang

Kendang

Kendhang is a two-headed drum used by peoples from Maritime Southeast Asia....

 is a double-headed, conical-shaped drum. There are two in the kebyar ensemble, one male and one female. Much like the syllables for pitches used for pitched instruments, the kendang have a set of onomatopoetic spoken syllables for each sound you can get. There is a separate set of syllables for the male and female drums. Kendang is played with either a bare hand or mallet. The two players play an interlocking part. The player of the female version of the kendang is often the leader or one of the leaders of the ensemble, playing special patterns to cue new sections.

Ceng-Ceng

Pronounced cheng-cheng, this instrument consists of several small, overlapping cymbals nailed to a frame. The frame is often carved to look like an animal, most commonly a turtle, as a mythic turtle is believed to carry the island of Bali on its back. The player holds a small cymbal in each hand, striking the overlapping cymbals in a quick, repetitive patterns.

Suling

One of the two instruments able to alter pitch, the suling

Suling

A suling or Seruling is an Indonesian bamboo ring flute. It is used in gamelan ensembles.Depending on the regional genre, a suling can be tuned into different scales...

is a bamboo flute, blown into on one end. Suling come in a variety of sizes, from small to rather large. A group of suling players is used to double and elaborate the melody. The player circular breathes

Circular breathing

Circular breathing is a technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. This is accomplished by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks.It is used extensively in playing...

 to allow the pitch to be sustained into a constant tone.

Rebab

The rebab

Rebab

The rebab , also rebap, rabab, rebeb, rababah, or al-rababa) is a type of string instrument so named no later than the 8th century and spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East...

is a spiked fiddle played with a bow. It is only sometimes used in kebyar as it is often drowned out by the metallophones. It usually plays along with the suling, sometimes playing notes outside of the scale. It has two strings, no frets, and the strings do not touch the neck, which allows the player to change notes in a variety of ways: pressing down on the string, bending the string, sliding up and down the string, or changing strings.

Gong Cycle

The music is divided into 4 beat groups called Keteg, this whole rhythmic cycle is called the gongan. The gongs divide gongan into sections, gong ageng

Gong ageng

The gong ageng is . It is the largest of the bronze gongs in the Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestra...

, the largest gong, marks the end of gongen, the smaller gongs mark the 4th or 8th keteg and the smallest gongs outline the pulse.

Tuning

There is no standard pitch in any Balinese music. Generally speaking, all instruments in a gamelan gong kebyar ensemble are made and tuned at the same time. Each ensemble is tuned to itself, making it nearly impossible to remove an instrument from one ensemble to use it in another and have it match pitch. In any ensemble, however, instruments are gendered, and their individual tuning depends on that instruments gender.

Gendered Instruments

Almost every instrument in a kebyar ensemble is paired with a male and female counterpart. Each instrument in a pair is tuned differently from its counterpart, one higher and one lower. Played at the same time, the higher instrument (known as pengisep or "inhaler") and the lower instrument (known as the pengumbang or "exhaler"), produce a beating

Beat (acoustics)

In acoustics, a beat is an interference between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, perceived as periodic variations in volume whose rate is the difference between the two frequencies....

 effect (ombak), creating an overall shimmering, pulsating quality. The female instrument is tuned lower, while the male instrument is tuned higher. For example, one note on a female gangsa pemadé might be tuned to 220 Hz

Herz

Herz is a German surname meaning heart, and may refer to:* Adam Herz, American writer and producer* Adolf Herz, Austrian Engineer, inventor of Herz spark plug, photographer and first editor of Camera Magazine* Alice Herz, American pacifist...

, while the male gansa pemadé might be tuned slightly higher to 228 Hz. A kebyar ensemble is usually tuned so that the number of beats per second stays consistent throughout the range of the ensemble, although sometimes an ensemble is tuned so that the beats are slightly faster for higher frequencies.