Javanese Gamelan Melody

MELODY

Rebab

Rebab

Rebab, a two-stringed bowed lute. It has a heart-shaped body of wood (or a round-shaped body of coconut shell) covered by a membrane made of parchment from cow bladder. A long wooden spike is pierced through the body, supporting the strings at the top, and serving as a foot at the bottom. The brass strings a stretched up across the membrane from a point on the leg just below the body to the elongated pegs in the upper part of the spike. When the rebab is bowed, a bridge (srenten) must be positioned between the strings and the upper part of the membrane.

Because the rebab has an elaborate melody and a difficult playing technique (i.e. the production of a clear sound, accurate intonation, bowing technique, and the position of fingers), the rebab player must be a  musician with years of training. As one of the leading instruments, rebab is considered the melodic leader of the ensemble, especially in the soft style of playing gendhing. In most pieces, the rebab plays the introduction to the gendhing. This introduction determines the gendhing, laras, and pathet which will be played by the ensemble. The melodic range of the rebab constitutes the melodic range of any composition. Therefore, the flowing melody of the rebab gives a clear direction to the flow of the melody of a gendhing.

The strings of the rebab are tuned to an interval which is approximately equal to a fifth (kempyung): nem (6) and gulu (2) in sléndro and pélog gendhing, or limå (5) and penunggul (1) in pélog gendhing, depending on the pathet of the gendhing.

Gender

Gender

Gendèr, a metallophone with bronze keys suspended by cords in a wooden frame, over tube resonators. It is played with two tabuh of the disc type (i.e. padded disc which is attached to the end of a stick). There are two kind of gendèr: gendèr barung and gendèr panerus. The gendèr barung can have as few as twelve or as many as fourteen keys, encompassing more than two octaves. A sléndro gamelan has one gendèr. 

The pitches are:

Gender Slendro Pitch

Note: some gamelan have gendèr without the lowest pitch 6.

A pélog gamelan has two gendèr: the bem gendèr and the barang gendèr. The pitches of a pélog bem gendèr are:

pélog bem gendèr pitch

The pitches of a pélog barang gendèr are:

pélog barang gendèr pitch

The gendèr panerus is tuned one octave higher than the gendèr barung, thus its lowest section overlaps with the gendèr barung's highest section. 

The melodic range of the gendèr is narrower than the full melodic range of a composition. Therefore, the gendèr melody sometimes moves in the opposite direction to the melody of a composition.

The gendèr playing technique (e.g. the technique of damping the keys), and its elaborate melody require highly skilled musicianship. The gendèr barung is accepted as a particularly important instrument in the ensemble, especially in the soft playing style of gendhing. Its presence creates the fullness or sonority of the ensemble and reinforces modal character (pathet) of gendhing. Some gendhing have a buka (introduction) which is played by the gendèr barung. In the shadow puppet (wayang) performance, the gendèr player has a demanding task to fulfill. He or she has to play in gendhing, in sulukan (a kind of chant sung by the dhalang, puppetter), and in grimingan (gendèr parts to fit the mood of the scene while the dhalang narrates or gives dialogue).
Pesindhèn or Sindhèn, a female “soloist” singer. The melody of pesindhèn is without strictly fixed tempi. The pesindhèn sings her melodic patterns intermittently, especially towards the end of melodic phrases. This is called sindhènan baku or “main sindhèn line”. 

A pesindhèn might also sing near the beginning of melodic phrases. This is called sindhènan isèn-isèn or "optional sindhèn line". 

Example Sindhènan ladrang Wilujeng, Sléndro manyurå (excerpt, balungan and sindhèn part). The first half of the phrase is sindhènan isèn-isèn, the second half, sindhènan baku)

For sindhènan baku, pesindhèn sings a poetic riddle, called wangsalan. Each stanza consists of four lines, alternating between four-and eight-syllable lines. Example:

1. Sendhang argå / Pool in the mountain (lake, in Javanese, tlågå)
2. Argå alit Kartåsurå / The small mountain in Kartåsurå (the name of this mountain is wijil)
3. Tan prayogå / It is not proper
4. Ngongasken mring wijilirå / To proudly announce your background

As you can see in the example, the first and second lines (usually describing people, animals, or things) point to other meanings. The words implied by the first two lines will appear completely or incompletely in the third and fourth lines, but in different contexts. These lines usually contain moral ideas, the expression of the emotion of love, reverence to the nobility, satire, or other subjects. For sindhènan isèn-isèn, pesindhèn sings a word or words such as råmå-råmå (oh father), yåmas (yes brother), radèn (address to nobility), kenès-nènès (refering to a talkative girl), etc. If penggérong (see below) sings, pesindhèn will use the text which is sung by penggérong.

Penggérong or gérong, a small male chorus—two or three male singers. The melody of penggérong is in fixed tempo. The penggérong sings almost continuously; however, not every gendhing has a gérong part. Example Gérongan ladrang Wilujeng, Sléndro manyurå (balungan and gérong part, excerpt)

Although some gendhing have their own texts, the most common texts used by penggérong are in the salisir or kinanthi forms. Like wangsalan, salisir is also a poetic riddle. The difference lies in the number of syllables; its syllable-scheme being eight-eight-eight-eight. 

Parabé sang Småråbangun / The nickname of Småråbangun (i.e., Priyambada)

Sepat dombå kali Oyå / Big fish in the Oya river (i.e., guramèh)

Åjå dolan lan wong priyå / Don’t play around with a man

Nggeramèh nora prasåjå / It is trivial, but not proper

Kinanthi is one of the macapat songs. The texts used by penggérong may tell us about moral ideas, decribe nature, a story or puzzle, express the emotion of love, or other subjects.

Example

Kinanthi

Nalikanirå ing dalu / Once, in the evening
Wong agung mangsah semèdi / The honorable man (Rama) was meditating
Sirep kang bålå wanårå / Silent was the monkey army
Sadåyå wus sami guling / They all have been sleeping
Nadyan ari Sudarsånå / Even Råmå's brother Sudarsånå (Laksmånå)
Wus dangu dènirå guling / He has long been sleeping

In some sections of gendhing, penggérong will sing senggakan or alok, employing a word or words such as sooooooo, haké, dua lolo, etc. These short melodies or “stylized cries” are meant to excite the mood of the piece.

Gambang

Gambang

Gambang, a wooden-xylophone with seventeen to twenty one keys with a range of two octaves
or more. The gambang is played with two disc type beaters, which have long, horn handles.
Most of the time the gambang plays in octaves (gembyangan). Sometimes,however, a
kempyung (playing two notes separated by two keys), playing two notes separated by six keys,
and a few other ornamentational styles of playing are substituted.

Like the rebab, the melody of the gambang reveals the melodic motion of the gendhing because of its wide melodic range. The high speed of the gambang part and its elaborate melody require years of training to master. In wayang performances, beside playing in the gendhing, the gambang player also plays in the pathetan and sendhon (two kinds of sulukan or chant sung by the dhalang).

Celempung

Celempung

Celempung, a plucked-zither set on four legs. The two front legs are higher than the two rear legs. Therefore, the instrument slopes downward toward the player. Its strings consists of thirteen pairs, stretched between the tuning pins at the lower side of the instrument. The bridge is placed on the middle across the sound board (body of the instrument). The celempung is played with thumbnails. In addition, damping is required using the other fingers - right hand fingers damp from below the strings, left hand fingers damp above the strings.

The sound of the celempung enriches the total sound of the ensemble. The most suitable use of celempung is in a kind of chamber gamelan (gamelan klenèngan, gamelan gadhon, gamelan cokèkan), or in a siteran performance. Siter is similar to celempung but has no legs, and is smaller in size. Siteran is an ensemble consisting of celempung, siter, siter panerus, siter slenthem, kendhang ciblon, and gong kemodhong.

Suling

Suling

Suling, end-blown flute made of bamboo. The sléndro suling has four finger-holes and the pélog, five. The suling encompasses a range of more than two octaves. The lowest octave, however, is rarely played. Suling melodies are characteristically played in free rhythm. They are played intermittently, usually toward the end of melodic phrases, but also at the beginning and in the middle of melodic phrases.