Music of

Indonesia
Indonesia Part of Indonesia
5 Major Islands

Location:
 Brief History of Indonesia:

It consists of 17, 508 islands of

which about 6000 are inhabited.

Main Language: Indonesian It’s the largest archipelago

(locally known as Bahasa) in the world.

Religion:
Muslim 87%
The country is predominantly Protestant 6.9%
mountainous with over 400 Catholic 2.9%
volcanoes, of which 100 are active.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth
most populous nation.
 KECAK DANCE
From the chanting noice of “chak-achak-achak”, the
dance was given its name, Kecak.

Kecak Dance is a traditional part of drama

and dance from the islands of Bali. It is said
to originate from a Balinese ancient ritual
called Sanghyang, aimed as a form of
exorcism or to repel evil spirits in which
dancers fall into a state of unconsciousness.
Musical Characteristics:
-no accompaniment
-chant
-polyrhythmic sounds

This human voiced orchestra is led by a

soloist, who is in charge of indicating the
high and low notes, and also acts as
narrator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WHx2ITKtUg
 Wayang
The term “wayang” is used to refer to a wide
variety of Indonesian theatrical forms.
Wayang figures come in all shapes, sizes, and
mediums, including picture scrolls, shadow
puppets, rod puppets, masked figures, and
puppets twice human height. For most genres,
wayang is the first term, indicating a form of
traditional theater with or based on puppets.

The second term identifies the medium or Wayang Golek Wayang Kulit
puppet type:

scroll paintings (beber)

three-dimensional rod puppets (golek)
animal skins (kulit)
human beings (wong)

Wayang Beber Wayang Wong

 Wayang Beber
Wayang beber is the art form considered to be
the predecessor of Indonesian puppetry. In
this narrative tradition, long, painted scrolls
are explicated by a human performer.
Today, wayang beber is rarely performed.
Wayang Beber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsn_w0JAg6I
Wayang Wong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMIoi0-Q2IM
Wayang Wong
Wayang wong has many features in common with the
wayang kulit shadow theatre. These include a similar
overall aesthetic and the same narrative material, often
from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; the
movements of the actors clearly imitate puppets. The
steps and gestures of the actors are basically “two-
dimensional”, designed to move to the left and the right
like the movements of puppets. It is accompanied by a
large-scale court gamelan orchestra.
Wayang Golek

Indonesian rod puppet (wayang golek) performances are a kind of blessing

bestowed on special events such as circumcisions, weddings, celebrations of
the ancestors, and other rites of passage and public events.

There are five different types of characters in Wayang Golek Puppetry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wph0cBNi7Yo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O7tHvYvTC8

Wayang Kulit

Wayang Kulit is a shadow puppet play that features puppets carefully

constructed from leather, buffalo horns, and control rods, which
require weeks of work to construct. The play occurs behind a taut
sheet with a backlight. A dalang, a shadow artist, manipulates the
puppets and voices the different characters while a gamelan orchestra
plays as accompaniment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y46Gb39CXRw
The name "gamelan" comes from gamel, a Javanese
word for a type of hammer used by a blacksmith.

Gamelan is a term for various types of

orchestra played in Indonesia.
Each gamelan is slightly different from
the other, however, they all have the
same organization of instruments.

A gamelan consists of a variety of metal Gamel

percussion instruments, usually made (mallet)
of bronze or brass, including:
metallophones, kendangs and gongs,
bonang, xylophones, drums and
cymbals. Suling
Kenda
It may also feature bamboo flutes
ng
(suling), wooden stringed instruments
(zither), and vocalists, but the focus is
on the percussion.
Musical Features
Gamelan music:

 is heard at celebrations and theatre performances

 is based on oral tradition - players learn by mastering techniques and memorizing
the music (notation is not used)
 is played together as a group and emphasizes community over individual values
Structure
• The music is made up of interlocking layers. Each layer is played by a different
instrument. The layers are usually based on a core melodic line called a balungan.
The texture is heterophonic.

Gamelan music is characterized by the following:

• the lower the pitch, the longer the note values
• the high sounding instruments are for virtuoso solo instruments played with notes
of shorter duration
• the lowest gongs are often played by beginners
• the music is divided into four beat groups called keteg, a system of four beats in a
gatra (measure)
• gongs of different sizes are used to mark cycles of music known as the gongan
Melody and Harmony
• halt in the rhythm, to give a feeling of cadence,
• more or less embellished versions, which often have two, four, or even eight times
as many notes as basic versions of the melody.

The signature texture that makes gamelan music so unusual and easily
recognizable is created by having different instruments play different versions of the
melody at the same time.
Form
As a piece develops, a previous section may return, as a whole or only in part, with or without
substantial changes, and possibly with new, unrelated material introduced between repeated
sections, or even interrupting sections.

In contrast to this linear conception, the basic organizing principle of traditional gamelan musical
forms is cyclical. Cyclical forms are based on a constant repetition, without interruptions, of a
basic musical idea. In traditional gamelan music, the repetition is so constant that the last note of
each cycle is also the first note of the next cycle.
Kotekan Technique
The Gamelan Kotekan is a style of playing fast interlocking parts in most varieties of Balinese
Gamelan music, including Gamelan gong kebyar, Gamelan angklung, Gamelan jegog etc.

Instruments combine or “interlock” to create the illusion of a single melodic line that often sounds
impossible to play for a single human.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfe3DudhY4w
 1.
SLEND
RO
The slendro system uses the
pentatonic scale and has five notes
2 Types of within each octave that are of roughly
Scales equal distance from each other. A very
rough approximation of a slendro
scale might be the Western notes A C
D E and G
(a pentatonic scale), with the C, D and
G tuned noticeably lower than equal
temperament, so that the major
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ihaQjXy3o
second intervals and minor third
2.
PELOG
-It is a seven-tone musical scale system with unequal intervals between them.
The tuning tends to be close to that of the Western Phrygian Scale.  

Some types of gamelan have all seven pelog notes available, but these

usually do not use all seven pitches in one composition. Most commonly,
groups of pitches are used as modes. 
Pelog Selisir: Most often used in Javanese gamelan musi
Pelog Tembung: Starts in the 4th scale degree (4 5 b6 1 b2)
Pelog Sunaren: Starts in the 5th scale degree (5 b6 b7 b2 b3

Pelog Selisir Pelog Tembang Fur Elise in Pelog Scale

 2 Main Types of Gamelan

1. Javanese
Gamelan
• Javanese gamelan is used as court music for the
royals.
• The music is calm and regal to avoid distracting court
rituals.
• It is sometimes accompanied with dances and singing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfrOSJRCsfM
 3 Types of Gamelan

2. Balinese
Gamelan
• Balinese gamelan is played faster than Javanese gamelan.
• It is performed at Hindu temple rituals to attract and entertain
deities.
• It has a lot of sudden changes in tempo and dynamics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIq8LNbYKT8
 3 Types of Gamelan

2. Balinese
Gamelan
• Balinese gamelan is played faster than Javanese gamelan.
• It is performed at Hindu temple rituals to attract and entertain
deities.
• It has a lot of sudden changes in tempo and dynamics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIq8LNbYKT8
 Gamelan
Instruments
BONAN
Family: G:
Bonangs, or gong chimes,
Percussions are important instruments of the
Pitch range: traditional gamelan, the
Two octaves or more, depending on tuning. percussion orchestra from Java
Material:
Bronze gongs set in a wooden frame, which is in Indonesia. The bonang does
often decorated. not usually play the main tune ;
Classification: instead it plays patterns of quick
Idiophone
notes that decorate the melody.
 Gendèr:
The Gender is an Indonesian
instrument, similar to a
xylophone, but with a row of
Family: tuned bronze bars. It is one of
Percussions
Pitch range:
the main instruments that
Two-and-a-half to three octaves. decorate the tune in the
Material: gamelan. Playing the gender
A wooden frame, with bronze bars suspended by
cords over tubular resonators of metal or bamboo.
involves holding a mallet in
Classification: each hand to strike the bars, and
Idiophone, Metallophone then stopping the sound by
 Saron:
The Saron normally has seven
bronze bars placed on top of a
Family:
resonating frame. It has three
Percussions types:
Pitch range: “demung” (largest and lowest
The three types of sarong is pitched an octave
below.
sounding),
Material: “barung” (smaller and an octave
It normally has seven bronze bars placed on top of higher than demung), and
a resonating frame (rancak).
Classification:
“peking” (small and an octave
Idiophone, Metallophone higher than barung).
 Kenong:
The kenong has a considerably
higher pitch. Its sound stands
out because of its unique timbre.
Family: It has six bronze pots suspended
Percussions on three separate teakwood
Classification: frames. It is usually played with
Idiophone
one mallet, but can be played
with two if the music is very
fast.
 Gongs Suwukan and
Kempul:
Gongs Suwukan is used when there are
multiple gongs within a piece of music
and is not normally used at the beginning,
end, or as the last gong of a repeated
series of gongs. The gong suwukan can
also be used to emphasize certain melodic
Family: phrases within a gong phrase.
Percussions
Classification: A kempul is a type of hanging gong
Metallophone, Idiophone
used in Indonesian gamelan. The
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVHxIsX0pUc
kempul is a set of pitched, hanging,
 Kendang:
A generic term for any double-
headed laced drum, cylindrical or
conical, of the islands of Java and
Bali. The kendang is always the
leading instrument in gamelan
orchestras, regulating tempos and
Family: cueing transitions.—
Percussions
Classification:
Membranophone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP-j1O5kSYM
 Ceng-Ceng:
Ceng-ceng is a general term for
cymbals used throughout Bali.
This particular set of cymbals
consists of six small cymbals
mounted face-up on the back of a
Family:
Percussions
wooden, carved turtle. When
Classification: struck, it creates a crashing ang
Idiophone shimmering effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPc6wwU8eWk
Suling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-ACMIQkOVo
Angklu
ng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yeEBoiQaN4