glossar

Glossary

angklung – in West Java, the name for an instrument made of bamboo which is shaken to produce sound; also the corresponding music; in Bali see gamelan angklung.

bonang – a drum-shaped set of gongs composed of two rows in Javanese gamelan, generally for a single musician who plays a developed variation of the melody.

ceng-ceng – small cymbals in Balinese gamelan; composed of five bronze plates connected to one another lying on a wooden frame—they are struck with two hand-held bronze plates; used to subdivide the smallest rhythmical values and emphasise percussion accents.

dalang –shadow theatre actor.

gamelan – general term used to describe Indonesian ensembles that are primarily characterised by their use of metallophones. However, because there are gamelan ensembles without metallophones, it is difficult to draw distinctions.

gamelan angklung – mostly four-tone (of the slendro type) Balinese gamelan with metallophones; played at funerals, but also for purely secular occasions (see also angklung).

gamelan gong gedé – ceremonial court gamelan ensemble in Bali.

gangsa – general term used to describe metallophones with bronze plates (gantung) that hang over bamboo resonance chambers, which are played with mallets. The lowest register is played by the gangsa pangugal (with a range of two octaves), followed by the gangsa pemadé and the gangsa kantilan, which overlap each other by one octave. The gangsa is not to be confused with the gender, the latter of which is generally played with sticks. Especially in North Bali there is also a type of gangsa with resting bronze plates (gangsa jongkok).

gender – metallophone with bronze plates hung over a bamboo resonance chamber; played with two rounded sticks.

giying – another name for the gangsa pangugal.

jegogan – the deepest metallophone, one octave below the calung, struck simultaneously with two cloth mallets; used to accentuate the principal notes of the melody pokok gending.

karawitan – gamelan music from Central Java, West Java, and Bali. This term, which even to this day lacks a strict definition, was used incorrectly for a long time (and occasionally even today) as a term to counter the use of the word “music” (in this sense everything that is Western) by indigenous peoples.

kebyar – the modern gamelan style of Bali; it developed around 1910 in Northern Bali.

kecapi - (less frequently kacapi) Sundanese string instrument similar to the zither.

kemong – the smallest high-pitched gong in a Balinese gamelan orchestra.

kempli – individual knobbed gongs, used in earlier times for split structures (gamelan gong gedé), now generally used to mark the main beat.

kempur – the mid-sized gong in a Balinese gamelan orchestra (approximately 40-50 cm in diameter).

kendang – double-skinned drums in various sizes; k. lanang = masculine and somewhat higher, k. wadon = feminine and somewhat deeper. The term kendang tunggal refers to solo drumming.

kenong – the deepest knobbed gong set in Javanese gamelan; for the bass beat.

kulanter – a small, double-skinned drum in West Java which belongs to a set, similar to an Indian tabla. They are either attached to, or laid down on, a piece of hide. Kulanters can easily be tuned to specific pitches.

patet - in Central Java, this term refers to a type of mode within a given tuning system.

Pekan Komponis (Muda) – the Young Composers Week.

rebab – two-stringed violin with a small body and no fingerboard.

reong – a set of knobbed gongs in modern Balinese gamelan (kebyar) with twelve gongs; played by four musicians; it has a figurative function, is used for solos, and reinforces the drum accents.

saluang – flute in West Sumatra (Minangkabau) of various sizes.

suling – bamboo flute.

talempong – a set of bronze knobbed gongs in West Sumatra

trompong – a deep set of knobbed gongs with 10 notes (2 octaves) in Bali; used mostly for solos in the lelambatan repertoire.

wayang golek – puppet theatre in West Java

Abbreviations

STSI – Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia = Art Academy (with different departments)

UPI – Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia = University for Teacher Training (in Bandung)

ISI – Institut Seni Indonesia = Art Institute/Academy (with different departments)