Bonang
A set of small tuned kettle gongs resting horizontally on a wooden frame, played with two padded sticks. It elaborates the melody rather than stating it.
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Culture-specific expressions
Terms, definitions, context, variants, usage examples, and references from diverse East Javanese cultural communities.
Demung
The largest and lowest metallophone of the saron family, with broad bars and a heavy mallet.
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Gambang
A xylophone with wooden bars spanning several octaves, played with two flexible mallets in rapid parallel octaves.
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Gender
A metallophone of thin bars over tube resonators, played with two disc-shaped mallets in interlocking patterns, one hand damping while the other strikes.
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Gong ageng
The great hanging gong, struck at the close of the longest cycle. Its stroke marks the boundary of musical time and is treated with ceremonial respect.
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Kempul
A smaller hanging gong, or set of them, struck within the cycle to mark subdivisions between the great gong strokes.
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Kendhang
A double-headed drum played with the hands, which sets the tempo, signals changes of density, and brings the piece to its end. Its player leads the ensemble.
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Kenong
A large kettle gong resting horizontally in its own frame, struck to divide the cycle into equal parts.
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Kethuk
A small kettle gong with a dry, damped sound, struck on the offbeats to keep the inner pulse of the cycle.
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Peking
The smallest and highest metallophone of the saron family, which doubles the melody at speed.
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Rancak
The carved wooden frame that holds the bars or kettles of an instrument. Its decoration marks the status of the set it belongs to.
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Rebab
A two-stringed bowed spike fiddle. Not fixed to the tuning of the bronze, it leads the melody and sets the pitch for the singers.
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Saron
A metallophone of thick bronze bars over a trough resonator, struck with a wooden mallet and damped by the free hand. It carries the core melody.
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Siter
A plucked zither with strings on both faces of a box resonator, played with the thumbnails while the fingers damp.
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Slenthem
A metallophone of thin bronze bars suspended over tuned tube resonators, sounding an octave below the saron with a sustained, soft tone.
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Suling
An end-blown bamboo ring flute, which floats free of the ensemble pulse and fills the spaces in the melody.
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Topeng Malangan
The carved wooden mask of the Malang tradition, whose colour, brow and mouth fix the character before the dancer has moved.
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