A
gendér is a type of
metallophoneA metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.Metallophones have been used in music for hundreds of years. There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendér, gangsa...
used in
BalineseSee:*Bali, an Indonesian island*Balinese art*Balinese people*Balinese language*Balinese script*Balinese mythology*Balinese , a cat breed*Balinese Gamelan, local music*Balinese Room, a famous illegal casino in Galveston, Texas...
and
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
nese
gamelanA 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. It consists of 10 to 14 tuned
metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
bars suspended over a tuned resonator of bamboo or metal, which are tapped with a
malletA mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of wood, smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
made of wooden disks (Bali) or a padded wooden disk (Java). Each key is a note of a different pitch, often extending a little more than two octaves. There are five notes per octave, so in the seven-note
pélogPelog 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, some pitches are left out according to the
pathetThe pathet is an organizing concept in gamelan music. It is difficult to explain, but is similar to the melody types, that is, for example, modes, ragas, or maqamat, of other musics....
.
A
gendér is a type of
metallophoneA metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.Metallophones have been used in music for hundreds of years. There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendér, gangsa...
used in
BalineseSee:*Bali, an Indonesian island*Balinese art*Balinese people*Balinese language*Balinese script*Balinese mythology*Balinese , a cat breed*Balinese Gamelan, local music*Balinese Room, a famous illegal casino in Galveston, Texas...
and
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
nese
gamelanA 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. It consists of 10 to 14 tuned
metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
bars suspended over a tuned resonator of bamboo or metal, which are tapped with a
malletA mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of wood, smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
made of wooden disks (Bali) or a padded wooden disk (Java). Each key is a note of a different pitch, often extending a little more than two octaves. There are five notes per octave, so in the seven-note
pélogPelog 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, some pitches are left out according to the
pathetThe pathet is an organizing concept in gamelan music. It is difficult to explain, but is similar to the melody types, that is, for example, modes, ragas, or maqamat, of other musics....
. Most gamelans include three gendér, one for
slendroSlendro is a pentatonic scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pélog.-Tuning:...
, one for pelog pathet nem and lima, and one for pelog pathet barang.
The
gendér is similar to the Balinese
gangsaA gangsa is a type of metallophone which is used mainly in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan music. It consists of several tuned metal bars each placed over an individual resonator. The bars are hit with a mallet, each producing a different pitch...
, which also has an individual resonator under each key, and the
saronThe saron is a musical instrument of Indonesia, which is used in the gamelan. It typically consists of seven bronze bars placed on top of a resonating frame . It is usually about 20 cm high, and is played on the floor by a seated performer...
, which, although trough-resonated, does have a set of tuned metal bars or keys. It is also similar to the Javanese
slenthemThe slenthem is a Javanese metallophone which makes up part of a gamelan orchestra.The slenthem is part of the gendér family. It consists of a set of bronze keys comprising a single octave: there are six keys when playing the slendro scale and seven when playing the pelog...
, which is pitched lower and has fewer notes.
In some types of gamelan, two gendérs are used, one (called the
gendér panerus) an octave higher than the other. In
Gamelan SurakartaA typical large, double gamelan in contemporary Solo will include, in the sléndro set, one saron panerus , two saron barung, one or two saron demung, one gendér panerus, one gender barung, one slenthem , one bonang panerus and one bonang barung , one gambang kayu, one siter or celempung, one...
, the gendér panerus plays a single line of melodic pattern, following a pattern similar to the
siterThe siter and celempung are plucked string instruments used in Javanese gamelan. They are related to the kacapi used in Sundanese gamelan....
. The gendér barung plays a slower, but more complex melodic pattern that includes more separate right and left hand melodic lines that come together in kempyung (approximately a fifth) and gembyang (octave) intervals. The melodies of the two hands sometimes move in
parallel motionThis article concerns parallel motion in mechanics. For parallel motion in music, see the article Contrary motion.The parallel motion is a mechanical linkage invented by the Scottish engineer James Watt in 1784 for his double-acting steam engine....
, but often play
contrapuntallyIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent. It has been most commonly identified in Western music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
. When playing gendér barung with two mallets, the technique of dampening, important to most gamelan instruments, becomes more challenging, and the previously hit notes must be dampened by the same hand immediately after the new ones are hit. This is sometimes possible by playing with the mallet at an angle (to dampen one key and play the other), but may require a small pause.
Both types of gendér play semi-improvised patterns called
cengkokCengkok are patterns played by the elaborating instruments in the Javanese gamelan. Typically they are melodic patterns that lead to the seleh, following the rules of the pathet of the piece....
, which generally elaborate upon the
selehThe seleh note or nada seleh is a concept used in Javanese gamelan music. It is the final note of a gatra, or four-beat melodic unit.The main underlying melodic structure of a gamelan piece, called the balungan, is grouped into four-beat units...
. These are relatively fixed patterns, but can be varied in a number of ways to suit the style,
pathetThe pathet is an organizing concept in gamelan music. It is difficult to explain, but is similar to the melody types, that is, for example, modes, ragas, or maqamat, of other musics....
,
iramaIrama is a concept used in Javanese gamelan music, which relates to how much space there is between notes. It is often confused with tempo, although tempo is different, and each irama can be played in different tempi....
, and mood of the piece, as well as the skill of the performer. The cengkok repertoire for gendér are more developed and specific than those for most other elaborating instruments. Similarly, the gendér barung is likely to give cues for changing parts or irama, especially in the absence of a
rebabThe 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...
. It may also play the
bukaThe buka is the short introduction to pieces of gamelan. It is also called the bubuka or bubuka opaq-opaq....
of a piece.
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