..About gamilaan music..

Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones played by mallets and a set of hand-played drums called kendhang/Kendang, which register the beat. 

A gamelan is a set of instruments consisting mainly of gongs, metallophones and drums. Some gamelans include bamboo flutes (suling), bowed strings (rebab) and vocalists. Each gamelan has a different tuning and the instruments are kept together as a set. No two gamelans are the same.

 Javanese gamelan does have its religious purposes as well, as an accompaniment during religious ceremonies. It has also been used as a form of entertainment performed for the amusement of the royal family, as well as accompanying the wayang puppet shows.

According to History of Gamelan in Indonesia, it was created by the Sang Hyang Guru as a god who once controlled all of Java. He was the god who invented the musical instrument gong, which was used to summon the gods. It can be concluded that gong was the first instrument of gamelan that made.

MELODY: A central, “core melody” called a BALUNGAN is played by a small number of instruments in the Gamelan. The rest of the instruments play supportive roles or modify and embellish the melody by adding more complexity of notes and rhythms as the melody plays out over time.

The gamelan is the main element of traditional Indonesian music. The instruments in a gamelan are composed of sets of tuned bronze 

gongs, gong-chimes, metallophones, drums, one or more flute, bowed and plucked string instruments, and sometimes singers .

As with a great deal of traditional oriental music, gamelan is learnt by rote, passed on from guru to student. Generally, at a practice a new piece is taught in short phrases by one guru and one or two assistants. The opening phrase is first taught to the lead musician and he in turn does his utmost to mimick it.