Gamelan Almost every where in Yogya, Solo, Semarang and other cities in Central Java, in Karatons, in the market, in the villages, in the hotel's lobby, you should hear the magical melodious percussion music - the gamelan Javanese orchestra.
In his book 'music of Java' Jaap Kunst says, "Gamelan is comparable to only two things, moonlight and flowing water. ...mysterious like moonlight and always changing like flowing water ...".
Gamelan music is an integral part of all cultural activities in Java such as wayang kulit (leather puppets) performance, court dance, uyon-uyon (symphony orchestra performance), etc. There are two kinds of laras (tuning) in gamelan, namely slendro (comparable to minor key in Western music) and Pelog (major key). A complete set of gamelan consist of two sets of different instruments of Slendro and Pelog, such as:
- Kendang (double ended drum beaten by hands)
It is a leading instrument. The pengendang (drumer) is the conductor of the gamelan orchestra. There are five (5) different sizes of kendang from 20 cm to 45 cm.
- Saron
A glockenspiel with bronze bar struck with wooden mallet. There are three kinds; Saron Barung, Saron Peking, Saron Demung. 
- Bonang Barung
A double row of bronze kettles resting on a horizontal frame, played with two long stick bound with red cord at the striking end. - Bonang Penerus
- Slentem
Thin bronze bars suspended over bamboo resonating chambers, struck with a padded disc on the end of a stick. - Gender
Similar to slentem with more bronze keys and smaller bamboo chamber, struck with two disc-shaped hammers. 
- Gambang
Wooden bars laid over a wooden frame struck with two sticks of supple buffalo horn, ending with a small, round, padded disc. - Gong
Each slendro and pelog set had three gongs. Two big gongs (Gong Ageng) and one gong Suwukan about 90 cm, made from bronze, suspended on a wooden frame. It marks the end of the largest phrase of the melody. 
- Kempul
Smaller gongs, marks a smaller phrase. In each slendro and pelog set, there are 6 (six) or 10 (ten) kempuls. - Kenong
Smaller gongs lay horizontally on crossed cord, inside a wooden frame. A complete set of kenong in each slendro and pelog consist of 10 (ten) kenongs. 
- Ketug
The kenong player also plays it smaller kenong, marks subdivisions of phrases. - Clempung
A string instrument, each slendro and pelog set needs one clempung. - Siter
Smaller cemplung, each slendro and pelog set needs one siter 
- Suling
It is a flute, each slendro and pelog set, needs one suling. - Rebab
A two stringed viol, the same as slendro and pelog. - Keprak and Kepyak
Needed for gamelan to accompany dances. - Bedug
It is a very big drum. 
The bars of the gamelan instruments can be made either from iron, copper or bronze. The bronze bars are the best choice. All the gamelan players are sitting cross-legged on a mat during a performance. In a gamelan music concert or karawitan performance, the Kendang player or pengendang conducts the Tempo, while the melody is led by the bonang player
The gamelan orchestra includes some singers (Pesinden), female as well as male. There are some very famous Pesindens, their names are almost known by everybody in this region.
Some believe that in the ancient time, the first set of gamelan, by the name of Lokananta was created by gods and played in Mount Lawu, Eastward of Solo.
In short the history of gamelan was as follow:
The first gamelan was the three-toned Munggang, then the five-toned slendro gamelan and the last: the seven-toned pelog gamelan.
Patet
In the laras slendro, there are:
- Slendro patet nem
- Slendro patet sanga
- Slendro patet manyura
In the laras pelog, there are: - Pelog patet lima
- Pelog patet nem
- Pelog patet barong
Patet is a place to lay the gending or to establish the gending. In the wayang kulit (shadow puppet) whole night show, the gamelan plays,
Slendro patet nem from 9.00-12.00 p.m.
Slendro patet sanga from 00.00-03.00 a.m.
Slendro patet manyura from 03.00-06.00 a.m.
For an experienced gamelan player it should not difficult to determine the patet of a particular gamelan music. Or it can be said that patet is used to create mood, with the gamelan accompaniment. It is already known that various gamelan tunes are played to create different atmosphere of the situation or feeling such as joy, sorrow, anger etc.
The Best Gamelans in Java
Gamelan, Orkestra a la Jawa
Gamelan adalah musik yang tercipta dari paduan bunyi gong, kenong dan alat musik Jawa lainnya. Irama musik yang lembut dan mencerminkan keselarasan hidup orang Jawa akan segera menyapa dan menenangkan jiwa begitu didengar.
Gamelan, Orkestra a la Jawa
Gamelan jelas bukan musik yang asing. Popularitasnya telah merambah berbagai benua dan telah memunculkan paduan musik baru jazz-gamelan, melahirkan institusi sebagai ruang belajar dan ekspresi musik gamelan, hingga menghasilkan pemusik gamelan ternama. Pagelaran musik gamelan kini bisa dinikmati di berbagai belahan dunia, namun Yogyakarta adalah tempat yang paling tepat untuk menikmati gamelan karena di kota inilah anda bisa menikmati versi aslinya.
Gamelan yang berkembang di Yogyakarta adalah Gamelan Jawa, sebuah bentuk gamelan yang berbeda dengan Gamelan Bali ataupun Gamelan Sunda. Gamelan Jawa memiliki nada yang lebih lembut dan slow, berbeda dengan Gamelan Bali yang rancak dan Gamelan Sunda yang sangat mendayu-dayu dan didominasi suara seruling. Perbedaan itu wajar, karena Jawa memiliki pandangan hidup tersendiri yang diungkapkan dalam irama musik gamelannya.
Pandangan hidup Jawa yang diungkapkan dalam musik gamelannya adalah keselarasan kehidupan jasmani dan rohani, keselarasan dalam berbicara dan bertindak sehingga tidak memunculkan ekspresi yang meledak-ledak serta mewujudkan toleransi antar sesama. Wujud nyata dalam musiknya adalah tarikan tali rebab yang sedang, paduan seimbang bunyi kenong, saron kendang dan gambang serta suara gong pada setiap penutup irama.
Tidak ada kejelasan tentang sejarah munculnya gamelan. Perkembangan musik gamelan diperkirakan sejak kemunculan kentongan, rebab, tepukan ke mulut, gesekan pada tali atau bambu tipis hingga dikenalnya alat musik dari logam. Perkembangan selanjutnya setelah dinamai gamelan, musik ini dipakai untuk mengiringi pagelaran wayang, dan tarian. Barulah pada beberapa waktu sesudahnya berdiri sebagai musik sendiri dan dilengkapi dengan suara para sinden.
Seperangkat gamelan terdiri dari beberapa alat musik, diantaranya satu set alat musik serupa drum yang disebut kendang, rebab dan celempung, gambang, gong dan seruling bambu. Komponen utama yang menyusun alat-alat musik gamelan adalah bambu, logam, dan kayu. Masing-masing alat memiliki fungsi tersendiri dalam pagelaran musik gamelan, misalnya gong berperan menutup sebuah irama musik yang panjang dan memberi keseimbangan setelah sebelumnya musik dihiasi oleh irama gending.
Gamelan Jawa adalah musik dengan nada pentatonis. Satu permainan gamelan komplit terdiri dari dua putaran, yaitu slendro dan pelog. Slendro memiliki 5 nada per oktaf, yaitu 1 2 3 5 6 [C- D E+ G A] dengan perbedaan interval kecil. Pelog memiliki 7 nada per oktaf, yaitu 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [C+ D E- F# G# A B] dengan perbedaan interval yang besar. Komposisi musik gamelan diciptakan dengan beberapa aturan, yaitu terdiri dari beberapa putaran dan pathet, dibatasi oleh satu gongan serta melodinya diciptakan dalam unit yang terdiri dari 4 nada.
Anda bisa melihat gamelan sebagai sebuah pertunjukan musik tersendiri maupun sebagai pengiring tarian atau seni pertunjukan seperti wayang kulit dan ketoprak. Sebagai sebuah pertunjukan tersendiri, musik gamelan biasanya dipadukan dengan suara para penyanyi Jawa (penyanyi pria disebut wiraswara dan penyanyi wanita disebut waranggana). Pertunjukan musik gamelan yang digelar kini bisa merupakan gamelan klasik ataupun kontemporer. Salah satu bentuk gamelan kontemporer adalah jazz-gamelan yang merupakan paduan paduan musik bernada pentatonis dan diatonis.
Salah satu tempat di Yogyakarta dimana anda bisa melihat pertunjukan gamelan adalah Kraton Yogyakarta. Pada hari Kamis pukul 10.00 - 12.00 WIB digelar gamelan sebagai sebuah pertunjukan musik tersendiri. Hari Sabtu pada waktu yang sama digelar musik gamelan sebagai pengiring wayang kulit, sementara hari Minggu pada waktu yang sama digelar musik gamelan sebagai pengiring tari tradisional Jawa. Untuk melihat pertunjukannya, anda bisa menuju Bangsal Sri Maganti. Sementara untuk melihat perangkat gamelan tua, anda bisa menuju bangsal kraton lain yang terletak lebih ke belakang.
Naskah: Yunanto Wiji Utomo
Photo & Artistik: Singgih Dwi Cahyanto
Copyright © 2006 YogYES.COM
The fishermen of this region have a number of superstitions. One of them is not wearing anything green when going out to sea because green is the royal colour of the Spirits of the Sea. Another is to touch the water when arriving at a fishing spot, and asking permission from the Spirits before throwing in the net. Other superstiti include ritual bath ceremonies, sacred offerings, and even worship to the spirits of the sea. While most, if not all of these sacraments are no longer practiced in Malaysia today, one particular myth has evolved into a cultural dance masterpiece. It tells the story of man’s encounter with the Spirits of the sea.
The story of this dance began a long time ago. According to legend, a band of fisherman living on an island off the coast of 
Grateful for the release of the fisherman’s soul, the bomoh presents the Spirit Princess with coloured rice. The fisherman awakens. From then on (and until the introduction of Islam in Malaya), offerings were ritually presented to the Spirits of the Sea, whom the fishermen once worshipped. Over the years, this story has evolved into a number of versions. Nevertheless, they all tell of both the treacherous and caring relationship between the fishermen and the Spirits of the Sea. The legend of the Ulik Mayang is unravelled in an amazingly choreographed folk dance, which was once a form of spiritual worship, but now performed purely for cultural appreciation and entertainment purposes. Most popular in the state of Terengganu, the dance is accompanied by its song which is both haunting and vigorous. While the music of the song has several contemporary interpretations to it, as seen in the 2000 Malaysian movie Spinning Gasing directed by Teck Tan, many dance troupes prefer a composition of traditional instruments. These include traditional drums, gongs, seruling (a flute) and rebab (a bowed lute).
