The bonang is an Indonesian

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

used in the Javanese

gamelan Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...

. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (''rancak''), either one or two rows wide. All of the kettles have a central boss, but around it the lower-pitched ones have a flattened head, while the higher ones have an arched one. Each is tuned to a specific pitch in the appropriate scale; thus there are different bonang for

pelog Pelog (, , ) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has a heptatonic scale. The other, older, scale commonly used is called ''slendro''. ''Pelog'' has seven notes, but many gamelan ensembles only have keys for ...

and

slendro Slendro () is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that have pentatonic scale (music), scale. Based on Javanese people, Javanese mythology, the Slendro Gamelan tuning system is older than the ''pélog'' tuning system. ...

. They are typically hit with padded sticks (''tabuh''). This is similar to the other cradled gongs in the gamelan, the kethuk,

kempyang The kempyang and ketuk are two instruments in the gamelan ensemble of Indonesia, generally played by the same player, and sometimes played by the same player as the kenong. They are important beat-keepers in the colotomic structure of the gamel ...

, and

kenong The Kenong is a musical instrument of Indonesia used in the gamelan. It is a kind of gong and is placed on its side. It has the same length and width. Thus, it is similar to the bonang, kempyang, and ketuk, which are also cradled gongs. Kenongs ...

. Bonang may be made of forged

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, welded and cold-hammered

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

, or a combination of metals. In addition to the gong-shaped form of kettles, economical bonang made of hammered iron or brass plates with raised bosses are often found in village gamelan, in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

-style gamelan, and in some American gamelan. In central Javanese gamelan there are three types of bonang used: *Bonang panerus is the highest of them and uses the smallest kettles. It generally covers two octaves (sometimes more in

on Solonese-style instruments), covering approximately the same range as the

saron SARON stands for Swiss Average Rate Overnight and is a measurement of the overnight interest rate of the secured funding market denominated in Swiss Franc (CHF). It is based on transactions and quotes posted in the Swiss repo market, and is ad ...

and

peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

combined. It plays the fastest rhythms of the bonang, either interlocking with or playing at twice the speed of the bonang barung. *Bonang barung is pitched one octave below the bonang panerus, and also generally covers two octaves, approximately the same range as the

demung The saron is a musical instrument of Indonesia, which is used in the gamelan. It normally has seven bronze bars placed on top of a resonating frame (''rancak''). It is usually about 20 cm (8 in) high, and is played on the floor by a ...

and saron combined. This is one of the most important instruments in the ensemble, as it gives many of the cues to other players in the gamelan. *Bonang panembung is pitched the lowest. It is more common in Yogyanese style gamelan, covering approximately the same range as the

slenthem The slenthem (also slentem or gender panembung) is an Indonesian metallophone which makes up part of a Javanese gamelan orchestra. The slenthem is part of the gendér family. It consists of a set of bronze keys comprising a single octave: ther ...

and

combined. When present in Solonese-style gamelan, may have only one row of six (slendro) or seven kettles sounding in the same register as the

. It is reserved for the most austere repertoire, typically playing a paraphrase of the

balungan The ''balungan'' () is sometimes called the "core melody" or, "skeletal melodic outline," of a Javanese gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the ''balungan'' is then the melody which is being ela ...

. The parts played by the

bonang barung The bonang is an Indonesian musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (''rancak''), either one or two rows wi ...

and

bonang panerus The bonang is an Indonesian musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (''rancak''), either one or two rows wi ...

are more complex than many instruments in the gamelan; thus, it is generally considered an

elaborating instrument The panerusan instruments or elaborating instruments are one of the divisions of instruments used in Indonesian gamelan. Instead of the rhythmic structure provided by the colotomic instruments, and the core melody of the balungan instruments, ...

. Sometimes it plays melodies based on the

, though generally modified simply. However, it can also play more complex patterns, obtained by combining barung and panerus patterns, such as the alternation of interlocking parts (

imbal Kunst, Jaap (2013). ''Music in Java: Its history, Its Theory and Its Technique'', p.169. Springer. . or (, ) is a technique used in Indonesian Javanese gamelan. It refers to a rapid alternation of a melodic line between instruments, in a way sim ...

) and the interpolation of florid melodic patterns (

sekaran The panerusan instruments or elaborating instruments are one of the divisions of instruments used in Indonesian gamelan. Instead of the rhythmic structure provided by the colotomic instruments, and the core melody of the balungan instruments, ...

). The ''kolenang'', a bonang whose single row of kettles is laid out in a V or U shape, is a leading melodic instrument in the Sundanese

Gamelan degung ''Gamelan degung'' is a form of Sundanese musical ensemble that uses a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of '' degung'' scale. The instruments are manufactured under local conditions in towns in West Java such as Bo ...

.''Gamelan Degung''
in "Sekar Enggal: Music of West Java" The bonang is similar to the Balinese reong and the single-row

kulintang Kulintang (, ) is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of the larger gong-chime culture ...

of the southern Philippines and Borneo.

References

External links

Bonang page, including audio
*https://web.archive.org/web/20131112035309/http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~jjordan/gamelan/bonang.html {{Authority control Balungan instruments Gongs Articles containing video clips

See also

References

External links