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A gangsa is a type of
metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), consisting of tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, ...
which is used mainly in Balinese and
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's most ...
nese
Gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
music in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...
. In Balinese gong kebyar styles, there are two types of gangsa typically used: the smaller, higher pitched and the larger . Each instrument consists of several tuned
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typica ...
bars (either iron or bronze) each placed over an individual resonator. The bars are hit with a wooden , each producing a different pitch. Duration of sound intensity and sound quality factors are generally accomplished by damping the vibration of the bar with the fingers of the free hand. Balinese gong , as with other metallophones in gong ensembles, are played in neighboring pairs with interlocking, rapid-tempo parts that elaborate on the melody of a piece of music (see
Kotekan ''Kotekan'' is a style of playing fast interlocking parts in most varieties of Balinese Gamelan music, including Gamelan gong kebyar, Gamelan angklung, Gamelan jegog and others. Kotekan are "sophisticated interlocking parts," "characteristic o ...
); these pairs are tuned to be dissonant and create certain wavelengths of sympathetic vibrations to create a shimmering tone (see Ombak) that travels long distances. The gangsa is very similar to the old and the . The same word is used to identify an ensemble of shallow hand-held gongs (one per musician) and to refer to the individual gongs as well in the traditional music of the Cordilleran
Igorot The indigenous peoples of the Cordillera Mountain Range of northern Luzon, Philippines are often referred to using the exonym Igorot people, or more recently, as the Cordilleran peoples. There are nine main ethnolinguistic groups whose domains a ...
peoples of Northern Luzon. Most performances are used to accompany dance. There is no standard tuning, and there are several methods of holding and addressing these gongs.


Contextual Associations

The ''gangsa'' is a metallophone idiophone of the Balinese people of Bali, Indonesia. It is a melodic instrument that is part of a Balinese ''gamelan gong kebyar''. Traditionally, a single gamelan craftsman's workshop would construct, upon commission, a unified and uniquely tuned set of bronze instruments, numbering twenty or more, the sum total of which would constitute a ''gamelan gong kebyar''. Sometime in the latter half of the 20th century, Balinese gamelan craftsmen realized there was a market, consisting mostly of foreign gamelan enthusiasts, interested in procuring single instruments. The ''gangsa'' pictured here is a product of this market niche. In a complete Balinese ''gamelan gong kebyar'' there would be, typically, nine ''gangsa'' of three different sizes and pitch registers called, from the largest and lowest-pitched to the smallest and highest-pitched: ''ugal'', ''pemade'', and ''kantilan''. Each of these varieties of ''gangsa'' has ten keys suspended over tuned-bamboo resonators and are tuned to a pentatonic scale over the range of two octaves. The ''gangsa'' pictured here would, in the context of a full ''gamelan gong kebyar'', be called a ''pemade''. The wood casings of all ''gamelan gong kebyar'' instruments are typically ornately carved and often painted in vibrant shades of red and gold. Although not painted, the ''gangsa'' pictured here displays robust and deep carving on its surfaces consisting of stylized vegetation motifs (see detail #1) also found throughout the island of Bali on Hindu temples and other traditional architecture. Dating back to only the 1910s, the ''gamelan gong kebyar'' tradition has become the most iconic of Bali's many types of sacred and secular gamelan traditions. Sets are found in many villages and neighborhoods of towns and cities, manned by musicians from all walks of life. They are performed for religious celebrations, at arts schools and conservatories, for competitions, and at tourist venues, playing both instrumental compositions and for the accompaniment of dances.


Description

The ''gangsa'' is a two-octave metallophone with ten rectangular-shaped keys (''don'') suspended by rope and posts over tuned tube resonators (''tiying'' or ''bumbung''). The keys of this ''gangsa'' are made from bronze (''krawang''). Graduated in size, the keys are arranged in a horizontal plane from the longest, widest and thinnest one at one end of the case to the shortest, narrowest, and thickest one at the other end (see detail #2 and detail #3). Holes to receive the cord by which a key is suspended are drilled at one-quarter of a key's total length from both its ends. These are nodal (dead) points in the mode of vibration for rectangular keys. The keys are suspended over a teakwood casing (''plawah'') and above cylindrical tube resonators (''bumbung'') made from bamboo (''tiying''), one for each of the instrument's ten keys. Vertical wooden spacers are placed between the ''bumbung'' to keep them in alignment with their respective keys. Although externally the resonators are all the same length, internally they are stopped by a natural node that articulates a cavity of air which will maximally resonate the frequency of the key suspended above it (the differing positions of these nodes can be seen in detail #4). A row of metal posts is located on each of the two upward-facing flat surfaces of the case between pairs of keys, and upon these rest leather cords the ends of which are securely tied to the shoulders of the case. Each cord runs through and back out the hole at one end of each key. The loop thus formed on the bottom-side of a key has a short bamboo stop-pin inserted in it so that when the cord is pulled taut it blocks the cord from exiting the hole (see detail #5). This system of suspension involves minimal contact between non-sonorous material and the key itself, allowing it to vibrate freely for a long period of time after being struck. One wooden hammer-shaped beater (''panggul'') is used to strike the bars (detail #6).


See also

*
Gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
*
Music of Bali The Music of Bali, Bali is an Indonesian island that shares in the gamelan and other Indonesian musical styles. Bali, however, has its own techniques and styles, including kecak, a form of singing that imitates the sound of monkeys. In additi ...
* Reyong * Music of the Philippines#Gong music


References


External links


Musical instruments
{{Indonesian musical instruments Gamelan instruments Plaque percussion idiophones Keyboard percussion instruments Indonesian musical instruments Gongs