The ugal is an instrument in the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

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 ...

orchestra. It is a bronze

metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usual ...

played one handed with a small hammer, often in a dance-like manner. There are usually ten keys, giving a maximum range spanning about two octaves. Like the

gangsa A gangsa is a type of metallophone which is used mainly in Balinese and Javanese Gamelan music in Indonesia. In Balinese gong kebyar styles, there are two types of gangsa typically used: the smaller, higher pitched and the larger . Each instrume ...

and

gendèr A gendèr is a type of metallophone used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan music. It consists of 10 to 14 tuned metal bars suspended over a tuned resonator of bamboo or metal, which are tapped with a mallet made of wooden disks (Bali) or a padd ...

, they are suspended over tuned bamboo resonators. The ugal features mainly in gamelan gong kebyar, where it carries the central melody (''pokok'') of the piece. Sometimes it may give its melodic duty to the jublag, where it then takes over as the leader of a

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 of ...

. There is often only one ugal in the kebyar ensemble, and it is usually deeper toned. It is played by one of the leaders of the ensemble. A second, higher toned ugal is sometimes used. The ugal is taller than the other

, and the player sits on a short stool, so as to allow the player to cue the ensemble visually with ease. The instrument also has 10 keys, with a range of two octaves, and is played with a hard wooden mallet, slightly larger than the other and usually with additional ornamentations so the leader's sometimes theatrical cues actively catch the light. Its notes are an octave lower than those of the gangsa pemadé. The ugals play a combination of gangsa parts and cues, melodic solos, and the underlying melody with flourishes. The first, front ugal cues and plays elements of the polos interlocking gangsa part (the part that plays more often on the beat), and if there is a second ugal, it plays elements of the sangsih part (gangsa notes more often off the beat).

References

* Gamelan instruments Plaque percussion idiophones Keyboard percussion instruments Indonesian musical instruments {{Mallet-stub