VOCABULARY AND CONCEPTS Balungan: Melodic outline of a piece, literally refers to the “skeleton” of the melody, and is what is generally notated by musicians and teachers Bubaran: Compositional form of the Central Javanese court city of Yogyakarta, signaling the end of a concert, which uses 16 beats to the gong Buka: Opening phrase of a piece, played by a solo instrument or voice Gatra: Unit of four beats or tones of the balungan, with the last being the “goal” tone Gembyang: Technique in which octaves are sounded simultaneously on one instrument, most often used by the bonang Imbal: Technique where two similar instruments play interlocking parts which form one composite part, most often used by paired saron or demung Irama: Tempo, but also refers to the relationship of the beats of the elaborating instruments to those of the balungan (e.g., 1:1, 2:1, 4:1, etc.) Kepatihan: Cipher system of notation generally used for gamelan music Ladrang: Compositional form which uses 32 beats to the gongan Lagu: Melody, also known as the “inner melody” as it is never directly stated by any one instrument, but is a result of all parts acting together Lancaran: Compositional form which uses 8 balungan beats to the gongan Laras: Tuning system (see slendro and pelog) Mipil: Technique in which an instrument alternates on pairs of notes based on the balungan, most often used by the bonang Ngencot: Technique of striking a key at the same time as damping it Pathet: Mode Pelog: Seven-tone tuning system with small and large intervals Plesedan: Technique for the kenong where it anticipates the tone of the following kenong Seleh: “Goal” tone, usually the fourth note of a gatra, and/or corresponding to prominent balungan, kenong or gong tones; represents a point of resolution on which all the melodic parts of the gamelan coincide Slendro: Five-tone tuning system with nearly equal intervals Tabuh: Mallet used to strike an instrument Wayang/Wayang Kulit: Shadowplay theater accompanied by gamelan music, in which the primary Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, are re-enacted using flat puppets made of water buffalo hide pierced with small holes held against a white screen and illuminated from behind with a flame or lantern; other forms of wayang include wayang golek (using rod- puppets) and wayang wong (in which actors are used instead of puppets) Wela: Omission of the kempul stroke just after a stroke on the gong .