Balungan

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The balungan (Javanese: skeleton, frame) is sometimes called the "core melody" of a gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the balungan is then the melody which is being elaborated.

The group of instruments which play the closest to the balungan are sometimes also called the balungan, or balungan instruments. These are the saron family and the slenthem. In many pieces, they play the balungan. However, they can also elaborate on the parts in a variety of techniques. It is possible that there is no instrument playing the balungan, although many musicians claim that the balungan is still implied.

The term has been a source of some controversy, as various writers may define it differently. Sometimes it is identified with the melody played on the saron (whose range is limilted to an octave), but sometimes it is identified with a wider tessitura that is implied by the patterns on other instruments. This multi-octave melody is the one usually notated in kepatihan, the cipher notation used for gamelan pieces.

Lagu is a related term, which is used by Sumarsam and is sometimes translated as "inner melody." It can mean the multi-octave balungan, or a more implicit melody. There is no consensus on the use of either term, and they may be used differently by different writers or in different contexts.

Types of balungan

The gatra in a balungan have a distinctive pattern of notes and rests (pin), which are classified into several categories (given with an example in kepatihan notation):

• Balungan mlaku (or balungan mlampah) do not use rests:

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