Gamelan for 18 Musicians?

       The term Gamelan is typically used to describe the music of Bali and Java, or otherwise Indonesia as a whole. Gamelan is typically divided into two main types, Balinese and Javanese gamelan music. Tuning systems, instrumentations, and timbres are different in the two main styles. Balinese Gamelan is typically very complex and uses a multitude of idiophones and membranophones. Each of these have a specific role in the Gamelan, or the Balinese orchestra. Each instrument has a small range, and passes the melody or other rhythmic accompaniments around as it flows in and out of its range. Gamelan music is produced by a series of layers in which differing instruments are played by different skill levels of instrumentalists, which are all set to one melodic line.

       This gives Gamelan a quality in which notes that overlap and parts that intertwine show off the timbre diversity of each Gamelan. To increase the difference in different Gamelan, tuning systems are different from each orchestra.

Harmony seems to simply be the result of melodies interweaving from one another, and not specifically composed. Gamelan music has no clear history, with the beginnings of its music stretching back nearly indefinitely. Gamelan music is used in religious rites, dances, and wayang theaters. Wayang theatres are essentially puppet theaters, evident in both Java and Bali, which are part of many ancestor worship rituals.

       Gamelan music is not recorded, but is passed through the generations by means of memorization and oral tradition. However, more recent Gamelan pieces are composed using a traditional number and symbol system in which numbers represent scale degrees in their scale systems. Differing instruments are given letters for gamelan musicians to infer their part to play. This Lelambatan Tabuh Ding is composed in such a manner.