Gambang
Title
Gambang
Description
Physical description and technique:
The gambang is a wooden xylophone with seventeen to twenty-one keys with the range of two octaves or more. The keys rest on a wooden box that also functions as resonator. The gambang is played with two disc-type beaters that have long, somewhat flexible horn handles. Most of the time, the gambang plays in octaves (gembyang). Only occasionally a few ornamentational styles of playing may be employed, such as playing kempyung (playing two notes separated by two keys).
Role in the gamelan ensemble:
The gambang is one of the two instruments that have the widest melodic range (rebab is the other); hence, the melody of gambang can encompass the full melodic range of any composition. Because of this fact and the elaborate and high speed of the gambang playing style, this instrument is considered one of the important instruments in the ensemble.
-Sumarsam, 2004
The gambang is a wooden xylophone with seventeen to twenty-one keys with the range of two octaves or more. The keys rest on a wooden box that also functions as resonator. The gambang is played with two disc-type beaters that have long, somewhat flexible horn handles. Most of the time, the gambang plays in octaves (gembyang). Only occasionally a few ornamentational styles of playing may be employed, such as playing kempyung (playing two notes separated by two keys).
Role in the gamelan ensemble:
The gambang is one of the two instruments that have the widest melodic range (rebab is the other); hence, the melody of gambang can encompass the full melodic range of any composition. Because of this fact and the elaborate and high speed of the gambang playing style, this instrument is considered one of the important instruments in the ensemble.
-Sumarsam, 2004
Geographic region
Indonesia
Collection
Citation
“Gambang,” Wesleyan University Virtual Instrument Museum 2.0, accessed May 1, 2025, https://wesomeka-test.wesleyan.edu/vim2/items/show/11.