Gamelan Gamelan Gamelan () is the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones played by mallets and a set of hand-played drums called "kendhang" which register the beat. Other instruments include xylophones, bamboo flutes, a bowed instrument called a "rebab", and even vocalists called "sindhen". Although the popularity of gamelan has declined since the introduction of pop music, gamelan is still commonly played on formal occasions and in many traditional Indonesian ceremonies. For most Indonesians, gamelan is an integral part of Indonesian culture. The word gamelan
Gamelan interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state. The scale roughly approximates that of the phrygian mode of the Western major scale (E-E on the white keys of the piano), with the notes EFGBC corresponding to the note positions 12356 in the "slendro" scale used by most gamelan. As well as the non-western octave and the use of beats, Javanese gamelan uses a combination of tempo and density known as "Irama", relating how many beats on the "saron panerus" instrument there are to notes in the