Influences on the instruments

Role The role of a given instrument, within a gamelan, partly dictates its timbre, volume and pitch level. For example, an instrument playing a tempo must not resonate too mutch nor drown the rest. If it is a gong, il will have a muted sound, not too low.

Bronze The mastery of bronze in South-East Asia goes back to ancient times. It has allowed — most probably encouraged — the development until today of the instruments using bronze. The protohistoric bronze drums were already bronze percussion instruments. Bronze is also responsible for the instruments' weight. Its presence requires a certain solidity of the instrument. Most instruments are hence placed on the bare ground and little moved.

Music The instruments' organology and timbre respond to the music's demands. Certain visible aspects of the instruments are indirectly dictated by the music. For example, the metallophones of certain Balinese gamelans have 5 or 10 keys because the music is pentatonic.

Africa ? We may wonder whether some Indonesians were inspired or not by African xylophones to create their keyed instruments. But it is also possible that we are dealing here with an Indonesian influence on Africa.

Use The fact that gamelans are played outdoors has most probably favored the instruments' percussive aspect and high sound volume. Like bronze, use implies a heavy instrument that is firmly sitted on the floor. It is heavy because does not need much mobility, it would have a false chord in another gamelan. The people's mode of living implies a sitting position for many activities, done near the floor. This also explains why the players sit in front of the instruments. This might have given free way to the presence of heavy bronze elements.