Instruments with keys

Keys Bar, lath, plate, blade ? The sounding elements of a xylophone are often referred to in Europe as bars. But the elements of the gamelan instruments vary so much in shape, proportion, size that we use the generic word key, whether for metallophones, xylophones, even when the elements are bamboo tubes. In Javanese, the word wilah (long flat object such as a plank, a blade) can be applied to characterize keys. It corresponds to the Malay word bilah. In Balinese, the word don (leaf, petal) has the same use. It corresponds to the Malay word daun.

Xylophone or not ? When an instrument's keys are wood, it is an accepted convention to say xylophone. We also use that word for instruments whose keys are bamboo tubes. The angklung is not a xylophone because its bamboo tubes are not struck with a tool. When the keys are metal, the word xylophone does not apply. Such instrument is referred to as metallophone. For instruments whose sounding elements are gongs, we don't call them metallophones. Although arranged horizontally in successive notes like in xylophones and metallophones, their elements are not keys (wilah, don).

Keeping the vibration In gamelan music, note duration is a critical aspect. A maximum of the key's vibration must be retrieved. Keys are supported above the instrument's main body in a manner as to allow them to vibrate freely and a long time. There are two methods of supporting them : By placing a shock-absorbant material on the instrument's main body for the keys to rest on. This preserves the keys from direct contact with the instrument's hard casing. Otherwise, the key's vibration would be killed or disturbed. By hanging them with fastening strap or rope, making them like float above the instrument's casing. In the first method, the keys would easily slip out of position if they were not held with stalks. The stalks are solidly fixed in the instrument casing but allow enough looseness to the keys for their vibration. In the second method, the keys are already held in place by the strap going through (more rarely around) them. Holes are bored near their extremities for the strap to pass through. In the first method, keys are more easily removed and replaced (to change the scale) than in the second method. The general tendency is that laying keys are more massive and thick than suspended ones. Their sound is more powerful. Their surface is rounded whereas in suspended keys, it is divided lengthwise into three distinguishable parts.

GANGSÅ

Metallophones have a generic name in Bali : gangsa. If the keys are laying, the name is gangsa jongkok, if they are suspended, the name is gangsa gantung. In Balinese, jongkok means to crouch down and gantung means to suspend. The word gangsa has several interesting particularities worth mentioning : It means bronze in Sundanese, Javanese, high Balinese. It means gamelan in high Javanese. It is pronounced gangså in Javanese. The final a of the Balinese gangsa is a sound situated somewhere between the ir of sir and the u of sum. This word exists in some languages of India and designates the metal they use to forge temple bells.