The UNSW semar pegulingan instruments may be grouped under the following organological categories:
Idiophones: agung, kempul, kempyung, kajar, trompong, and reyong. The reyong, is not typically used in the traditional semar pegulingan.
Metallophones: jegog, jublag, penyacah, kantil, pemade, and giying (or ugal.)
Aerophones: suling (bamboo flutes).
Membranophones: kendang, double headed drums that are normally played in pairs (kendang wadon and kendang lanang).
Instrument Functions
- The jublag plays the melodic framework known as the pokok or bantang gending.
- The jegog is tuned to the lowest octave, sounding one octave below the jublag and usually stresses every second and/or fourth beat of the jublag part, sometimes with slight variations. The jegog always plays on the eighth beat of an eight-beat pattern.
- The pemade and kantil plays an elaboration of the jublag melody. Depending on the particular village style, the pemade and kantil (collectively referred to as gangsa) use either the kotekan or kekenyongan techniques. The kotekan are interlocking figurations consisting of two parts; polos and sangsih. Generally, the polos plays on the beat and the sangsih off the beat. The kotekan is one of the most important and unique features of Balinese music. The kekenyongan is a non-interlocking technique which all the gangsa play together and may be played in unison or using harmonies based on fifths or fourths.
- The large suspended gongs (agung and kempur) establish the metric structure or colotomy of the composition. The agung marks the end of each musical phrase. The kajar provides the basic beat, marks certain musical phrases, and sometimes imitates the drum patterns or plays rhythmic elaborations.
- The trompong is the leading melodic instrument of the ensemble. Its two-octave range gives the trompong player greater freedom in the interpretation of the pokok melody.
- The cengceng provides rhythmic accentuation.
- The semar pegulingan drums are known as kendang krumpungan. These two drums are called kendang lanang (male) and kendang wadon (female). The UNSW semar pegulingan also includes a pair of large kendang normally used in the gong kebyar gamelan. The kendang player has a musical leadership role in the ensemble and works closely with dancers.
- The suling (flute) and rebab (spiked fiddle) provide melodic ornamentation, and are often played together. The two strings of the rebab are normally tuned to pitches 2 and 6 of the jublag.