Gong ageng

Gong Ageng ( hochjavanisch ), means " big Gong " in Javanese vernacular ( ngoko ) Gong Gede. The Gong Ageng is the largest hanging gong in some orchestras ( gamelan ) of the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali.

Appearance

A gong Ageng is made of bronze and has a protruding hump in the middle and a curved back edge. He usually has a diameter of 79-96 cm. The Gong Ageng mostly depends in a carved ornate wooden frame. The instrument is beaten with a round, padded bat.

Gamut

The oscillating tool body generates the sound; therefore, the gong is a self- Klinger ( Idiophone ). The Gong Ageng produces a deep and long-lasting tone. If you hit on several places on the gongs, a different sound. Its beat is caused by the superposition of two oscillations with the same frequency.

The role of Gong Agengs in Gamelan

The Gong Ageng is the largest gong in the gamelan Javanese and Balinese music, as well as in the music of Lombok. It marks the beginning and the end of a musical unit that gongan means. He is seen as the "father " or " Master of the gamelan ." His role in the orchestra is to clarify the structure of a piece and example, to mark the end of a cyclic section. In the Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar is the largest Ageng Gong, the Gong Wadoń, a "feminine Gong ", while the slightly smaller Gong Lanang ( " male gong " ) is called.

Related instruments

The next to the Gong Ageng are related to the Gong Suwukan and Kempul and the Agung. The Gong Suwukan is a medium sized bronze gong with a diameter of 50 to 60 cm. It is used, among other things, to emphasize certain melodic phases ( sub-cycles ) in a Gamelanstück.

Use

In Europe, gongs are used mostly in music and Klangtheraphie, just for meditation. From 2008 to 2010 an exhibition derived from the Gong Agung giant gong was held at the Art Center Berlin, which were painted by Saichu Yohansyah. The special feature of the so-called " Sounding Paintings " was a new dimension that also appeals to the sense of hearing in the viewer.