Kempul: The Hanging Gong of Javanese Gamelan Explained
Kempul: the hanging gong that answers the kenong
The kempul is a small hanging gong in the Javanese gamelan. It has a flat face with a raised knob, or boss, at the centre, and it is struck on that knob with a padded mallet. Kempul are hung from a wooden frame, often the same frame that holds the great gong, and a gamelan usually has several of them, each sounding a different note. Their job is to mark the music’s structure: where the kenong divides a cycle into large sections, the kempul splits each section in half, so that the listener hears a steady pattern of deep strokes beneath the melody. Once you know where to listen, the kempul is one of the easiest instruments to pick out, and it is one of the most useful for a visitor to learn first.
What a kempul looks like
A kempul looks like a smaller version of the great gong of the gamelan. It is usually made of bronze, the alloy of copper and tin from which the finest gamelan instruments are made. The face is flat around a protruding central knob, which is the part the player strikes. Because the kempul is smaller than the large gongs, it sounds higher, and the smaller kempul in a set sound higher still.
The kempul hangs vertically from cords on a wooden stand known in Javanese as a gayor. In many gamelan the kempul hang on the same stand as the large gongs, so the deep gongs and the higher kempul sit side by side at the back of the ensemble. Like the rest of the gamelan, the frame is often carved and painted, and the row of hanging bronze discs is one of the most striking sights in a full set of instruments.
The kempul belongs to the family of gamelan instruments called pencon in Indonesian: bronze instruments with a raised knob, as opposed to the instruments with flat keys such as the saron. Other members of this family include the gong, the kenong, the kethuk, the kempyang and the bonang. The kempul and the large gongs hang; the kenong, kethuk and kempyang rest horizontally in frames, held on ropes like upturned pots.
How the kempul fits between the kenong strokes
Gamelan music is built from repeating cycles, and a group of instruments known as the colotomic or punctuating instruments marks out those cycles. The largest gong, the gong ageng, marks the end of the longest cycle, called a gongan. The kenong divides each gongan into smaller sections, usually two or four, called kenongan. The kempul then divides each kenongan in half, and the kethuk and kempyang mark the beats in between. The result is a nested pattern of time that the listener can follow without counting.
The clearest example is the lancaran, the shortest of the regular forms. In a lancaran, the gong sounds once, the kenong divides the cycle into four, and the kempul sounds halfway through each of those sections. There is one exception: the kempul stays silent at its first place in the cycle, just after the gong. This empty place is called the wela. Listening for that small gap is a good test of whether you have found the kempul’s pattern.
Not every form uses the kempul. The longest and most stately compositions, known as gendhing, leave it out and rely on the gong, kenong and kethuk alone. The kempul comes into its own in the shorter forms such as the lancaran, the ladrang and the ketawang, and in the pieces that accompany wayang shadow puppet plays, where it can sound more often and helps drive the music forward.
The kempul and the melody
Although it is a structural instrument, the kempul is tied to the melody. Each kempul in a set has its own pitch, and the player chooses which one to strike according to the balungan, the core melody of the piece. The kempul can play the same note as the balungan at that point, and it can also sound ahead of it, anticipating the next note of the melody. That is why a kempul part is not just a rhythm: it shifts in pitch as the melody moves.
The balungan itself is played on bronze metallophones such as the saron, the demung and the slenthem. Balungan means “skeleton” in Javanese, a good image for a melody that holds the piece together while other instruments build on it. Around this line, the elaborating instruments, including the bonang, the gender, the gambang, the siter, the rebab and the singers, add their own more detailed versions of the melody. The kempul sits beneath all of this, adding weight at regular points without crowding the texture.
The drum, the kendang, leads the ensemble. The kendang player controls the tempo, signals starts, stops and changes of speed, and guides the musicians through transitions from one section to the next. Because the kempul falls at fixed points in the cycle, a kempul player listens closely to the drum and to the balungan so that each stroke lands in exactly the right place.
The kempul among the other gongs of the gamelan
The gamelan contains a range of gongs, and each has a different job. The gong ageng is the largest and deepest; it closes the longest cycle and is the most important instrument in the whole ensemble. Medium-sized hanging gongs called gong suwukan are used in some forms in place of the great gong. The kempul is the smallest of the hanging gongs and the one that sounds most often. The kenong, the largest of the gongs that rest horizontally, marks the main divisions of the cycle, while the small kethuk and kempyang keep the finer pulse.
A useful way to hear the relationship is to listen from the bottom up. First find the great gong, which sounds only once in each cycle. Then find the kenong, which marks the larger divisions, and finally the kempul, the hanging gong that falls halfway between the kenong strokes. Listen to a piece with those three layers in mind, and the different levels of the cycle start to separate in your ear.
Slendro, pelog and the kempul
Central Javanese gamelan music uses two scales. Slendro has five notes to the octave, and pelog has seven. The two scales are played on separate sets of instruments, and a full gamelan is really a double set, one in each tuning, although some ensembles have only one of the two. Kempul are made in both tunings, so a full gamelan has a slendro set of kempul and a pelog set, each kempul sounding one note of its scale.
The number of kempul in a set varies from one gamelan to another, and each one in the set sounds a different note. Because each kempul sounds only one note, the player moves along the row from one gong to another as the melody changes, choosing the kempul whose pitch matches the balungan at that point in the cycle.
Read the slendro pelog page for more on how the two tunings differ and how they shape the mood of a piece.
Playing the kempul: mallet and stroke
The kempul is struck with a mallet whose head is wrapped in thick padding, often of cloth, on a short wooden handle. The player aims for the central knob, which gives the clearest, fullest tone. A soft, well-padded mallet gives the round, humming tone that sets the kempul apart from the sharper sound of the bronze keys.
Playing the kempul looks simple, but its timing matters to the whole ensemble. A stroke placed too early or too late blurs the structure of the cycle for everyone else. The player also has to choose the right pitch for each stroke and follow the drum through changes of speed. Watching a kempul player during a performance is one of the best ways for a visitor to see how the parts of the gamelan lock together.
Where to hear a kempul in Central Java and Yogyakarta
The kempul is part of every full Javanese gamelan, so any complete performance in Central Java or Yogyakarta will include it. Gamelan accompanies classical dance, wayang kulit shadow puppet plays, ceremonies, weddings and concerts, and the royal courts of Java keep their own ensembles for ceremonies and for dance. In 2021 gamelan was added to UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a mark of how central it is to life in Java, Bali and beyond.
For a first listen, a wayang kulit performance is a good choice: the dense pieces of the wayang repertoire, such as the srepegan and sampak, keep the gongs busy and make the cycle easy to hear. A dance performance shows a different side, with slower forms in which each stroke stands out clearly. Village performances for weddings and community events are another chance to hear the instrument, often in an open pavilion where the sound carries far. Start with our overview of the Central Java region to plan towns and routes around the performances you want to see.
Questions people ask about the kempul
What is the difference between a kempul and a gong ageng?
The gong ageng is the largest gong in the ensemble and marks the end of the longest cycle. The kempul is much smaller, sounds higher and is struck more often, dividing each kenong section in half. The two often hang on the same frame.
Does the kempul have a fixed pitch?
Yes. Each kempul in a set sounds one note of either the slendro or the pelog scale, and the player chooses among them to follow the melody.
Is the kempul used in every piece?
No. The longest gendhing forms leave it out. It is heard in shorter forms such as the lancaran, ladrang and ketawang, and in the music for wayang.
Listening for the kempul in a live gamelan
The easiest way to hear the kempul is to sit where you can see the hanging gongs and watch the player’s hands. Start with a short, lively piece, find the deep stroke of the gong at the end of each cycle, then find the kenong. The kempul is the hanging gong that sounds halfway between the kenong strokes, and you will notice that it changes pitch as the melody moves.
Next, listen for the wela, the silent place just after the gong where the kempul would otherwise play. Once you can hear that gap, the whole cycle becomes easier to follow, and you will recognise the same pattern in other performances, from court dances to village celebrations and the music that accompanies a shadow puppet play.
Related guides: kenong, bonang, Listening for the siter in Central Java, Central Java Gamelan: Instruments, Tuning and Music.