Bonang panerus is the highest of them, and uses the smallest kettles. It generally covers two octaves (sometimes more in slendro, since the scale takes fewer notes). It plays the fastest rhythms of the bonang.
Bonang barung is pitched one octave below the bonang panerus, and also generally covers two octaves. This is one of the most important instruments in the ensemble, as it gives many of the cues to other players in the gamelan.
Bonang panembung is pitched the lowest, and only has one row of seven larger kettles. It is reserved for solemn occasions, like the gamelan sekaten.
The melody of the bonang is more complicated than many instruments in the gamelan; thus, it is generally considered an elaborating instrument. Sometimes it plays melodies based on the balungan, though generally modified in a simple way. However, it can also play more complex patterns (sekaran) which can be similar to the cengkok of other instruments. Slendro (called salendro by the Sundanese) is a pentatonic (five tone) scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music. ...
The bonang is also the conductor of the SundaneseGamelan degung. The Sundanese are an ethnic group in the western part of the island of Java in Indonesia. ... Gamelan Degung is a Sundanese musical ensemble that utilises a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of pelog scale. ...
The bonang is, along with the peking, among the most essential of elaborating instruments in the Javanese gamelan.
The arrangement of the pelog bonang seems very non-intuitive, but keep in mind that the pots on the left and right ends are not used very often, and the main center area retains the same general layout as the slendro bonang (replacing 7 with 1 when needed).
In playing the bonang, the right hand usually plays the notes to the right of the 3's in the center, and the left hand usually plays the notes to the left, with the 3's being shared between the hands.
The complementary set of pelog instruments will include two each of gender panerus, gender barung, gambang and site or celempung, the first of each pair tuned to the pelog bem subset of five tones (tones 1,2,3,5,6), the second to the pelog barang subset of five tones (2,3,5,6,7).
The slendro and pelog gamelan will usually share the drums (kendang), including one each of ketipung, kendang ageng (or kendang gendhing), ciblon, kendang wayangan, and, in the largest gamelan, a large hanging drum, the bedug.
An archaic instrument, the celuring, a set of struck bells is found only on a few gamelan in the Yogyakarta Kraton and is played in place of the saron panerus.
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