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{{Short description|Core melody of a gamelan composition}}
[[Image:Ladrang cycle balungan.png|thumb|''[[Ladrang]]'' form on the ''balungan'' instruments. GONG = ''gong ageng''.<ref>Lindsay, Jennifer (1992). ''Javanese Gamelan'', p.48-49. {{ISBN|0-19-588582-1}}.</ref> {{audio|Ladrang cycle balungan.mid|Play}} balungan approximation without colotomy]]

The '''''balungan''''' ({{langx|jv|skeleton,<ref>Lindsay (1992), p.48. "''balung'' = bone".</ref> frame}}) is sometimes called the "core [[melody]]" or, "skeletal melodic outline,"<ref>Lindsay (1992), p.70.</ref> of a Javanese [[gamelan]] composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is [[heterophonic]]: the ''balungan'' is then the melody which is being [[variation (music)|elaborated]]. "An abstraction of the inner melody felt by musicians,"<ref>Sumarsam, cited in Perlman (2004), p.137.</ref> the ''balungan'' is, "the part most frequently notated by Javanese musicians, and the only one likely to be used in performance."<ref name="Anderson Sutton">Anderson Sutton, Richard (1991). ''Traditions of Gamelan Music in Java: Musical Pluralism and Regional Identity'', p.xix. Cambridge University. {{ISBN|9780521361538}}.</ref>

The group of instruments which play the closest to the ''balungan'' are sometimes also called the ''balungan'', or '''''balungan'' instruments'''. These are the ''[[saron (instrument)|saron]]'' family and the ''[[slenthem]]''. In many pieces, they play the ''balungan''. However, they can also elaborate on the parts in a variety of techniques. It is possible that there is no instrument playing the ''balungan'', although many musicians claim that the ''balungan'' is still present.

The term has been a source of some controversy, as various writers may define it differently. Sometimes it is identified with the melody played on the ''saron'' (whose range is limited to an [[octave]]), but sometimes it is identified with a wider [[tessitura]] that is implied by the patterns on other instruments. This multi-octave melody is the one given in [[kepatihan notation]], the cipher notation used for gamelan pieces. 

'''''Lagu''''' is a related term, which is used by [[Sumarsam]] and is sometimes translated as "inner melody."{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} It can mean the multi-octave ''balungan'', or a more implicit melody. There is no consensus on the use of either term, and they may be used differently by different writers or in different contexts.

==Types of balungan==

The [[gatra (music)]] in a balungan have a distinctive pattern of notes and rests (''pin''), which are classified into several categories (given with an example in [[kepatihan notation]]):
* '''Balungan mlaku''' (or '''balungan mlampah''') do not use rests:
:{{mono|2321 3123}}
* '''Balungan nibani''' uses rests between each note, having notes only on the strong beats:
:{{mono|.5.2 .3.5}}
* '''Balungan nggantung''' ("hanging balungan") sustains a note, especially by playing it twice at the beginning of a gatra, or emphasizing it on the third (weak) beat:
:{{mono|11.. ..1.}}
* '''Balungan pin mundur''' use rests at accented places, thus using [[syncopation]]:
:{{mono|3.2. 1.23}}
* '''Balungan ngadal''' (or '''balungan rangkep''') subdivides the beats (''keteg'') of a gatra, notated by the [[overline]], which means play twice as fast:
:{{mono|1=<span style="text-decoration: overline">253523</span>1}}

Different [[gendhing structure]]s prefer certain types of gamelan. The implications of motion and stasis are important in achieving the mood of a composition.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Guberman |first1=Daniel |title=Introduction to the Bonang |url=https://www.ibiblio.org/gamelan/education/index.php?topic=bonang&view=education |website=Gamelan Nyai Saraswati |access-date=20 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kurniawati |first1=Arik |last2=Yuniarno |first2=Eko Mulyanto |last3=Suprapto |first3=Yoyon Kusnendar |last4=Ifada |first4=Noor |last5=Soewidiatmaka |first5=Nur Ikhsan |title=Notation of Javanese Gamelan dataset for traditional music applications |journal=Data in Brief |date=April 2024 |volume=53 |issue=110116 |doi=10.1016/j.dib.2024.110116 |pmid=38406241 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235234092400088X |access-date=20 January 2025|pmc=10885543 }}</ref>

==Other uses==

'''''Balungan''''' is also the name of a journal published by the [[American Gamelan Institute]].<ref>''[http://www.gamelan.org/balungan/ Balungan]'', ''Gamelan.org''.</ref>

==Definitions==
Sumarsam argues that the use of the term, beginning directly after the introduction of notation, arose from the use of notation, theory, and pedagogy.<ref>Sumarsam (1995). ''Gamelan: Cultural Interaction and Musical Development in Central Java'', p.151. University of Chicago. {{ISBN|9780226780115}}.</ref>
*"The center of gravity of a gamelan composition, and the improviser's guideline, is a melody known as the 'skeleton' or 'framework' (''balungan''), played in a slow, even rhythm on [the]...''saron''."<ref>Perlman, Marc (2004). ''Unplayed Melodies: Javanese Gamelan and the Genesis of Music Theory'', p.1. University of California. {{ISBN|9780520930490}}. Note that Perlman is arguing against this definition.</ref>
*"If the ''balungan'' is the same, then the elaborating parts should be the same."<ref>Martopangrawit 22.i.85, cited in Perlman (2004), p.90.</ref>
*"The instrumental melody called ''balungan'' (literally, 'skeleton', 'outline')."<ref name="Anderson Sutton"/>
*"The balungan [[gendhing]] is important-if not, indeed, the most important-factor in the practice of karawitan, because as the framework of the gendhing it gives a composition its basic shape, and is used as a frame of reference and point of departure for the playing of the gamelan instruments."<ref>Supanggah (1988, p.9). Cited in Sumarsam (1995), p.152.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

* [[Mantle Hood|Hood, Mantle]]. ''The Nuclear Theme as a Determinant of [[Patet]] in Javanese Music''. Groningen and Jakarta: JB Walters, 1954.
* [[Jaap Kunst|Kunst, Jaap]]. ''Music in Java: Its History, its Theory and its Technique''. 2 vols, 3d ed enlarged. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973.
* Supanggah, Rahayu. Trans. Marc Perlman. "Balungan." In ''Balungan'', October 1988. 

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