Balinese gamelan music is an intricate blend of sonorities, created in a densely patterned, contrapuntal web of sound. Enhanced by the tremolo effect of the paired tuning system, the music shifts and vibrates rapidly — some have compared it to the nightly choruses of crickets and frogs in the Balinese riceflelds.

Working in an oral tradition (no notation is used), musicians have evolved a complex language based on the concept of kotekan or interlocking parts. In this system, the intricate melodic figuration of the music is never played by a single musician, but is divided instead into two complementary parts (called sangsih and polos). When played together the two dovetail to form the composite figuration.

Aside from the sheer sonic complexity that kotekan patterning gives the music, it also allows the orchestra to play at dazzling tempos — enough to defy even the most nimble-fingered classical pianist. Adding to the contrapuntual richness of the music is the fact that several kinds of interlocking parts may be played simultaneously in the various families of the orchestra. All of these parts relate directly to a central or core melody (pokok) around which they are woven.

In Balinese dance performances, the drums or kendang form a critical link between dancers and musicians. Through an intimate knowledge of both dance and music (drummers often perform and teach dance as well as music), the lead drummer is able to provide signals to the other musicians that translate the detailed cues of the dancer’s movements into musical gestures.

To achieve the requisite degree of synchronization, both within the music and in its relationship to the dance, requires long hours of rehearsal. As mentioned above, the language of Balinese music has evolved almost entirely without a notational system. Instead, the various parts of each gamelan composition are learned by imitation.

In rehearsals the teacher repeats each musical fragment until, through repetition by the student, it is mastered. The parts are then combined and unified to form a synchronous whole, and the interlocking figurations become a single composite pattern. Practice and years of experience give the piece subtle shadings of dynamics and tempo, and match its movement with every gesture and accent in the dance.

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