A lot of KENDANG parts are made up of short sequences which repeat until an ANGSEL is triggered, either by the dance moves of the PENARI or by choice from the KENDANG players. (See GILAK lesson). This is especially true of the faster tempo sections, whereas the slower PENGAWAK (lit. 'torso', middle section) and PENGADENG (lit. 'slow thing') tend to have longer, melodic interaction. By melodic I mean one sound at a time (no overlapping) and there is a certain singability to the composite part of the drums, slow enough to pronounce each drum syllable and understand which hits are yours. The first video below is from the PENGAWAK of CRUKCUK PUNYAH* played on the WADON (whose sounds are DAG, TAT, KAP).

*In fact this drumming sequence suits several tunes in the TABUH TELU genre, including two we  play: GAJAH NONGKLANG, and BUAYA MANGAP.

Next is the WADON part for the PENGAWAK section of WIRA YUDHA. Sorry this isn't a lesson, rather a reminder of the main groove for those who have already learned it. I intend to create a lesson video soon because it's such good stuff to try - even it you don't have a drum to practise on!

I had a few short practise videos lying around that I'd made weeks ago but not sent. This post isn't for everyone but it's probably best I keep them all together on this blog. Anyone in the kids group might find them interesting because the part for the UGAL (the big, low, lead GANGSA out the front) is usually the complete POLOS part with a few optional decorations. There's a little bit of freedom for the UGAL player to mix up these variations (shouldn't sound identical to the POLOS) but their main job is to be a conductor, signalling strongly any ANGSEL changes required, and filling in the gaps when the other GANGSA pause.
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