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NMM 9858. Slenthem in Laras Slendro. Seven bronze keys suspended by a cord over sheet-iron resonating tubes in a teakwood frame. Decorated with flower and leaf pattern covered with gold leaf. Feet decorated with a single leaf pattern covered with gold leaf. Length: 89.3 cm. Mallet (tabuh) with a long handle and disc-shaped head with ring-shaped, red-cloth padding.
Function: The slenthem usually plays the basic or skeletal melody in Central Javanese traditional music, referred to in Javanese as the balungan. Its scale, an octave below the demung, is the lowest of the basic melody instruments. Because its large bars are played with a soft mallet and resonate over hollow tubes, the tone of the slenthem is smooth and mellow. Although its sound is less piercing than that of the other basic melody instruments such as the saron barung and saron demung, the slenthem has a central role in supporting the melody.
Playing technique: The player sits on the side with the bars ascending in pitch from left to right. The bars are struck with the padded end of the mallet. The free hand dampens the previous note at the same time that the next note is struck with the mallet.
