Wayang kulit is a traditional performing arts of puppet-shadow play found in the cultures of Java, Bali, and Lombok,

in Indonesia.[1] In a wayang kulit performance, the puppet figures are rear-projected on a taut linen screen with a
coconut-oil (or electric) light. The Dalang (shadow artist) manipulates carved leather figures between the lamp and
the screen to bring the shadows to life.
Wayang kulit is one of the many different forms of wayang theatre found in Indonesia, the other being wayang
beber, wayang klitik, wayang golek, wayang topeng, and wayang wong. Wayang kulit is among the best known,
offering a unique combination of ritual, lesson and entertainment. On November 7,
2003, UNESCO designated wayang kulit from Indonesia as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity.[2]
here are several different types of music used in the Javanese wayang kulit. This will, of neccesity, be an
oversimplification of those types, but the general overview should be accurate as far as it goes.

The first distinction we will want to make is between measured and un-measured. Measured music is
the type we are most familiar with, as this is the music that the large ensemble plays. "Measured" means
that there is a definite metrical structure to the piece. Oops, I just defined a word by using another of the
same meaning. Okay, metrical means that there is a beat that you can hear, and even clap to. And we also
normally mean that there is some sort of arranging of these beats into larger groups, of two, three, or four.
In Western music we call these groups "measures". In Javanese music, we call the groups "gatras". When
we play measured pieces, we are counting "and-one-and-two-and-three-and-four", or something to that
effect. "Un-measured" music lacks this quality. The rhythm ebbs and flows at the whim of the performer,
normally lacking any feel of "beat" or "meter". The phrasing of the music is left to the will of the
performer, and to their skills at interacting in a way that still makes musical sense, even while lacking a
meter to give them structure.

Types of Measured Pieces. The measured pieces played by the gamelan come in two
types: regular and irregular. Sounds like French grammer, doesn't it? The regular forms have gong
structures that are completely predictable just from the title of the piece. The irregular forms have gong
structures that vary from one piece to the next of the "same" form. They will vary as to how many gatras
per gong, both within a single piece, and from one piece to the next.