[1] The Borobudur's musicians play lute-like stringed instruments, various kendang drums, various suling flutes, cymbals, bells, metallophones, and xylophones.

According to the inscriptions and manuscripts (Nagarakretagama and Kakawin Sutasoma) dated from the Majapahit period, the kingdom even had a government office in charge of supervising the performing arts, including the gamelan.

At the Keraton Kasepuhan, the gamelan Sakati is played on the Idul Adha month of Hajj (Zulhijah) in the Sri Manganti building when the sultan and his relatives head to the Grand Mosque.

This gamelan is a legacy of the Sunan Drajat (one of the Wali Sanga) which was used for broadcasting the Islamic religion in Paciran, Lamongan.

In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state.

The other parts are created in real time, and depend on the knowledge each musician has of his instrument, and his awareness of what others are playing; this "realization" is sometimes called "garap."

The varieties are generally grouped geographically, with the principal division between the styles favored by the Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese peoples.

In oral Javanese culture distinctions are made between complete or incomplete, archaic and modern, and large standard and small village gamelan.

Gendhing at dhukitan ceremonies in the palace use the kodhok ngorek gamelan instrument, only intended for the death of the king and his family and only served when the corpse departs to the cemetery.

[53] Some examples of famous dance include: bedhaya, serimpi, gambyong, Bambangan Cakil, legong, oleg tamulilingan, pendet, cendrawasih, barong, baris, jaipong, topeng, Bajidor Kahot, gandrung, etc.

For example, the Pura Pakualaman gamelan performs live on the radio every Minggu Pon (a day in the 35-day cycle of the Javanese calendar).

[50] In major towns, the Radio Republik Indonesia employs professional musicians and actors, and broadcast programs of a wide variety of gamelan music and drama.

The five stages include: Membesot – to melt the mixture, a gamelan craftsman will prepare the kowi, which is a bowl-like container made of clay.

Several gamelan production centers are located in Sukoharjo, Boyolali, Wonogiri, Nganjuk, Magetan, Bantul, Ponorogo, Klaten, Banyuwangi, Gunung Kidul, Cimahi, Bogor, Gianyar, and Klungkung.

[57] Despite his enthusiasm, direct citations of gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, or ensemble textures have not been located in any of Debussy's own compositions.

[59] Direct homages to gamelan music are to be found in works for western instruments by John Cage, particularly his prepared piano pieces, Béla Bartók, Francis Poulenc, Leopold Godowsky, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Bronislaw Kaper and Benjamin Britten.

Colin McPhee, Lou Harrison and Claude Vivier would travel to Bali and Java to document the theory of gamelan, and subsequently incorporated it in their compositions.

In more recent times, American composers such as Henry Brant, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Dennis Murphy, Loren Nerell, Michael Tenzer, Evan Ziporyn, Daniel James Wolf and Jody Diamond as well as Australian composers such as Peter Sculthorpe, Andrew Schultz, Paul Grabowsky and Ross Edwards have written several works with parts for gamelan instruments or full gamelan ensembles.

Avant-garde performance band Melted Men uses Balinese gamelan instruments as well as gamelan-influenced costumes and dance in their shows.

In the case of Krakatau and SambaSunda, the bands from West Java, the traditional Sundanese kacapi suling and gamelan degung Sunda orchestra is performed alongside drum set, keyboard and guitars.

Philippine-born Indonesian singer Maribeth Pascua also features gamelan tunes in her songs Denpasar Moon and Borobudur.

Beyond Indonesia, gamelan has also had an influence on Japanese popular music, specifically the synthpop band Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Gamelan elements are used in this film to punctuate several exciting fight scenes, as well as to symbolize the emerging psychic powers of the tragic hero, Tetsuo.

Gamelan and kecak are also used in the soundtrack to the video games Secret of Mana, Sonic Unleashed, and Hotline Miami 2.

The two opening credits of 1998 Japanese Anime Neo Ranga use Balinese music (Kecak and Gamelan gong kebyar).

The musical soundtrack for the Sci Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica features extensive use of the gamelan, particularly in the 3rd season,[69] as do Alexandre Desplat's scores for Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Golden Compass.

James Newton Howard, who composed Disney's 2001 feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire, chose Gamelan for the musical theme of the Atlanteans.

An early example is the Texas band Drain's album Offspeed and In There, which contains two tracks where trip-hop beats are matched with gamelan loops from Java and Bali and recent popular examples include the Sofa Surfers' piece Gamelan, or EXEC_PURGER/.#AURICA extracting, a song sung by Haruka Shimotsuki as part of the Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia soundtracks.

This is due to several factors like Indonesian migration (Javanese, Balinese, or Sundanese) and cultural interest, which brought and introduced gamelan abroad.

Gamelan has spread to almost all continents such as the Americas (United States,[72] Mexico, Canada, Suriname), Europe[73] (United Kingdom, Russia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Netherland, Poland, Portugal), Asia (Singapore,[74] Malaysia, Thailand, China,[75] Japan, Korea), Australia and New Zealand.