Slendro

Slendro (Javanese: ꦱ꧀ꦭꦺꦤ꧀ꦢꦿꦺꦴ) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that have pentatonic scale.

It is derived either from "Sailendra", the name of the ruling family in the eighth and ninth centuries when Borobudur was built, or from the god Sang Hyang Hendra.

However the name slendro is derived from Sailendra, the ancient dynasty of Mataram Kingdom in Central Java, and also Srivijaya.

[6] It is similar to scales used in Indian and Chinese music as well as other areas of Asia and they all may have a common origin.

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 Sundanese musicologist/teacher Raden Machjar Angga Koesoemadinata identified 17 vocal pitches used in slendro.

For example, in Bali, slendro is felt to have a sad sound because it is used as the tuning of gamelan angklung, the traditional ensemble for cremation ceremonies.