Gamelan : percussion or melody ?

Of what types are a gamelan's intruments ? Are they percussion instruments or melodic instruments ? An instrument is said melodic when it can play several notes. Hence, a triangle or a drum in a symphony orchestra are not melodic instruments. Because they are percussion instruments ? No, since instruments that are both melodic and percussion exist, like the xylophone and the vibraphone.
In a symphony orchestra, and in fact in music as a general rule, the majority of instruments are either melodic either percussion.				The presence of gamelan among the world's musical traditions is a noteworthy fact. It is the best instance of instrumental ensemble where percussion and melody are one. One is dealing with percusso-melodic instruments.

In Europe, one often classifies musical instruments according to these four families :

Cordophones	Aerophones	Membranophones	Idiophones
String	Wind	Drums	Percussion other than drums

This classification is not of European invention, it is directly inspired from a musical theory of ancient India. One classified the instruments according to if they were :

Stretched	Hollow	Covered	Solid
Tata	Susira	Awanaddha	Ghana

In China, one classified the instruments according to eight materials :

Stone

Metal

Silk

Bamboo

Wood

Hide

Calabash

Baked earth

 

The membranophones and idiophones of the European system are both percussion instruments.

String

Wind

Percussion

 

To simplify, one can regard non-string and non-wind instruments as percussion.

The gongs, the metallophones of gamelans are percussion instruments that have the same importance as wind and string of symphony orchestras.

 

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