Slendro and pelog evoke different sensations, rather like our major minor key. The slendro is chiefly employed as accompaniment, wayang purwa performance, and is cheerful, or even festive a solemn. The pelog is used in tile music at wayang-gedog performances and evokes a more melancholy mood.

Gamelan music is not really an art in its own right; if gamelan concerts are indeed sometimes performed at the kratons, this contradicts the essential character of this type of music, which practically always plays a merely auxiliary role. Thus in the wayang-purwa, for example, the movements of the puppets, the voice of the dalang, and tile musical accompaniment are all blended into a single entity.