In the following discussion of specific techniques used in kotekan, it is important to keep in mind the principle of melodic elaboration outlined above. In order that the relationship of melody to figuration remains clear, they will always be shown together, with the pokok melody notated below the kotekan. The examples are drawn almost exclusively from the repertoire of the gamelan gong kebyar, and were composed or arranged within the last 50 or 60 years.

One of the primary characteristics of kotekan structure is the tendency to fill out all of the smallest units, or subdivisions, of the beat. In other words, kotekan figurations usually form continuous and steady streams of notes on the most rapid level of rhythmic division occurring at that moment. Normally this level of subdivision is four or eight times faster than the movement of the pokok melody. In Western notation this could be indicated by a quarter or half-note for the pokok, with the kotekan in sixteenth-notes.

The essence of kotekan, however, is that no one part contains all of these notes. Gangsa kotekan are instead always divided into two parts, which the Balinese call polos and sangsih. Often these terms are defined respectively as the "simple" or on-the-beat part, and the "differing" or off-the-beat part. While this is generally true, these two parts often have a much more complex relationship, especially in modern compositions. In many cases the polos and sangsih are dovetailed in such a way as to place each part on the beat at different moments, so that their rhythmic roles are constantly shifting.

Perhaps the simplest kind of kotekan structurally - though one of the most difficult to play because it usually appears at the fastest tempos - is one the Balinese call nyog cag.  It is a straightforward alternation, with the polos always falling on the beat and the sangsih off the beat, filling in the spaces to create a continuous figuration. In figure 3, from the pengipuk (love scene) section of the dance piece Teruna Jaya, the polos part joins the pokok tones at the octave on every other beat. The sangsih part would appear as in figure 4. Together they form a figuration which spans most of the range of the gangsa (figure 5).

The relationship of the figuration to the pokok melody in this example is a good illustration of the principle of melodic elaboration. Joining the pokok at every other tone the four primary downbeats of this eight-beat phrase the overall motion of the kotekan mirrors the rise and fall of the melody. At the same time it fills the spaces in between with a sufficiently varied array of melodic patterns to create an interesting contour of its own.

How do players synchronize at such a tempo? This section is often played at about MM. 140, which requires 280 notes per minute from each part, or about 560 notes per minute for the entire kotekan figuration. While a good percussionist can easily imagine playing the polos part at that tempo, considering that it falls regularly on the beat, the sangsih part is another matter. The precise execution and synchronization of continuous offbeats at such a tempo would seem to defy the rhythmic skills of any player.

The answer to this lies in our conception of the nature of "down" and "up" beats, and the kind of gestures we are taught to use in making them. Nearly every performer of Western music especially in the classical tradition - is taught to feel the two as fundamentally different musical gestures. The downbeat is said to have more weight, to be a kind of arrival or landing of the rhythmic impetus. It is the letting out of the breath. Conversely an upbeat is the taking in of breath (often audible when a performer plays the first upbeat of a phrase), where an implicit tension is created. The rhythmic swing is upward, creating a kind of potential energy that will only be resolved with the following downbeat.

Played in this way, a sangsih part such as shown above would be truly impossible to perform with any precision. A continuous upward or "off" feeling behind it, with no downbeat in the part for reorientation to the metric framework, would quickly throw the player out of sync. The Balinese sense of "off the beat" and "on the beat" must be qualitatively different in the execution of kotekan parts.

The key to understanding this difference lies in the kotekan itself. In figure 4 the offbeats of the sangsih part are not meant to add any rhythmic tension to the music, rather simply to fill in the gaps in the wave motion of the figuration. In order to do so accurately, the player must concentrate exclusively on the resultant pattern. That is, he must be as aware of the other part as of his own, perceiving the downbeats as if he were producing them himself. The sangsih player is simply placing his notes in between9. This kind of concentration frees the player from applying an upbeat gesture to the sangsih. He plays it exactly as one would play the polos, with undiminished speed and an identical technique. The shift in rhythmic orientation also allows the sangsih player to focus his concentration on the most important factor, that of synchronizing his part to the polos as perfectly as possible. At every moment he is ready to make the slight speed adjustments needed to "lock" his part into place. When all the players in the gangsa section achieve this (which in most well-rehearsed groups they do) the sound of the individual instruments disappears into the complete web of the figuration, and all the players sound as one.

Another of the most common kinds of kotekan patterns is called nyok cok. In this type of kotekan, as well as many of the other forms that will be described below, the two parts share certain tones, while the others are played only by one of the polos/sangsih pair. This increases the range of melodic and rhythmic possibilities within each part, and adds a slight accentuation or reinforcement of the tones that are struck in unison by all eight gangsa.

Nyok cok figuration is characterized by a wavering or neighbor-note motion around each pokok tone. Unlike some other kotekan types, nyok cok always follows the pokok melody strictly, anticipating each of its tones before it is struck by the two calung and ugal. Figure 6 is from the instrumental composition Jaya Semara (also know in certain regions by the name Kapi Raja). Here the anticipating tones (three sixteenth-notes before the pokok moves, indicated by asterisks) are the ones where the two parts are momentarily in unison. The resulting reinforcement of these tones, just before the downbeat of the pokok, adds a certain rhythmic drive to this type of section (pengecet, second movement), further heightened by the extremely fast tempo at which it is often played (MM. 150 or faster).

This form of figuration also occurs in slow tempos, such as the lengthy pengawak (first movement) sections of traditional pieces, where the entire figuration is played by all players that is, not divided into separate parts. This kind of melodic elaboration, based on simple alternation between the pokok tone and the adjacent tone above it, probably predated kotekan techniques. Kotekan may well have evolved out of the desire to play this figuration at faster and faster tempos, until a single player could no longer execute all of the notes. In fact this process can sometimes be heard within a single piece, when for example a slow pengawak accelerates into a faster section without switching to a different figuration. The players split the figuration into kotekan at the point where it becomes too fast to play alone, usually done so smoothly that the listener is unaware of the division.