Nevertheless, the tradition provides a general schema for an uyon-uyon. At this time, to liven up the party, the female vocalist or an invited female dancer may perform a dance that is subtly sensual. During the presentation, both the audience and the musicians are allowed to consume refreshments provided by the sponsor of the uyon-uyon. Here, concerts begin at a definite, not approximate hour. The length of the presentation should normally not exceed two hours.
Westerners expect an intermission a little beyond the halfway point.
One Javanese criterion of a good musical presentation is that it can place the audience into a state between awake and asleep, hardly a positive criterion for a Western performance. The individual pieces in the program are not necessarily altered beyond what is traditionally allowable, but they might not be presented in the normal Javanese order or during the same evening. The participants are encouraged to use the Javanese process of learning as much as possible. They are also encouraged to learn and play more than one instrument and to learn the relationships among them. In contrast to gamelan in American universities, Javanese ensembles do not just perform once each semester.