Among the splendours of the world, the sound of the Indonesian Gamelan is truly one of the most spectacular.
On the islands of Java, Bali and Sumatra this ensemble of instruments can be heard in the royal courts in urban centres and in the many towns and villages. Metallaphones, gongs, drums flutes and stringed instruments are combined to offer an aural experience of tremendous beauty and form.
The traditional music learning process in Indonesia is based on imitation. Children absorb the music gradually and naturally – through listening they unconsciously take in the idiom and the formal structures. The children learn the instruments from the simplest to the most complex in a gradual process that allows a broad understanding of the Gamelan structure. Eventually the musician will learn all the instruments and thus experiences the inter-relatedness of each musical part.
Workshops begin by teaching children pieces by memory and then showing them the structure, and then eventually the notation system.
The number of students can vary from 4 to 16. Once the students have a general idea of the music they will be introduced to the more specialised complex instruments such as the bonang, rebab (fiddle) and the suling flute. This will lead naturally into creative improvisation within the Gamelan.
Gamelan music is not solely for listening to – it is a highly integrated form that is combined with the dance dramas, the puppet theatres and the literature from which their stories are derived. Where possible I use video footage and recorded material to convey the depth of these art forms and to introduce the students to the world of the Gamelan.