This is a reflection that I wrote in my Javanese Gamelan class. The Javanese Gamelan is an instrument that is played in Indonesia and takes influence from a variety of cultures. Gamelan is from Indonesia, but has some Indian influence because of their close history. The instrument and the ensemble have evolved over time, and each island in Indonesia has a slightly different way in which it evolved, which is why there are different varieties of ways to hear the music. The gamelan that I played did not have the stringed instruments that the ensemble in the concert I attended had.
Much of the reflection is also focused on a comparison between the gamelan that I played for a semester and the concert that I saw, as well as tying in elements from a silent movie featuring the gamelan I had watched. There is less focus on culture and more focus on music. Looking at my reflection like they are fieldnotes taken at the time, the lack of mention of culture and the more depth into the music shows how I was listening like a performer rather than like someone who was new to Gamelan and Indonesian culture.
When I went to Indonesia, I got to hear a little bit of Gamelan. In Bali, there is a lot of Indian and Hindu influence. A lot of people that I met were from India, and also many practiced Hinduism, even though Indonesia is a primarily Muslim country. One girl I met was from Australia, and she was half Indian and half Chinese. One of the local people said that the combination made her basically Balinese. This comment shows a lot about the history of Bali in Indonesia.
My classroom-based reflection treated gamelan primarily as music to be analysed and performed. But my later experience in Indonesia gave me first-hand experience to see it as something with lived experience, meaning a variety of religions, migration, and colonial histories. If I were to rewrite my initial reflection now, I might pay closer attention to figuring out the origins of each of the instruments, becoming more in tune with the specific branch of gamelan that each of the varieties of Gamelan I listened to came from. While Gamelan could be seen as a layered rhythm and melody, it is also a living example of Indonesian cultural history.
Reflection Paper:
It was quite interesting to watch advanced Javanese gamelan players and gain an outsider’s perspective on Javanese gamelan music in general. As an observer at the concert, I was able to see how each part contributed to one rhythmic piece. When we are often playing in class, my focus is centred around my specific instrument and those around me who help me keep in time. The control that the advanced players had over each note and how they moved simultaneously was very impressive. Being in the audience, it became clear that many of these background players were there to primarily support and harmonise with the singer.
As I recall from watching the silent movie, the singer was a very crucial part of carrying along the weight of emotions and progress of the storey. While the background instruments were well-timed with incidents in the movie, the real focus was on the singer, as she had not just the role of singing in the ensemble but also acting almost as a narrator. In our class, we do not always have a singing role, so the focus is usually on the instruments that we play. Watching the advanced Javanese gamelan concert felt like an intersection between the work that we have done in class and the performance for the silent movie. While the singer played a large part in the ensemble, we were not entirely focused on her, but on the rhythm and harmony of everyone together.
The presence of the string instrument surprised me, especially since we have not used one in our own music playing endeavours, nor did it make an appearance in the silent movie. It paired very well with the vocals. Thinking back to the readings from earlier in the semester, the only string instrument mentioned was the called a rebab, which is a two-stringed instrument and one of the few non-percussion elements in the Gamelon ensemble. These non-percussion instruments guide the melody of the music, while the other instruments provide rhythmic and structural support. This was precisely what I noticed and experienced during the performance.
I also really enjoyed the piece composed by Ethan. There has to be so much thought that goes into understanding how all the instruments and notes interact. I had not previously considered what composing a Javanese gamelan piece would involve, but viewing the music through that lens made me appreciate even more how all the components of music come together to create a complete whole.
