On Monday, December 5th during free hour, the Gamelan performance in LeFrak hall featured four pieces presented by Queens students and faculty. The musicians were arranged in a distinct triangular manner, radically different from a typical American band or orchestra. Two sets of double rows pointed to a seated player surrounded by a large drum on his right, smaller one on his left, and a proportionally petite drum by his feet.
It was interesting to watch the mysterious manner in which the musicians slowly picked up their utensils and gyrated their hands and wrists before playing. My favorite piece of the show, “Belaganjur Bebarongan” was a drum directed piece which featured two dancers who circled to the beat of the loud assault of cymbals, flutes, and drums. It juxtaposed the following number, “Brayut” in which there was no bass, but simply a pair of soloists meticulously playing their ceng ceng kopyaks, or crash cymbals.
Throughout the other pieces, the musicians situated on stage right played half as many notes-per-measure then their counterparts (on the opposite part of the stage) playing lighter sounding ceng ceng kopyaks. In front of these musicians was the soloist, positioned next to two flute players. Altogether, the random assortment of flute, crash symbols, and deep leading drums come together into a beautiful display of a new culture of music unknown to many of us on this side of the world.
What is so striking about the Gamelan is that the sound is like nothing we’ve ever heard, and yet the musicians have to keep strict control over the notes and rhythms they play, and they do it all from memory! There is a kind of “building block” arrangements and connection between the individual parts that allows large chunks of the music to fit together in ways that make it possible to memorize such long and complex pieces. Like any new genre and tradition, when you first hear it, all of the pieces kind of “sound the same.” The more you become familiar with the techniques and practices of the tradition, however, the more individuality each piece takes on. This is a lesson to be learned from every example of the arts we have encountered.