We've had some threads about gamelan music and its influence on Western music, but I thought that it might be interesting to ask how many people here are active gamelan performers.

I've been playing since 1996, with a 3-year lacuna while I was elsewhere. I've been running the local performance group since 2003 and I am just beginning to feel that I'm getting a grip on things (thanks, largely, to Alec Roth).

I played during the early 1980s, then had nothing to do with gamelan for 15 years, and now teach students the basics and get them to compose for it. Rather unforgivably, I don't actually play outside of where I teach.

It seems to still be very popular t-p.
I'm trying to find out if there are any gamelans in Ireland, but I'm not having much luck at the moment. If I find out otherwise, I'll let you know. Our mutual friend (who incidentally sends his regards) may know.
Yes
No

The basics of the technique are very simple. I found that the hardest aspect of the whole thing was getting used to the way that time was organised, with a strong beat occuring on the last beat of the bar (overly simplified... see below) and the way that everything leads to the beat rather than follows the beat (the two things are obviously linked).
When you play gamelan, you should be listening to the whole ensemble as well as to your line. The more elaborate your part, the truer this is (generally speaking).

Strictly speaking, you shouldn't use notation when performing. Traditionally, musicians would be taught new balungan (sort of melodies) by rote. It is quite common (particularly over here) to notate the music using cypher notation (using numbers and a limited vocabulary of symbols) and occasionally groups perform using their music. This is not ideal for a number of reasons: firstly, if you have memorised the balungan, you have to some extent internalised it, which means that you feel the music in a more personal way, and you know where you are going in terms of the form; secondly, having memorised the music, you can look up at the audience and smile; thirdly, you can listen in a more open way if you're not focusing on following notation.

I'm not sure that it's at all unforgivable! Organising a group to play gamelan is very time consuming and often exhausting. Is there already a group near you that you could join? I'm really hoping that I can just join a group and learn after I leave here. There's so much that I don't know, but I don't know if I can really head of to Java to learn at the feet of the masters.

Click here to try out some virtual instruments in pelog.
Slendro is quite close to the black notes of a piano.

Terminology I try to avoid using Javanese terms (e.g. gatra instead of bar) when discussing gamelan out of the performing group because of the misunderstandings and explanations that occur, but, rather inevitably, it allows more misunderstandings to slip in sometimes...

I was introduced to gamelan by R3 a decade or so ago, buying my first disc having phoned in to enquire. (Hmm, Remembering things like this make me less angry about the new schedule!)

I am quite interested how many non-classical artists are turning to gamelan for inspiration of late. I've really enjoyed Four Tet's use on 'everything ecstatic' lp (2005) - an appropriate name for this spiritual and dance-orientated sound. Another successful integration was Gang Gang Dance's 'God's Money' (also 2005) - though I'm less sure this is pure gamelan, as they use a lot of gong-type instrumentation.

More recently the french artist Colleen has two tracks referencing gamelan on her 2006 ep 'colleen et les boites a musique'