Intro to Balinese Gamelan - Free 6 Week Class

Join Buffalo's beginner FREE Balinese gamelan music program! Six weeks of fun community oriented gamelan music classes! We will discuss and practice basic Balinese gamelan skills and methods in an inclusive and fun environment. Sessions are led in a Balinese community oriented style and will focus on players learning several instrument types.

Schedule:

Sundays from 12 - 1:30pm
First class – October 19th
Last Class – November 23rd
For participants age 12 and higher. No experience necessary!

Our Instruments: 7 tone “Semar Pegulingan” style gamelan from Bali are an older “traditional” gamelan ensemble originating in the 1800’s. Unlike Central Java where many types of music are performed on one set of instruments, in Bali you have many different types of ensembles that play specific repertoires. In the Early 20th Century the Semar Pegulingan repertoire and ensemble had disappeared from much of the contemporary Balinese music scene. This ensemble type fell out of favor with the introduction of the “gong kebyar” ensembles. Many Semar pegulingan sets were melted down to create kebyar sets long ago. There is somewhat of an revival of the repertoire in recent times with modern “Smaradana” gamelan sets being built able to play these older songs as well as new Semar Pegulingan sets being built.