Students in BYU's musical group called "Bintang Wahyu" are learning to play a unique Balinese instrument known as gamelan (gah-meh-lahn). Whether rehearsing on the university's custom-built gamelan instruments, or learning about gamelan in Bali study abroad, the experience gives students an appreciation for the diversity of world musical styles.
For the Balinese people, gamelan defines their culture.
“I never met a Balinese taxi driver or vendor that hadn’t learned gamelan music and dance,” said Miranda Rigby, a junior studying Elementary Education at BYU. “It’s part of their family structure, it’s how they connect.”
Harmony and balance are ingrained into Balinese life and religious worship. This is most often expressed through gamelan. Those who understand gamelan quickly come to understand Balinese culture.
When BYU’s study abroad students landed in Bali last summer, they were immediately immersed in the culture. “We basically said, ‘welcome to Bali, we have a gig in five days,’” said Jeremy Grimshaw, director of BYU’s Gamelan Bintang Wahyu percussion orchestra. “All of a sudden they were thrown into rehearsal several hours a day in a foreign country.”
Students who had never played an instrument before learned to work their way around kendhang drums, bronze gong chimes, metallophone mallets and rebabs. They memorized the forms for traditional songs by rote with the help of I Made Lasmawan and other local instructors.
For the first month they played for art festivals and temple ceremonies in the villages of Bangah and Pengosekan Bali. At one point they even joined an entire village in a procession for a cremation ceremony. The group also studied with world-renowned gamelan group Cudamani.
“Culturally, we often think of religious ceremonies as being associated with solemnity,” Grimshaw said. “But a Balinese religious event is all about ‘rame,’ meaning ‘fullness’ or ‘boisterousness.’ They honor something by surrounding it with activity. A Balinese temple ceremony is absolutely filled with people, smells, food, music, dance and decorations.”
Bringing Gamelan to BYU
For several months during fall semester, students, faculty and community members trained for their gamelan performance. With instruments handmade in Bali, experienced instructors and the direction of I Made Lasmawan, the performance provided an authentic taste of Balinese culture.
“I think it’s really valuable intellectually and spiritually to see another way of trying to capture spiritual ideas in a way that you’re not used to,” Grimshaw said. “When you see and hear gamelan, you’re hearing music that is built on this really deep notion of community and cooperation. It’s thrilling to see how rame, with its multisensory barrage of sights and sounds, can convey really deep ideas about divinity and devotion.”
Writer: Alec Sears (BYU University Communications)
For more information about Bintang Wahyu, see bit.ly/2kTHj0s
31 янв 2017
