GAMELAN DANANDA
  • Lessons
  • About
    • GDA
    • What is Gamelan
    • Musical Director
  • Ensembles
    • Gong Kebyar
    • Selunding
    • Rindik
    • Baleganjur
    • Gender Wayang
  • Contact

Sekolah Rumah (Home School!)

Happy NYEPI...

25/3/2020

2 Comments

 
Nyepi is the Balinese day of silence. Everyone stays indoors, no one makes any noise, presumably Gamelan practise is cancelled for the day. So it's a bit funny for me to start this lesson video blog today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyepi

update: wow, it takes longer to edit and upload videos than I thought so it's now tomorrow, (Thurdsday) not Nyepi (Wednesday) anymore!

It's not super easy for me to find time to make these videos at the moment, but I've managed to get two quick tunes done this morning: REJANG DEWA (for the adult group), and BARIS (for the kids). Perfection is said to be the enemy of good, in this case my good intention to get things done, so please forgive the informal and unedited nature of my first videos. I'm very happy to receive comments (use the blog comments section?) and re-do things over time. The silver-lining of this whole process is that I'll get better at making online content, which I think could be a really good tool for the future of the group.

BARIS TUNGGAL
This ancient solo dance (tunggal means solo) tells the story of a warrior using intensity and surprise to ward off their enemies rather than holding a weapon. Because there's only one PENARI (dancer) they can decide when to perform the ANGSEL (break/cadence/call-response) so the PENABUH (musicians) must be ready for it at any moment.
Don't let the speed of these Balinese examples freak you out but it's great to see the dance costumes and movements so you can tell the tunes apart and know what kind of energy we're trying to create.
ALL WELCOME LEVEL

REJANG DEWA

Here's a great example of how dance and music is performed as an offering to the gods, without the concert-hall formality we've come to expect from ballet and orchestra (etc). People sit around watching from all sides, chatting and eating. A baby joins in at 3:00, a dog wanders through at 6:20. No problem, as long as the intention of the offering is good. (This version sounds a little different to ours, but it's still the 'same' tune)
2 Comments
David
26/3/2020 09:00:33 pm

Awesome, these are super useful for a beginner like me to get a handle on how everything should sound. The pace is good; followable, but also fast enough to have something to practice and work towards.

Reply
Korean Escort Alexandria link
10/3/2025 04:58:45 am

I appreciate you taking time out for these video lessons.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    jeremy is trying to find pockets of time in his home-shool parenting to make DIY gamelan lessons for you to follow.

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020

    Categories

    All
    Baleganjur
    Bapang Slisir
    Baris
    Crukcuk Punyah
    Kendang
    *KIDS*
    Pendet
    Rejang Dewa
    Topeng Keras
    Ugal
    Wira Yudha

    RSS Feed

  • Lessons
  • About
    • GDA
    • What is Gamelan
    • Musical Director
  • Ensembles
    • Gong Kebyar
    • Selunding
    • Rindik
    • Baleganjur
    • Gender Wayang
  • Contact