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Gamelan orchestras, featuring a variety of bronze, bamboo, and wooden percussion instruments, are a global icon of Indonesian culture. This course introduces the vibrant and dynamic gamelan traditions of Bali and Central Java in historical and contemporary perspectives, surveying diverse repertories including ritual, court, village, dance, theater, and popular musics. Students learn the fundamentals of Indonesian music theory and the elements of form and design that create the distinctive sounds of gamelan music. The role of Hinduism and Islam in Indonesian musical life is discussed, along with the impact of Dutch colonization, decolonization, and tourism. Emphasis is placed on performance and creative components; students compose and perform gamelan music and participate in hands-on workshops with Indonesian musicians. The class culminates in a public performance, in which students present music learned during the course. All students are welcome; no prior musical background needed. The class is team-taught by an Indonesian musician and an ethnomusicologist. This course meets the ethnomusicology requirement for the music minor. As a cross-listing with Anthropology, it centers on humans as producers of music, situates musical activity comparatively, and makes meaningful connections with the body of knowledge and theory of cultural anthropology. 1 unit - Lasmawan.

This course explores the arts and culture of Bali, Indonesia, on location in Bali. Music, dance, theater, and visual arts are ubiquitous in Bali, where artistic production is far out of proportion to the size and population of the island. The Hindu-Balinese religion (Agama Hindu Dharma) requires performing and visual arts for the successful completion of the thousands of ceremonies undertaken each year, and therefore virtually every Balinese person is a dancer, musician, actor, visual artist, or poet, and many individuals are equally competent in several media. The unique history and culture of Bali are best understood through the arts, which connect past to present, self to community, and religion to reality. Students and faculty will live and study at Sanggar Manik Galih, a music and dance studio located in the Lasmawan family compound in Bangah, a small village in central Bali. The compound has been outfitted with a gamelan angklung, gamelan gong kebyar, gamelan gender wayang, gamelan balaganjar, and gamelan joged bumbung for course use. The daily class schedule in Bali will include lectures and discussion of readings on Balinese history, culture, arts, and the environment followed by practical instruction in traditional music, dance, cooking, and the arts. Students will experience Balinese arts and culture through participation in daily life, attendance at a wide range of performances, and lecture-demonstrations by a variety of artists and craftsmen.

Course description: Gamelan orchestras, featuring a variety of bronze, bamboo, and wooden percussion instruments, are a global icon of Indonesian culture. This course introduces the vibrant and dynamic gamelan traditions of Bali and Central Java in historical and contemporary perspectives, surveying diverse repertories including ritual, court, village, dance, theater, and popular musics. Students learn the fundamentals of Indonesian music theory and the elements of form and design that create the distinctive sounds of gamelan music. The role of Hinduism and Islam in Indonesian musical life is discussed, along with the impact of Dutch colonization, decolonization, and tourism. Emphasis is placed on performance and creative components; students compose and perform gamelan music and participate in hands-on workshops with Indonesian musicians. The class culminates in a public performance, in which students present music learned during the course. All students are welcome; no prior musical background needed. The class is team-taught by an Indonesian musician and an ethnomusicologist. This course meets the ethnomusicology requirement for the music minor. As a cross-listing with Anthropology, it centers on humans as producers of music, situates musical activity comparatively, and makes meaningful connections with the body of knowledge and theory of cultural anthropology. 1 unit - Lasmawan.