Numbers were fine last week and so we will return to our traditional approach: there is no need to book a slot, it is fine to just come along any time between 2pm and 5pm on future Wednesdays. If we do get a lot of people we can always make use of our second room. Hope to see you there.

We had a really good first session back on Weds 6th, thanks and well done to everyone who came along. Good to welcome nine new players as well as six who’ve been in the group for a while. We played the following pieces:

Lancaran Bendrongan

We learnt this by ear, it’s a loud and fast piece. We played this using the five note slendro scale – there is also a pelog version but it is quite different. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Lancaran-Tropangbang-Bendrongan.pdf and there is a score which explains exactly what each instrument does here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/bendrongan-score.pdf

Ladrang Gleyong

This is a softer, longer piece in pelog using all the notes 1-7, with ornamentation from the bonangs and peking repeating pairs of notes in different patterns. Notation here: https://gamelanbvg.com/gendhing/pdf/p6/Gleyong.pdf. Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8-lpGV_If0

Srepegan Manyura

This is a very fast / loud piece, we had a go at interlocking imbal patterns as well as the simpler ornamentation and managed some tempo changes. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/srepegan-manyura.pdf

Gambyong Pangkur

This dance piece has a lot going on, it was good to have a go at playing through it after such a long break. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ladrang-pangkur-manyura.pdf . See the dance here (played in pelog by our friends in London, Siswa Sukra) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNUdADBzXqg

Other resources

See our resources page here http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/resources/ for some background info including instrument names and much more.

We stopped meeting in March 2020 as we didn’t want to contribute to the spread of Covid. Now that we have all had the chance to be be fully vaccinated, we’ve decided to restart sessions with sensible precautions. We’ll keep windows and door open, wear masks and limit numbers in the room.

We’re looking forward to welcoming a new intake of students and playing the gamelan again. Please get in touch if you want to join the group or just have a go on the instruments. Or just turn up on a Weds afternoon – although if we aren’t expecting you and have reached our maximum number we might have to ask you to come back another time.