A 'Sound Of Bronze' Story
Ever wondered how you get into gamelan? Well, this is Tasmin's story:
In 2017, Gamelan Sekar Petak was involved in a music project in partnership with Music4U and Tang Hall SMART. We brought the gamelan along to weekly sessions at Burnholme Community Hub (yes, we really did build up some serious lifting and carrying muscles!) and gave several groups of young people chance to explore the instruments. This grew into a creative collaboration with some local young rappers and led to a series of performances, including one in the York Concerts series and another at Hull City Hall as part of 2017 City of Culture celebrations (you can see a little clip of that performance here).
It was on this project that we first met Tasnim, who joined us as a beginner gamelan player and quickly got stuck into learning traditional pieces and contributing catchy riffs to our group compositions. It was clear that something had really clicked between Tasnim and gamelan but, at that time, we didn’t have any regular gamelan activity that was open to under 18s. This did not deter her, thankfully, nor us! We set about exploring possible models for establishing a youth gamelan offer in York and (thanks to the generous support of Youth Music, York Music Hub and the alumni and friends of the University of York) we were able to get a monthly Sound of Bronze session set up at York Music Centre.
Tasnim was there at every Sound Of Bronze session, absorbing every challenge we could put in front of her, right up to her 18th birthday. At this point, she was able to join the York Community Gamelan to continue her learning. She remains a member of this ensemble and has performed traditional and new music with them in York and Hull, and taken part in masterclasses/events with gamelan experts from across the UK and Java.
We had a chat with Tasnim to find out more about her experience of getting into gamelan and the impact it has had on her as a musician. The conversation went a little something like this:
Emily: What made you want to get involved in gamelan when it first came to Tang Hall SMART? Did you have any idea what to expect from it before you started?
Tasnim: I got involved because I had previously lived in Bali. They had gamelan players near the school I went to, as well as dancers and wayang shows, so seeing a gamelan away from Indonesia was immediately something that interested me.
E: Had you done much music before this?
T: When I was younger, I had piano lessons for a few years but I never played music in a group. I preferred to play on my own. I wasn’t too confident with sight reading or using notation but I could work things out if I had the note letters written down.
E: Gamelan clearly appealed to you straight away. What was it that you liked and what made you so eager to continue learning and playing gamelan?
T: What I liked most is that it reminded me of when I was living in Indonesia 10 years ago, as it was a time that I have been fond of, so I wanted to continue it for as long as I could.
E: Do you think playing gamelan has helped develop your skills as a musician?
T: Gamelan has helped me learn new type of musical notation, as well as different forms of pieces. I can definitely say that I have now got more understanding of a different type of music.
E: And has playing gamelan had any other positive impact on you and on your skills?
T: Gamelan has definitely helped with my teamwork skills. I have found myself paying attention to what others are doing and have been learning to play pieces that require concentration from multiple people together. I have also been learning techniques that require two people to play almost simultaneously (a technique called imbal, where a single fast line is split between two players, taking in turns to play). I have managed to befriend people, with mutual interests, who are friendly and understanding, so I feel comfortable attending sessions frequently, which is not something I would usually do.
E: Would you recommend gamelan to other young people?
T: I definitely recommend gamelan to young people as it's a new experience, and one that not many people have the chance to have. It also helps people play together and learn new types of notation (and work without notation). All the pieces are very different to European music so it is something interesting to tell others about too!
To find out more about Sound Of Bronze youth gamelan activities in York and the East Riding of Yorkshire, please contact Emily Crossland on emily.crossland@york.ac.uk. Please also keep an eye on the York Music Hub Share Site, as we will be sharing online gamelan resources here in the coming months.