Author: Levin H.

This afternoon, at Dewa’s invitation, we went to a funeral ceremony at the house of Dewa’s relative. It was crowded, a little cramped, bustling with activity — people going around preparing offerings or food or other things, sitting, chatting and smoking — and was generally festive-feeling (if you didn’t know what was going on —…

On this day, we worked on two new pieces centered on reyong and trompong, suspended kettle-gong instruments with a very different timbre and technique from the gangsas we’ve mainly been playing. The trompong is a more melodic instrument, whereas reyong playing features intricate interlocking parts (called “kilitan”) and is more rhythmic. The second piece we…

This morning, we finished learning the notes to our first piece, Genggongan. The explosive final passage features a sudden speed-up that was particularly tricky to get down (Dewa Berata described it as “a little kebyar”). Now, we will continue practicing to get the “feel” of the music, as Dewa put it, not just the notes.…