In the morning, we went through all the full-group pieces: Gengongan, the piece for the Sekatian ensemble, and the percussion piece. We also worked on Legong for a short while. I was playing Jegogan when we practiced Legong in Swarthmore, so it took a little effort to catch up with other people on the gangsa part. It is a very fun piece to learn!
Coconut water provided by Kaori-san
In the afternoon, we received talks and performance from Dr I Made Bandem and Dr Suasthi Bandem. Pak Bandem introduced us his book Mask of Bali: Between Heaven and Hell, which is a very interesting book that open up to readers the thousand-years-old Balinese artform of masks. Pak Bandem also gave Tom a book of notated Gamelan music. I am very curious about the notation of Balinese Gamelan and can’t wait to take a look:) Pak Bandem talked about the history of Gamelan and the spreading of Gamelan music. He mentioned some western composers that showed a substantial interest in Gamelan music such as Colin McPhee, and it’s interesting for me to listen and compare the western presentation of Gamelan music. We also watched the wonderful dances performed by Pak Bandem and Dr Suasthi. It is very impressive to learn how much effort a dancer have to make from a very young age to master all the body skills and facial expressions of the dance.
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