Producer, Director: Learning Javanese Gamelan, a 5-part series of instructional videos that teaches the basics of Javanese Gamelan.
Funded by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan and a National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Written and edited by Conner Singh VanderBeek.
Episode 1:
Introduction. In this episode, we learn a little about the history of gamelan and about the different families of instrument within the ensemble.
Episode 2:
Tuning - in this episode, we learn about the two laras (tuning systems) of gamelan -- slendro and pelog -- and the different pathet (musical modes) that can be derived from them.
Episode 3:
Balungan - in this episode, we learn about the concept of balungan, or melody, and some basics of elaboration that accompany balungan.
Episode 4:
Structure - in this episode, we learn about the colotomic structure of gamelan along with the form of two types of pieces.
Episode 5:
Cues - in this episode, we learn the cues for starting and ending pieces, including the buka and the suwuk.