Page 2 | The gamelan goes virtual

Playing the virtual Javanese gamelan

Contents

The gamelan goes virtual (1)

Playing the virtual Javanese gamelan (2)

Aural awareness (3)

Achievements (4)

Seleh Notes Volume 12 Number 3 June 2005

© John Williams

The Virtual Javanese Gamelan has been developed over a period of three years by John Williams, the Deputy Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School, drawing on the expertise of gamelan tutor, Andy Channing, and Alison Armstrong, World Music Co-ordinator at the school, and working alongside mPower Media, a company specialising in multimedia programming.

Initial research, involving a range of schools throughout the UK and abroad, revealed a need for support in a number of areas.

Teachers were reporting that they wanted help with World Music, as many of them were not confident but needed to cover it due to the requirements of the National Curriculum.

At the same time, the government was encouraging an increasing use of ICT across the curriculum, particularly at Key Stage 3, involving 11-14 year olds.

Music is still taught to all students at this Key Stage, which clearly presents a particular challenge to music teachers resourcing groups with large numbers of students.

The Virtual Javanese Gamelan offers an exploration of music from Central Java, integrating performing, aural awareness, and composing, focusing on the lancaran.

Users can play and record saron, bonang panerus, or kempul and gongs, in a performance of ‘Lancaran Kebogiro’, by controlling CD quality sounds from the QWERTY keyboard of a regular PC or Mac computer workstation, without the need for MIDI keyboards, sound modules, or further music peripherals of any kind.

They can also access the principles of Javanese composition and produce their own lancaran, supplying the balungan, colotomic and embellishment layers; after which the Virtual Javanese Gamelan will compile a performance of their piece that can be saved or exported as an audio file.

Saron: Play

A simplified version of the number notation of ‘Kebogiro’ appears at the top of the screen while the sounds from the ‘virtual saron’ are controlled by the number keys of the QWERTY keyboard.

The ‘play’ button activates a ‘backing track’ from which the saron part is excluded, requiring the user to sustain the part on their own.

‘Guided Play’ is useful for beginners to learn the piece, as it plays the backing track plus the saron part, allowing the user to play along with a competent performer playing the same part.

At any time the performance can be recorded.

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