Gamelan provides diversity for SCSU

Media Credit: Jason Risberg Julie Will, Rien Harms and Chandler Litterst listen attentively to Joko Sutrisno (left) Monday night during the first Indonesian Gamelan rehearsal. “Gamelan is not soloists, it is teamwork,” Sutrisno said. Students and faculty can participate in rehearsals for 30 dollars a semester or take it for class credit. Those not involved with SCSU can participate for 60 dollars. The class will wrap up the semester with a December 4th performance.

Media Credit: Jason Risberg Kim Unger gets assistance from Dr. Steven Fuller during the first Indonesian Gamelan rehearsal. The class meets Monday’s at 6:00 in 158A of the Performing Arts Center. They will wrap up the semester with a performance December 4th.

SCSU’s annual Indonesian Gamelan that started in fall 1995 continues this semester. This is a chance to learn a different cultures and a different way of making music no matter what your musical background is.

Joko Sutrisno, from the Shubert Club (a private arts organization in St. Paul that also coordinates all Gamelan activities in Minnesota), is the instructor for this program. He has been teaching Gamelan for 23 years, and besides teaching in Minnesota, he has taught in Indonesia and New Zealand.

Judy Litterst, professor of Communication Studies, explains. She has been involved with Gamelan for three years now.

“He’s extremely talented, extremely patient…he’s able to work with so many groups ranging from professionals from the Shubert Club to young children,” Litterst said.

The first night of rehearsal was Monday from 6-8:30 p.m. Within minutes each person knew how to play one instrument. Then after a 10 minute break everyone played a different instrument with the same results.

American instruments take months of practice to figure out how to play, and even learning how to read sheet music is tedious. Besides having a unique sound, Gamelan has a different technique than what Americans are use to.

Before choosing what instrument to play, Sutrisno told us, “forget everything you know about music…there are no conductors and no sheet music.”

The way to learn Gamelan is to copy sound, “if you can say it, you can play it,” Sutrisno explains then further demonstrates by producing a melodic beat from his mouth then applying that sound to a drum.

In addition, Gamelan is based on aural tradition. Each musician has to listen to each person play his or her instrument, and either play the same theme or elaborate on it.

“Even though there are a lot of people, it’s considered one instrument so you have to be really sensitive to each other,” said Pamela M. Salela, assistant professor.

Litterst believes that learning Gamelan, enhances one’s listening skills.

Besides learning a new culture outside of Western arts, Gamelan also an opportunity to meet other people who are interested in sharing a new experience.

“There (are) students, faculty, community members (and) international students that make it a really fun, culturally diverse experience,” said Salela.

Gamelan is also known to be meditative. If there’s a lot of stress in one’s life this a great way to relax.

Gamelan is open to anybody who is interested. It’s available as a one credit class, or can be taken just for fun with a participation fee of $30.

Rehearsal is every Monday night from 6-8:30 pm (September until May) in the Performing Arts Center. There will be two performances: Dec. 4, and Indonesian night, April 4, 2003. Indonesian night will include displays, food, a fashion show, and drama presentations. It will be held at Ritsche Auditorium.