We had a really good first session back on Weds 6th, thanks and well done to everyone who came along. Good to welcome nine new players as well as six who’ve been in the group for a while. We played the following pieces:

Lancaran Bendrongan

We learnt this by ear, it’s a loud and fast piece. We played this using the five note slendro scale – there is also a pelog version but it is quite different. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Lancaran-Tropangbang-Bendrongan.pdf and there is a score which explains exactly what each instrument does here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/bendrongan-score.pdf

Ladrang Gleyong

This is a softer, longer piece in pelog using all the notes 1-7, with ornamentation from the bonangs and peking repeating pairs of notes in different patterns. Notation here: https://gamelanbvg.com/gendhing/pdf/p6/Gleyong.pdf. Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8-lpGV_If0

Srepegan Manyura

This is a very fast / loud piece, we had a go at interlocking imbal patterns as well as the simpler ornamentation and managed some tempo changes. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/srepegan-manyura.pdf

Gambyong Pangkur

This dance piece has a lot going on, it was good to have a go at playing through it after such a long break. Notation here: http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ladrang-pangkur-manyura.pdf . See the dance here (played in pelog by our friends in London, Siswa Sukra) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNUdADBzXqg

Other resources

See our resources page here http://www.durhamgamelan.org.uk/resources/ for some background info including instrument names and much more.