Dorothy Morrison teaches Lane Mackie-Wendel and Olivia Reinitz how to play the Bonang.
Kyle Peltier adds the ceng-ceng, cymbals mounted upside down and played with two held in his hands.
Dorothy Morrison teaching Jared Townsend the gong part. The large gong starts and ends every piece.
Rowan McClure and Kinley Moore (back) playing metallophones. There were four octaves and each had four keys that were struck with a mallet.
SEELEY LAKE – Students in the Seeley-Swan valleys were immersed in Balinese music and culture during the final 2 Valleys Stage informances April 15 and 16. Dorothy Morrison, musical director of Gamelan Manik Harum and music teacher at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, introduced students to the culture of Bali and taught the students the various instruments in the gamelan, a traditional percussion orchestra from the Indonesian islands Java and Bali.
Gamelan was first developed between 1293-1500. There are 30 types of gamelan in Bali. All of the instruments and dress are ornate. Morrison said Balinese people love beautiful things. Some instruments are made with bamboo keys while others are metal. Some gamelan integrate dance and others march competitively.
Morrison has studied gamelan in Bali five times under the guidance of Balinese Master Musician Pak Made. She shared a slideshow coupling photos and traditional music to help the students experience Bali.
Morrison said there are 100 gamelans in the United States including Gamelan Manik Harum of Missoula. The instrumentation at the Seeley-Swan High School informance included four octaves of 10 metallophones with a four-note scale, gongs, cymbals, drums and flute.
Morrison explained that each gamelan instrument is tuned specifically for that ensemble. The tuning is unique, creating a characteristic wave or pulsation to the sound.
Through actions and singing, Morrison taught the Seeley-Swan High School music and drama students a song they performed for the entire student body. The students learned the cultural protocol for playing in the gamelan. Performers remove their shoes and sit cross-legged at the instruments.
Morrison said the performers remove their shoes because they would bring in dirt which would cause the ornate instruments to get dirty or possibly chip the paint. It is also easier to sit cross legged without shoes, especially when playing for up to two hours at a time. Finally, the Balinese people have a spiritual belief that removing their shoes leaves a little bit of the outside world outside the door.
Performers start with their mallets on the instruments. After various melodic cues to indicate treatment or sections of a piece, the performers respond with precision.
Each song starts and ends with the largest gong. The drummer conducts the ensemble by sound, not by sight. Bali music is full of repetition. In each cycle of the song, the dynamics changed adding interest and variety.
"The Balinese are very aesthetic, they are very visual and they care that you do it right," said Morrison. "They take a lot of time with the visual stuff."
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