yesterday i went to the temple again, after asking the gardener who doubles as a gamelon teacher after work hours, if i could join them again....dressed with my sarong and scarf belt, i entered along with the village women this time...and realized that before anyone walks over to the area where we are playing, they first go into the temple to pray! only then do the come to the raised platform with high palm roof to sit down and play. some of them recognized me from the other evening, and asked my name and where i am from, and told me how beautiful i am....i always forget that that is what they say to foreigners that are wearing a sarong! ( for a moment i thought they were really telling me how beautiful i am!!) as the 18 women slowly entered one by one, the head of the orchestra (and maybe the priest?) was busy preparing an offering of incense and
fruits and also sprinkled water on some of the gongs as he prayed, all done there where we were going to be practicing....meanwhile everyone was getting seated and trying out their instruments....and i was again invited to join them, this time on another kind of gamelon. a very friendly english speaking woman treated me just like i was her best friend and started teasing and joking with me how we will sit next to each other. again , we began with a communal pray of a minute or two and then the repetitive, tunes that mesmerize me...i just love hearing them and playing them....the leader placed himself opposite me so he could bang out with the hammer on the metal chimes, the melody i was to play....this time i tried with "no mind"....just following him, not trying to discover any pattern or counting how many beats, or trying to hear a "sentence" to give me a hint how it begins or ends....just play...and eventually he gave the the "thumbs up " sign that i am "good" and continued over to the others that needed help... and since it just goes on and on and on...it kind of sinks in...and with all the other gongs going....its not so glaring when i make a mistake ( at least to my untrained ears!)
during a break to drink some water during the 2 hour session, the friendly woman to my right tried to tap out for me the rythym, explaining how many times each series of 4 notes repeats itself....suddenly it all made sense and i told her what a good teacher she is! a womans touch, compared to these strict patriarchal figures that have been hitting it out relentlessly to each woman that still didn't "get it" without saying a word....and here she was, gently showing me
i told her she is a very good teacher! and she said that she is a high school teacher but "this is not my skill here (playing the gamelons) but i just try again and again and again" it felt good to know that my simple method of just trying again and again will eventually work, as i recognized how she plays with such joy and lightness. the woman to my left, whos' hand movements i was visually following all the time on the chimes in order to know what to play, is the ring leader and a very determined woman and driven to get things right, now! no small talk with her, or peeking every now and then at her cell phone and sms ing while we were playing, (like my friendly teacher to my right was busy doing all the time....)
i don't know what is "in" this music that is so special to me...repeating again and again the same melody but that has a little twist to it which is a stumbling point right at the end each time before it begins anew but it just allows to surrender to it and let "something else" be playing....there are no virtuosos....we are a group....making one " whole" sound....
and they are all quite human too, arguing and laughing after each tune for a minute or two, probably about what was good or bad about it....or how to improve,etc. the ceremony is tomorrow morning....we shall see... in any case...i am off again to there tonight...
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