Indonesian Gamelan Essay, Research Paper

Gamelan concerts are mysterious and enticing. The sound, which come from the multi-performed, hitting of the copper instruments, makes any listener become aware of a story line of some sort. This music is exotic and that is what it has going for it in the western world. Any type of music, which brings a new flavor to western lives, is favored and given a chance. I personally preferred some pieces to other pieces. The pieces I found to be less interesting were the ones with little variation and monotonous harmonies. The pieces I enjoyed more were the ones that had a building rhythm and main parts leading to the climax or most serious part of the song. Most of the pieces started out slow and simple, but then began a climb to the highest peak, there where the song obtains its most powerful and important part. It is not hard to stay focused and on the flow of this form of music. The music from Asian countries has always played a minor role in my personal listening of music. On a regular basis I would not listen to gamelan. But now that I have been introduced to it, I could definitely see myself being wrapped up in the melodic, almost captivating echo of bell like harmonies. A key idea that makes this music so captivating is the non-standard way it is taught, learned, and performed. It is completely different from the standardized way of learning music in our world and definitely deserves attention and merit.

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