What do a freshman, a senior, a graduate student and a classics professor all have in common? This Spring term, the answer is Asian and Middle-Eastern Studies 18, "The History and Culture of Indonesia." Despite low enrollment, this class is being offered for the first time in the hopes that it will raise awareness for the rich tradition and culture of Indonesia with several concerts and a film series.
Eva Marune '05, a first-year Chinese student enrolled in the class said, "I took it for a few reasons. Firstly, Indonesia interests me, and I hardly know anything about it. As was said on the first day of class, Indonesia is the fourth-most populous nation in the world. Yet who talks about it all that much? I felt like I was missing something."
The class, taught by professor Jody Diamond, covers many aspects of Indonesian history, including the politics, religion, language and performing arts of the region. "We've looked at how religion and language spread and evolved across the nation", Marune said.
The class also focuses on gamelan, a set of instruments from the Indonesian island of Java that form a percussion ensemble. Most gamelans consist of large gong sets made of iron or brass, and several different kinds and sizes of metal slab instruments, comparable to ornately decorated bronze xylophones,
Diamond, who has composed many pieces for gamelan, is assisted this term by a visiting Javanese artist, Pak Kuwat, whom she met on a previous trip to Indonesia. Kuwat comes from an area between Central and Western Java called Banyumas, which has its own unique language and culture.
He specializes in a unique kind of gamelan found there that is made from bamboo. This gamelan is the oldest and most complicated kind, created by experienced rice diggers who attached the bamboo instruments to the ends of their tools in order to make music while they worked. As Diamond explained, bamboo is used in Banyumas because it is cheaper than metal, and widely available to the people: "The metal gamelan is the gamelan of the royal court, whereas the bamboo gamelan is the people's gamelan."
Gamelan, which is often accompanied by vocal music, has also played an important role in the continuity of Indonesian culture. Before literacy, gamelan was used to pass down history and poetry from generation to generation.
Gamelan also unifies the many different cultures and religions found in Indonesia. For example, Kuwat, who is Muslim, plays gamelan in church.
"Although my heart is Muslim, I can follow the gamelan into exploring other religions. The gamelan makes people tolerant, because it is a part of all of their lives. It becomes its own world where everyone can be involved," Kuwat said.
Kuwat described teaching gamelan in America as different from teaching other musical instruments, because of all the tradition and culture involved. "In teaching students who have never heard or seen gamelan before, I am not only teaching the music, but also ways to show respect for the instruments, such as the proper ways to sit while playing," Kuwat said.
Diamond also stressed the significance of this unique learning experience at Dartmouth.
"In learning about a foreign culture, you can also learn things about yourself that you were not aware of before. Many people who think they could never play an instrument try the gamelan and discover that they can be musical, which is a great confidence building experience," she said.
