KODÁLY, KINAESTHETICS AND KARAWITAN: towards a paedagogy of Javanese gamelan in the West or, GAMELAN TEACHING: an “uncommon approach” by Nikhil Dally © 2005 Nikhil Dally All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. This paper is dedicated to all my gamelan students, past and present, who have taught me so much; especially to the members of Kridha Anggara and the Hertfordshire Gamelan Ensembles. December 2005 Nikhil Dally 22a South Avenue, Egham, Surrey TW20 8HG, U.K. tel. +44-1784-453347 e-mail:
[email protected] © 2005 Nikhil Dally 2 Abstract Developing an effective paedagogical strategy for teaching Javanese gamelan to Westerners requires that we take careful and sensitive account of the vast differences between the world-views of Java and the West. The West has since the Renaissance tended to develop an attitude to the world which is rational, linear, man-centred, individualistic and product-oriented; Java has tended to remain more instinctive, indirect, spiritual, communal and process-oriented. Western obsession with product over process has had a deleterious effect upon certain aspects of its musical and educational cultures. A more spiritual and communal world-view can help to heal this, and can guide us in forging a paedagogy for gamelan in the West which, whilst directly imitating neither the product- obsessiveness of much Western music education nor the informal “osmosis”-based learning styles of Java, helps our students to engage deeply in the processes of karawitan and be themselves transformed by the experience.