Mesmerizing Music: Smith Gamelan Ensemble Performs April 20

Gongs, drums and a variety of melodic percussion instruments probably unfamiliar to many Smithies will take center stage at Earle Recital Hall (in the basement of Sage) on Wednesday, April 20, for a concert by the Smith College Gamelan Ensemble. The event begins at 8 p.m., and all are invited to attend.

Established 20 years ago, the Smith gamelan is one of some 100 college and university gamelans across the United States. Performing the traditional ensemble music of Java, the Smith gamelan is open to anyone, and no previous musical experience is required.

Music professor Margaret Sarkissian, who founded the ensemble and serves as its de facto manager, says, “If you can count to seven and hit a stationary object with a mallet, you can be part of the gamelan.”

And who wouldn’t want that? The music is mesmerizing—interlocking, gradually shifting and repetitive in a way that’s reminiscent of Philip Glass, but gong-ier. Built on a seven-note melodic scale that’s not used in the West, the tunes are simultaneously structured and improvisatory. Students who come to rehearsal just to see what the gamelan is about often stay with the group for all four years, Sarkissian says.

Sean Norton, who’s been part of the group since its inception, was introduced to gamelan music when he was in sixth grade. “I heard a recording, and I was immediately mesmerized,” Norton says. “My brother and I tried to build a gamelan from found objects.”

Norton never imagined that he’d have an opportunity to play in a real gamelan until one day, during his second year at Hampshire College and in the midst of trying to decide between a major in environmental science or music and anthropology, he came across a poster advertising the Smith ensemble. “In five seconds, what seemed like an intractable decision came to me,” he says. “I knew that I’d play in the ensemble and that I’d become an ethnomusicologist.”

Gabby Ranieri ’18, on the other hand, came to the ensemble accidentally. A Smith housemate was taking Sarkissian’s ethnomusicology class, and she mentioned the gamelan. “My musical background was pretty sketchy,” Ranieri laughs. “I’d always been interested in music, but I’d never had any formal training.” After two years in the Smith gamelan, she’s worked her way up from the saron (a simple instrument, similar to a xylophone) to the more complicated bonang and the rebab (a two-stringed instrument reminiscent of a cello).

“Now I almost feel like I could play the violin!” Ranieri says. “Well—if the violin had two strings.”

Ranieri, Norton and the other Smith students; Five College students; community members; faculty; and staff rehearse once a week and perform at the end of each semester. All concerts feature instrumentalists and singers; some also incorporate dancers and shadow puppets.

At the center of it all is Sumarsam, a Wesleyan University professor who is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading scholars of the gamelan. For 20 years, he’s made the weekly trip from Wesleyan to Smith—and back—to direct Smith’s ensemble. Listening is key to gamelan performance, since there is no conductor in the traditional, Western sense; rhythms shift, and the drummer sets the tempo. Sumarsam’s leadership, easy laughter and gentle teaching method are central to the group’s success.

“It’s one of the great privileges of my life to be part of this group,” says Norton. “And it’s all because of Sumarsam, Margaret and the community of Smith students.”

Photos from last year's gamelan concert at Smith by Carolyn Brown ’16