The numbers! What do they mean?!
Well it’s actually to do with a musical style calls Gamelan, a traditional ensemble from Indonesia. It consists of a range of percussion instruments, plucked strings and flutes.
During our taster session at Gateshead college, we got an hour to learn how to play the various instruments, although it was only the percussion items. This was being taught by Pete Smith, who came from Oxford to show us what it was all about.
The first part was all about getting comfortable so the shoes had to go! Then we each got a range of instruments, some on the small xylophones, others on the larger teapot style drums. Each instrument had a number defining the key, ranging from 1 to 6, but no 4?
We started with a simple easy beat. 6…1…6…1…2…1…2…1. While playing this we had to keep pace with Pete, and eventually mixed it up with a few offbeats, and a large gong that came round every fourth beat.
Anyway it was a great experience to learn how to play music without really knowing anything about it. We had great fun and learnt about music i would probably never listen to, let alone play! Have a listen to it below!
Who is Dhillon? 