Beauty of Gamelan

By Qamarina Aqilah

Beauty of Gamelan

For a little introduction of what Gamelan is, it is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia made up predominantly of percussive instruments. It has also reached to various parts of the world which includes Malaysia! That is how gamelan Melayu appeared. It is basically from the royalty passed down through heritage, which is why it was once played only for the royal family. Well, music on its own has its benefits but did you know that Gamelan itself also has its advantages when played? Keep on reading and educate yourself! Suhartini (2010) found in their research that gamelan music was effective to reduce the level of anxiety in patients with ventilator support. The gamelan music was also found to be effective to reduce the physiological responses in patients with ventilator support. Indeed, researchers can use the gamelan music for therapeutic purposes, as can be told from other researches and also from the previous blog post on the meaning of Music.

Gamelan is not only pleasing to the ears. There are many benefits that you can get from listening to gamelan itself! Here are some of the benefits that you can get from listening to gamelan.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Furthermore, it has also been found that gamelan has an impact to reduce the stress levels of the listeners. Research has been conducted in Lawangan – Lamongan focused on the elderly using a custom-made questionnaire and some observations have been taken as well. The data had suggested that before listening to gamelan, the elderly have been experiencing general stress, perhaps closely related with their backgrounds and experiences, but after listening to gamelan, their stress has been greatly reduced. This shows that Gamelan does affect individuals in terms of the reduction of stress.

Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash

Did you know that Gamelan also has a positive effect on the gross motor functions of the human body? Research has been conducted on the effects of Gamelan on children with cerebral palsy to have positive responses towards Gamelan. This can be seen in the improvement of their posture, muscle strength in the upper and lower limbs, range of motion and the ability to maintain a long period of sitting cross-legged. (Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin, 2010) They have also shown improvement in the attention span, hand and eye coordination and so on. Gamelan has given these children a large effect and this can be seen as another benefit of listening or playing Gamelan.

What do you guys think? Do you feel these effects when you listen or play Gamelan? If not, do you have any personal experiences with Gamelan? I hope you enjoy reading this blogpost! Have a beautiful day!

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