JAKARTA (indo.com): As a highly respected (and sometimes considered "sacred") musical instrument, gamelan instruments are well preserved at the National Museum, with levels of humidity being regularly observed.

All kinds of metal items are subject to decay and bronze gamelan is no exception. "Gamelan quickly rusts unless the level of humidity is carefully controlled," conservationist Subanto told indo.com here recently.

Rust is the great enemy of gamelan it can greatly effect the instruments' sound. "To avoid the rust, we protect the gamelan by 'coating' or polishing it with chemical material," he added.

However, the 'coating' is made in such a way that it will not affect the instrument when played. "Principally, efforts to conserve all cultural items or national heritages stored at the museum, including gamelan, are made to ensure their durability," he said.

He acknowledged that the vast collections at the museum and the lack of funds sometimes posed a problem for the conservation team to work.

The National Museum has five sets of gamelan, originating from Java (from the 1940s), Bali (1940s), Banten (eighteenth century), Sunda, West Java (1920s) and Banjar (1920s).

Gamelan are basically percussion orchestras featuring brass kettle gongs that are struck with velvet-covered wooden mallets.

Western World
The western world first heard of the gamelan through the reports of Sir Francis Drake in 1580. Some 250 years later, Sir Stanford Raffles provided a detailed account in his famous work, The History of Java; and a gamelan was brought in to delight audiences at the World Expo in Paris in 1870. Study of gamelan music began to be seriously undertaken by Dutch scholars at the beginning of the 20th century, and the queen of Holland sometimes entertained her guests with performances.

Gamelan study has been gaining popularity in universities throughout North America and Europe, where ethnomusicology students learns gamelan theory and practice, some continuing on to get doctorates in this field. Junior high schools in Great Britain include gamelan music in their curriculum. This has resulted in many gamelan groups and centers in such places as the South Bank Center in London. Some of them have constructed their own gamelan instruments, always based on Indonesian gamelan principles.

Therapeutic Tools
Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a Balinese Gamelan orchestra in America, is just one of the foreign gamelan ensembles that have made their debut. In Japan, the Javanese gamelan is being used as a therapeutic tool for the physically and mentally deprived; it has been an integral part of komodo no shiro (children's palace) since the institution's inception. Komodo no shiro is a cultural center for children under the care of the Department of Welfare. The Japanese regard the gamelan as a suitable instrument for children under the care of the Department of Welfare, as well as for children's musical development and to help Japan return to its own traditional music.

One Japanese musicologist reports that Gamelan has proven attractive to children because it is easy to play. The roundness of its components provides tranquility, steadiness and strength to the children. They are able to feel the vibrations produced by the instruments. Indirectly, the gamelan has also taught children to socialize because of the many possibilities in combination with other instruments which requires many players and close cooperation.

The preferred gamelan forms overseas are those of Bali and Java, of which there are many variations, although many other less complicated forms from other parts of Indonesia await discovery. One consequence of all this interest is the development of the gamelan's musical idiom and the mode of expressing a work. Such modification has given rise to the term, 'contemporary gamelan', as opposed to 'classic gamelan'. The latter refers to a musical form that continues to be based on classical principles in which aesthetics and artistic expression must be structured in certain forms. The 'contemporary gamelan' is a new creation which does not follow classical principles; the important things is to find the right sound and color to express the desired feeling.

The desire of foreign gamelan devotees is not just to be able to play the gamelan, but also to visit the country of origin. In Yogya and Solo (Central Java) as well as Bali, it is common to meet groups of foreigners studying gamelan music. They have generally mastered the technique and are there mainly to absorb the culture that goes with the gamelan. The atmosphere created by the sounds of gamelan music in its country of origin would certainly differ to that in their own country; here in Indonesia they can feel the cultural unity more strongly.

Gamelan music of all kinds, in Indonesia and around the world, is supported and documented by the American Gamelan Institute (AGI), an organization devoted to publishing, recording, distributing and making available information on all aspects of Indonesian performing arts and their international counterparts. Gamelan is so popular that the name 'gamelan' is used as a name of an overseas website specializing in information technology.

In addition to the National Museum, sets of ancient gamelan musical instruments in Indonesia can be seen palaces and arts centers in Yogyakarta and Solo in Java and Bali.