Legong & Barong Dance Evening
Start from$31 / person
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Land Tour
Gamelan Lesson, Ubud
Two hours inside the orchestra, not watching it from a seat
- Duration
- 5 hours door to door
- Group
- Private car, small class
- Difficulty
- Easy · no musical training needed
- You play
- Gangsa, jegogan or kendang
The trip
What You're Signing Up For
A gamelan is not a set of instruments so much as one instrument played by twenty people. The bronze keys are tuned in pairs, deliberately a fraction apart, and the shimmer you hear is those pairs beating against each other. Nothing sounds like it because nothing else is built that way.
In two hours you will not learn a repertoire. You will learn one interlocking pattern, played on a gangsa with a teacher on the part that answers yours, and the moment it locks is genuinely something. Almost nobody offers this to visitors, which is exactly why it is worth doing.
Highlights
Why People Pick This One
- Playing rather than watching, with a working banjar teacher
- Kotekan, the interlocking pattern that gives gamelan its shimmer
- Instruments provided; no musical training assumed or required
- A recording of your group to take home
- Two hours, so it fits either side of an Ubud afternoon
Full description
The Whole Thing
A Balinese gamelan gong kebyar has around twenty-five players and the parts interlock rather than harmonise. Two players share a single melodic line, one playing the on-beats and the other the off-beats, and the pattern only exists when both are there. That is kotekan, and it is what you will spend the lesson learning.
The instruments are tuned in pairs a few hertz apart, deliberately. Struck together they beat against each other and produce the shimmer that recordings never capture. In a small hall, at close range, it is a physical sensation as much as a sound.
The bronze keys are struck with a wooden mallet and damped with the other hand, and that damping is the hard part. Expect to be clumsy for the first twenty minutes. Everyone is.
Itinerary
The Trip, Stop By Stop
Timings are typical, not fixed. Your guide reshapes the day around your pace and the conditions.
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Hotel pickup
Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta, Jimbaran, Sanur, Ubud
Your driver confirms the time by message the evening before.
Included -
Arrive at the banjar
The community hall where the local gamelan actually rehearses, not a studio built for visitors.
-
Learning the instruments
What each row does, how the pairs are tuned, and why it shimmers. Then a mallet in your hand.
-
Playing
Roughly ninety minutes on one interlocking part, building up until the group holds it together.
-
Recording and tea
A recording of your group, and a chance to hear the teachers play properly.
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Back to your hotel
Same car, same driver.
Included
Trip stop
Pickup area
Pickup is from your own accommodation inside these areas. Route is indicative, not the exact road taken.
The price covers
What's Included, And What Isn't
Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off across South Bali, Ubud and Canggu
- Private air-conditioned car with English-speaking driver
- Fuel, parking, tolls and the driver's day
- Two hours with a working gamelan teacher
- Use of the instruments
- A recording of your group to take home
- Tea and a proper performance at the end
Not included
- Anything you buy at the banjar afterwards
- Personal spending, tips and anything you buy on the day
- Travel insurance, which we strongly recommend you carry
Before you book
Who This Trip Isn’t For
We would rather talk you out of the wrong trip than take your money for it. If any of these apply, message us and we’ll suggest something that fits better.
Anyone expecting to sound polished
Two hours gets you one interlocking pattern held together. That is the honest ceiling.
Children under about eight
The mallets are heavy and the damping technique needs a grown hand.
Anyone sensitive to volume
A gamelan in a small hall is loud. That is most of why it is worth doing, but it is loud.
Come prepared
What To Bring
Covered knees and shoulders
The lesson is usually in a temple pavilion, which is an active space with the same rules as the temple.
Short or filed nails
You strike the keys with a mallet and damp them with your other hand. Long nails make that genuinely painful.
Something to record on
Everybody wants a recording afterwards and nobody remembers to start one. Your phone is fine.
Cash for a tip
The players are village musicians teaching between ceremonies, and a tip at the end is normal and appreciated.
On the trip
What It Looks Like
Tap a photo to enlarge
Before you book
Questions About This Trip
Anything not covered here? Message us. We'd rather answer first than have you book the wrong trip.
Do I need to read music or play anything?
No, and it would barely help. Gamelan is not notated the way western music is; it is learned by ear and by watching the player next to you.
Can children do it?
From about eight. It is physical, loud and repetitive, which suits a lot of children very well. Younger than that and the mallets get heavy.
How many of us can play?
Up to about six comfortably. Larger groups still work, with people rotating through the parts.
Will we sound any good?
By the end you will hold one pattern together, which is more than it sounds. The teachers then play properly and you hear the difference.
Can we see a performance too?
Yes, and it is much better after a lesson. The Legong and Barong evening runs most nights and we can add it to the same day.
Pairs well with
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View ItineraryReady When You Are
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are. We'll confirm availability, pickup time and the total, usually within the hour.