My Fulbright grant allowed me to research Balinese gamelan music between January, 1986 and February, 1988. I was, at the time, in the midst of a Master’s degree program at California Institute of the Arts with a double major in music and art. While in Indonesia, I did much of my work at the arts institute in Denpasar and followed up with extensive field studies in Sukawati, Batuan and Tenganan Pegrinsingan villages.

It’s difficult to relate all the different ways in which my Indonesian experiences have benefited me and others now that I’m back in the United States. The two-year experience changed so many aspects of my musical knowledge and personal life. My current musical projects at home in California are a direct reflection of this.

I’m a cofounder and member of three different performance groups that allow me to utilize my new learning in Balinese music. First there’s a gamelan duet called Urlan Aram that gives concerts and lecture demonstrations at university museums, community halls and senior citizen centers. We travel to schools throughout Southern California and present programs on Balinese culture that touch on geography, flora, fauna and cultural patterns as well as music.

I’m also part of the Shadow Arts Ensemble of Los Angeles, which performs traditional wayang kulit puppet dramas. During my stay in Bali I acquired some skills as a dalang and puppet-maker. And now this group is in the process of developing a kind of ‘Western wayang’ that blends Balinese concepts and techniques with Western stories and technology.

Then there’s New Pacific, an international jazz quintet that uses both Indonesian and Western instruments. We’re delighted to share our love for this music and culture with people of all ages in the U.S.

Although there are gamelan study and performance programs here and there in the United States, nothing can replace living in the culture and experiencing it firsthand. In Bali, music and the other arts are closely related to religion and life itself. Learning these interrelations would be impossible outside of Bali.

Having studied gamelan tuning, I find that I can now maintain our instruments as well as others people’s. That’s fortunate, since the only other alternatives are sending the whole gamelan set back to Bali for tuning — or else flying in a turner all the way from Indonesia!