The past two weeks I’ve had the pleasure of taking part in a marimba ensemble workshop. These marimbas aren’t orchestral marimbas, though, which I have some very minor experience playing. These marimbas are Zimbabwean: handcrafted and in four different ranges (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). It was a lot of fun to learn an unfamiliar (ie one that I have no experience with) music, and I thought I would share some lessons and takeaways from the workshops.

It is meant to be hard

I think a big mistake people come into these ensembles with is expecting the music to be easy, that they’ll pick it up quickly, or that they can jump straight into the harder instruments. Reality is often not like this. To be fair, it doesn’t help that it looks easy from the outside: marimbas, really, are just hitting wooden blocks with sticks; gamelan is hitting bronze with sticks. But there is a great deal of nuance and understanding that you don’t get if you haven’t played it for years and years.

A key part of what can make groups like this work for community music is that there is a range of instruments available which can appeal to all number of skill types. Someone who is keen for a challenge can push themselves on faster melody lines, and someone who is struggling can play supporting instruments or bass parts which are typically slower moving. These parts are still difficult, initially, but keep with them and you will eventually make it through all of the problems.

I often see people get discouraged that they can’t “get” a particular instrument or piece. It is important to stay with it until the music clicks. This happened only after about six months of dedicated playing for me with gamelan; if you aren’t also studying the music it could take even longer. You are having to, often, unlearn all of the music skills that you thought you knew and rewire your brain into conceptualising music in a new way. That takes time! Stick with it, and you’ll see results.

The supportive instruments are more important than you think

In the marimba ensemble, we had a collection of shakers and djembe to play in addition to the marimbas themselves – a great addition as there were too many participants in the group to be playing the eight main instruments the whole time. In a gamelan group, the supportive instruments are often more percussive: gongs, cymbals, kettle drums. In both cases, these instruments are more important than you think.

When I was playing djembe in the marimba workshop, I would try to keep the same rhythm as the main melody instruments. This provides 2 benefits: it makes it easier for those instruments to keep time, and it also provides a solid sense of rhythm for the rest of the group. This means that it is harder for people to fall away, even if they get confused. Don’t discount the sounds of these instruments in building a cohesive ensemble.

In a gamelan group, the gongs and kajar/kempli are responsible for keeping the group together, and even the ceng-ceng (cymbals) add an extra layer of rhythm glue to keep everyone in time. It is tempting to view these instruments as “lesser” than melody instruments, but playing these instruments often gives the performer a deeper insight into the melody, which can then effect better playing on those melody instruments when it is her turn again.

Feel is more important than theory

In both the marimba workshop and the many gamelan performances I have had, one key concept keeps returning: feeling is more important than theory. It is tempting to count everything, notate rhythms, think about chord progressions, and more when you first start playing an unfamiliar music system. You will be encouraged not to, and I (perhaps controversially) agree with this. I have even had gamelan teachers tell me it is better to not count at all and just feel when I am meant to come in based on how the music sounds! (Of course, I would then proceed to come in at the wrong time again). In any case, the idea behind this is to get you actually engaging with the practical component of the music, rather than thinking too deeply about what comes behind it.

And in case you’ve forgotten, this is how we learn music as children! We sing and play recorder without thinking about how the music actually sounds. We just play, and the theory actually comes later for us, once we can begin to think a bit more abstractly. As adults, who can already think abstractly, the temptation is to do this automatically as we go. Don’t – or, at least, don’t do it during the session. Afterwards, you can think back on your experience and analyse all you want. But in the moment, just feel it out and enjoy the ride.

What other lessons or questions do you have about learning in this way? Let me know in the comments below.