Traditional Damping
Traditional Damping
In traditional gamelan playing musicians control the sound of their instruments by stopping notes from ringing.
They do this by playing a note then, as they play the next note, they squeeze the first note to stop its sound.
This way only one note is ever sounding.
On the app, it’s not possible to ‘squeeze’ the notes but you can still stop them ringing.
The App comes with a damp guide to help.
Please tap on it (the button turns orange)
If you are not able to use 2 hands you can do this with someone else.
One person plays the notes and the other person damps the notes
Repeat, swapping between notes
Take your time and try it slowly.
You are doing something new, and it can take time to get it right.
When you feel comfortable try choosing different notes.
Remember to keep playing and damping with the same fingers when you go back down, your hands should be crossed over going one way and uncrossed going the other way.
Take your time to get it right. When you feel comfortable try it fast.
Try it with your eyes closed!
Watch this video for further guidance
Sorry the mobile phone version for this section is still being developed
Another technique used by musicians is the ‘imbal’ technique. This is normally used with two musicians working together, but you can try it on your own to get a different effect.
Choose 2 notes to play. Normally musicians wouldn’t choose notes next to each other, they jump over notes for example 1 and 3 would be a good choice where you’re ‘jumping’ over the 2.
Remember is it’s a rhythm as well as a tune
Try to count to yourself as you play:
1
2
3
4
Using 2 hands the rhythm is:
play 1
damp 1
play 3
damp 3
You can find out more about imbal here
Another option is to play and damp the note at the same time to get a short note.
Try playing and changing how you damp
• Traditional
• Imbal
• Together
In traditional gamelan playing musicians control the sound of their instruments by stopping notes from ringing.
They do this by playing a note then, as they play the next note, they squeeze the first note to stop its sound.
This way only one note is ever sounding.
On the app, it’s not possible to ‘squeeze’ the notes but you can still stop them ringing.
The App comes with a damp guide to help.
Please tap on it (the button turns orange)
So it looks like this
If you are not able to use 2 hands you can do this with someone else.
One person plays the notes and the other person damps the notes
Repeat, swapping between notes
Take your time and try it slowly.
You are doing something new, and it can take time to get it right.
When you feel comfortable try choosing different notes.
Remember to keep playing and damping with the same fingers when you go back down, your hands should be crossed over going one way and uncrossed going the other way.
Take your time to get it right. When you feel comfortable try it fast.
Try it with your eyes closed!
Another technique used by musicians is the ‘imbal’ technique. This is normally used with two musicians working together, but you can try it on your own to get a different effect.
Choose 2 notes to play. Normally musicians wouldn’t choose notes next to each other, they jump over notes for example 1 and 3 would be a good choice where you’re ‘jumping’ over the 2.
Remember is it’s a rhythm as well as a tune
Using 2 hands the rhythm is:
You can find out more about imbal here
Another option is to play and damp the note at the same time to get a short note.
Try playing and changing how you damp
• Traditional
• Imbal
• Together