The duty of gamelan. A gamelan pedagogue’s philosophy of work

Abstract

This article is based on a thematic narrative study of a renowned Balinese gamelan musician’s philosophy of work. The aim of the article is to illuminate a viewpoint towards music and musicking that might enrich basic thinking in Western music teacher education. The philosophy of work of the gamelan music pedagogue in this article is inseparably entwined with principles of Balinese Hinduism. Data for the study were gathered through a six-month stay in Ubud, Bali, and include interviews, video observations and field notes. The final discussion in the article is theoretically-philosophically informed by German philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer’s thinking about sensus communis (Gadamer 2011/1975), German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s thoughts about arts and human beings (Heidegger 2000) and British music philosopher Christopher Small’s thoughts about musicking (Small 1996, 1987).