ABSTRACT
In recent years, a number of American composers and instrument builders have developed an interest in Gamelan music. A Gamelan is an Indonesian orchestra composed primarily of metallophones (metal sounding bar instruments) and gongs. Daniel Schmidt has been building gamelan instruments since 1975. In that time, he has earned a substantial reputation, and his instruments have spread far and wide: the gamelan used at North Texas State University and Sonoma State University are his, as well as those played by musicians of the Berkeley Gamelan and the Bay Area New Gamelan, to mention a few. Schmidt’s resonators are made of wood, with an air column that is square in cross section. They are tunable by means of movable stoppers inserted in the end away from the bar. Schmidt has substituted low, but definitely pitched, resonated metallophones for the indefinitely pitched traditional gongs.
