Artistic medleys: How music, dance, and theatre intertwine in Bali’s multifaceted arts scene

Artistic medleys: How music, dance, and theatre intertwine in Bali's multifaceted arts scene

International Music Day on 1 October celebrates the diverse expressions of music and encourages us to explore the music of other cultures - a mission shared by Bali Regional Resonances, a summer immersion programme that delves into Bali's traditional arts.

Music has been described as a universal language that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries. Regardless of our backgrounds, we can all be moved to tears by the plaintive strains of a stringed instrument or stirred by the rhythmic beat of gongs and drums.

In 1973, UNESCO designated 1 October as International Music Day to celebrate the beauty and diversity of music and its power to unite people from diverse backgrounds. The day is an opportunity to explore music from other cultures and promote the UNESCO ideals of peace and understanding through a shared appreciation of music.

Today, NUS News explores a summer immersion programme that embraces the spirit of International Music Day by taking students on a journey into the world of Balinese music, dance, and theatre.

Sparking creative connections

Bali Regional Resonances is a two-week programme offered by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST) and open to all NUS students who have music training and an interest in learning about Balinese arts. The programme started in 2008 and ran annually for 11 years until the COVID-19 pandemic forced a hiatus.

When Professor Karst de Jong was tasked with reviving the programme in 2024, he approached it as a specialist in improvisation, which is the spontaneous composition of music through a combination of performance, emotions, instrumental technique, and interaction with other musicians. He saw value in helping the students not just learn to play the Balinese instruments, but also gain a deeper understanding of Balinese culture so they could meld the two musical styles creatively.

"We wanted to forge a real connection between the creative ideas of our students and the practice of making things in Bali," Prof de Jong said. "Through talking to the locals, we came to the conclusion that the shadow puppet play (wayang kulit) would be a really great practice to combine those two things."

Prof de Jong worked with non-governmental organisation Bali Jaladara to host the programme from 1 to 13 July 2024 in a small, tight-knit community where the students could experience the local way of life and learn various Balinese art forms. Almost every day, they spent about eight hours learning the art forms and collaboratively composing a wayang kulit performance that combined what they learnt with their existing musical training. The performance, presented at the end of the programme, featured both Balinese and Western instruments in the retelling of a traditional Balinese story about gods and demons.

A new learning experience

Unlike the methodical approach of Western music like following musical scores, Balinese music is taught through demonstration and imitation. This approach was challenging for many of the NUS students, and Neo Jie Ning, a third-year student majoring in Music, Collaboration and Production, shared that she initially took videos during lessons because she was worried about forgetting her parts.

However, she ended up not needing them when she followed the teachers' advice to embrace more instinctual techniques like listening intently to her fellow musicians, visualising the ideas being conveyed by the music, and allowing muscle memory to take over.

Said Jellal Koay, a third-year Composition major: "If you come in with a mindset of 'I need to write all of these down; these are the notes (the teachers) played,' you will struggle. Whereas if you are just listening, looking at them, and being in the present, you learn faster."

In addition to music, the students learnt dance and puppetry in a similar fashion by watching and imitating artists and teachers. Jellal observed that while the different art forms can be learnt in isolation, it is beneficial to learn them together for a deeper understanding and appreciation of each one because they overlap in many ways.

For example, the stop-start motions typical of wayang kulit puppets come from Balinese dance movements, and Balinese art performances often combine a variety of disciplines. The dalang or puppeteer who leads a wayang kulit performance multitasks to keep time, cue the musicians, manipulate and voice the puppets, and even adapt the play spontaneously according to the audience's reactions.

"It is typical and even important for artists to be familiar with these different disciplines to attain fuller mastery and understanding of their craft," noted Ong Ping Din, also a third-year Composition major.

The students experienced the arts in a broader context during several excursions, such as a visit to a temple's anniversary celebration festival. There, they witnessed multiple performances of gamelan music, dances, and wayang kulit happening concurrently, reflecting the way the various art forms are closely intertwined in Balinese culture.

Gaining new perspectives

Prof de Jong hopes that Bali Regional Resonances will inspire more programmes that bring NUS musicians together and give them a new perspective on music through the rich cultures surrounding Singapore.

"There are lots of very proficient musicians in NUS, in engineering and in medical school and elsewhere, not just our conservatory students, and it's really nice to make that connection with them," he said.

He added: "I hope (such exposure) will create unique musicians coming from YST, because YST obviously is a conservatory in a Western model, but it's in Singapore. I think that our students should feel that this is different than what they would be studying in Germany, for example, and think: 'There is something else going on here. What is my place here, and what am I going to do in my future with all these rich musical cultures around us? Am I just going to shut my eyes to these experiences and keep playing Mozart, or is there something meaningful that I take from that?'"

The benefits of immersing oneself in a different culture are many, from gleaning new creative ideas to broadening one's view of a subject and discovering new ways of creating art.

For instance, living in the community gave students a glimpse into the Balinese people's attitude towards the arts. They observed that local schoolchildren who came by to learn gamelan music did so casually and joyfully, without seeming to have an extrinsic motivation or end goal like winning a competition.

Said Gio Tan E Chuan, a second-year student majoring in Real Estateand Finance: "What they taught me was more about life than music, and that is about being grateful. I have never seen a group of happier kids, just being in each other's company and playing good music together."

Rather than focusing on performance excellence, the Balinese view of music is much broader, said Ping Din.

"Beyond just a means of providing entertainment or employment, the arts simply form an essential part of their daily lives, serving religious or secular functions in their rituals, ceremonies, and festivals," he noted.

"This prompts me to think about my purpose as a Singaporean artist, in a society where art is not seen to serve 'essential' functions and is often conflated with discussions of career prospects. It would be meaningful to consider what art truly means to me, and how I could demonstrate to others the value of my work and artistic practice."