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Good Vibrations
You might have heard a bit about Gamelan music; it’s becoming increasingly popular in the West, with Gamelan-focused community groups and schools projects springing up all over the UK. It’s the traditional bronze percussion orchestra of Indonesia, with orchestras comprising a variety of gongs, metallophones (including glockenspiels and vibraphones) and drums. The instruments are made of bronze and elaborately carved wood and the music is multi-layered, and often described as sweet sounding, meditative and joyful.

Good Vibrations Gamelan in Prisons project was set up in 2003 by Cathy Eastburn, a keen gamelan musician. The aim is to help prison inmates develop team-working, communications and other important life skills through participating in workshops. Asked why this type of music is so uniquely suited to the project, Cathy commented on it’s accessibility: ‘You don’t need to have any previous musical experience, you don’t need to be able to read music, and it’s easy to learn the basics. It’s also a very communal activity: there is no overall conductor or leader, everyone’s contribution is equally important, and the nature of the music means that you have to listen to everyone else to fit your own part in.’

Good Vibrations has worked in 16 prisons and secure hospitals across the UK, including Brixton, Dovegate, Wakefield, Feltham, and Peterborough Prisons, and Broadmoor and Rampton Hospitals. Over 1000 individual prisoners and patients have benefited from taking part in gamelan workshops. Good Vibrations projects have been found to be particularly good at engaging those who can be ‘hard-to-reach’, for example people with learning difficulties, mental health problems, drug problems, or who speak little or no English.

The project works alongside prison education staff to enable participants to attain a recognised key skills qualification purely by doing the project, without having to set foot in a classroom.

Projects are usually one week long, full-time and very intensive.  Each one culminates in a performance in front of an audience of fellow inmates, prison staff and sometimes outside guests. Though groups will often have their ups and downs throughout the week, they will pull together for the performance, and the participants are rewarded by a huge sense of achievement and pride in their group’s efforts.

Good Vibrations is part of the Firebird Trust and receives funding from Arts Council England, the Lankelly Chase Foundation, the Linbury Trust, the Northmoor Trust, the Tudor Trust, the Worshipful Company of Musicians and Youth Music.

For more information please visit www.firebirdtrust.org.uk or contact
cathy@good-vibrations.org.uk   

For general information about Gamelan, you can visit the Gamelan Network’s website: www.gamelannetwork.co.uk  

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