Awestruck

Last night was our welcome dinner with Cudamani at Emiko and Dewa's house, and it was so great I can't even describe it. They played for us and it was simply amazing, they are so talented I can't get over it. They played a few songs and then we were introduced to the village government heads of Pengosekan. They and their wives have to attend every ceremony, wedding, and burial in the entire village, quite a job, and were elected by the people. We had a fantastic dinner of great Indonesian food, mmm! The food here is mecha oishii. Then they played again, very intense, fast pieces with the dancers. It was so cool to be so close to such great musicians, and to think that they're our teachers and we're learning to play on the same intruments. I'm getting sappy here, but seriously, its just more than I can handle sometimes to think how lucky I am right now. Afterwards they gave us some bags that the mothers of the dancers had stayed up late hand-painting with a sarong inside. Then we went and talked individually with members of Cudamani and gave them CDs we had brought for this event. It was a great evening, I wish I could upload pictures or video right now, some of you will probably be forced by me to watch it eventually.

Today's rehearsal made me feel a lot more confident about the piece we're learning for the female dance part than yesterday. The drummer saw I was struggling in a few places and gave me more instruction, which was much needed. So now I know all the parts and the transitions and am getting a lot closer to being able to play them all in the right spot. At the end of the day we practiced with the dance students which was really fun. The music makes more sense when you see how it relates to the dancers, and now we know why we have to practice some things to get them precise for when the dancers hit a pose or are doing a transition. Tonight we're going to watch Cudamani rehearse, because Saturday we are going to their benefit concert. They don't charge for their lessons so this is how they pay for everything. Exciting! Tomorrow night some of us are going to the Arts Festival again to see a very famous Javanese puppeteer so I can't wait. Good thesis research material. I'm totally nerding out here, in case you couldn't tell. I've learned so much already, I can't believe we learned a whole piece in only 2 days, thats insane! I guess this fast-paced teaching method does work.