An Incredible Field Trip!

Today, a few of my classmates and I had the opportunaty to take a trip to the UCLA School of Ethnomusicology to tour their classrooms and see their world instrument collection.  We had the privilege of having Dr. Helen Rees, an expert in Chinese music, as our guide and she was able to show us about how the instruments are played.

One of the most unique things about the UCLA Musicology collection is that they are a working collection.  This means that, unlike most world music museums, students have the ability to actually touch and learn to play the instruments on a daily basis.

My favorite room of all was the Gamela room where we got see an incredible collection of Bali and Javanese Gamelas which were very ornately decorated.

I would highly recommend the trip and I am very grateful for the staff there who were so kind to us!