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gamelan and shipped it to their home in
Madison. Then Mrs. Tripp called Bob Crane, a composition professor, and asked if he knew anyone who would like to try Javanese Gamelan. So Crane, Murphy and his wife Pat, and few more people started learning what the children could show them, and it went from
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in the fall 1967. A student group using Murphy's instruments had its first performance the same year. More instruments were made with occasional student help. Instruments were hammered out of steel, or made from found objects such as a car hubcap, soup cans, or an antique milk-strainer. For a
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couple of years there were nine people in the ensemble (three were named Dennis.) The
Goddard Gamelan performed traditional Javanese gamelan pieces along with pieces composed by Murphy and students. By the mid seventies the ensemble had grown to full complement of instruments tuned in both
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while not a student of Murphy made a gamelan following directions in Murphy's thesis, and then went on to make more instruments of her own design, notably giant bar-and-resonator gongs, using one-gallon paint cans to build the tubes.
192:, among them "The Goat Painter" and "The Half-Moon Window". Many of the words and phrases in these plays, such as "Rug Sand," "Office Oil," and Hospital Ice," were taken from the page headers from the local
211:"The Structure, repair, and acoustical properties of the classical drums of India, with specific reference to mrdanga and tabla," Journal of the Madras Music Academy, 1965
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Shortly after this, Murphy began constructing gamelan instruments and started composing short pieces for gamelan at the same time. The whole story is described in
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gamelan and was hooked. About that time, the head of the economics department, L. Reed Tripp, returned from Java where he had been on a
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In 1980, Goddard made major cuts to its academic programs, and the gamelan moved to the
Plainfield Community Center and was renamed the
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and slendro. Students designed and constructed a building to house the instruments for rehearsals and performances.
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Video of Dennis Murphy leading the
Plainfield Village Gamelan at the 1991 Vermont Composers Festival
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Audio interview and biographical information from Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar
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and invented an entire cosmology and artificial language to go with it (Thoomese).
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Performing ethnomusicology: teaching and representation in world music ensembles
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University of
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Starting around 1959 or 1960, while earning a master's degree in
36:(January 19, 1934 – November 29, 2010) was a composer, musician,
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Several of Murphy's students have become instrument makers.
319:"Gamelan Son of Lion: The Complete Gamelan in the New World"
118:, Murphy's thesis written while working towards his PhD in
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credits Murphy as being the first North
American to build
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Musician Dennis Murphy To Be
Remembered In Plainfield
86:during a survey course which included a section on
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59:instruments. He composed numerous works and
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306:. Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts.
159:Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts
43:Dennis Murphy was one of the fathers of
317:Macneil Brown, Kevin (April 12, 2004).
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16:For other musicians of that name, see
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395:People from Plainfield, Vermont
172:Murphy also composed pieces of
76:University of Wisconsin–Madison
40:maker, artist, and playwright.
132:"Venerable Sir Voice of Thoom"
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280:. NewMusicBox. Archived from
304:"A Tribute to Dennis Murphy"
186:Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band
182:Fyre & Lightning Consort
278:"The Indonesian Connection"
137:Murphy started teaching at
90:. He heard a recording of
82:, Murphy got interested in
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400:Wesleyan University alumni
155:Plainfield Village Gamelan
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356:Vermont Public Radio News
180:. He performed with the
225:"Dennis Murphy Obituary"
410:Goddard College faculty
370:American male composers
130:. He named the gamelan
390:Musicians from Vermont
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190:Theatre of the Absurd
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249:Solis, Ted (2004).
143:Plainfield, Vermont
124:Wesleyan University
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375:Gamelan musicians
262:978-0-520-23831-2
116:American Gamelan"
98:grant. While in
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321:. Dusted Reviews
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139:Goddard College
120:ethnomusicology
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88:ethnomusicology
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323:. Retrieved
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286:. Retrieved
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194:Yellow Pages
178:choral music
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61:shadow plays
53:Lou Harrison
47:(along with
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18:Denis Murphy
385:2010 deaths
380:1934 births
229:Times Argus
128:Connecticut
72:composition
364:Categories
325:January 4,
234:January 5,
200:References
38:instrument
100:Indonesia
288:June 10,
184:and the
92:Javanese
349:YouTube
174:chamber
107:there.
104:slendro
84:gamelan
80:Madison
74:at the
57:gamelan
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68:theory
148:pelog
122:from
112:"The
327:2011
290:2008
257:ISBN
236:2011
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