Making Connection: Integrating Gamelan Music into Social Studies Classroom

Abstract

With the publication of the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on report of the Asian Regional Symposia on Arts Education nearly one and decades ago, scholars and educators have urged Asian teachers, including Indonesia to incorporate arts and culture into curriculum to improve the quality of education, yet efforts connecting arts, especially gamelan music into social studies is lacking. Built upon the previous research on integrated curriculum which aligned with National Education Standard Board (Indonesian: Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan or BSNP), on both process and content standards this article aimed to offer a rationale for incorporating Javanese gamelan music potential into social studies classroom and propose a framework for planning. Social studies classroom components included assigned readings on Indonesian national history, especially in the Hindu-Buddhist eras in small group discussion. With this approach and its lesson it is presumed that social studies and gamelan teachers benefit of integrating gamelan music into social studies. Keywords: Javanese gamelan, integration, framework, social studies.