Sam speaks to Jeremy Gilbert, a cultural and political theory academic at the University of London, as well as a long time DJ and historian of dance music culture. They speak about gamelan music, and the concepts of affect and collective joy in relation to communal music making, prison and mental health.

Collective Joy with Jeremy Gilbert

Good Vibrations is a registered charity (number 1126493) that helps prisoners, patients in secure hospitals, ex-prisoners and others in the community to develop crucial life and work skills through participating in intensive Gamelan (Indonesian bronze percussion) courses. Since 2003 Good Vibrations has worked with more than 3200 participants in 49 different secure institutions. Gamelan is an extremely effective tool for achieving our aims:

- It is very accessible
- You don’t need to have any previous musical experience
- You don’t need to be able to read music
- It’s easy to learn the basics
- It’s a very communal activity - there is no overall conductor or leader and 
  everyone’s contribution is equally important
- You have to listen to everyone else to fit your own part in

A Good Vibrations project typically runs as a week-long course for a group of 15 - 20 participants. Most will not have done anything musical before. At the end of the week the group puts on an informal performance. Each performance is recorded and a CD is produced, a copy of which is given to everyone who has taken part. Participants will benefit enormously from the short but intensive experience.

Collective Joy with Jeremy Gilbert

goodvibrations.org