American gamelan materials including aluminum, tin cans, car hubcaps, steel, antique milk-strainers, etc. "American gamelan" may also describe the original music of American ensembles working with traditional instruments. Dennis Murphy is often credited as being the first American to build instruments modeled on those of the Javanese gamelan, circa 1960. This work led to his doctoral thesis at Wesleyan University, entitled "The Autochthonous American Gamelan". Murphy started a gamelan group with his instruments at Goddard College in Vermont in 1967; that group later became the community-based Plainfield Village Gamelan. There have been other American builders of gamelan as well, on both the
Gamelan Council providers and assisting entrepreneurs developing new technologies addressing basic needs throughout the Asia-Pacific region); and (c) education and advice (e.g., developing seminars, providing consulting services to social entrepreneurs, and coordinating conferences on microfinance, public health, and international development in the Asia-Pacific region). Gamelan Council The Gamelan Council – Asia-Pacific Microfinance, Public Health & Development Centre (Gamelan Council) is an international non-governmental, non-profit initiative addressing the microfinance, public health, and international development needs of communities in, on, and around the Pacific Rim. For these purposes, the Gamelan Council views the Asia-Pacific region quite broadly in line with APEC; the jurisdictions covered