Ancient rhythms can chime with business.

A NEW business that lets people benefit from ancient soothing rhythms of Indonesian music aims to help companies improve trust and communication among their workers.

Sue Finn came up with the idea after discovering the wonders of the gamelan in three years heading school visits at the Sage Gateshead.

A gamelan, of which there are only 40 in the UK, is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs, bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings.

Mrs Finn, who runs the Gamelan at Work business from home in Chopwell, near Gateshead, delivers the instruments to offices in the North East and has had interest from businesses keen for staff to tap their creative abilities and improve teamwork.

She is looking to introduce shadow puppets from Java to accompany the instruments and believes this will make people more uninhibited as their performance will be shown behind a screen. She said: "The gamelan is a really soothing group of instruments, which can send the player into a deep meditative state. There is massive potential for them as a business tool as they rely on good communication between each player."

CAPTION(S):

HARMONIOUS Sue Finn has set up a team building business using Indonesian gamelan instruments.