Guide to Sundanese Music - Free EBooks Library

INTRODUCTION - TEMBANG SUNDA
Wim van Zanten's Sundanese music in the Cian.luran style (Foris/KITLV,
Dordrecht, 1989) provides an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the
world of tembang Sunda.
1'3'2 The instruments of tembang Sunda
The most important accompanying instrument is the kacapi indung, also called
kacapi parahu or kacapi gelung. Indung means mother, parahu means boat, and
gelung means a hair-curl. This is a boat-shaped zither about 150 cm long,
with 18 brass strings. The ends are both decorated with a large scroll
(gelung). The strings are tuned by means of long pegs (pureut) which
protrude from one side of the body of the instrument. The strings pass over
small movable bridges, which can be adjusted for fine tuning. While on
occasion (eg in rehearsal) the other instruments may be omitted, the kacapi
indung is indispensable.
Next most important is the suling, sometimes called suling tembang to
differentiate it from the suling degung. This instrument shadows and cues
the voice, and improvises during gelenyu: instrumental sections between
verses, or between phrases. Suling tembang have six holes, and an effective
range of about three octaves. They are rather long: usually between 60 and
62 cm, and occasionally up to 64 cm. Musicians refer to the length of suling
used in centimetres in order to define the pitch: thus someone might say
"today we're using 60". This means that the kacapi has been tuned to the
pitch produced by a suling 60 cm long. However, different suling of the same
length may vary in pitch, depending on such factors as the thickness of the
knot in the bamboo that closes off the top end of the instrument. Not all
players produce the same pitch from the same suling. Holding the instrument
down close to the body lowers the pitch, and holding it up raises it.
In the salendro tuning, the suling is replaced by the rebab, which has been
briefly described in the section on gamelan salgndro. In tembang Sunda the
rebab may use thicker strings, since the pitch is much lower than in gamelan.
The least important instrument of the ensemble is the kacapi rincik.
"Ngaririncik" in Sundanese depicts the constant patter of light rain: the
musical effect of the kacapi rincik is not dissimilar. It usually has 15
steel strings, and is pitched an octave higher than the kacapi indung. It is
tuned by means of steel pegs behind the fixed bridge at one end of the
soundboard, rather than by wooden pegs in the body of the instrument, like
the kacapi indung. Some kacapi rincik have the same shape as the kacapi
indung, while in others one or both scrolls may be omitted. The kacapi
rincik did not find a regular place in the ensemble until the 1950s. It is
usually played by one of the less experienced musicians present, and in
rehearsals often just by anyone who happens to be around. It only plays
during the panambih. In rehearsals it does not much matter if it is omitted
altogether. Occasionally two rincik are used.
1.3.3 Tunings in tembang Sunda
In tembang Sunda, three tunings (surupan) are generally used: pelog, sorog
and salendro. A typical tembang Sunda evening begins with songs in the pelog
tuning, and later the kacapi are retuned to sorog. If there is time, and
there is a rebab player around (which is fairly unusual, since most rebab
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