AY Honor Angklung Answer Key
Skill Level
1
Year
2023
Version
26.03.2025
Approval authority
Southern Asia-Pacific Division
Bamboo is a grass-type plant that has cavities and joints on its stems. This plant has many types that are spread almost all over the world. In Indonesia, other names for bamboo are bulur, aur, awi, reed, eru and aur. Bamboo has a unique rhizome-dependent root system that allows it to grow up to 60 cm or even 100 cm in 24 hours depending on the soil type and climate of its habitat.
The morphology of bamboo has the shape of its stems which are round and grow high upwards, the bamboo stems are cylindrical in shape with joints in it. The stem grows from rhizome roots, is flexible, and consists of strong fibers. Bamboo stems are overgrown with leaves that appear on the stem segments.
Bamboo trees reproduce vegetatively. Bamboo reproduces by using shoots that will come out at the base of the plant stem. Bamboo shoots that emerge from the bottom of the clump are called rebung.
Bamboo is able to adapt to a wide range of habitats, so it can grow in wet and dry land. Bamboo cultivation is relatively fast and does not require special care.
Bamboo has many uses, mainly in construction (flooring, roofing designing, and scaffolding), furniture, food, biofuel, fabrics, cloth, paper, pulp, charcoal, ornamental garden planting, and environmental characteristics, such as a large carbon sink and good phytoremediation option, improving soil structure and soil erosion. In Indonesia and the Philippines, bamboo has been used for making various kinds of musical instruments, including the kolintang, angklung.
The philosophy of bamboo as a very strong foundation so that it can support its height which is tens of meters in the future. The philosophy of flexibility when blown by strong winds, a bamboo tree will bend down, and after the wind has passed, it will straighten up again, just like the journey of a human being who is never free from trials and obstacles. Bamboo is never rigid and always pliable, swaying.
In the Hindu period and the time of the Kingdom of Sunda, the instrument played an important role in ceremonies. The angklung was played to honor Dewi Sri, the goddess of fertility, so she would bless their land and lives. The angklung also signaled the time for prayers, and was said to have been played since the 7th century in the Kingdom of Sunda. The oldest surviving angklung is the Angklung Gubrag, made in the 17th century in Jasinga, Bogor. In 1938, Daeng Soetigna (Sutigna), from Bandung, created an angklung that is based on the diatonic scale. Since then, the angklung has returned to popularity and is used for education and entertainment, and may even accompany Western instruments in an orchestra. In 1966 Udjo Ngalagena, a student of Daeng Soetigna, opened his Saung Angklung ("House of Angklung") as a centre for its preservation and development. UNESCO designated the angklung a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 18, 2010.
Sundanese angklung musical instrument parts.
This musical instrument consists of 2 to 4 bamboo tubes strung together with rattan strings. The bamboo tube is detailed carved and cut in such a way as to produce a certain note when the bamboo frame is shaken.
The type of angklung Sunda that describe in is angklung in diatonic scale found by Mr. Daeng Sutigna or also called as ” angklung Padaeng”. The main part of angklung is the bamboo tube which sound is produced. To play the instrument you only need to shake the angklung and the instrument will produce a note. When someone shakes the instrument, the bamboo tube is being hit and produces sound. When angklung is shaken in continuos frequency then the impression of bamboo tube being hit is disappearing but it is still exist. For the case of bamboo in larger diameter in instrument of “bass pukul bamboo” or bass instrument from bamboo (this instrument is played by hit the bamboo tube not by shaking it) the impression of bamboo being hit is disappear and as if the bamboo tube is being blown like a flute or other wind instrument. There are two basic principles to play angklung instrument i.e.
- Shaken “short hit” or in sundanese language called “centok” (as pizzicato in violin). When angklung is shaken, it is said that angklung has good sound quality when it is shaken rapidly (more frequencies). If it is shaken in less frequency then “bamboo hit” impression is dominant and it is worsened when angklung team consists only in small number of players (10-12 players).
- Shaken technique, the character of the instrument is not completely close to wind instrument since air shaken in the tube is produced by hitting not by air-blowing then sound characteristic of angklung instrument is combination between hitting instrument (percussion?) and wind instrument. During angklung tuning this two characteristics are very important.
Based on two principles of playing techniques songs are arranged and performed by angklung. The shaken technique is often use to expressed song main melody because of unique characteristic of angklung through this technique. To understand more characteristic of this instrument in a song performance, it is also depend on the form of arrangement, type of songs, etc.In implementation of angklung music, angklung can not stand as single instrument mainly because it’s only produce one single note. Angklung Padaeng has two tubes but still produce the same note. The difference is that one tube produces note an octave higher (except for accompaniment type, which consists of three or even four tubes and produce chords). If angklung played in a team or an ensemble character of group is appear similar to bamboo plant that never stand-alone always grows in a group.
How to Play Angklung Well
Instructors can teach a song to be practiced together from examples of simple songs in a group using a set of angklung together. Or participants look for examples of songs that can be copied from Youtube and show the results to the instructor.
Sample video:
Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt Shall know that I am the Lord,
Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
References
- Angklung - Wikipedia
- Rimbakita.com
- Planting and growing bamboo
- Tips on how to play the angklung
- How to play the angklung
- Mohd Bakri, Muhammad Asyraf & Surip, Siti & Sabran, Kamal & Fazita, M.. (2021). EMPOWERING TRADITIONAL HERITAGE THROUGH ANGKLUNG MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: A CASE STUDY IN MALAYSIA. 18. 1823-884.
- Juju, Masunah dkk. (1999). Angklung di Jawa Barat Sebuah Perbandingan. IKIP Bandung.
- Budi, Dinda. (2017). Modifikasi Angklung Sunda. Resital: Jurnal Seni Pertunjukan. 18. 43-52. 10.24821/resital.v18i1.2445.
- Budi, E. M., Rochim, A. A., Dipojono, H. K.,Handojo, A., & Sarwono, J. (2013). Musical gesture recognition for interactive angklungrobot. Proceedings of 2013 3rd International Conference on Instrumentation, Control andAutomation, ICA 2013, 149–154. [1]
