Sundanese drums
Kendang is one of the waditra musical instruments in the form of a tube made of wood with a tube cover made of animal skin. In Sundanese arts performances, such as wayang golek, kliningan, pencak silat, ketuk tilu, degung, celempungan, calung, penyesingaan, jaipongan, and bajidoran performances, the drums play an important role in setting the rhythm of the song. This is because the drums are a very dominant element in organizing the course of the performance. Apart from that, Kendang Sunda is generally more attractive and communicative. This statement is in accordance with Yudoyono's (1998: 84) statement that, "Of the set of Javanese gamelan instruments, the one that is most the center of attention or listeners of the gendings is the instrument called the kendang."
Waditra drums, especially those in Sundanese, are generally made of hard wood. As stated by Soepandi (1980:10), that:
The wood for making drums has been standardized, namely hard wood which has convoluted grain, meaning that it does not break easily. These woods include jackfruit, coconut, mahogany and rambutan wood. Of the several types of wood above, the best for making drums is jackfruit wood. This wood will produce a good sound, because the quality of the jackfruit skin is better in its durability and the sound it produces.
As expressed by Namin as a drum player, that:
From the start when you started playing drums, almost all the drums you had and used were made from jackfruit wood, because drums that are good quality and long lasting are made from jackfruit wood. I have tried other woods such as durian wood and mango wood, but the results were not good and they only lasted a short time. (Interview, December 23, 2008)
So it is clear that drums made from jackfruit wood sound very good and are long lasting. Meanwhile, the leather usually used for drums is cow or buffalo leather, because the thickness of this leather can be adjusted to suit the needs of the drum itself. This means that if the surface of the drum is wide then you have to use thick skin and if the surface is narrow then you have to use thin skin. Apart from being used for drum surfaces, this skin is also used to make rarawat and simpay (ali-ali).
According to its shape and form, there are two types Kendang Sunda , namely those called large drums (indung drums) and those called small drums (kulanter). The upper face (beungeut) of the large drum is called kumpyang and the lower part is called gedug. Meanwhile, on small face drums (beungeut), the top part is called kutiplak and the bottom part is called kutipung. Kutiplak is a kulanter that is slapped in a standing position, while kutipung is a kulanter that is put to sleep. The drums usually used by Namin are brownish yellow drums with large drum sizes (kendang length 60 cm, kumpyang 18 cm, gedug 28 cm), and small drums (kulanter length 35 cm, kutiplak 16 cm, kutipung 20 cm).
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