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Pengenalan Kepada Kompang
Pengenalan Kepada Kompang
BY
DR. MOHD HASSAN BIN HJ ABDULLAH
Head of Department
Department of Music
Faculty of Arts and Music
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
Tanjong Malim, Perak
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places in Selangor. There is also the term Main Kompang (kompang playing) which is
often used by Malay people to describe kompang playing in the form of an ensemble
performed for certain occasions. Most Malaysians spell the word as kompang but other
spellings are found. For instance, The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
(1984:794) spells it as kumpang.
The kompang is a single-headed frame drum consisting of two main parts; the
baluh (frame) and the muka (head).
carved into a circular shape. Some players called the frame as balong. This is where the
player holds the instrument. The muka is the drum head made of animal hide skin (called
belulang or kulit), goatskin hide or cowhide depending on the type of kompang. It is
stretched over the frame and attached with small nails. A piece of red lace made of cotton
cloth, or a piece of copper about 1 centimetre wide is attached with metal tacks around
the frame to cover the edge of the head. The edge of the open end of the baluh is called
the bibir (lip). It is a curious name, given that this part does not look like a pair of lips,
but none of the players or kompang makers that I interviewed could explain for sure why
it is called the bibir.
Balu
Muka
Metal tacks
Red Lace
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Sedak
Bibir
13 inches
3 inches
inch
12 inches
There are a few other types of kompang that are not discussed here.
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TUNING
Being a non-pitch percussion instrument, the kompang is not tuned to any
standard pitch. Generally, every individual instrument is slightly different in timbres and
pitches. It depends on the tautness and thickness of the head as well as the size of the
kompang.
However, the kompang also needs to be tuned to the bunyi yang betul
(acceptable sound) before it is played. All the kompangs used in an ensemble are tuned
to a rough pitch as close as possible to each other. For most traditional kompang players,
the word tuning means nothing to them. All they do before every performance begins is
insert a small piece of rattan (called sedak) inside the baluh to tighten the membrane.
This is an essential thing to do before they sit in a group. Even though there is no
standard tuning set for the kompang, an experienced kompang player is able to tell the
bunyi yang betul of a kompang. The exact pitch is not very important to the players but
the bunyi yang betul of a kompang is described as loud, penetrating, sharp and taut. In
general, it can be concluded that the bunyi yang betul of a kompang (the Kompang Ezhar
and Johor) ranges from c0 to g0 in terms of standard Western pitches. In this case,
any kompang with the rough pitch within the bunyi yang betul can be played together.
Moreover, the timbre of each kompang is also different from the others depending on the
thickness and tautness of the head. This is why they (the players) claim that the beauty of
the kompang ensemble derives from the mixture of the various timbres of the kompangs
performing together.
PERFORMING TECHNIQUES
Unlike many other frame drums around the world, which instruments are mainly
played by tapping the head of the instrument with the fingers of both hands or using
sticks, the kompang is instead beaten with only one bare hand. This is because the other
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hand is used to hold the instrument. As the natural dynamic of kompang playing is
always loud, that is why the instrument is beaten with the palm and not tapped with the
fingertips. The playing technique of the kompang is also different from the playing
techniques of the rebana in the Malay world, which is tapped with both hands while the
instrument is placed on the players lap. The kompang is always held with one hand
while the other is used to beat it. The playing technique of the kompang is the same in
different areas. Generally, there are three different techniques of holding the instrument
adopted by kompang players.
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while the right hand beats the head. Unlike in the first position, the fingers in this
position are bent inside the kompang to hold the instrument while the thumb presses
outside at the edge of the muka. This technique is only used for the type of kompang
with a bigger but shallower frame. This technique is not widely used as compared with
the first position.
because it is said to block the sound coming out from the bottom of the drum.
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Mnemonic Bum
Mnemonic Pak
The timbre pak is produced by beating the kompang with the palm at the middle
of the muka. The fingers are opened and allowed to bounce loosely to produce a flamlike sound. As the technique is used, this beat is known as pukul kembang (open beating)
by the players in Johor. Unlike the timbre bum, this timbre pak is produced by beating
the instrument with a strong and powerful beat. The sound is perceived as loud, high and
penetrating. If the kompang is used to accompany a song, all the players sing together
while beating the instrument. The beating techniques of the kompang contrast with the
playing techniques of the hand drum from the Arab world such as riqq and darabukkah.
The stroke dum (bum) of these drums is produced at the centre of the drumskin and tak
(pak) is produced at the edge2.
2
For more details about the playing techniques of Arab hand drums, see Touma, Habib Hassan, (2003:4749).
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patterns in all types of kompang ensemble found in Peninsular Malaysia is called the
Pukulan (the beat). It is also known as the Rentak by some kompang players. The term
pukulan carries many meanings in kompang playing throughout Peninsular Malaysia.
In general, the term pukulan (from the word pukul) means beating or hitting something
such as pukul kompang which means beating the kompang. But, in the context of
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kompang playing in Malay society, the term pukulan carries two different meanings.
Firstly, the term pukulan is used to refer to a complete set of rhythmic patterns performed
in a piece of kompang music. If this term is used to refer to western beats such as Cha
Cha, Rhumba, and Waltz, they will be called the Pukulan Cha Cha (Cha Cha beat), the
Pukulan Rhumba (Rhumba beat) and the Pukulan Waltz (Waltz beat).
As a modern
Malay musical term, it is called the rentak instead of pukulan such as in Rentak Cha Cha,
Rentak Rhumba and Rentak Waltz. In this case, both terms carry the same meaning, but
the term pukulan is more acceptable than the term rentak in kompang playing in
Malaysia. This is because this term is widely used by the kompang players.
Some
examples of the pukulan in the kompang repertoire are the Pukulan Bertih (the Kompang
Ezhar), the Pukulan Berarak (the Kompang Johor) and the Pukulan Sariful Anam (the
Kompang Perak).
Pukulan Asas
2nd section
Pukulan Naik
3rd section
Pukulan Mati
etcetera
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the pukulans may be repeated many times in a piece. The number of times each pukulan
is repeated depends on the type of the pukulan and the function of the performance. All
types of pukulan (first meaning) and pukulan (second meaning) will be discussed
extensively in the next three chapters, as I will analyze the repertoire of all the types of
kompang ensemble found in Peninsular Malaysia.
THE REPERTOIRE
Kompang Ezhar
Types of Pukulan (Beat)
Pukulan Bertih
Pukulan Zapin
Pukulan Hadrah
Pukulan Inang
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Kompang Johor
Pukulan Berarak
Zikir (Arabic)
Pukulan zikir
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Malay songs
Pukulan Rentak
Pukulan Inang
Pukulan Asas
Others
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Pukulan Naik
Pukulan Mula
Pukulan Asas
(Repeated until
the end of the
zikir)
Pukulan
Turun
Pukulan
Naik
Pukulan
Mati
A Structural form of the Pukulan Zikir to accompany many zikirs in one performance
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