Kacapi

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kacapi" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Kacapi

Kacapi indung or kacapi parahu, with 18 strings.
Classification	String instrument
Developed	Indonesia

The kacapi is a traditional

performance.

The word kacapi in Sundanese also refers to

tree, from which initially the wood is believed to be used for building the zither instrument.

Form

According to its form or physical appearance, there are two kinds of kacapis:

1. Kacapi Parahu (=Boat Kacapi) or Kacapi Gelung; and
2. Kacapi Siter

The Kacapi Parahu is a resonance box with an uncovered underside to allow the sound out. The sides of this kind of kacapi are tapered inward from top to bottom, which gives the instrument a boat-like shape. In ancient times, it was made directly from solid wood by perforating it.

The Kacapi siter is a plan-parallel resonance box. Similar to the kacapi parahu, its hole is located at the bottom. The upper and bottom sides of it form a trapezium-like shape.

For both kinds of kacapi, each string is affixed to a small screw or peg on the top right-hand side of the box. They can be tuned in different systems: pelog, sorog/madenda, or slendro.

Nowadays, the resonance box of kacapi is made by gluing six wood-plates side by side.

The kacapi is traditionally played by sitting cross-legged on the floor. Thus, the strings are about 25 cm above the floor. Nowadays the kacapi is sometimes placed on a wooden frame, so that the player can sit on a chair. If the kacapi indung is played while sitting on the floor, usually a pillow or some other small object is placed under its left-hand side, as seen from the player, so that the sound can freely escape through the resonance hole in the bottom of the soundbox. Some kecapi are fitted with small feet, so that it is not necessary to lift them in this way.^[1]

Functions

According to its functions in a musical accompaniment, the kacapi is played as:

1. Kacapi Indung (=mother kacapi); and
2. Kacapi Anak (=child kacapi) or Kacapi Rincik

The Kacapi indung leads the accompaniment by providing intros, bridges, and interludes, as well as determining the tempo. For this purpose, a large kacapi with 18 or 20 strings is used.

Listen to an excerpt from a kacapi indung.^ⓘ

The Kacapi rincik enriches the accompaniment by filling in inter-note spaces with higher frequencies, especially in fixed metered songs as in the kacapi suling or Sekar Panambih. For this purpose, a smaller kacapi with ~15 strings is used.

Listen to an excerpt from a kacapi indung and rincik.^ⓘ

Tuning and notation

Kacapi uses degung notation. It is a subset of the pelog heptachordal system. See the following table.

Sundanese pelog degung

1 (da)

2 (mi)

3 (na)

4 (ti)

5 (la)

The note range, from the lowest to the highest frequency is:
(Listen)^ⓘ

The kacapi is tuned to match the 60 cm length suling tones. With this length, an approximation for the tuning compared to western scale is:

The following picture applies the above-mentioned tuning and notation.

Physical dimensions

Recitation of pantun stories

It is not certain how long the kacapi has been used to accompany the recitation of

still make exclusive use of the kacapi to accompany their pantun stories.

References

External links

• Van Zanten, Wim (2008). "The Marriage Relationship between Player and Kacapi Zither in West Java". Ethnomusicology Forum. 17: 41–65.
  S2CID 217504871
  .