Kacapi

Kacapi is a zither-like Sundanese musical instrument played as the main accompanying instrument in the Tembang Sunda or Mamaos Cianjuran, kacapi suling (tembang Sunda without vocal accompanionment) genre, pantun stories recitation or an additional instrument in Gamelan Degung performance.

Form

According to its form or physical appearance, there are two kinds of kacapis:
#Kacapi Parahu (=Boat Kacapi) or Kacapi Gelung ; and
#Kacapi Siter

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

Kacapi siter is a plan-parallel resonance box. Similar to kacapi parahu, its hole is located at the bottom. The upper and bottom sides of it form an almost-trapesium 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 system: pelog, sorog/madenda, or slendro.

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

Functions

According to its functions in a music accompaniment, kacapi is played as:
#Kacapi Indung (=mother kacapi); and
#Kacapi Anak (=child kacapi) or Kacapi Rincik

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

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

Tuning and Notation

Kacapi uses degung notation. It is a subset of pelog 7 tone system. See following table.

Note range, from lowest frequency to highest frequency is:

Kacapi is tuned to match the 60 cm length suling tones. With this length, approximation forthe tuning compared to western scale is:

Following picture applies above tuning and notation.

Physical dimensions

Kacapi and recitation of pantun stories

It is not certain how long the kacapi has been used to accompany the recitation of pantun stories. In the Sundanese dictionary published by the Lembaga Basa & Sastra Sunda (1976) the primary meaning of the word pantun is given as kacapi. This may be an indication that the relation between the kacapi and the recitation of pantun stories is an old one. Eringa (1949:3) points to the proverb "kawas pantun teu jeung kacapi", 'like a pantun(-singer) without a kacapi', used of someone who likes to give other people advice but who does not himself practise what he preaches. This proverb, according to Eringa, indicates that the kacapi is the Standard instrument for accompanying a pantun recitation. The Baduy Sundanese of Banten Province still use exclusively kacapi to accompany their pantun stories.