Rhythmic Musical Instruments – Talking about musical instruments will never end, because music seems to be a part of human life. Music has been around since ancient times to modern times.
An expert says that music is an art and science which is the result of a rhythmic collaboration of tones, vocals, or instrumentals, where playing music involves melody and harmony to express emotional matters. Musicians and songwriters alike involve music in their lives to express their emotions and their whole state involving lyrics, serene rhythmic music that comes out of the music they play.
Meanwhile, for a music connoisseur or song listener, he will make the music and song lyrics sung as an emotional outlet or entertainment for his soul. Usually, music lovers will hear and enjoy the music when he is happy, happy, sad, grieving, and so on on matters that touch emotionally. Likewise with songwriters, he will look for conditions that inspire and are able to make his soul fly and enter into a deep sense of feeling so that a string of words that is full of meaning appears and pierces the heart of the listener.
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Now, we are talking about music, there is something that we cannot escape from talking, namely the musical instrument itself. Musical instruments, when viewed from their function, there are three kinds of musical instruments, namely harmonious musical instruments, melodic instruments and rhythmic musical instruments. All musical instruments have their own characteristics, be it melodic, harmonic or rhythmic. On this occasion we will talk about rhythmic musical instruments.
To be clearer about what is a rhythmic musical instrument, let us consider the following understanding.
Definition of Rhythmic Musical Instruments
Maybe we’ve heard rhythmic, melodic and harmonic musical instruments, but sometimes we still don’t fully understand what rhythmic musical instruments are and others. So, in this article we will explain about rhythmic musical instruments. Hopefully on another occasion there will be time to explain the meaning of melodic and harmonious musical instruments.
The definition of a rhythmic musical instrument is a musical instrument that is only played for the rhythm of the accompaniment. This means that this instrument does not have more than one tone. Thus, rhythmic instruments cannot sound notes like “Do Re Mi Fa So La Si Do”. There is another function of this instrument, namely as a tempo regulator. To make a rhythmic musical instrument sound there are many ways to play it such as shaking, shaking, shaking or hitting. However, most rhythmic instruments are played by striking.
That is the meaning of rhythmic musical instruments, I think that up to this point we have understood the meaning and meaning of rhythmic musical instruments.
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Examples of Rhythmic Musical Instruments
In the following, we see examples of rhythmic musical instruments that only emit one note, and we complete them with pictures so that they are easily understood by all visitors.
1. Kendang (drums)
Kendang or better known as the drum is a musical instrument that is quite popular in Indonesia. This musical instrument is included in rhythmic musical instruments. It functions as an instrument and gamelan in Javanese and Sundanese customs. The function of the drum is to regulate the tempo and rhythm.
drums are not only one type but many types, including:
- Small kendang or called ketipung
- The medium kendang is also called the ciblon drum
- Gendang or drums gedek, this is a partner for the small drums called Ketipung.
- There is a kosek drum, this is a typical type of drums for puppet show players
Usually, the making of drums is made with jackfruit wood, cempedak or coconut tree, the middle part is hollowed out.
2. Tifa Musical Instruments
Tifa also includes a musical instrument that has only one tone, this musical instrument is called a traditional rhythmic musical instrument. Tifa is a musical instrument originating from eastern Indonesia, namely Maluku and Papua, even in Papua, the Tiaf musical instrument has become their identity.
If a drum instrument is hit to make a sound, the tifa musical instrument is also hit, but the sound that is released is much lighter. This rhythmic musical instrument is played by men and is usually also used in accompanying local ceremonies.
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There are many types of tifa musical instruments, some of which are as follows:
- Tifa jekir,
- Tifa jekir Potong,
- The Basic Tifa,
- Tifa potong, dan
- Tifa Bas.
All types of tifa above have different sounds, so playing them is a little difficult because we play them so that we can mix according to each rhythm.
While the Tifa musical instrument originating from Maluku has its own name, they call it tihal or tahito. Meanwhile, on the island of Aru, another title is called Titir.
The making of Tifa’s rhythmic musical instrument uses very strong wood, the Papuans use lenggua wood. This is wood of the number one quality because it is strong and has a good thickness.
3. Tambourine (Rebana)
Tambourine is a middle eastern musical instrument but is also widely available in Indonesia, Rebana is widely developed in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. The Tambourine is often used as a means of accompanying events such as waiting for the arrival of special guests or delivering a famous traveler or master teacher.
Tambourine also consists of several types, even among those that have become characteristic of certain regions in Indonesia. The following are the types of tambourines.
- Rebana Banjar
- Jidor
- Rebana Biang
- Kompang
- Samroh
- Marawis
- Hadroh
Tambourine has characteristics such as a flat shape made from wood rolls and animal skins such as cows. In the part that is covered with skin, it is beaten to make a sound and rhythm. In Malaysia, there is a large tambourine which is named the Ubi tambourine, this is played only specifically on Islamic holidays.
4. Castanet Musical Instruments
Kastanyet is one of the rhythmic musical instruments in Indonesia. Kastanyet is a traditional musical instrument made of a pair of wood or ivory with a concave shape. Usually, this instrument is used to accompany dances from Spain.
The castanet musical instrument is played by swiping it with your thumb. The castanette is held with the left hand and plays with the thumb of the left hand. While the right hand pats the left hand who is playing Kastanyet.
5. Tympanic instrument
Timpani is included in a rhythmic musical instrument, the way to play this instrument is to hit it using wood such as playing marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone, and xylophone instruments. The size of the timpani is large, so this instrument is always put at the back, in addition to prioritizing aesthetics as well as balancing the sound at the back.
At first glance, the timpani instrument looks like a cut egg, so Americans when they see this instrument, they call it the half egg.
The types vary, but the type is estimated from the shape that has a certain size. Some types of timpani are 20 inch, 23 inch, 26 inch, 29 inch and 33 inch timpani which are the largest types of timpani.
6. Marakas Musical Instruments
Marakas musical instruments originated from Latin America. Also called the rumba shaker, it is a small, simple rhythmic instrument. This musical instrument can be played by anyone and can be at any time.
Marakas including an old musical instrument which is a relic of the Pre-Columbian Indians. Marakas are made of parts, namely a bell that looks like an egg. This rhythmic musical instrument is made from various types of instruments such as leather, wood, or plastic. However, in the past, the making of Marakas musical instruments was made from dried old pumpkins.
On the inside of the bell, it must be filled with a small object to make a sound. We can fill it with corn kernels, beans or with small little stones.
The way to play a marakas musical instrument is usually just by swinging it with both hands. However, don’t be wrong, of course, in playing it, there are certain techniques and strategies so that the sounds that appear have rhythm.