The siter and celempung are plucked string instruments used in Javanese

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

. They are related to the ''

kacapi The kacapi ( su, ᮊᮎᮕᮤ) is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia. This musical instrument is similiar to Chinese , Japanese ''koto'', the Mongolian , the Korean , the Vietnamese and the Kazakh jetigen. The kacapi played ...

'' used in Sundanese gamelan. The siter and celempung each have between 11 and 13 pairs of strings, strung on each side, between a box resonator. Typically the strings on one side tuned to

pélog Pelog ( su, ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪, translit=Pélog /pelog/, jv, ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀, ban, ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄, translit=Pélog /pelok/) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has heptatonic scale. The other, ...

and the other to

slendro Slendro ( jv, ꦱ꧀ꦭꦺꦤ꧀ꦢꦿꦺꦴ, ban, slendro, translit=Sléndro) ( su, salendro, translit=Saléndro) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that have pentatonic scale. Based on Javanese mythology, ...

. The siter is generally about a foot long and fits in a box (which it is set upon while played), while the celempung is about three feet long and sits on four legs, and is tuned one octave below the siter. They are used as one of the elaborating instruments (

panerusan The panerusan instruments or elaborating instruments are one of the divisions of instruments used in Indonesian gamelan. Instead of the rhythmic structure provided by the colotomic instruments, and the core melody of the balungan instruments, t ...

), that play

cengkok Céngkok ( jv, ꦕꦺꦁꦏꦺꦴꦏ꧀, translit=Céngkok) (old orthography: ''tjengkok'') are patterns played by the elaborating instruments used in Indonesian Javanese gamelan. They are melodic formula that lead to a '' sèlèh'',Brinner, Be ...

(melodic patterns based on the

balungan The ''balungan'' ( jv, skeleton, frame) is sometimes called the "core melody" or, "skeletal melodic outline," of a Javanese gamelan composition. This corresponds to the view that gamelan music is heterophonic: the ''balungan'' is then the melody ...

). Both the siter and celempung play at the same speed as the

gambang A gambang, properly called a gambang kayu ('wooden gambang') is a xylophone-like instrument used among people of Indonesia in gamelan and kulintang, with wooden bars as opposed to the metallic ones of the more typical metallophones in a gamelan ...

(which is rapidly). The name "siter" comes from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word "citer", which corresponds to the English word "zither". "Celempung" is related to the Sundanese musical form celempungan. The strings of the siter are played with the thumbnails, while the fingers are used to dampen the strings when the next one is hit, as is typical with instruments in the gamelan. The fingers of both hands are used for the damping, with the right hand below the strings and the left hand above them. Siters and celempung of various sizes are the characteristic instrument in Gamelan Siteran, although they are used in many other varieties of gamelan as well. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Citer met 26 snaren onderdeel van gamelan Slendro TMnr 500-10.jpg, Celempung or siter in the collection of the Collection National Museum of World Cultures Foundation, Netherlands.

External links

NIU page on the siter, with illustrations

Virtual Instrument Museum page on the celempung, with audio and video
Box zithers Panerusan instruments Gamelan instruments Indonesian musical instruments {{zither-instrument-stub

See also

External links