Kolintang Summary

I am currently taking an Instrumental music class taught by a really fun and kindhearted New Zealand teacher Ibu Megan. She says this is he first year teaching anyone on how to play the Kolintang but I'm so surprised at how much she already knows about this instrument. In the small period of time i’ve played the Kolintang I've learnt so many things, such as; 

The Kolintang is xylophone like instrument made out of wood which originated from one of the main islands of Indonesia(North Sulawesi). In the olden days the Kolintang was played during rituals and also used to worship their ancestors. The popularity of the kolintang was gone for a little while due to the christians coming over to the island of Sulawesi. But right after the end of World War II the Kolintang was then again well known in the island of Sulawesi. The Kolintang then was reconstructed by a blind musician Nelwan Katuuk making it in order to the universal music scales. The Kolintang then blossomed into more than just one original instrument which was the melody but now it was accompanied by he Alto, Tenor, Bass and Contra. 

Basic Techniques

Like i said again the Kolintang is quite similar to a Xylophone so it is played with two sticks which are used to hit the bars on the instrument. The Kolintang sticks are supposed to be held against the part of your index finger that can be bent and your thumb making the rest of your fingers just a basic support. You should also hold the sticks leaving about an inch in the back of the Kolintang Stick. Different instruments of the Kolintang all have specific sticks to use. The Melody and Alto’s must use a dark green coloured sticks, the Contra and Base must use a dark brown sticks and the Tenor’s must use a mint green stick. 

So those are some of the things i have learn about the Kolintang so far. So far iam pretty fond of the Kolintang and i find it to be a very exotic traditional instrument. I am not the type of peron who is interested in traditional music instruments or so i thought but so far i have been enjoying this instrument and music class very much and am looking forward for the rest of my year i this class.