Wooden oboe used in Sundanese areas of West Java. It is about 50 cm in length and has seven fingerholes and a narrow, slightly conical bore which widens towards the lower end into a large bell. Its double reed is held entirely within the musician's mouth and vibrates freely there; a crescent-shaped piece of coconut shell attached to the mouthpiece serves as a cheek support. The player employs circular breathing to produce a continuous tone. The instrument has a piercing sound and is played in the rare gamelan goong ajeng and in smaller outdoor ensembles, mainly those which accompany the combat dance, penca, for which one or two tarompet, one or two sets of drums and a small gong are used (a similar ensemble is used in ritual and festive processions). Other ensembles in which the tarompet plays the leading melodic role are those of the ujungan stick-fights (tarompet with gong, drum and iron clappers), and of the kuda lumping hobby-horse trance-dance (tarompet with bamboo Angklung and four single-headed dogdog drums). It is possible to produce both pélog and saléndro scales by way of intricate fingering. Saléndro tunes are reserved for the particular section of the kuda lumping dance involving entering a state of trance. The tarompet (like its central Javanese parallel selompret) is derived from the musical culture of Islamic south-western and southern Asia but the name is derived from the Dutch word ‘trompet’.
ERNST HEINS