PUTHUT PREHANTORO
3. Procedures
The study was conducted in one session with the respondents. The respondents filled questionnaire and, if needed, had a short interview with the researcher. The steps were:
1. The respondents were given a text of ten Javanese traditional kid songs.
2. They checked Yes or No for the questions:
a) whether they know or do not know the song,
b) whether they know or do not know the melody of the song by reading the provided text, c) whether they can sing or cannot sing the song without reading the text, and d) how they
knew the songs, and
3. Participants had a short interview to check their answer on questions B, C, D
RESULTS
There are ten Javanese traditional kid songs in the questionnaire. It has been mentioned before that there are 100 respondents to answer the first question whether the Javanese traditional kid songs are known well among the Javanese people in the digital era. And the result is presented as below on Table 2
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Table 2 Song Awareness SONG
1
SONG 2
SONG 3
SONG 4
SONG 5
SONG 6
SONG 7
SONG 8
SONG 9
SONG 10
GROUP A 19 11 4 8 18 1 12 2 12 18
GROUP B 18 19 9 12 13 0 15 5 4 17
GROUP C 20 14 10 9 18 0 13 3 2 19
GROUP D 20 18 11 17 20 5 15 8 9 20
GROUP E 20 19 13 18 20 6 18 12 19 20
TOTAL 97 81 47 64 89 12 73 30 46 94
From the table above, it can be seen that the two most known songs are Song 1 (Cublek-cublek Suweng) with 97 respondents and Song 10 (Lir-ilir) with 94 respondents, while the least known song is Song 6 (Ibu Kula Nyuwun Arta) with only 12 respondents. Song 1 is a game song which is commonly introduced to kids since they are under five years old. Song 2 is a prophetic song which is often sung at school. Whereas, Song 6 is a prophetic song which considerably need a deep further understanding to be taught to kids.
The answer on the second question whether the melodies of Javanese traditional kid songs are known well among the Javanese people in the digital era is presented as below:
Table 3 Melody Awareness
SONG 1
SONG 2
SONG 3
SONG 4
SONG 5
SONG 6
SONG 7
SONG 8
SONG 9
SONG 10
GROUP A 15 6 4 6 8 0 8 1 9 16
GROUP B 17 17 5 10 10 0 14 3 2 17
GROUP C 18 12 5 7 15 0 11 3 1 17
GROUP D 20 15 9 13 20 3 14 7 7 20
GROUP E 20 18 12 18 19 4 16 9 16 20
TOTAL 90 68 35 54 72 7 63 23 35 90
Again, the result shows that the two most known melodies are Song 1 (Cublek-cublek Suweng) with 90 respondents and Song 10 (Lir-ilir) with 90 respondents, while the least known melody is Song 6 (Ibu Kula Nyuwun Arta) with only 7 respondents. .
The answer on the third question whether the lyrics of Javanese traditional kid song are memorized well among the Javanese people in the digital era is presented as below:
Table 4 Lyrics Memorization SONG
1
SONG 2
SONG 3
SONG 4
SONG 5
SONG 6
SONG 7
SONG 8
SONG 9
SONG 10
GROUP A 10 2 1 3 7 0 7 1 6 7
GROUP B 12 15 5 8 7 0 8 3 1 10
GROUP C 13 9 2 5 8 0 8 1 0 12
GROUP D 17 13 8 12 19 3 13 5 5 20
GROUP E 19 17 11 14 19 2 16 6 16 19
TOTAL 71 56 27 42 60 5 52 16 28 68
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The result informs that the two most memorized lyrics areSong 1 (Cublek-cublek Suweng) and Song 2 (Lir-ilir), while the least known song, again, is Song 6 (Ibu Kula Nyuwun Arta). The results for the Research Question 1, 2 and 3 apparently are related each other.
It is also inferred that the number of song-aware people does not reflect the number of melody-aware people and the lyrics memorizing people. For example, Song 1 is known by 97 respondents, but the melody of the song is known by 90 of those 97 respondents, and the respondents who can sing without reading the lyric text are only 71 respondents. The other example is Song 3. The song is known by 47 respondents out of 100 respondents, but the melody is known by only 35 of the 47 respondents. Moreover, Song 3 is memorized well by only 27 out of the 47 song-aware respondents.
The other finding is that there is a tendency that the degree of the awareness about the song is declining from one generation to the younger generation. Song 3, Song 5 and Song 9 are best representing the decline.
Table 5 Song 3
SONG GROUP KNOWING MELODY MEMORIZING
Song 3 GROUP A 4 4 1
GROUP B 5 5 5
GROUP C 5 5 2
GROUP D 9 9 8
GROUP E 12 12 11
TOTAL 35 35 27
Song 5 GROUP A 18 8 7
GROUP B 13 10 7
GROUP C 18 15 8
GROUP D 20 20 19
GROUP E 20 19 19
TOTAL 89 72 60
Song 9 GROUP A 12 9 6
GROUP B 4 2 1
GROUP C 2 1 0
GROUP D 9 7 5
GROUP E 19 16 16
TOTAL 46 35 28
The result for the questions whether families take a part in the preservation of Javanese traditional kid song, whether broadcast media take a part in the preservation of Javanese traditional kid songs, whether electronic amusement devices take a part in the preservation of Javanese traditional kid songs, whether internet and online social media take a part in the preservation of Javanese traditional kid songs, and whether schools take a part in the preservation of Javanese traditional kid songs can be seen on Table 3.5.
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The result shows that family and school are the two best way to transfer the songs, while internet and social media are the least ways to transfer the knowledge about the songs. In percentage, family made 43% or 358 activities of the total 827 song transfer activities. School made 36% or 300 activities of the total 827 song transfer activities. But the surprising finding is that the digital technologies do not support much or are not used well to transfer the traditional songs, in spite of its fast, massive and cheap way. Internet and social media only made 3% or 21 activities of total 827 song transfer activities. The simpler report is shown on Table 3.6 below:
Table 6 The Percentage of the Way of Song Transfer
SONG
KNOWING PEOPLE
THROUGH FAMILY
THROUGH RADIO/TV
THROUGH CASSETTE
/CD
THROUGH INTERNET/
SOC.
MEDIA
THROUGH SCHOOL
ACTIVITY OF TRANSFER
1. Cublek- cublek
Suweng 97 62 14 10 1 44 131
2. Menthok-
menthok 81 46 6 9 3 36 100
3. Kidang
Talun 47 25 6 5 3 21 60
4. Gajah-
gajah 64 41 2 2 0 30 75
5. Kodhok
Ngorek 89 59 8 7 5 29 108
6. Ibu Kula
Nyuwun Arta 12 6 2 2 1 3 14
7. Padhang
Bulan 73 32 8 12 3 45 100
8. Pitik
Tukung 30 12 3 4 0 17 36
9. Tri Legentri 46 32 4 6 1 16 59
10. Ilir-ilir 94 43 20 18 4 59 144
TOTAL OF
ACTIVITIES 358 73 75 21 300 827
PERCENTAGE 43% 9% 9% 3% 36%
CONCLUSION
The results show that the existence of Javanese traditional kid songs is in declining tendency among Javanese people. This decline can be seen from three aspects. The first aspect is that more people have no idea about the Javanese traditional kid songs. If there are people who know the song, manypeople cannot sing the song with its original melody, even though they have the lyric text on their hand. The last aspect is the people’s memory about the lyrics. It can be seen from the
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fact that many respondents of this research said that they know the song, they can sing the song in its original melody, but they cannot sing it without the help of lyrics text.
The results also show the tendency that the degree of awareness about the songs declines from one generation to other generation. Sometimes the decline is not parallel among the three aspects, but generally the decline can be seen, for example, it happened that most of Group A members (elementary school students) knows Song because the school taught that song in its gamelan club.
The important thing is that the role of family and school is inarguable to preserve the culture. It is a certainty that the environment where children spend most of their time is their family, and the second is school. Moreover, school has the authority through the curriculum and the activities inside it in the efforts of preserving the culture. Family made 43% or 358 activities of the total 827 song transfer activities. School made 36% or 300 activities of the total 827 song transfer activities.
The other finding is that there is little transfer inside family. Some of respondents are from one family and live in the same house, but they do not have the same awareness about the song, the melody and the lyrics. For example, Respondent E.91 knows 9 songs, knows the melody of the 9 songs, and memorizes the lyrics of 8 songs. However, his first daughter (Respondent C.47) knows 6 songs, knows the melody of 6 songs, and memorize the lyrics of 5 songs, and his second daughter (Respondent B.40) knows 7 song, knows the melody of 6 songs, and memorize the lyrics of 7 songs.
The other surprising finding is about the very little role of digital technology. Although everybody now has gadgets and internet on their hand, it does not lead to the significant number of people who comprehend the Javanese traditional kid songs through internet (e.g. Youtube) and other social media (e.g. Whatsapp and Facebook). Internet and social media only made 3% or 21 activities of total 827 song transfer activities. This finding can be a new research question on how people utilize the gadgets and the electronic communication media.
The other general finding about language is that there is a language shift among the younger generation. Only 1 respondent of the Group E members used Indonesian as one of his daily language. The other members used only Javanese as their daily language. In Group A, there are 6 respondents speaking Indonesian and Javanese, and 1 respondent speaking Javanese, English and Indonesian as his daily languages. There are 4 respondents of Group B members, 8 respondents of Group C, and 7 respondents of Group D who speak Indonesian and Javanese as their daily languages.
There is a surprising finding is that some of the respondents lived in other tribe community in their childhood due to their parent’s job. The consequence was that they had to speak in that local language. Respondent C.48, C.52, and C.32 lived in South Kalimantan and spoke in Banjar language in their daily life. However, they showed that they comprehend the Javanese traditional kid songs. After a deeper observation, it was the family (grandfather, or mother) who taught them the songs in spite of their not speaking Javanese language.
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There is also a significant finding that game songs are more familiar to the respondents compared to the prophetic songs. Song 6 (Ibu Kula Nyuwun Arta) is rarely heard by the respondents because it is considered to be a serious song which needs further talk, explanation or samples to make the kids comprehend the song well. While game songs such as Song 1 (Cublek-cublek Suweng) is a game song that is very popular because it brings joy, sounds, easy listening and is done with the physical action.
There are some limitations in this study. First, the range of respondents in fact should be wider in term of the age and the area of origin. Ngawi is a small city in East Java Province which is far from the center of Javanese culture. Although long time ago it was the territory of Mataram Sultanate, it was not primarily the center of the culture of Javanese. It is recommended that a broader area is taken. The involvement of people living in areas near or in the center of Javanese culture, such as Yogyakarta, Gunungkidul, Klaten, and Surakarta needs to be taken into consideration.
The second limitation is the fact that there are many more traditional kid songs existing in Javanese communities. One song may be indigenous of a certain area. In the other words, it is needed to have a deeper research utilizing more than 20 songs of the existing songs.
This research, in the future, is expected to be an additional source or horizon for the Indonesia’s policy makers and authorities dealing with the education, culture and social affairs in Indonesia.
Local languages, with all of their products, in Indonesia are the bless from God, the richness of Indonesia and the pride of Indonesia that should be taken with care to be inherited to the future generation.
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