Toy. Trumpet-shaped instrument with single beating reed of cane. A piece of white/yellow card, originally rectangular with a landscape image either painted or printed on the instide surface. Rolled into a cone shape and cut to straighten the mouth rim. Stuck together with red paper tape. A bamboo or cane tube has been inserted into the top. This has been cut to an oblique angle at the proximal end. A slit has been cut into the egde of the rim and a piece of paper, black on top, white beneath, inserted, which covers the oblique opening to form a free reed.
This noise making toy was collected by the New Zealand based composer Jack Body in Java in 1977. He bought it from a street seller in the town of Jogjakarta. Body reported that when he visited Java, these instruments where very popular and where available on the streets almost every day. The Javanese name for the instrument is terompet, although the term is also used to describe a double reed oboe like instrument. The name also associates this toy with the trompet, a bugle like instrument used in processional music in the area. Jack Body reported that the total length of this toy varied between about 6 inches, and 3 feet. Sometimes two or three reeds were bundled together to produced a louder noise.
