What is Cajon and how does it help
Philippine music/worship?
Description and Rationale
The Lauan is a kind of wood that is growing abundantly in the Philippines. It is a very popular wood for plywood. The lauan genus (Shorea) contains about 70 species and their woods are extremely variable. The lumber industry markets these woods by their appearance and density characteristics rather than by species. Lauan is widely sold around the world as "Philippine mahogany," including its use for plywood face veneers. It is one of the world's most popular timbers.
Now, as I said earlier, lauan is very popular for making plywood. Philippine is a country of music. Everyone loves music and most Filipinos are musically inclined talented naturally. One of the easy-to-make musical instruments is Cajon. Cajon is a small drum that looks like a box. It is easy to carry because it is not bulky like the drum set. For this project, I want to focus on making Cajon from Lauan plywood. How big is the role of a Cajon in a band/worship service? How much impact could Cajon give when it adds beat to the music? How wide is it used in Philippines, and around the world? Does it really help the flow of music? How is Cajon going to help Filipino people in worship?
The purpose of this project is to research the advantages and disadvantages of making Cajon from Lauan plywood. For my action step, I am going to make Cajon from Lauan plywood. The steps in making Cajon are this:
1. Buy a Lauan plywood (1/8 and 3/4) and snare string
2. Rub a sandpaper to the edges of the plywood to smoothen it
3. Cut the Lauan plywood into four panels(one 1/8 plywood , and three 3/4 plywood) and two smaller panels for top and bottom
4. Make a circular hole through one of the three panels of 3/4
5. Glue the lining strips to the back of the sides using panel pins nailed temporary in place of clamps
6. Assemble the sides (3/4) like a box without one side (beside the one with the hole) using the pin-glue method
7. Pin snare string vertically to the side without the panel
8. Add the last panel to the side where there is snare string using a pin-glue method
Other possible actions that can be thought as a process of this project will be making a survey about the feel of Cajon after using it in Faith Academy chapel and see if Cajon helps the flow of music.
Through this project, it is hoped that Filipino people will recognize the advantages and disadvantages of using natural resources. Moreover it is hoped to have an impact in the praise and worship of the Philippine Christian communities.
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Biology
Common Names and Synonyms
The Lauans, or "Philippine mahogany," are the softer members of the dipterocarp family. Diterocarp means "two-winged fruit." As I search in the internet, I realized that Lauan is not a name of specific kind of wood. It is a general term including red lauan and white lauan. I decided to narrow the research by simply choosing White Lauan. Other common names of Shorea contorta are Almon, Apitong, Bagtikan, Guijo, Mangachapui, Mayapis, Narig, Palosapis, Red Lauan, Tangile, Tiaong, Yacal, Meranti, Pacific Maplemeranti, Red Meranti, White Meranti, Urat Mata, Lauan Malaanonan, Malatabang, and many more.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae (plant)
Phylum: Magnoliophyta (flowering plant)
Class: Magnoliopsida (comprised seed plant, paired cotyledons, not-veined leaves)
Order: Malvales (hypogynous flowers, valvate calyx, mostly separate petals,
many centrifugal stamens, syncarpous pistil)
Family: Dipterocarpaceae (mostly stipulate, alternate leaves, prominently exserted
connective, mostly winged in fruit calyx)
Subfamily: Dipterocarpoideae (largest subfamily)
Genus: Shorea (timber trees rich in resin)
Species: Shorea contorta (White Lauan)
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Morphology and Physical Description
Shorea contorta is a large tree up to 50 m tall, with its trunk branchless for 20-30 m and a diameter up to 200 cm. The tree is prominently buttressed (Buttress definition: To sustain, prop, or bolster). Leaves are ovate to elliptical, thinly leathery, 6.5-17 cm x 3-7.5 cm, with (8-) 11-15 pairs of secondary veins. Stamens are about 48, anthers are linear-oblong with short appendages, stylopodium indistinct; Fruit calyce lobes large up to 7 x 13 cm. Its color is usually pinkish white. The density of the wood is 0.55 g/cm3, which is very close to the standard density, 0.6 g/cm3. This means the wood does not break easily. Its hardness is 2.2 is very high in relevant to the standard hardness, 0.4.
Getting Food
Like most plants do, White Lauan (Shorea contorta) gets food from photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the synthesis of glucose from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, with oxygen as a waste product.
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Reproduction
White Lauan (Shorea contorta) flowers mostly in general flowering period and were visited by multiple species of beetles that fed on petals and occasionally on pollen and pistils. Flowers were pale yellow or pink in color, producing scent, and rotate in shape, but sexual parts were located within a central cup-shaped part.
Environmental Factors
White Lauan or Shorea contorta is most often found in rainforests of South East Asia. S. contorta is common and occurs gregariously in evergreen and seasonal dipterocarp forests at low altitudes. Those rainforests are usually year-round warmth with an average of 50 to 260inches (125 to 660 cm) of rainfall every year. Rainforests belong to the tropical wet climate group. The temperature in a rainforest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C); average humidity is between 77 and 88%; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. In monsoonal areas, there is a real dry season. Almost all rain forests lie near the equator.
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Origin and Distribution
The Shorea contorta is originated from South East Asia, particularly Philippines. Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a sub-region of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, and north of Australia. This includes Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. The Philippines is located at the center of the East Asian region, and Shorea distributes from the Philippines to all over South East Asia.
Importance to People
White Lauan is used as a great material for plywood which is part of most of our furniture. The products or end-uses are the following: veneer for interior of plywood, veneer for back or face of plywood, fiber or article boards, formwork, interior paneling, current furniture or furniture components, moulding, glued laminated, boxes and crates, and sliced veneer. Its relatively less density and easy preservation has led to world wide trading for plywood.
There are other important factors of Shorea contorta. Erosion control is one of them where the tree protects watershed areas; Reclamation, the potential in reforestation; Soil improver is when leaf falls and decay, which improves soil quality. Intercropping is when the species is promising for agro forestry; in experiments S. contorta sawdust extracts did not show allelopathic effects on rice and trifoliate orange.
Survivability and Endangered Status
The Philippine forests are among the world's richest. The floral diversity is estimated to consists of around 8,000 species, of which 3,500 are endemic. Palawan alone has 1,500 flowering plant species. However, the industry of plywood led to exhaustion of the Lauan species. Shorea contorta, one of the species in the Philippine forest, is the best material for plywood, thus it is very close to exhaustion. Philippines is a Less Economically Developed Country (LEDC) and therefore they need a lot of money. Unfortunately all the natural resources, including Shorea contorta, are being used very ineffectively.
Due to its world-wide trading of Shorea contorta, it is now harder to find Lauans. Philippine Government has put a limit to it. However, the citizens who are desperate for money still break the law and cut Shorea contorta and other Lauans for individuals use.
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Potential Solutions
Why is Cajon used widely especially in Less Economically Developed Countries like Philippines? Philippines is a country of music where everyone loves music and enjoy involved in music. They are actually quite talented too, they don’t have good systems or instruments but they can still create a beautiful music out of it. One of the simple instruments they use is Cajon. Cajon is made up of Lauan plywood because of the abundance, endurance and light weight. Through this project I want to figure out some reasons why Cajon is the perfect percussion for Philippine music/worship. Below three are the possibilities to figure out reasons for Cajon popularity in Philippines.
Possibility 1
INTERVIEW
Interview a Filipino who is involved in music and ask his or her opinion about Cajon.
Advantages:
1. Because this project is for Philippines it is very important to interact with Filipinos. The best way to be involved with Filipinos is having conversation with them. Interview is a kind of a conversation with a topic. We can ask more specific questions about how he or she feels about using Cajon. It is the best way to obtain personal point of view.
2. We can add some detailed questions as we interview and leave out some questions that are unnecessary. Unlike surveys, through the questioning and answering, I am free to ask anything related to Cajon.
Disadvantages:
1. Because it is a conversation between the interviewee and I, the point of view is very narrow and personal. This personal response does not necessarily mean that it represents Philippines.
2. The interviewee might be professional in some areas however, our memory is not that long and therefore the information might be inaccurate especially when it comes to numbers.
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Possibility 2
SENDING AN EMAIL
We can send email to professionals like ecologists who work on musical instruments out of plants.
Advantages:
1. Unlike the interview, the information is very accurate and reliable. We can obtain various kinds of information depending on whom you are sending your email to.
2. We can observe more general point of view. Because he is an expert in this area, he is interested in this topic; he knows some other expertise whom he can share information with, and he already knows a lot about this topic.
3. He can introduce some useful internet cites.
Disadvantages:
1. The reply might come late or not at all due to his schedule.
There is higher possibility of getting a reply with all the information however, it is also very important to observe the personal point of view.
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Possibility 3
MAKING MY OWN HOME-MADE CAJON
If Cajon is effective instrument, why not make one and try to play it?
Advantages:
1. You can obtain better understanding of the internal structure of Cajon. Also when you make your own Cajon, I suspect that you will be more attached to it.
2. By making this with Filipino carpenter, you can interact with Filipino people and observe his opinions about Cajon as you make it.
3. You can obtain a better knowledge of the difference between drums and Cajon; also accurate price and time spent in making Cajon.
Disadvantages:
1. It is not very safe to make one alone by yourself. With all the dangerous tools such as hammer and sow, you can get hurt if you are not with an expert.
2. Because of the safety issue you need money to get a helper/carpenter and also money to buy the Lauan plywood and other materials.
ACTION STEP 1 INTERVIEW
I know a Filipino in a band who is educated and talented. I call him Kuya Henry and I interviewed him on Thursday. I asked some questions like the difference between drum and Cajon, the influence of Cajon in a music/worship, who can play it, etc.
Advantages:
1. You can interact with Filipino people and their culture as they help you make Cajon. You can learn some skill and their lifestyle through that time.
2. The Cajon adds acoustic taste to the music/worship and it adds density too. According to Kuya Henry, it is very easy to make and it is a lot cheaper than any drums.
Disadvantages:
1. I can sense that the information he gave me was inaccurate because he himself was not sure about it.
ACTION STEP 2 MAKING MY OWN HOME-MADE CAJON
I have always wanted to have a drum in my house and this project was the perfect time! Since I now know that Cajon helps a lot in the flow of music, and there is no need for special lessons, I would love to have one in my house and actually try it in my family worship time. I asked Kuya Henry for advices in making home-made Cajon, and he sugested I get help from carpenter. He actually introduced Kuya Jessie (carpenter) to me and he helped me a lot on this. The steps in making Cajon are very easy except the sowing and hammering part. It is quite dangerous so I got lot of help from Kuya Jessie on that.
Advantages:
1. There are many advantages of having your own Cajon. It helps the flow of music and adds density. Also it can be used as a chair or even desk. It is not that heavy so you can carry it around especially on mission trips. I was also thinking of giving one home-made Cajon to one of the provinces so they can enjoy music any time they want to.
2. It is very cheap and it takes less than two hours when you are with the professional.
Disadvantages:
1. Though Cajon can produce various sounds, it is still not comparable to of that of drumset. It can give a taste of drum but still the sound of drum is richer than Cajon.
2. The over use of White Lauan has now exhausted and is almost near the extinction. Cajon really is an effective and helpful instrument, but we also need a solution to its extinction. One of them is simply planting more trees. In Korea, there is actually a Tree Planting Day where everyone plants tree. It is our duty to protect what God has given us.
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Bibliography
Wikipedia, free encyclopedia (2001, January). Cajón. Retrieved April 17, 2007
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajon>.
Forest Products Laboratory, U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Pentacme contorta. Retrieved April 17,2007
<http://www.windsorplywood.com/tropical_woods/whitelauan.html>.
Robert and Deanna Eastman, Musician’s Friend (1983). Meinl Sycamore Burl Wood Snare Cajon. Retrieved April 17, 2007, from http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Meinl-Cajon?sku=444829&src=3SOSWXXA
Michael G. (2001). Rainforest Biomes. Retrieved April 18,2007
<http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm>.
PAN - PLY MARKETING CORP (2006). Principal Timber Species. Retrieved April 18, 2007
<http://www.panply.com.ph/productcategories.do>.
Henry A. (2007, May 2). What is Cajon and how does it help Philippine music/worship?. Kate Jeong
Joo Jin Woo, ECI (2007, May 1). What is Cajon and how does it help Philippine music/worship?. Kate Jeong
Kuya Jessie, ECI (2007, May 1). What is Cajon and how does it help Philippine music/worship?. Kate Jeong
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