The use of the Synthesia application to simplify Angklung learning

Abstract The majority of students in the department of pre-service elementary school teacher cannot read the notation correctly. However, they have a strong motivation to learn music composition, such as angklung music composition. This paper aims to analyze the development of students who are members of the music community in studying the composition of angklung music by using the Synthesia application. The research method was carried out in the following stages: (1) making angklung musical composition in the type of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files; (2) input MIDI files for the Synthesia application; (3) setting up the Synthesia application; (4) learning Angklung using the Synthesia application; and (5) evaluating the learning process. Research subjects were students who were members of the music community on campus, so that their age and musical abilities were very heterogeneous. The research subjects were 15 people, as many as one angklung player group. The results showed that angklung learning for students who had the low notation reading ability, became easier by using a touch of technology. Students can read, visual-based notation correctly. It can be concluded; that technology can provide the convenience in the process of learning music composition, especially in angklung music composition.