« Elements of the Traditional Music of Thailand »
Created by @jajosonn
Thailand •
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Formerly known as Siam. It is an independent country located in the Western part of the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Surrounded by the Asian countries: Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Malaysia. It is inhabited by people who trace their roots from “Kwantung”, now Canton, Southern China. It is known to be the sole nation in Southeast Asia that has never been colonized or ruled by any Western power, the reason why the country has been called “Muang Thai” or “Land of the Free”
History and Development of Thai Music •
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According to documents written during the Ayutthaya period, traditional Thai music is more than 800 years old. It also tells us that the Thai kingdom started in the southern province of China. When the Mongols conquered Nanchao, the Thais were forced to move farther south. A written account in the time of Sukhotai (1238-1368 A.D.) narrated that Thai people had made use of musical instruments like drums, bells, and trumpets for entertainment. Musical influences from the Khmer and Mon civilizations has allowed the Thais to devise and create their own version of gongs and chimes. Another document written between 1350 and 1767 A.D., pointed out that the Thai people have extensively engaged in singing, acting, and playing instruments.
History and Development of Thai Music •
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The growth, development and preservation of the traditional Thai music are well-supported by the Royal Court which is headed by princes and princesses who themselves have musical inclinations and skills. Thai music is historically and geographically influenced by the culture and traditions of China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. They have adopted the drums, the two-stringed fiddle and the hand cymbals, learned the use of metrical pulses, and the skill of playing the melody using the doubling and quadrupling techniques, from the Chinese. They have adopted the xylophone, metallophone, and reed instruments from India to make their own set of instruments to accompany their songs, dances and ceremonies.
Principles of Thai Music •
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Thai music is used in royal courts, dance, theater, and ceremonies. For the Thais, music is a living art. It embodies the kind of culture they have. Thai musicians learn through example, imitation, inspiration, and coaching from their teacher. They prefer to learn music aurally so that they could interpret it into a full melody through improvisation. Thai musicians are guided by common principles that make Thai music unique.
Elements of Thai Music A.
Scale The Thai musical scale is extraordinary, it is not similar with the diatonic scale or the seven-tone scale of the Western notation. Its scale is composed of seven notes that are equidistant from each other with no half steps. Thai musicians are highly skilled that they can easily tell by ear if the notes are correct or not. The Thai musical scale does not have intervals like the perfect fourth or the perfect fifth. It is now even written on a major or on a minor scale. Thus, one can easily create music with any note as the given tone or key note. B. Meter All Thai compositions are written and composed based on the duple meter in a steady tempo. The metrical pulses are marked by the hand cymbals called ching. The ching plays undamped and damped sound patterns in every measure. Sometimes, it is played twice in a bar for the extended version, or four times in a bar for the short version
Elements of Thai Music C. Structure and Form Thai music has its own structure and from that is unique and cannot be compared with Western music. It is described to be nonharmonic, melodic, or linear. It emphasizes tone, scale, and rhythm over harmony. There are two general styles in Thai music. The first style is rhythmic and simple with relatively neutral melodic lines. The other style is more than lyrical with great rhythmic diversity. The latter style is heard or played on the khawng wong yai or khwang wong lek. D. Texture One important characteristic of Thai traditional music is its texture. That music is observed to have a heterophonic texture. In this principle, the basic melody, which is played by the khwang wong yai, is played in variations by other musical instruments and is elaborated by the embellishing instruments. The musicians interpret the basic melody through the use of techniques such as doubling, anticipating, syncopating, retarding, and so on. The beauty of Thai music depends mainly on the improvisation of the basic melodic line.
Example of how Heterophonic Texture is created Principal Melody
3
5
6
2
First Instrument
3
3
5
5 6 6 2
Second Instrument
3
3
5
5 6
2
1
5
2 1 1 5 1
5
1 5 1 1 5 1
