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Thai Musical Instruments
Each part of Thailand has their own musical
instruments in accordance with their culture and
livelihood. Listen to free music played using
these instruments on Sunday Walking Street in Chiang
Mai or check out our website for free music downloads.
Go to the bottom of this page for free
music lyrics of Thai national anthem.
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Central Folk Musical Instruments
Saw Sam Sai The most beautiful fiddle is the Saw samsai; the three stringed spike bowed lute that had been used in the Thai ensemble for quite a long time probable before the Sukhothai period (1350).
Saw duang is a bowed stringed instrument. The sound box is made of hardwood with snake skin stretched over one face, the other being the sound hole. The stick is made from hardwood of 60 cm. long. Two tuning pegs are inserted into the top part of the stick in the same plane as the sound box. Two silk strings or guts or metal strings are stretched from the tuning pegs to the protrusion of the stick underneath the sound box. The two strings passing through a noose and over a bridge on the snake skin. The bow is about 50 cm. long, the horsehair of which is permanently place between the two strings. Saw duang has a high clear sound and thus acts as the leader of the string ensemble.
Saw duang
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Saw Sam Sai |
Saw-u has its sound chamber made of coconut shell. This fiddle has its bow laid down on the body between the two strings, one of which giving high pitch and the other low pitch, and being tuned in 5th perfect. The Saw-u has a sound chamber covered with normal cow skin, with a sound hole on the opposite side of the skin surfacing; being usually played in accompaniment of a Saw duang.
Jakae plucking string instrument, which is approximately 20 cm. high and 140 cm. long, with its first two strings made of silk yarn and the last of brass. The player using his left hand for pitching the piece while striking the string by his right hand with an ivory plectrums tied to the index finger.
Khlui is a bamboo recorder having seven blowing-out sound holes, of one and half octave. Khlui-u has the lowest pitches; Khlui pieng-o has the middle pitches; and Khlui lip has the highest pitches; but the specially high pitched one is the Khlui gruad or Khlui lip gruad. The Khlui is one of the musical instruments being used in a Mahori ensemble and String ensemble.
Pi is a read instrument with six out-blowing holes capable of a variating sounds to 22 pitches. The reed is made of a kind of palm leaf, called 'Bai tan'. It can imitate the human voice, and therefore, the player uses his tongue technique of playing to touch the reed, thus seeming to be 'talking' while blowing. There are many kinds of Pi, such as Pi nog, Pi nai, Pi klang, Pi jave, Pimon.
Ranad-ek, this is a type of xylophone in high pitches which consists of 21-22 wooden bars strung together into a bridging set, being hooked on top of a long resonant box by both ends making an oblong curved shape that looks like a boat. The bars can be made either of bamboo or a kind of hard wood called 'Mai ching chan'. Ranad- ek is played as the leading instrument of an ensemble; and its playing method has been known of developing into very high degree of skill, The Ranad- ek is usually played in styles, ie, one style called 'Mai khaeng' (hard sticks); and other is 'Mai nuam' (soft sticks). All kinds of Ranad- ek are tuned to final pitch by the addition of a mixture of beeswax and lead shavings being attached at spots underneath each bar being so tuned.
Ranad-thume, a low pitched xylophone having 18 bars in the set. Its shape looks like a Ranad- ek, but lower and wider. This type is usually played in accompaniment of a Ranad- ek.
Gong wong yai is the main instrument of an ensemble, playing the principle melody. This type comprises of 16 kattles in one set and consisting of two main parts: Loog gong (a kattle): made of alloy for sound making. The kattle shape is similar to a little bowl being turned upside-down with a small dome on top; while the turning is done by attaching a lump of beeswax mixed with tin particless underneath, or in fact inside the bowl. Player strike "hammer" on the dome crest. Ruan gong (Gong house): can be made of either rattan, wood, or even bamboo leavings in circular shape; having the gong kattles hanging on it with a specially knotted raw hide rope tying around and connecting them together.
Gong wong lek This is a Gong set smaller but of higher pitch than which of the Gong wong-yai; being played by the same method, anyhow, but with different variation that is based on principle melody. Gong wong-lek comprises of 18 kattles
Thon : The Thon looks like a smaller Klong yao. It is made of carved wood or baked clay. The head is of hide held inplace by thongs fastened to the "waist" of the drum. The open opposite end flares out a little. The dimension of the waist is 12 cm. in diameter. The Thon is played with the Ram-ma-na. In certain instance two Thons are played simultaneously. Ram-ma-na: The Ram-ma-na is a single-faced shallow fram drum. It has a diameter of about 22 cm. and is used in the String ensemble.
Glong khaek : This drum is accompanying the Mahori, or a Pipat ensemble; and sometimes the String ensemble also. It is played with both hands. Sometimes it is arranged for play in pair; while one gives high pitch, and the other gives the low pitch.
Glong-songmna This drum is shaped like a kind being used in the Puangmangkog set. It is always played with a Pipat ensemble. The Glong song-na is characteristically adorned with raw hides rope tying around its body.
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North Folk Musical Instruments
Sa-lor or Ta-lor is a bowed string instring instrument with a free bow. The resonator is made of coconut shell cut off on one side, and a thin sound board is placed to cover the cut-off hole. A sound hole is made on the shell opposite to the flat sound board. The finger board stick of approximately 60 centimetres is made of teak or hardwood. The pegs point forward. The two or three strings are made of metallic cord (in the old time the strings were made of wound silk cords) The three sizes of the sa-lor, are Sa-lor-lek, Sa-lor-klang and Sa-lor-yai.
Khlui The same as khlui in central.
Pi nae : A kind of double reed oboe looks like the Saranai or Chani but bigger in size; its made of wood usually accompany the big gong, Ta-lod-pod drum and Aew drum in the dancing ensemble. There are 2 sizes of Pi-nae, the small one "Nae-noi" and the big one "Nae-loung"
Klong Teng-thing is a two faced tabular drum and used as one of percussive instrument, whose body is made of hard wood (Mai-daeng) or soft wood (Jackfruit wood) The faces are covered tightly with calf skin.
Klong-Ting-Nong The biggest and longest drum with onc face made of hide about 3-4 metres long, played as singnal at The temple and ensemble with the Ta-lod-pod,Chabyai, Pi-nae and Gong hui in the dancing ensemble. It is played with the wooden stick and the drum usually hangs on a wooden bar carried by men.
Sueng is a plucked string instrument, made of teak or hardwood. around sound hole is cut on the top sound board. The pitches are defined by a number of frets. The sound is made by plucking the two metallic or brass strings with a plectrum made of thin animal horn.
Pi is abamboo single metal reed oboe with six sound pitches played by blowing at the end with reed in the mouth and held by both hands with six fingers to control the pitches.
There are three sizes of Pi, the big one "Pi mae", the medium size "Pi Glang" and the small size "Pi goi" these three sizes of "Pi are" ensembles under the name of Jom pi or "Pi Jom", sometimes played with Sueng and Sa-lor.
Phin-pia or Phin-phia, or sometimes simply called "pia" or "phia". The body is made from a coconut shell. When the instrument is played, the open part of the coconut shell is held against the bare chest of the player who may move it away from his chest or hold it tightly, depending upon the tone quality desired. It was used by the young man who wondered about the village in the evening courting girls. Nowadays it is difficult to find musicians who know how to play this instrument.
Ta-lod-pod ro Ma-lod-pod is a two-faced tubular drum of 100 centimeters long. The two cowhide faces are stretched by cowhide rope. The larger face is 30 cm. in diameter, and smaller face is 20 cm. The body is made of hollowed wood. The faces are weighted with Kee-cha (ground mixture of cooked rice and ash).
Klong Sabad chai The most famous drum in northern, hanging on the double wooden bars carried by men. Klong Sabad chai boran has been used for a least 700 years. In former times it was used for the anouncement of victory of the king or a warrior and has its own style of playing with stick and part of body in 3 rhythms : Chaiperi, Chaidithi and Chanamarn.
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South Folk Musical Instruments
Thap: The goblet-shaped drum used for providing the changes of rhythm and also for supporting rhythm of the Nora (Southern dance drama). Its length is about 40-50 cm. The body is made from heartwood of a jackfruit tree which being cared into a beautiful goblet shape. A single drumhead is covered by a thin leather made from a langur skin or the cat skin which attached to the body by cloth strings of rattan strings. The Thap set consists of two drum, one lower pitch called "Luk thoeng" and one higher pitch called "Luk chap".
Mong and Ching: two important percussion instruments used for accompany the Nora dance (dance drama) and the Nang talung (shadow peppet) performance.
The Mong is a set of two gongs hung horizontally in a frame rack of the wooden box. It provides a fundamental pitch for Kabbot (a style of narrative singing) as well as keeps rhythmic patterns for the songs. There are two pitches of Mong, a higher one and a lower one. The vocal line is based on a note of higher Mong pitch and the singer must sing harmoniously to the note (called "sieng kao mong") throughout the performance practice. The head of Mong mallet is wrapped by rubber or the cotton yarn in order to make a soft and mellow tone when being hit.
The Ching is a part of small hand cymbals made of thick metal alloy and shaped like a small cup. It is also keeping rhythmic patterns for kabbot. The Ching player must be strictly follow beats and accents of kabbot part. In the old days, a bigger size of ching with 2 inches diameter is used whereas at the present time, a smaller size with 1.5 inches is more prefored.
Trae phuang or Krab phung: a percussion used to provide rhythmic punctuation of the Nora ensemble. It is made from about 10 laminate hardwood of about 0.5x2x6 inch dimensions and being set into a pile through the middle of which a hole is bored. The set is placed on a pole atteched to a thick wooden base. A metal handle is attached to the topmost lamina of the pile. To play the Trae puang, the player places his hand on the handle bar, raise it, and plunges downward.
Klong nora or Klong nang: a barred-shaped drum used for accompany the Nora dance or the Nang talung (Shadow puppet) performance. Generally, an appropriate size of the drum is about 10 inches diameter at both sides and its height is about 12 inches. There is a belief that this right size of the drum will give the most desirable pitch. If it has a smaller size, the pitch will be too high, and if it has a bigger size, the pitch will be too low. The body of this drum is usually made from heartwood of a jackfruit tree. Both sides of drumheads are covered by calfskins which stretched tightly over the open ends of the body and firmly nailed by means of "Luk sak" the wooden pegs. At the performance. The drum is held by two bamboo poles in an angle upright position. The poles are tied closely to the body by strings. A pair of beaters is made of hardwood. There is found also a smaller version of the drum used in the Nang talung performance, about 6 inches diameter and about 12 inches height.
Pi: a quadruple-reed oboe type with six finger holes producing at least three octaves of pitches range. This instrument plays a great deal in accompanying the Nora and the Nang talung performance by contributing the magic sounds which can hypnotize and please the audiences as well as supporting the beautiful movements of the dancers. The body of Pi can be made from a number of hollowed hardwood, or heartwood of mai krathin, mai namuang, mai rakpa, and mai mapring. The Pi reed is made of bai tan, a kind of palm leaf which is fastened to a small conical copper tube. When playing the reed and tube are inserted into the top hole of the Pi. There is an old believe that in order to make a nice sound, the leaf must selected from a single palm tree which grown up in the field.
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Northeast Folk Musical Instruments
Hune: This drum is shaped like a kind being used in the Puangmangkog set. It is always played with a Pipat ensemble. The Glong song-na is characteristically adorned with raw hides rope tying around its body.
Wode is a kind of vertical flute, made of 6-9 various lengths of small bamboo pipes (Mai-ruak or Mai-hia, Mai-ku-khan) bunched together. A player blows against particular part of the wode to produce desired pitch.
Pong lang: A type of melodic percussion played by two players with hard stick. Its shape is like a xylophone consisting of 15 wooden bars stringed together with a strong rope at each end. The lower pitch end is attached to a post or part of a tree and other is hooked to the player's toe or another materials, Two performers sit on either side, one playing the melody, the other playing drone accompaniment. The pong lang has no stand size.
The Krachappi is a plucked stringed instrument. It's turtle shape sound box is made of jackfruit wood or teakwood hollowed out with a sound hold topside. The top of the arm inserted into 2 tuning pegs and the strings. The player used his right hand to strike the strings while using the left hand for pitching the piece.
Klong-Kantrum is a kind one faced drum made of hollow wood with skin covering the face and streched tightly by a series of rope. It is found as a percussive instrument in Kantrum ensemble.
Krab khoo: A pair of hard wooden bars two pairs made a set, played with both hands as percussion in "Kantrum ensemble".
Kaen: The most complete and very popular instrument of this area that has very long history for its development dating back to 2,000 to 3,000 years. It is made of a kind of bamboo with metal single reed of tin, silver of copper inside it and joined together with wooden mouth-piece. There are different kinds of Kaen such as Kaen jed (seven bamboo tube) Kaen gao (nine bamboo tubes) played by blowing at the mouth piece and controlling the pitch by opening or closing the holes nearby the side of the tubes with fingers.
Phin is a type of northeastern lute with a pear-shaped body having flets on the neck and over which two-three metal strings run plicked by pick of the right hand while playing.
Jakae (Kabue) is one of the importance instrument in Mahori khamen ensemble. It has 3 strings which in the olden days made of silk yarn but now is placed by metal strings. The player using his left hand for pitching the piece and striking the strings by his right hand.
Saw Kantrum Saw Kantrum is a boewd stringed instrument with sound box made of wood, the head of which is covered with snake skin. The sound hole is one opposite side of the head. Two metal strings are stretched tight across the length of the stick, which is about 60 cm.long. Two tuning pegs inserted back to front are on the upper length of the stick. A noose is fastened at a distance between the sound box and the pegs so as to tighten the string. The Saw is made in 3 different size, there are Tro-chi-(small size) Tro-ek (medium size), Tro-thom (large size).
Pi-Salai is a kind of double
reed oboe accompanied with Kantrum ensemble.
Lyrics for music of Thai National Anthem:-
The music of the Thai national anthem was composed
in 1932 by Professor Phra Jenduriyang and its lyrics were written
in 1939 by Colonel Luang Saranuprabhandi.
bra thet thai ruam lueard nuea chart chuea thai
Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body
ben bra cha rat pha-thai khong thai took suan
The whole country belongs to the Thai people
yoo dam rong kong wai dai tang muan
maintaining thus far for the Thai
duay thai luan mai rak sa mak kee
All Thais intend to unite together
thai nee rak sa-ngobdtae thueng rob mai khlard
Thais love peace but do not fear to fight
aek-ga rart ja mai hai krai khom khee
They will never let anyone threaten their independence
sa-la luead took yard ben chart plee
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood
to contribute to the nation
tha-loeng bra thet chart thai ta-wee mee chai
will serve their country with pride and prestige
full of victory
chai-yo
Cheers
Click here to listen to the music of Thai National Anthem
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