Conclusion

This blog was a great experience for me to learn more about the musics of my culture. In all honesty, it was a lot of music to go over. Each country has had a long history and each own's outside influences. To go through it all would have been beyond manageable, so I went over the basics and learned a lot. I started this blog meaning to just compare Chinese instruments to Indonesian and Thai instruments, but the more I looked into the instruments, the more I realized that there were many more influences. I didn't think that Indonesia had that great of an impact on Thailand but apparently they did. Just look at the pi phat and gamelan ensembles. That was another thing I changed while making this blog. Instead of focusing on instrument structures, I became more interested in the ensembles they were in. It was cool to see the evolution of the ensembles over time and they way they incorporated new instruments when they were introduced. Nowadays, there seems to be a set structure for ensembles and permanent changes to that would seem radical (just imagine an accordion having a permanent spot in an orchestra).

I liked the idea of being able to (or at least try my best) to use the ideas we've learned in class and apply it to a whole new set of countries. The main ideas I focused on were idea migration and diaspora. The first day of class, we saw images of the pipa, the tang bipa, and the biwa. The instruments looked so similar and yet were still unique and turns out, from different countries. But their origin was China. This idea of an instrument form being imported to different cultures and changing is what I tried to think of while learning about the Indonesian and Thai instruments. I tied the migration of instruments with the migration of people. We learned that when Chinese people came to California, they took their music and culture with them since music was a source of comfort. I figured that this was one of the ways instrument forms spread. However, I also learned that there were other reasons as well such as trade and war. Then I realized that trade was the way a lot of instruments spread along the Silk Road. It all tied back to what we learned in class.

Anywho, thanks for reading my blog. I hope that it has been as informative for you as it has been for me.

-Tiffany

Outside Influences

Looking at all of the instruments, it was clear to see that China had a big impact on the forms of instruments of the ensembles of both Indonesia and Thailand. There were gongs and metallophones used in gamelan and pi phat as well as stringed lutes used in khruang sai. The interesting part was what countries changed about the adopted instrument form. Gongs were developed from rough-looking metal bowls to knobbed gongs in Indonesian bonang to knobbed gongs in a vertical stand in Thai khong mon. Indonesia had more of a direct Chinese influence whereas Thailand had more of an indirect Chinese influence (ideas came to Indonesia, got developed, then got passed to Thailand).

Cambodia was also a big influence in Thai instruments. Stone carvings at Angkor show instruments that were played a long time ago and give insight to what ideas the Thai might have borrowed (14).

There are multiple ways these musical ideas could have spread:

Migration: Political instability of China compounded with economic opportunity abroad caused Chinese migration to countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. This is similar to what happened with the Chinese diaspora to the United States (28) (29).

War: Ayutthaya, Siamese kingdom from 1350-1767, was a dominant power back in its day. It waged a lot of attacks, including those on the Khmer people, taking over Angkor. Fighting with the Khmer would explain the large Cambodian influence on Thailand and its music (30).

Trade: China and Thailand are relatively close geographically which made interacting with the other country a lot easier. The Chinese had trading communities set up in the Gulf of Siam. Thailand also traded with other countries like India and later even Europe. Trade can be a major factor in influencing culture, as seen with the spread of musical instruments, among other ideas, along the Silk Road (29).

Instruments- Thailand

I have explained the 3 ensembles present in Thailand (pi phat, khruang sai, and mahori) and so now, I will go over the instruments in more detail.

To review:
Pi phat- ensemble with melodic and rhythmic percussion and includes a Thai oboe
Khruang sai- ensemble with stringed instruments as well as rhythmic percussion and features a Thai vertical flute
Mahori- combination of the two ensembles including stringed instruments, melodic and rhythmic percussion, and Thai vertical flute.
Since mahori ensembles use the same instruments as pi phat and khruang sai, I won't have a section for mahori instruments.

Pi Phat

Metallophones

Similar to Indonesian gamelan, pi phat uses metallophones. It is thought that Thai metallophones were suggested by the saron and gender of Java since they were a late addition to this ensemble. The instrument form is similar having metal keys supported by a wooden rack. However, metallophones are not the primary sound in pi phat ensembles unlike gamelan, and instead, are only used in large ensembles. Wooden xylophones are the more dominant sound in pi phat (14).

This is the Thai ranat ek lek instrument

For comparison, this is the Indonsian gender barung instrument. 

Xylophones

There is no evidence of when xylophones came to Thailand or where they came from, but is hypothesized to have come from a Khmer (in present-day Cambodia) model or from a Javanese xylophone. The bars of the instrument are made of bamboo and hardwood and rest on a boat shaped rack. The boat shape has aesthetic value in that it looks similar to river boats used in Thailand, however, it also helps the instrument resonate. These instruments are important to the pi phat ensemble because the player is the leader and indicates the tempo (14). Notes are usually played in octaves. 

Notice the boat frame of this ranat ek.

Here is a video of a ranat ek player (20):

Gong-kettle Circles

Gong-kettles are also present in pi phat ensembles. They look similar to the bonang gong-kettle instruments in gamelan, however, the Thai model comes from Khmer. Unlike bonang in which the gongs are arranged in two straight lines, Thai gongs are arranged in a circle for better accessibility. There are two main forms of these gong circles. One form has the gongs in a vertical curved stand. The other form is arranged in that the player is in the middle of a circle formed by 16 gongs.They sound the same, however the former form is used for funeral music. It is thought that the latter form evolved from the curved stand form so that it would be easier for women to play (14).

This is a khong mon. In this form, the gongs are arranged in a vertical stand so the player must reach to play.

This is a khong wong yai. A horizontal stand holds the gongs so the player turns to play.  

Here are some videos of players of the khong mon and khong wong lek:

Khong mon (21)

Khong wong lek (22)

Finger Cymbals (Ching)

The ching is a pair of small, metal, finger, cup cymbals connected with string. Though small, they are important in almost all traditional Thai music for keeping time (14).

Ching

Thai Oboe (Pi)

The pi, the instrument of which the "pi" of "pi phat" comes from is a double reeded oboe. People are unsure about the origins of this instrument. It's either traditionally Thai or from the Khmer. There are three sizes of pi that vary in length which affect the tone and range of the instrument, however, the shorter two are rarely used in traditional ensembles. The pi that is used is the pi nai which is 16-17 inches long. The tube bodies are made of hardwood and sometimes marble.

This is a pi nai. The reed is sticking out from the right side in this image. 

Here's a video of a man playing pi nai (23): 

Khruang Sai

Bowed Lutes

There are three types of bowed lutes: so sam sai, so u, and so duang. The so u and so duang are similar in structure (2 stringed with attached bow) however, the so u has a coconut shell as it's body whereas the body of the so duang is made of bamboo, and the so u is lower in pitch than the so duang. Both the so u and so duang are borrowed from the Chinese huqin and erhu, respectively (14).

Thai saw u

Thai saw duang

Chinese erhu

So sam sai is a different type of bowed lute. It has three strings and a detachable bow. It's origins are thought to have come from Angkor in that that Cambodian tro khmer instrument has the same form. The Cambodian instrument could have been borrowed off Java's model of the rebab but it's unsure.It it was, a third string was added (the so sam sai has three strings while the rebab only has two) (14). 

Thai so sam sai

Cambodian tro khmer

Indonesian rebab

Here is a video of a man playing the so sam sai (24): 

Zither

Aside from stringed lutes, khruang sai features a plucked floor zither called a chakhe. It was used in Thailand since the 14th century with it's function originally being for court music. It has now been incorporated into string ensembles. The name "chakhe" comes from the shortened Thai word for "crocodile" because the head of the instrument used to be carved to represent the head of a crocodile (14).

A present-day chakhe with no crocodile carving.

An example of a chakhe player. Notice the plectrum in his right hand that he uses to play the strings (25): 

Thai Flute (Khlui)

The khlui is a vertical bamboo flute instrument thought to have originated in Thailand. There are three sizes, small, medium, and large, with the medium size most commonly used (the other two are used depending on the volume needed/type of ensemble it's in). The mouthpiece is similar to that of a Western recorder (26).

Thai khlui

Aside from ensembles, khlui is also played as a solo instrument as featured in this clip (27):

Ensembles- Thailand

The first known Thai ensemble was khap mai which was a drum, a fiddle, and a singer. The drum is now obsolete in Thailand. Another ensemble was mahori which was a string ensemble, thought to have originated in Cambodia, that consisted of two string players, a drummer, and a singer. The ensemble changed over time with different instruments adding in. It is now one of the three contemporary music ensembles, however mahori is now a combination of both string and percussion instruments. The other two contemporary ensembles are pi phat (melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments with a wind instrument) and khruang sai (stringed instruments and rhythmic percussion with flutes). These ensembles perform for formal occasions.

Pi Phat

Pi phat ensembles used to be used for accompanying stage performances. For masked drama (khon), the ensemble needed to play long passages so instruments that could play the melody were used more. The name "pi phat" comes from the "pi" double reeded instrument that is used to play the melody. "Phat" means "instrumental music" (14).

Here is a video of a pi phat ensemble (15):

This is a small ensemble with five instruments: xylophone, kettle gong circle, drum, small cymbals, and the pi. There are also other sized pi phat ensembles: medium/doubled and large (they contain more instruments as well as more kinds of instruments) 

Here is a larger pi phat ensemble (16): 

In the larger pi phat ensemble, one can see more gongs as well as metallophones being used compared to the small ensemble. This type of instrumentation is similar to that of an Indonesian gamelan ensemble. This is unsurprising since these instruments and ensemble could have spread to Thailand. One of the Thai drums, the klong khaek, came from Java. However, Thailand has made this type of melodic and rhythmical percussion ensemble their own by adding their native instrument, the pi. 

Khruang Sai

Khruang sai is an ensemble of stringed instruments, rhythmic percussion instruments, and a Thai vertical flute called the khlui. It is used to accompany Thai stick-puppet theater (influenced by Chinese puppetry), singing, and dances. It is also played on holidays. As with pi phat, khruang sai ensembles can be different sizes and contain a different variety of instruments (17). 

Here is a video of a medium khruang sai ensemble (18):

In this video, a singer is present and the ensemble backs her up. The ensemble's melody is carried by the string instruments (zither, spike fiddle) as well as the vertical flute. Percussion is present as a membranophone as well as some hand drums. Contrary to the pi phat ensemble, string instruments, not percussion, are the main focus.

Mahori

The mahori ensemble is a combination of the pi phat and khruang sai ensembles in that it features a combination of stringed instruments, melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments, and flutes (14).

Here is a video of a mahori ensemble (19):

The melody now is present in both the stringed instruments and vertical flute (like khruang sai) as well as the melodic percussive instruments such as the xylophone (like pi phat).

Ensemble- Indonesian

Gamelan

Gamelan is an Indonesian ensemble comprised of gongs and metallophones and sometimes a flute, 2-stringed fiddle, or vocalist for the melody. The first evidence of gamelan instruments come from stone carvings in Borobudur, a central Java temple, from 800AD. They were carvings of xylophone instruments. Gong carvings, the instrument more associated with gamelan, were found in the 13th and 14th centuries. They are thought to have originated from China. Though Java was where this ensemble started, Bali is now the place known for gamelan. Gamelan came to Bali in the 16th century (1). 

This music used to be associated with temples and court music however,is not associated with courts anymore after they fell with Dutch colonialism (2). In present day, gamelan ensembles perform for religious ceremonies, secular ceremonies (weddings, funerals, birthdays), social events, and theatrical accompaniment (3). Gamelan is also sometimes played in a concert setting since it has been gaining popularity worldwide. 

The polyphonic texture, repetitive sections, and "exotic" scales of gamelan has captured the attention of Western countries such as America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Some universities, such as UC Davis, have acquired gamelan instruments and have started their own ensembles (4). 

Here is an video of the UC Davis Gamelan Ensemble (5):

In this video, one can hear the melody being carried out primarily by metallophones (bronze xylophones) in the front and it being accentuated by the smaller gongs on the right. The tempo is dictated by the double-headed drum in the middle.

Here is an example of gamelan being used as theatrical accompaniment (6):

There has also been gamelan in popular culture such as this DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) song featuring gamelan (the music is probably attractive because of it's strong reliance on percussion) (7):

There are also gamelan covers of popular Western songs displaying the fusion of Eastern and Western music. Here is a Rihanna's "Diamond" being played with gamelan instruments (8):

Instruments- Indonesia

As previously mentioned before, gamelan is composed of mostly metallophones and gongs. The interesting part is that although gamelan is a huge part of Indonesian culture and sound, both metallophones and gongs are not Indonesian in origin.

Metallophones

Metallophones, metal equivalents of xylophones, originated in Turkey and then got brought to China in the 7th century. These would have been seen as iron imitations of Chinese stone chimes. Two or three centuries later, bronze slabs were used instead. Gamelan metallophones use these bronze slabs (9). 

There are two types of metallophones used in gamelan: saron and gender. They use different types of metal bars in which the saron uses a thick, slightly curved bar and the gender uses a thin, ribbed bar. Both instruments have the bars over a wooden frame although the bars for the gender sit atop tuned tube (usually bamboo) resonators (10). There are 3 different sarons and 2 different genders. They vary in sizes which changes the octaves each one plays in.

This is a picture of a saron demung. The bars rest on a wooden frame.

This is a picture of a gender panerus. Notice the tube resonators under the metal bars.

Saron is played with striking the instrument with one hand and dampening with the other whereas both hands strike the instrument with gender and dampening is done by moving one's wrist towards the instrument.

Here are videos to show these instruments being played:

Saron (11)

Gender (12)

Gongs

Gongs are thought to have originated in China during the 6th century. They are thought to have looked like this:

This is a brass gong from the Garo tribe in Assam

Gongs were of great value and were thought to have powers such as healing sickness or scaring away spirits. They were brought to Java in the 9th century, and actually, the word "gong" comes from Java (9).

The gong's instrumental form has changed to fit the needs of the gamelan ensemble. There are two kinds of gongs: hanging (they hang on wooden stands) and cradled (they are supported from the bottom by string cords stretched across a wooden rack). These gongs are usually made of bronze although some use iron as well. The gongs have a protruding knob in the middle where they are hit. Most of these gongs are used for punctuation except for one type of cradled gong called the bonang which is used for elaboration of the melody (13). 

There are two types of hanging gongs: gong ageng and kempul:

This is the gong ageng, the largest hanging gong in the ensemble.

This is the kempul. There are several gong sizes so different pitches can be played.

The cradled gongs looks like the hanging gongs turned upright.

This is the bonang. It has two rows of gongs varying in pitches. There are two
types of bonang, bonang barung and bonang panerus. Bonang panerus is an octave higher. 

Here are videos of a man playing bonang barung and bonang panerus. Notice the lower pitches of bonang barung. 

Bonang barung (14)

Bonang panerus (15)

These instruments have developed from their original imported form and now are a crucial part of the Indonesian gamelan sound. It's interesting to see a country develop instruments and really turn it into their own.

Introduction to this Blog

Hi, my name is Tiffany Wiriyaphanich. I'm in a Musics of the World: Asia class and we cover China, Japan, and Korea. We've learned about music but also discuss other aspects of the culture such as politics, other art forms like dance and theater, and religion. We also learned about people from different countries interacting and spreading culture. While China, Japan, and Korea were definitely interesting countries and a lot more can be learned, I wanted to take the spreading culture idea and make it more personal. One of the topics we touched on was migration and diaspora and how people took music with them where they went. I am a mix of Indonesian, Thai, and Chinese, so I thought about the migrations from China to Indonesia and Thailand and if musical ideas got transferred as well.

[Spoiler alert] They did.

I would briefly like to explain the things I will be talking about in my blog; an overview if you will.

1. Ensembles: I talk about the main ensemble(s) of each country (their past and present functions) and mention the instruments involved with them. I will also have video examples.

2. Instruments: I will discuss the instruments in more detail and compare them to the original form of the instrument or the instrument that inspired the development of the present form if available.

3. Cultural Influences: I will summarize the cultures that had an impact on Indonesian and Thai music culture and the ways ideas could have spread.

4. Conclusion: Lastly, I will conclude this blog with a post of what I've learned about this subject and process.

So, that's what this blog is about. Thanks for reading!