Context: khon (masked dance-drama) and waj khruu ceremonies(for honoring teachers) Ensemble:   Piphat Function like leitmotives, depicting action, emotion, and behavior    <<Listen to Na Phaat

Naa phaat                                                                                                            Not to be improved upon or altered; " Higher" ones, sacred, with supernatural power.   These melodies are believed to date from the Ayuthya era (pre-1782). The songs are used in khon   (masked dance-drama) and waj khruu (honoring teachers) ceremonies to accompany or represent the activities and movements of deities; they are always played on the piphaat ensemble. To indulge in an analogy from the West, the melodies appear to function like leitmotifs in Wagner's operas: melodies are so consistently associated with specific actions and characters that informed audiences learn to "follow the script" explicitly encoded in music. In theater, the songs depict only divine actions and characters with divine power and or high status ( though notable exceptions include the naa phaat for servants walking and mosquitoes flying). Hence some of the naa phaat appear to be sacred; these are what  is called the " high naa phaat, " which are taught only to advanced students. In the past, students who could not yet play the high naa phaat prostrated themselves upon the floor when teachers and other students rehearsed them. Most important, the naa phaat are not to be improvised upon or changed. Back

 

Contex: entertrainment Ensemble: all standard ensembles                      << Listen to Sepha Mahori

Sepha mahori         This is the repertoire that is well known to the  public and to amateur musicians. It includes the thaw form and instrument solos. Traditionally compositions in this category were performed in a set concert structure. The purpose of music in the seephaa mahori category is entertainment, and all the pieces which are most likely to be known to the general populace through public school or other introductions to music, or through amateur music-making, are in this category. All pleeng thaw, the expanding-contracting tripartite musical form so popular in the last one hundred years, are in this category. The popularity of composition in this repertoire may well be due to their purely musical nature, that is, they are tied neither  to theater nor to special performance contexts such as cremation ceremonies or royal processions. Transmission of the songs is not restricted. Students may learn these compositions and enjoy them. And the compositions may be performed either with or without a vocalist, except in a occasional cases. Thai musicians suggest that many of the songs are well known because they are inherently beautiful and, when per formed as vocal music, often have picturesque, pleasing lyrics-- for example Khameen Saj  Yok, a particularly well-known melody, the words of which describe the beauty of natural scenes        Both seepha and mahori are ensemble types and represent two historical strands, which have merged. The seepha uses piphat instruments to accompany chanted epics.        Differences between the style of songs are derived from each, the mahori songs being soft, slow, refined, gentle, and appropriate to their original palace context, while the seephaa songs are aggressive, strong, and quick; they were originally performed both in and outside the palaces. However, the songs in the present-day seephaa mahori category may be performed upon either piphat or mahori, or khryang sai ensembles and mixed ensembles. The category is believed to have originated in the era of Rama IV (mid-19th Century), though many of the songs were written somewhat later; it is possible that the full fusion of seephaa and mahori influences occurred after the change of government in 1932. Back

 

Context: cremation ceremonies ( traditionally ) Ensemble: Piphat Nang Hong Today rarely played. Music for la-khorn ( nonmasked dance-drama ) Ensemble: Piphat                  << Listen to Naang Hong

Naang Hong          Includes various subcategories and song types: some naa phaat ( listed seperately above), phleang la -khorn ( a named category of pieces from nonmasked dance-drama), and phleang kret. pheang kret may be tured into thaw and hence enter category 2 above; they may also be used for entertainment aside from drama.   Back

 

Context: enterrainment; logically a  subcategory of 2 above                        << Listen to Phleang Diaw

Phleang diaw                      These are  instrumental solos.   Back

   

Context: ritual; when performed for entertainmen, rightfully considered part of 2 above Ensemble: all standard ensembles                     << Listen to Phleang ryang

Phleang ryang Performances consist of a sequence of four song types. Arranged in traditionally defined sets.       Back

    

 

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