Music of Thailand
Thai traditional music and instruments of their culture.
In the spring of 2018, I went to Thailand for two weeks and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The people and culture of Thailand is something otherworldly the people are so kind and hospitable. While in Lampang and Chiang Mai I was able to experience the scenery, culture, people, and food. Thailand’s culture was very quiet and respectful of others they almost always treat others better than themselves. Their music was so unique and different from any other that I had experienced before so I decided to do my analysis on this beautiful place.
Traditional Thai Music
Author unknown and publishing date unknown this information may be at the ending but its all in Thai.
The instrumental diversity in Thailand I thought was going to be unique but I was quite surprised that the word unique does not do justice to their musical diversity. It’s insane, a quick google search will lead you to discover so many instruments that you have never even heard of. It really was surprising and fascinating an entire arsenal of musical instruments with diversity in the shape size and how they are played. An entire different blog post would be necessary to analyze all the different unique instruments. The video above shows traditional Thai music as well as below a Thai instrument called a Pin Pia that I found fascinating.
Traditional Thai music is very unique in sound and contrasts from the western world greatly. It has a ring that has its own signature to this part of the world. When listening and watching the music you can notice such a contrast in what we normally see in performances in the US. The Thai peoples dress for a performance like this almost always in a very bright color. In the video, you also see that dancing is another aspect of there songs that is majorly infused with the culture. The instrument that provides the main focus and dynamics of the song is called the phin and to me (I don’t know a lot about instruments so don’t be mad if I’m totally wrong :)) resembles an elongated banjo. The sound is very different for sure but they do sound like distant relatives from one another. The other instrument that is used throughout the song and looks like a corn on the cob from this distance is the wot. The wot it is a wind instrument and is one of the key features when listening to Thai music. The wots sound is hard to describe it is a smooth not as sharp as say the sound of a recorder. Both the wot and the phin play big parts in Thailand’s unique sound that makes the music there very own.
The Rhythm The Rhythm of this traditional Thailand song is defiantly upbeat and gets a person in a working or dancing kinda mood. Its one of those songs in my mind that I would be able to forget about being embarrassed about something and try something new in the culture if the people wanted me to take part. The phin is one of the main contributing factors for that upbeat sound and want to dance kinda vibe.
The Tempo The tempo of the traditional Thailand song is somewhere between fast and slow a medium pace for the beat. The tempo of Thai music differs greatly from song to song as you will see in the next demonstration of the instrument Pin Pia which has a much mellower tempo.
This is a short video of the Thai people showing how to play Pin Pia one of the musical elements that is recognized for there “tinny” almost mystical sound.
The author of the music again could not be found 😦
The pin pia (or phin pia) is a stringed instrument in the family of the zither. Its sound quality is very unique and once again is tied to this style of music. The pin pia other than how it contributes to the Thai music is just a strange and fascinating instrument on its own. The reverberating sound comes from a coconut resonator that is placed on the chest and moved in and out to vary the pitch and reverberations of the sound. It is said to be very hard to play because of the positioning of the instrument.
The Rhythm The rhythm of the pin pia greatly contrasts the earlier song it is not nearly as fast and has a sit and listen to a story from a native of the land kind of sound. I can just imagine the people getting done working a hard day and coming home as a family to listen to someone play a short tune.
The Tempo The tempo of the pin pia is worlds different than the previous song very slow when it came to the rate of the beat. The sound is also very quiet and has an eerie sound. Although this instrument is very quiet and the tempo is slower than a lot of songs it has a large part in the signature of Thai music.
Work cited
McGraw , Andrew C. “Phin Pia: Grove Music.” Phin Pia | Grove Music, 10 July 2019, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-4002281651.
“Traditional Thai Musical Instruments.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Thai_musical_instruments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Thai_musical_instruments
“Worlds Instrument Gallery Pin Pia .” Pinpia, http://www.asza.com/Instruments/ipinpia.shtml.
Music Plus Curtis 
I have always wanted to visit Thailand! Wow, I bet that was an incredible experience. Between trying new foods and seeing a different way of life is so fun and important. The musical take on this is quite interesting, as I have never actually took the time to listen to music from Thailand. The Pin Pia instrument has such a graceful sound, and sounds like something that I would listen to while studying or sleeping even. Great evaluation of the musical elements!
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That’s really cool that you have been to Thailand! That is on my list of countries to visit. I really liked your presentation on their culture and music! I have been wanting to learn more about that country so it is really cool to learn about this. I had never heard of a Pin Pia so that was really cool to experience a different instrument.
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