THE MUSIC OF  SOUTHEAST ASIA:                                                                                                                                                                                                   www.musicofasia.info

                                                           >Home: Map<        Instruments             Videos             Articles             Links              Biography         Contact          Disclaimer                                      

 
Preface
Articles
>Instruments<
Musicians
Books + CDs
Links
_______________________


  
Instruments and ensembles
Starting from the Pegu period, most musical instruments were classified from their resounding material, thus the "kye" (brass - cymbals, bells and gongs), the "kyo" (string - harp, violin and zither), the "tha-ye" (leather -drums), the "lay" (wind - flutes, trumpets and oboe) and the "let-khok" (wooden - clappers) instruments.  As it makes more sense to distinguish between their use in performance, it seems to be  more practical to divide these instruments whether they are used for ensemble or chamber music:

Chamber music:

o The "saung gauk" harp
o The crocodile zither "mi gyaun"
o The "pa'tala" xylophone
o The "si" cymbal and "wa" clappers

Ensemble music:
 
o The "kyizi" gong
o The "pat wain" drum circle
o The "ci wain" gong cirlce and the "maun sain" gong set
o The "h'ne" oboe
o The "plaim" flute


(Without pictures and descriptions: The main drums "pa ma" and "sakhum" (on a frame), both part of the "hcau laun pa" drum ensembles, where the biggest drum is always positioned on the left side - as well as several flutes, violins and the almost forgotten "Don Minn" zither.)