'pinphat' band will know that the music, though very

pleasant on the ear, has a certain "otherness". It is quite

different from the music most Westerners are accustomed

to, and at first it's hard to say why. But in fact the reason

is fairly simple to understand, especially if one is

musically-minded.

Westerners are accustomed to the so-called tonic sol-

fa musical scale, in which the intervals between the white

notes on the piano are not all the same. There are semi-

tones between the third and fourth notes as one goes up

the scale, and between the seventh note and the eighth

note or octave. These semitones are what give western

music its characteristic "flavor", and Westerners have

become so accustomed to this flavor since early child-

hood that it seems part of the natural order of things, just

as the grass is green and the sky is blue. Any other

musical system sounds "different."

And the Thai musical scale is indeed different — for

the intervals between all notes are exactly the same. This

means that almost all the notes are slightly different in

pitch from those on the western scale. Only the interval

between a note and its octave, eight notes higher up the

scale, is the same as in the west. This is what gives Thai

classical music its unfamiliar sound, its "otherness" to

western ears.

The 'pinphat' band consists of many interesting in-

struments very different from western ones, but of the

same three main types — percussion, string and wind.

The main instrument is the 'rarwd' or gamelan, a kind of

curved xylophone. This usually is to the classical Thai

band what the piano is to the western one; it predomin-

ates in producing the melody, and its rhythmic tinkling

sound is what listeners remember most vividly after-

wards.

A 'pinphat' band normally has two 'ranards' — the

'rarwd ek' or treble (high-toned) gamelan, and the

'ranard toom' or bass gamelan. The body of the 'rarwd ek'

Craftsmen have been making both these types of

'ranard' for hundreds of years in Thailand's central

region. The body is often made of teak, although any

hardwood will serve just as well, and another commonly

used wood is 'mai ching chan,' which can only be

translated into its botanical name, Dalbergia. Tradi-

tionally the Thai 'ranard's' flat sides and ends were not

carved; the makers brought out the natural grain of the

wood by polishing, and trimmed the edges with real

ivory. But carving, which is a Mon custom, was adopted

by the Thais and is frequently seen. Either way, the in-

struments are lent a touch of beauty by the graceful shap-

ing of the end-pieces, sharply pointed in the 'ranard ek'

and blunter in the 'ranard toom.'

The nearly flat wooden bars which form the notes

are made out of the same 'mai ching chan' for the 'ranard

ek', while those of the 'ranard toom' are made from 'mai

pai tong,' a variety of bamboo. The wood is first cut

roughly into graduated bars from a foot to fifteen inches

long, an inch and a half wide and a little over half an inch

deep. A knife or other sharp metal tool is used to shape

the bars and give the tops their characteristic slightly

curved, convex surface, and the final smoothing is done

with sandpaper. The correct tuning of each bar is very

important at the shaping stage to ensure the critically

correct uniform spacing of each tone, according to the

Thai musical scale. This is sometimes done by gouging

out wood with a curved chisel from the under-side as

necessary. Lead filings imbedded in beeswax may also be

stuck on at both ends of the bars to weight them and pro-

vide balance and fine tuning.

Holes are drilled in the bars through which parallel

stout cords similar to picture-cord or curtain-cord are

threaded to hold the bars in position. (In earlier times

thick multiple strands of cotton were used). At each end,

the cord passes over hooks fixed on the wooden ends of

the instrument so that it is stretched taut. In spite of this,

the combined weight of all the bars causes the whole as-

sembly to sag slightly in the middle, so that it hangs in a

curve which exactly follows the curved top of the body of

the instrument, resting about half-an-inch above it all

the way along. This allows the hollow, box-like body to

act as a kind of sounding-board, enhancing and mellow-

ing the tones given out when the bars are struck.

The sticks used for playing the 'ranard' are made of

round thin bamboo, about a foot long. Their cylindrical

striking ends are built up, layer by layer, with 'rak' or lac

from the "black varnish" tree and are either left hard to

produce a sharp percussive tone, or covered with cloth to

produce a softer one. Alternatively, the whole head of

the stick may be built up of cloth, bound tightly with

thread, layer on layer until the desired weight is reached,

which is up to the individual player's choice.

There is no written music for playing the 'ranard' or

any other Thai musical instrument. All the melodies are

memorized, and it takes about six months to learn how

to play. The 'ranard' is basically played with the two

sticks exactly an octave apart, especially during training;

chords have no part in Thai classical music.

plain one. A 'ranard' elaborately inlaid with mother-of-

pearl can be much more expensive. A skilled maker can

turn out an instrument in two or three days. As might be

expected, sales are not very brisk, as a well-made and well

looked-after 'ranard' can last for several generations;

 making these instruments is a skilled hobby rather than a

means of earning one's living. 'Ranard' makers are con-

centrated mainly in various districts of Bangkok, and in