piphat

The tradition & historical record

A piphat (Thai: วงปี่พาทย์) is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand, which features wind and percussion instruments. It is considered the primary form of ensemble for the interpretation of the most sacred and "high-class" compositions of the Thai classical repertoire, including the Buddhist invocation entitled sathukan (Thai: สาธุการ) as well as the suites called phleng rueang. It is also used to accompany traditional Thai theatrical and dance forms including khon (Thai: โขน) (masked dance-drama), lakhon (classical dance), and shadow puppet theater. Piphat in the earlier time was called phinphat. It is analogous to the Cambodian musical ensemble of pinpeat and Laotian ensemble of pinphat. ¹

The smallest piphat, called piphat khrueang ha, is composed of six instruments: pi nai (oboe); ranat ek (xylophone); khong wong yai (gong circle); taphon or other Thai drums; glong thad, a set of two large barrel drums beaten with sticks; and ching (small cymbals). Often other small percussion instruments such as krap or chap are used. A slightly larger piphat ensemble is called piphat khrueang khu, and consists of eight musical instruments. The other two instruments are the ranat thum (xylophone), which produces a deeper sound than the ranat ek, and khong wong lek, a gong circle that is higher in pitch than the khong wong yai. The largest form of piphat ensemble is the piphat khrueang yai, which consists of ten musical instruments. Another ones are ranat ek lek and ranat thum lek; these are almost the same as their ancestors, the ranat ek and ranat thum, but they have keys made from metal instead of wood. ¹

Wong piphat khrueang ha (Thai: วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องห้า, Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ hâː]) is an ensemble consisting of: ¹

1 pi nai - bass oboe 1 taphon - secondary beat 1 ching - main beat 1 khong wong yai - bass gongs hung in a nearly full circular track 2 glong thad - Thai tympani 1 ranat ek - treble xylophone ¹

Wong piphat khrueang khu (Thai: วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องคู่, Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ kʰûː]) is developed from piphat khrueang ha, by arranging instruments in pairs of treble-bass. It consists of: ¹

1 pi nai - bass oboe 1 pi nok - treble oboe 1 taphon - secondary timekeeper 1 glong songna or 2 glong khaek 2 glong thad - Thai tympani 1 ching - main timekeeper 1 chap 1 khong wong yai - bass gongs hung in semicircular track 1 khong wong lek - treble version of gongs hung in semicircular track 1 khong mong 1 ranat ek - treble xylophone 1 ranat thum - bass xylophone ¹

Wong piphat khrueang yai (Thai: วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องใหญ่, Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ jàj]) is arranged by adding ranat ek lek (ระนาดเอกเหล็ก; treble metallophone) and ranat thum lek (ระนาดทุ้มเหล็ก; bass metallophone) to the wong piphat khrueang khu. ¹

Wong piphat nang hong (Thai: วงปี่พาทย์นางหงส์, Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt naːŋ hǒŋ]) is an ensemble used in funerals. It is arranged by replacing the pi nai and pi nok with a pi chawa. The name nang hong comes from name of its main music, which is intended for funeral ceremonies. A royal variant for Thai royal funerals, Wong piphat nang hong khruang yai (for the King) or Wong piphat nang hong khrueang khu (for senior members of the Royal Family), introduced during the reign of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) for use in royal funerals of the Chakri Dynasty, was reinstated during the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 1995, during the state funeral rites for Srinagarindra, the Princess Mother, upon the initiative of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the Princess Royal, after years of absence. If playing for the king, the royal funeral ensemble has 10 to 12 instruments played, a few more than the simple ensemble, for senior members 8 to 9 instruments are used. In some funerals in Thailand the nang hong variant ensemble is supplemented by Western instruments like trumpets, saxophones, clarinets and even a drum kit, guitars and an electric piano. Some of these have also appeared in the normal ensembles. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Piphat”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

piphat is music genre; type of ensemble in Thai classical music, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 5 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²