Traditional Thai Music

Thai people have known how to make musical instruments or to copy the patterns of others and adapt them to their own uses since ancient times. Before they came into contact with Indian culture (which was widespread in Southeast Asia), the Thais devised many kinds of musical instruments. And several new kinds of instruments were created after contact with the Indian musical culture. Including many local versions of flutes, stringed instruments and gongs, there are about 50 types of Thai musical instruments. The earliest Thai ensembles included woodwind and percussion instruments, originally in order to accompany the theatre. The Thai scale includes seven equal notes, instead of a mixture of tones and semitones. Instruments improvise around a central melody. Traditional Thai music is unique for its sound, but also for the absence of written music. The only way to learn it is from the masters, making it a rare art form, indeed.