|
SRALAI TUCH AND SRALAI THOM
Description
The Sralai
Tuch and the Sralai Thom are both wind instruments,
which use a split reed in the mouthpiece. These musical
instruments are used in the “Pin Peat” orchestra, (for
religious occasions and classical dance).
In the
past, the Sralai Tuch and the Sralai Thom often led the
Pin Peat orchestra. This is because of the two
instruments performing the introduction were preferred
to a solo instrument. Despite being played together,
however, these instruments have different pitches and
timbres and do not follow the same melodic line, but
rather complement each other. Both instruments are
difficult to blow or finger.
Both
Sralai use the circular breathing technique meaning that
air is continually reserved within the cheeks so that
the melody line remains unbroken. In comparison, most
other wind instrument players break the phrase to take
air through the mouth.
Both
Sralai Tuch and Sralai Thom have six finger holes on the
instrument, both observe different fingering patterns.
The key to changing the sound of this instrument type
lies in the fingering formation and the subtlety of
tuning.
These
two instruments are long and round made of wood such as
“Kra Nhung” or “Neang Nung”. The mouthpieces are of
dried palm leaf inserted into a small copper tube. The
palm leaf is folded into four layers and attached to a
small copper pipe with cotton thread, then inserted into
the Sralai with a piece of bees wax.
The
voice of the Sralais are unique. As already mentioned,
the timber of the instrument can be changed to form
twelve to sixteen different sounds, simply by adjusting
the fingering and tuning. The division of spacing the
finger holes, depends on the overall length of the
instrument, thus Sralais from vary regions have
different pitches and scale ranges.
The
comparison of the pitch of the Sralai Tuch and the
Sralai Thom when they are jointly performed.
note: click on the
sound link to listen to the sound of the instrument.
|
