Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments explained

Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments are the musical instruments used in the traditional and classical musics of Vietnam. They comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments, used by both the Viet (Vietnamese: Kinh) majority as well as the nation's ethnic minorities.

Strings

Plucked

• Vietnamese: [[Đàn bầu]] - monochord zither: often tuned C3, though tuning varies
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn đáy]] - long-necked three-stringed lute with trapezoidal body: tuned G3 C4
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn nguyệt]] (also called Vietnamese: nguyệt cầm, Vietnamese: đàn kìm or Vietnamese: Quân tử cầm) - moon-shaped two-string lute: no fixed tuning; strings are tuned a 4th, 5th, or 7th (minor), derived from the Chinese
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn sến]] - two-string lute derived from the Chinese
• Đàn tam - fretless lute derived from the Chinese with snakeskin-covered body and three strings: tuned F3 C4 F4
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn tranh]] - long zither derived from the Chinese
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn tỳ bà]] - pear-shaped lute with four strings derived from the Chinese ; tuned C4 F4 G4 C5
• Đàn tứ (also called đàn đoản): short-necked round-bodied lute derived from the Chinese yueqin or, beginning in the 20th century, a square-shaped, flat-backed, 4-string lute with short neck, tuned C3 G3 D4 A4
• Guitar phím lõm (also called Vietnamese: lục huyền cầm, Vietnamese: ghi-ta phím lõm, or Vietnamese: Đàn ghita) - "Vietnamized" acoustic or electric 5-string guitar with scalloped fretboard; used primarily in Vietnamese: [[cải lương]]: tuned C3 F3 C4 G4 C5
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn tính]] - long-necked lute with a gourd body and two or three silk strings derived from the Chinese Zhuang (Chinese: 天琴); used by the Tay, Nung, and Thai ethnic groups
• Vietnamese: [[Bro (instrument)|Bro]] - fretted zither with a body made of bamboo and a gourd resonator; used by minority ethnic groups in the Central Highlands
• Vietnamese: [[Goong (instrument)|Goong]] - tube zither with a bamboo body; used by minority ethnic groups in the Central Highlands

Bowed

• Vietnamese: [[Đàn gáo]] - two-stringed vertical violin with coconut resonator derived from the Chinese
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn hồ]] - two-stringed vertical violin with wooden resonator; Vietnamese: hồ derived from the Chinese, as in
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn nhị]] - two-stringed vertical violin derived from the Chinese
• Vietnamese: [[K'ni]] (also spelled Vietnamese: k'ny or Vietnamese: k'ný) - bowed monochord; played by the Jarai people of the Central Highland

Struck

• Vietnamese: [[Đàn tam thập lục]] - hammered dulcimer with 36 metal strings derived from the Chinese
• Đàn t'rưng

Highland Central bamboo xylophone.

Wind

Flutes

• Vietnamese: [[Sáo]] (also called Vietnamese: sáo trúc) - transverse flute made of bamboo or hardwood

Oboes

• Vietnamese: [[Kèn (musical instrument)|Kèn]] - class of double reed instruments similar to the oboe and the Indian shehnai
  • Vietnamese: [[Kèn bầu]] - conical oboe with gourd-shaped wooden bell
  • Vietnamese: [[Kèn đám ma]] - conical oboe with metal bell; used for funeral music in northern Vietnam

Clarinets

• Vietnamese: Bi doi - double clarinet similar to the Middle Eastern ; used in courtship context mainly within the Mường people.

Free reed mouth organs

• Đing nǎm - free-reed mouth organ with gourd body and bamboo pipes; played by Highland people
• Vietnamese: [[Gourd mouth organ|M'buot]] - free-reed mouth organ with gourd body and bamboo pipes; played by upland minorities
• Vietnamese: [[Khene|Khèn]] - Vietnamese equivalent to the Khaen from Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

Horns

• Vietnamese: Púa - valveless brass trumpet
• Vietnamese: Ốc ("snail") - conch trumpet
• Vietnamese: T'dep - Buffalo horn

Percussion

Drums

• Vietnamese: Trống - drum played with sticks
  • Vietnamese: [[Trống cái]] - bass drum
  • Vietnamese: [[Trống chầu]] or Vietnamese: trống đế - the largest of the set of drums used in Vietnamese: [[Hát tuồng]].
  • Vietnamese: [[Trống cơm]] - rice drum
  • Dong Son drum (also called Vietnamese: Trống Đông) - bronze drum played by the Dong Son culture in ancient times
• Vietnamese: [[Nruas tuag]] (also called Vietnamese: [[Ư chua]] - drum used by the H'mong ethnic group for funeral music

Tuned percussion

• Vietnamese: [[Biên khánh]] - a set of L-shaped flat stone chimes used in ancient court music;^[1] derived from the Chinese
• Vietnamese: [[Gong|Cồng chiêng]] - tuned gong (comes in both flat and knobbed varieties)
• Vietnamese: Tam âm la - set of three small, high-pitched flat gongs in a frame; used primarily in Vietnamese: [[nhã nhạc]] music
• Vietnamese: [[T'rưng]] - bamboo xylophone
• Vietnamese: [[Đàn đá]] - lithophone, commonly having 9+ stone bars, in length. It is believed the instrument dates back to 1000 BC. Also called Vietnamese: Goong Lú (M'nong people), Vietnamese: Kologolo (M'nong people), Vietnamese: Gôông Luk (Mạ people).

Untuned percussion

• Vietnamese: [[Bộ gõ]] - castanets
• Vietnamese: [[Chun mo]] - metal woodblock
• Vietnamese: [[Phách]] - clapper made from bamboo or hardwood
• Vietnamese: [[Sênh tiền]] - coin clapper
• Vietnamese: [[Sanh sua]] - clapper
• Vietnamese: [[Song loan]] - woodblock

Other

• Vietnamese: [[Đàn môi]] - jaw harp
• Vietnamese: [[Klông pút]] - Bamboo tube xylophone; hands are clapped near ends of tubes to produce musical tones
• Vietnamese: Đàn tre ("bamboo instrument") - A hybrid form of the Vietnamese plucked string instrument, similar to a Vietnamese: Đàn tính, called a Vietnamese: Đàn tre, was created by Nguyễn Minh Tâm, who escaped from Vietnam in 1982 and ultimately settled in Australia. The instrument has twenty-three -long wire strings attached to a bamboo tube with a metal hose-clamp around the top rim. A, rectangular olive oil tin, which acts as a resonator, is clamped to the base of the tube. The instrument is capable of playing both Vietnamese and Western music. The instrument can be seen and recordings of it being played by its creator can be heard at the National Museum of Australia.^[2]
• Vietnamese: [[Kyey se]] - Vietnamese bell

See also

• Music of Vietnam
• Space of Gong culture in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

External links

• The traditional music and instruments of Vietnam
• Comprehensive listing of Vietnamese musical instruments
• Hybrid Vietnamese: Đàn tre

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sắp phục chế thành công 2 bộ nhạc cụ độc đáo đã thất truyền. Đại Dương. 2010-12-09. 2016-10-15.
2. Book: Wilson. Transnational Ties: Australian Lives in the World. 2008. ANU E press. 978-1-921536-20-5. Deacon. Desley. 289. The dàn tre, translated simply as 'bamboo musical instrument', is the invention of Minh Tam Nguyen. Made from available materials first in Vietnam, then in the Philippines.... Russell. Penny. Woollacott. Angela.