Ballroom Dance Music in Thai society

AbstractThis historical qualitative research on music aimed to study the history and development of Westernballroom dance music in Thailand in order to find the relationship between the music and Thai societyand culture. The research revealed that ballroom dance music was a Western entertainment culture introducedto Thailand during the reign of King Rama III. According to the memo written in 1840 by aEuropean named Frederick Arthur Neale, there was a dinner party in Wang Na (the palace of the viceking)which European ballroom dance was included. Because of trading and diplomatic progression,Thailand and Western countries did develop their relationship. There were journeys between the twoterritories, brass bands created by foreign soldiers, and the invention of ballroom dance musical ensembleduring the reign of King Rama V. Up to the reign of King Rama VII, many Thai students pursuedtheir education in foreign countries of both Europe and America, which made them experienced more ofWestern music performances. Among these students was Luang Sukhumnaipradit who became the veryimportant person of ballroom dance music in Jazz style. These factors made great progression in ballroomdance music and resulted in the invention of big bands. There were many skillful musicians andsong writers such as Uea Sunthonsanan, Luan Khwantham and Kaew Achariyakul who became famousduring this period of time. Moreover, nightclubs and sound recording businesses were the importantstimulants to the popularity of ballroom dance music. There was also a Thai-style ballroom dance rhythmnamed Taloong Tempo. However, the development in technologies changed the taste of popular musicand decreased the importance of ballroom dance music. The ballroom dance music, nevertheless, is stillburied itself inside Thailand’s entertainment culture and moves together unceasingly with the culturalwaves.Key words: ballroom dance music, Thailand, histor

History and Arrangements of Thai Traditional Music for Orchestra

This was a qualitative research which aimed to evaluate historical evidence and fieldwork as well asto analyze the characteristics. The results were as follows:The history of arranging Thai traditional music for orchestra began after the end of the World War I.At that time, Mr. Alberto Nazari took a Thai Napat song, Baat sa-gu-nee, for performance by an internationalorchestra. Later on, he bestowed it to Phra Jenduriyang to perform at the marriage ceremony ofPhrabat Somdet Phra Pokklao Chao Yuhua, King rama VII, and Queen Rambhai Barni on 25th August,1918. Undoubtedly, this piece was the first Thai traditional song arranged for an international orchestra.From the past until now, there were many people who played important roles in creating and arrangingthe music for orchestra continuously, including Alberto Nazari, Phra Jenduriyang, Prung Prasarnsap,Prasidh Silapabanleng, Lt.Comdr. Piyaphan Sanitwongse na Ayudhya, Admiral ML Usni Pramoj, SuriyanRamasutra, Vanich Potavanich, and Maj.Prateep Suphanroj.Furthermore, by analyzing the character of Thai traditional songs that were arranged for an orchestrasuch as Pleng pa-tom, Khab-mai-bandho, Rabum Sukho-Thai, Ka-man-sai-yok, Lao Duang Duen, KleunKratob Fang, Lao Somdej, Lao Duang Dawk Mai, Khek Bor Ra Thet, and Hom rong Kwan Mueng, itwas found that the most important characteristic of the music arrangements is that it still retains theoriginal tradition and some did not. However, most of the music arrangements used the major scale andthe thai traditional song that were arranged mostly used a duple meter

Pramothai Musical Theatre

AbstractThis research titled “Pramothai Musical Theatre” is part of Doctor of Philosophy Program in Music,Mahidol University. The researcher used the methodology of qualitative research to study the history ofPramothai Musical Theatre. The objectives of this research are to study the establishment of PramothaiMusical Theatre, its important personnel and components of Pramothai Musical Theatre.The research revealed that Pramothai Musical Theatre was established in 1911 by Phra SophonAksonkit (Lek Samitasiri). He established his own theatre situated in a commercial building in the southof Charoen Krung Road in order to organize the performance of musical theatre which used the playscomposed by many poets. The style of Pramothai Musical Theatre was made interesting by severaladditional components, namely, international dances during interlude dance show, the jokers who alwaysfollowed the main characters and the Chinese operas which were developed into the style of Thaimusical theatre with Thai lyrics. The important actresses were Mae Bunnak, Mae Chawee and MaeChamoi.From the research, there were two important personnel of Pramothai Musical Theatre. The firstperson was Phra Sophon Aksonkit who was the owner of Pramothai Musical Theatre and who played animportant role in developing musical theatre into an interesting and unique performance. The secondperson was Chamoi Khangkharat (Mae Chamoi) who was a significant actress of Pramothai MusicalTheatre. Mae Chamoi was so skillful in performing musical theatre that she was praised as the bestperformer in Thai-style Chinese opera.There were six essential components of Pramothai Musical Theatre: theatrical play, performer, theatre,scenery, musical ensemble, and song.Key words: Pramothai Musical Theatre, history, personnel and component

Century of the Angklung Journey and Its Establishment in Thailand

Both Thai and Javanese have been with lifelong cultural friendship for over 250 years. Thai people enjoyed the Panji storytelling since the late 1700’s andhave been using Panji as written Thai poetic literature and for court theatre over2 centuries. We shared the same brass knobbed gong culture with its pentatonic(Slendro) and septatonic (Pelog) equidistance scales. The angklung, bambooshaking instrument, were brought as a gift to royal children by HM King Rama the V to Siam since 1871 but the ensemble were not set up until our great court musician named Jangwang Sorn Silapa-banleng, took the instruments from Sunda West Java to Bangkok in 1908, later, he established the very first ThaiAngklung Ensemble played several songs he composed in pentatonic scalesame way he heard in the Javanese Islands. Since then, the bamboo angklungwere made with the Thai native bamboo followed by the nationwide uses. Thispaper describes the Angklung Journey from West Java to Thailand showing thehistoric photographs of Thai Angklung music teachers, their houses ofAngklungs and the music they composed. Today, Thai Angklung were used forchildren classroom music. DVD and Musical Disc of Thai Angklung will bedemonstrated, bringing both music knowledge and enjoyment to show thecross cultural examples of the two nations

KHANTHAPASALA: A TELEVISION PROGRAM THAT BROUGHT BACK THAI MUSIC's LIFE

This is part of a qualitative research that aimed to study: 1) The history and Thai music's situation before theKhanthapasala program was initiated: 2) Perspectives, structure, ideas and content presented in this program:3) Value and affect of the Khanthapasala on Thai society.The major findings are: 1) Before the Khanthapasala program was created, Thai music had declined underPhiboonsongkram's cultural policies. 2) The purpose of the Khanthapasala program was to preserve Thai music bypresenting live music including songs, dances, poetry, literature and drawing along with music. 3) Khanthapasala wasvaluable in creating Thai musical knowledge, entertainment, dances, language poetry, as well as in history. It affectedto the preservation of Thai culture and furthered sense of Thainess.The idea of Khanthapasala program were also affected to Thai society in many ways such as the presentationof Thai music on television, introduced the well-known artists to the audiences, educated people about principle ofperformance practice and ensembles setting, selecting music for presentation, gave chance to the new artists, givingidea on radio and television program management as well as being a valuable source for Thai music knowledge.Keyword: Khanthapasala; Thai Music; Music Progra

Khim in Thai Educational System

    The research of “Khim in the Thai educational system” was qualitative research that aimed to study about teaching and learning the Khim musical instrument in Thailand and to study about the pedagogy of Khim. The main research questions were: What has been the development of teaching Khim in Thailand from the past to the present time? And what is the pedagogy of Khim in the Thai educational system?    The historical information and field trip information were used in this research and the results of the research are: The study of Khim in the musical bureau of The Thai Musical Bureau of Luang Pradit Pailoh (Sorn Silapa Banleng)’s Foundation teaches Khim on Saturdays and Sundays; the style of teaching is one by one and the group band. The teachers are former students of the bureau and the learners are generally interested people. The curriculum is divided into 11 levels of practice and 18 points of music theory. For study of Khim in primary and secondary schools, the local curriculum is used and the teaching is in 3 types: in class studying time, out of class studying time (in the morning, at noon and after school), and on Saturdays and Sundays. The style of teaching is in the group band. The learners play every musical instrument in the band, including the Khim. For study of Khim in higher education institutes, there are three higher education institutes teaching Khim as the major subject for the Bachelor’s degree: the Faculty of Education at Chulalongkorn University, the Faculty of Fine Arts at Srinakarintarawirote University, and the College of Music at Mahidol University. Students will get either a Bachelor degree of B.Ed. or B.A. For study of Khim in 15 (2) private schools, the curriculums of teaching Khim in private schools are different in structure, length of each level andperiod of studying. The curriculum is for 3 years and 9 years, and is divided into fundamental, intermediate and advanced.    Every pedagogy of Khim in schools, bureaus and institutes mentioned above is in the style of one by one, in pair, and in the group band. Songs for practicing are assigned for each level. The main equipment is the Khim and the percussion: Ching and Tone – Ramana. Musical notation is provided to help to remember, review and examine songs. The musical activities of Khim are performing for different occasions, musical camps, musical seminas, and Khim competition at the national and international levels. Paper tests, behavior observation forms and practice tests are used for evaluation and assessment. Sometimes, a practice test in front of a well- qualified committee of Khim experts has to be done.Keywords: Khim, Thai education, Thai Musi

Integrating environmental sustainability and disaster resilience in building codes

The planning, design, construction and operation of buildings are governed by building codes. Not all countries in Asia and the Pacific have a native building code and countries that do have a code often struggle with low compliance rates. Improving building code quality and enforcement could help cities improve their environmental sustainability and disaster resilience. To address this issue, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) conducted a joint study to gain an overview of the current status of integration of disaster resilience and environmental sustainability in building codes in the Asia-Pacific region and to document a series of good practices, showing a range of incentives for building code stakeholders in this region to further integrate these elements in their work. The findings of the study reveal that environmental design is a relatively new element in building codes in developing countries and is therefore often not well integrated. With regards to disaster resilience, some hazards have been addressed reasonably well. Resistance against earthquakes, storms and typhoons, for example, has been integrated in many codes analyzed. Some of the incentives to integrate environmental design and disaster resilience in building codes includes fiscal, financial and zoning. Three methods have been identified through which building codes can be implemented effectively. Improving the building code is going to have a greater impact as building growth is expected to be higher in this region

Scanning and transmission electron microscopy of the histopathological impact of Macrogyrodactylus clarii (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) on the gills of catfish, Clarias gariepinus

Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the histopathological effects of the monogenean Macrogyrodactylus clarii Gussev, 1961 on the gills of the catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell). Suction generated during attachment created 'footprints' on host surfaces in which the host tissues were elevated above the general gill surface. 'Footprints' were bordered by four clefts caused by the muscular flaps on the anterior, lateral and posterior margins of the haptor. The hamuli points penetrate the gill tissue but no evidence was found for the insertion of the marginal hooklets. At the site of attachment, host cells adjacent to the lateral flaps often appeared compressed and widely spaced with large intercellular spaces. Desquamation of these surface epithelia was also apparent and some of the widely spaced epithelial cells had pseudopodium-like processes. Cells within the upper surface epithelial layer of the host were vacuolated and necrotic. Ruptured blood capillaries (blood spaces) in the secondary gill lamellae contained atypical compressed erythrocytes, agranular and granular leucocytes and evidence of haemorrhaging. Cells with fibrotic cytoplasm, putative phagocytes and host mucous cells were evidence of a host response at the site of parasite attachment. The possible role of these cells is discussed in relation to host resistance against infection

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65729/1/j.1752-7325.1980.tb01869.x.pd