Vietnamese
Music Intruments
Dan
Bau consists
of a long piece of wood, on which is stretched a silk or brass
string, which is fastened at one end to a peg and at the other
to a flexible bamboo plate. The string is passed repeatedly
through an open dried gourd as sound box. Although having
only one string, it can emit all the sounds in the pentatonic
scale. The eight notes of Vietnamese music give modulations
of greater amplitudes than those obtained by any other single-stringed
instrument in the world. Today, Dan Bau is made very carefully
to ensure aesthetic and sound quality. When played in public,
it is often used with an electronic amplifier.
Danda
, discovered by the French in Dac Lac in 1949,Danda
(Lithophone) is an ancient musical instrument with 11 slabs
of stone. Later, four more Dan da were discovered in Song
Be and Khanh Hoa. It results from the researches that
Dan da existed between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago.
Also
called Tinh Ning, §µn gong is a musical instrument of
the ethnic minority Ba Na (in Western Highlands). It
has between 10 and 18 chords. The player uses his fingers
to pluck the chords when playing. Each chord generates a separate
tune, but §µn gong has no key. Young men use it to make solo
performances when promenading, going to milpa or confiding
to their sweethearts.
Nhi
(or Co) is a sort of vertical violin with two strings
of braided silk, a long handle and a sound box covered by
a membrane of snake skin. With its melodious sounds, Nhi can
express the subtle mood of man's soul. Due to its diversified
use, Nhi is indispensable in a traditional musical orchestra.
§µn
tranh is also called Dan thap luc (16-chord zither).
The holed bottom of its box makes echo. There are different
musical skills, such as vibrating, clapping, pressing, stroking....Women
use it when making solo performances, playing in an orchestra,
accompanying a singer, declaiming poems...
The
T'rung consists of 5-7 bamboo stems graduated in length
and tied together with two parallel cords. It can be rolled
up and put in a back basket. But on stage, the T'rung is hung
in a metal stand, and the player uses two or even four beaters
to strike the bamboo stems at the same time. The sound of
T'rung is said to resemble that of the running or falling
water from the streams and waterfalls in the Highlands
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