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The Thai Gong
The
earliest Thai
instruments were made before Indian culture
made itself felt, and all had onomatopoeic names, that is, single
syllabic words that approximated the actual sound. The gong is
one of these, known in Thai by the very similar-sounding khawng.
The English word is certainly derived from the Malay gong; the
Thai probably also. In a variety of sizes, in different
combinations and put to different uses, all gongs have the same
basic form: a flat front surface with a raised boss in the
center, and a thick circular rim behind, tapering slightly
inwards. This rim, called chat after the tiered umbrella that is
the symbol of royalty in Thailand, is pierced with two holes,
from which the gong is suspended.
Gongs between 30 and 45 cm (12-18 in) in diameter, make a sound
similar to mong in Thai, and so are called khawng mong. One of
the several original uses of such gongs was recording the passage
of hours, as bells were rung in Europe. In Thailand, however, two
different instruments were used: a drum for the night hours and a
gong for the day. A legacy of this is the vocabulary in modern
Thai for the time of day. Daylight hours, beginning at 7 o’clock,
use the word for gong in conjunction with the hour, as in sawng
mong chao, meaning ‘second morning hour’, or 8 o’clock. The
‘thum’ sound of the drum yielded the expression for evening
hours, so 8 p.m. is sawng mong thum. The word for an hour is chua
mong-literally the interval of time between the soundings of the
going.
Gongs of different sizes had many ritual uses, as in processions,
and are still used in some ceremonies. They were also an
important percussion instrument in the Thai musical ensemble, the
piphat. Groupings varied from a pair (one high-toned, the other
low-toned) suspended in small wooden box open at the top, to the
circle of gongs, as in the mural painting on right. The player
sits inside the circle with a beater in each hand, the gongs
arranged clockwise in ascending pitch: the smallest at the far
left, behind the player, to the largest at the far right and
behind. Considerable dexterity and suppleness is needed to play
them.
02. December 2004