Roneat Thung
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The ''roneat thung'' or ''roneat thum'' () is a low-pitched
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...
used in the Khmer classical music of
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
. It is built in the shape of a curved, rectangular boat. This instrument plays an important part in the '' Pinpeat'' ensemble. The ''roneat Thung'' is placed on the left of the '' roneat ek'', a higher-pitched xylophone. The ''Roneat Thung'' is analogous to the ''
ranat thum The ''ranat thum'' (, ) is a low pitched xylophone used in the music of Thailand. It has 17 wooden bars, which are stretched over a boat-shaped trough resonator. Its shape looks like a ''ranat ek'', but it is lower and wider. It is usually playe ...
'' of Thai.


Etymology

'' Roneat'' means xylophone where ''thung'' literally mean oodencontainer in Khmer. This may derived from the shape of this type of xylophone which shaped like a rectangular wooden container. Terry E. Miller and Sean Williams in their book ''The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music'', Roneat Thung is better called ''Roneat thomm/ thum'' which literally means "large xylophone". This name may designates the fact that roneat thum's resonator and note bars are larger and longer than those of roneat ek.


History

Roneat Thung, the sister musical instrument of Roneat Ek, was already established itself as a member of the Pinpeat orchestra since before the Angkor period. According to another source, Cambodian Roneat genres were derived from the Javanese
gamelan Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...
musical instruments which influenced the Khmer musical instrument in the early Angkorian period which spread from
Kampuchea Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thail ...
further northwest to
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
. Specifically, Roneat Thung is identical to the Indonesian and Malay gambang kayu. Throughout the history of
Cambodian music The music of Cambodia is derived from a mesh of cultural traditions dating back to the ancient Khmer Empire, India, China and the original indigenous tribes living in the area before the arrival of Indian and Chinese travelers. With the rapid Wes ...
, especially in the post-Angkorian period, Roneat thung usually appears in various mural paintings along with Roneat ek and always represent in the Pinpeat or Mahori orchestra.


Structure

The shape of Roneat Thung is thought to be modeled from a riverboat as Roneat Ek as well. Roneat thung's rectangular trough-resonator measures about 50 inches long supported by four short legs. While the end-pieces of the ''roneat aek'' and the ''roneat daek'' are flat and straight, the ''roneat thung'' end-pieces are curved slightly outward. The ''roneat thung'' has sixteen bamboo or wooden bars, measuring about 18.75 inches (low pitch) to 15.25 inches (high pitch) in length. The width of the bars (low and high) is approximately 2.5 inches and the thickness of both is about 0.75 inch. As the materials, which are used to make the bars, are the same as the ''roneat aek'', the same tuning blobs are also utilized. Like the ''roneat aek'', the ''roneat thung'' bars are suspended with two cords running through holes in each bar and placed on two hooks at each of the two curved end-pieces that are connected to the resonator. Only soft mallets are used to play the ''roneat thung'', either indoor or outdoor. While the mallet handles of the ''roneat thung'' are about the same length as those of the ''roneat aek'', their disc are larger and thicker. Each measure approximately 1.75 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches in thickness. The range of the ''roneat thung'' overlaps that of the ''roneat aek'', one octave lower. Due to its stylistic playing, the sixteen bars cover a range of music of over two octaves, a range that is wider than that of the ''roneat aek''. The role assigned to the ''roneat thung'' is to counter the melody. The ''roneat thung'' plays a line almost identical to that of the ''korng thomm'', except in a ''lak'' (vivacious, funny, comic) fashion.


Significance

''Roneat Thung'' has significant function in Khmer traditional orchestra both Pinpeat and Mohaori. But the Roneat Thung used in Mahori has to have higher sound (one sound) than the Roneat Thung used in Pinpeat starting from the first bar note. According to Cambodian traditional musicians, ''roneat thung'' has the same representation as ''Roneat Ek''. ''Roneat Ek'' represents female naga or dragon where ''roneat thung'' itself represents male naga in which both nagas has to be next to one another or pairing as accompanied in Khmer traditional orchestras.


See also

* Mohaori * Roneat ek *
Roneat dek The ''roneat dek'' () is a Cambodian metallophone, comparable to the Roneat ek. It is an ancient instrument made of 21 blackened-iron bars. It may be used in the ''Pinpeat'' ensemble and Mahori, Mahaori orchestra. It is believed to have originated f ...
*
Music of Cambodia The music of Cambodia is derived from a mesh of cultural traditions dating back to the ancient Khmer Empire, India, China and the original indigenous tribes living in the area before the arrival of Indian and Chinese travelers. With the rapid Wes ...
* Traditional Cambodian instruments


References


External links


UNESCO document, Traditional Musical Instruments of Cambodia. PDF.
{{Cambodian musical instruments Keyboard percussion instruments Cambodian musical instruments