Composition of thai festival series piano four-hands by combining suntharaporn songs with application of western and chinese musical theories

Abstract

Integrating genres, styles, and artistic elements in contemporary music composition to create new musical styles or forms has become a trend. Music is an essential medium for promoting and exchanging cultures in different countries. This aims of this research are as follows: (1) to compose the Thai festival series piano four-hands by combining Suntharaporn songs with the application of Western and Chinese music theories; and (2) to analyze the composition techniques of each Thai festival series piano four-hands composition. The research, integrated with backward design for forward action, started with a desire to compose and analyze the Thai festival series piano four-hands. It had three stages: (1) the gathering stage, to plan and design composition techniques and understand the cultural background behind the festival; (2) the composing stage, to compose piano four-hands by combining Suntharaporn songs with Western and Chinese musical theories; and (3) the analysis stage, to understand music concepts, particularly structures, forms, melodies, harmony, rhythm, and other components. The melody is based on Suntharaporn songs with enjoyable rhythmic patterns in the styles of either tonal or atonal music, combining a Chinese flavor to make it more diverse and create a sense of participation in the famous Thai festivals.

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