Neumatic singing in thai popular singing, 1925 - 1967

Abstract

© 2020 Universiti Putra Malaysia Press. Thai popular singing originated in 1925 during a period of radical change in the country and later became an important element of entertainment businesses including musical theatres, Thai films, bands, radio plays and television shows. Thai popular singing methodology, particularly the pronunciation, was continually developed and modified by the traditional singers. They resolved problems of incorrect pronunciation through neumatic singing which was considered the pitch of tone marks and its pattern matches the acciaccatura as an ornamentation in a piece of music. This technique resulted in linguistic verification and this helped reflect and enhance the connection between Thai language and music. If the pitch of the word's tone mark changes, the musical pitch will accordingly change. Therefore, the identity of Thai popular singing comes from the sound characteristics of the Thai language which create the melody and singing accent. This technique continues to be used in Thai popular singing by the new generation singers.