PROCEDURE OF MAKING TA PHON BY KHRU POOMJAI RUENROENG

Abstract

     This article presents context of Ta Phon, biography of Khru Poomjai Ruenroeng and procedure of making Ta Phon by Khru Poomjai Ruenroeng. With the use of qualitative researching methods, the outcomes illustrate that Ta Phon, categorized as a kind of drums played in Thai’s Pi Phat ensemble, is presumed to be derived from India. There are evidences showing Ta Phon’s existance since Sukhothai era. The two-faced drum has diameters of eight and nine inches for small and large sides respectively. It is twenty-one inches in height. Importantly, Thai musicians pay considerable respects to Ta Phon. The drum is mentally meaningful because it is a symbol of a Thai music god, Phra Para Khon Thub. Khru Poomjai Ruenroeng, an expert in making Thai Xylophones (Ra-nad) and drums (Klong), has inherited the instruments making techniques from Khru Sanae Pakphong. The procedure of making Ta Phon by Khru Poomjai Ruenroeng consists of six steps which are the preparation of Ta Phon’s body, the preparation of Sai La Man (handmade twisted leather), the process of cutting cow skin into a rope called Nang Riad, the preparation of drum faces, process of carving Ta Phon’s stand and the process of assembling the drum. The study reveals three factors affecting sound quality of Ta Phon’s that are the evenness of the cow skin to apply as drum faces, the space in drum body and how well the drum skin is tightened. There are four identities found towards the procedure. (The unique ways to equip Nang Riad and Sai La Man, the exact scale of drum’s body and the step of tightening the drum with knees.)