red dot Mekong NYC Arts & Music red dot Vietnamese Folk Music
folk arts studies    F O L K · A R T S · S T U D I E S
A research project in the Vietnamese folk arts heritage
Mekong NYC hosts a music class to teach students how to play the đàn tranh (Vietnamese zither). The class is infused with storytelling, especially Vietnamese folk tales and culture, community building through group playing and listening, and group theory, examining traditional Vietnamese and Cambodian songs and pop music.

Lesson: m05_Ly-Con-Sao-Hue_Tranh
for Vietnamese 16-string zither
by Teacher Phan Gia Anh-Thư & Teacher Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Dec 04, 2024 13:12:40
m05_Ly-Con-Sao-Hue
Tablature to Click and Print:
T H E   S T O R Y:
Lý Con Sáo Huế [Song of the Starling], also named Lý Hoài Xuân [Song of Spring Reminiscence]. A famous folk song of central Vietnam, based on two six-eight syllable couplet:
Ai đem con sáo sang sông
Để cho con sáo sổ lồng bay xa.
Non cao ai đắp nên cao
Bể sâu nhờ bởi ai đào;o nên sâu.
Who brought the starling across the river,
And allowed her to break the case and fly away.
The mountain is high, who filled it up to get such height
The ocean is deep, then who dugged it to make it deep?

The song describes women conditions in the countryside of Vietnam. Then, when she crossed the river, she was free (like a young black teenager Elizabeth Cotton thought of jumping on a train to be free when she wrote the song Freight train). Today, sang sông [crossing the river] means she gets married.

The song is written in the cung oán mourning pentatonic scale, G B C D E, but requires extensive bendings: all C's and G's are to be vibrated, all D's are tapped, and watch out for other prebending and released strings.
The symbols 𝅃    in Phrase #1 are for percussion, meaning tap on the bridge with your right hand index finger.


\nLý Hoài XuânNguyễn Hữu Ba • Song of the Starling, HuếA VIETNAMESE FOLK MUSIC STUDY • Ngô Thanh Nhàn • Dec 04, 2024MusicXML source: — MuseScore 3.6.17–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6TablatureLý Hoài Xuân • Part #P1 • Phrase #18910111213141516177〰127〰12〰7121312〰1415〰12139–C510–D511–E512–G513–A5TablatureLý Hoài Xuân • Part #P1 • Phrase #21311〰910〰1211〰127–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6TablatureLý Hoài Xuân • Part #P1 • Phrase #31112131415161710〰12∨1110〰9107〰9∨10127〰127–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6TablatureLý Hoài Xuân • Part #P1 • Phrase #41112131415161710〰12∨1110〰9107〰9∨10127〰12 Circle of FifthsRange: A4 C5 D5 E5 G5 A5 C6 D6 E6 G6 G4 F5 \n\nA\nA\n\nE\nE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nF\n\nC\nC\n\nG\nG\nG\n\nD\nDPitch Classes: 0,1,2,3,4,11Circle of Chromatics\n\n\nE\nE\n\nF\n\n\nG\nG\nG\n\n\nA\nA\n\n\n\nC\nC\n\n\nD\nDPitch Classes: 9,0,2,4,7,5