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: m12_Long-Me_Tranh
for Vietnamese 16-string zither
by Teacher Phan Gia Anh-Thư & Teacher Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Dec 04, 2024 13:45:20
m12_Long-Me
Tablature to Click and Print:
T H E   S T O R Y:
Lòng Mẹ [Mother's Love], by Y Vân [Trần Tấn Hậu (1933-1992)] in 1955. It was about Y Vân's mother, who went to a public water fountain to wash his shirt after the curfew at 2:00am, and was chased by the police. She went home to dry his shirt by incense. He was so moved and wrote this song, with these words:

Lòng mẹ bao la như biển Thái Bình, dạt dào
Tình mẹ tha thiết như dòng suối hiền, ngọt ngào
Lời mẹ êm ái như đồng lúa chiều, rì rào
Tiếng ru êm đềm trăng tà soi bóng, mẹ yêu...


Mother's love is like the Pacific Ocean, boundless
Her devotion is like a spring stream, sweet and gentle
Her words are like the breeze playing over ripe rice fields, soothing
Etched into my memory:
Her lullaby on the front porch...
and her image shining under the waning moon...

Vietnam has always praised mothers, from Bà Âu Cơ who built the 18 dynasties of Hùng Kings, yet people did not see the appearance of Lạc Long Quân after that. The first appearance of mothers was in the Buddhist sutra Phật thuyết Đại báo Phụ Mẫu ân trọng kinh of the 8th Century.

Y Vân's Lòng Mẹ is the most moving song about mother, coming from ancestral worshipping, where mother is placed the highest. There are imaginative connections between a mother's love, which seeps into and becomes part the child's entire existence.

The song has two bendings from A to B and G to G#. Vibratos rung for southern air hơi on higher C and G.

Consult YouTube examples:
Tài Kibo 2020
NS Ngọc Huyền 2021
Thương Huyền 2016
Nghệ Sĩ Hương Đức 2019
Hướng dẫn đàn tranh bài Lòng Mẹ. Hd Tài Linh Trương phần 2. hotboy đàn tranh 2019.


\nLÒNG MẸY Vân • lyricistRe-formatted: YWCMA VIETNAMESE FOLK MUSIC STUDY • Ngô Thanh Nhàn • Dec 04, 2024MusicXML source: — MuseScore 3.6.12–G33–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Lòng mẹ bao la như biển Thái Bình dạt dào.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #13456545317233–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Tình mẹ tha thiết như dòng suối hiền ngọt ngào.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #26889888617367–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Lời mẹ êmái như đồng lúa chiềurào.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #3 = 1 higher89101110910817783–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Tiếng thu bên thềm trăng soi bóngmẹ yêu.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #49876545617362–G33–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Lòng mẹ thương con như vầng trăng tròn mùa thu.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #5 = 13456545317233–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Tình mẹ yêu mến như làn gió đùa mặt hồ.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #6 = 26889888617367–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Lời ru man mác êm như sáo diều dật dờ.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #7 = 1 higher8910111091081778B33–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C5Nắng mưa sớm chiều vui cùng tiếng hát trẻ thơ.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #8 ~ 4987654563683–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C5Thươngcon thao thức bao đêm trường con đã yên giấc mẹ hiền vui sướng xiết bao.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #9888988654563456663–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D5Thương con khuya sớm bao tháng ngày lặn lội gieo neo nuôi con tới ngày lớn khôn.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #10888108863688888788D42–G33–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6cho mưa gió không quản thân gầy mẹ hiền.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #11 = 1345654543172334323A43–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Một sương hai nắng cho bạc mái đầu buồn phiền.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #12 = 2688988886173667656D53–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C510–D511–E512–G513–A514–C615–D616–E617–G6Ngày đêm sớm tối vui cùng con nhỏ mộtniềm.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #13 = 1 higher8910111091098177834568B33–A34–C45–D46–E47–G48–A49–C5Tiếng ru êm đềm mẹ hiền năm tháng triền miên.TablatureLÒNG MẸ • Part #P1 • Phrase #14 ~ 49876545636834568 Circle of FifthsRange: A3 C4 D4 E4 A4 B4 C5 D5 E5 G4 B3 F4 G#4 G3 \n\nA\nA\n\nE\nE\n\nB\nB\n\n\n\nA♭\n\n\n\nF\n\nC\nC\n\nG\nG\n\nD\nDPitch Classes: 0,1,2,3,4,5,8,11Circle of Chromatics\n\n\nE\nE\n\nF\n\n\nG\nG\n\nA♭\n\nA\nA\n\n\nB\nB\n\nC\nC\n\n\nD\nDPitch Classes: 9,0,2,4,11,7,5,8