Jon Silpayamanant’s “Two Thai Tunes” for solo cello (2023)
I. Thawarawadi
II. Isaan
Premièred July 10, 2023. Eastman Cello Institute.
Program/Performance Notes:
Two Thai Tunes (2023) for solo cello was inspired by Thai popular and folk music I grew up listening to in the US as well as Thai Classical Music which I grew to love while in music school.
The first movement, Thawarawadi, is an old name for Central Thailand (7th – 11th centuries BCE) and is loosely based on Thai Classical Music forms and style. The string style is reminiscent of the Thai Saw Sam Sai, which is a type of three-stringed spike fiddle that resembles other Southeast Asian rebabs like those found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Cambodian Tro Khmer.
The second movement, Isaan, is named after the region in Northeast Thailand where I was born and is heavily influenced by the folk music, especially Mor Lam, which has a distinctive sound that’s more “folksy” than the classical music ensemble styles. The chords that open and close the first section mimic the Khaen, a mouth organ made of bamboo, and traditional would depict all the notes played in the scale of the piece in distinctive chord clusters. The fiddle-like section very much borrows from huqin styled spike fiddles like the Saw U and Saw Duang as well as the Isaan specific Saw Peep or Saw Krapawng which would be made of large tin cans or other metallic containers that could be used as a resonating chamber for the body of the instrument.
Please visit this the following link to hear the instruments mentioned as well as resources for Southeast Asian string playing and pedagogy: https://linktr.ee/seasianstrings
It isn’t necessary to perfectly recreate the style of the playing heard in the videos but I hope that the students (and teachers) take the time to listen and find some inspiration for exploring different stylistic things they hear and try to re-create them using my Two Thai Tunes as a jumping off point.
Jon Silpayamanant
silpayamanant@gmail.com
Cello Teaching Repertoire Consortium Support
Support for this commission was provided by Summer@Eastman of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and by Cello Teaching Repertoire Consortium, including:
Co-Directors
Lisa Caravan, Daniel Ketter
Lead Commissioners
Miranora Frisch, Kathleen Kemp, Laura Usiskin Co-Commissioners Hannah Collins, Rosemary Elliott, Hilary Glen, Cora Swenson Lee, James Nackley, Adriana Ransom, Jeffrey Solow, Caleb van der Swaagh, Benjamin Swartz, Zachary Sweet, James Waldo
Past Performances
2026
- June 06 – Ithaca, NY: Ithaca Suzuki Music Education | ISME Spring Concert | Zachary Sweet and Cetallica
2025
- Dec 21 – Louisville, KY: South Central Regional Library | COLLIDER Residency – The Global Cello | Jon Silpayamanant
- Dec 21 – Louisville, KY: South Central Regional Library | COLLIDER Residency – The Global Cello: Meditations and the Sacred | Jon Silpayamanant
- Apr 12 – Louisville, KY: Woodbine Chamber | Shadow Puppet Opera & The Global Cello | Jon Silpayamanant
2024
- May 22 – Louisville, KY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District | AAPI/AANHPI Heritage Month Celebration | Jon Silpayamanant (on Saw Duang)
- May 08 – Louisville, KY: Humana Waterside Building | Humana’s annual API NRG | Jon Silpayamanant
- Mar 31 – Louisville, KY: Grady’s Goods | The Global Cello: Diasporic Voices | Jon Silpayamanant
- Mar 22 – Louisville, KY: Kentucky Convention Center | ASTA 2024: Creating New Works for Cello Students | Jon Silpayamanant
- Feb 18 – New Albany, IN: Ogle Center | The Global Cello: Diasporic Voices | Jon Silpayamanant
2023
- Nov 18 – Louisville, KY: Surface Noise | 7th Anniversary Bash | Jon Silpayamanant
- Nov 12 – Louisville, KY: 21C Museum and Hotel | New Lens Concert Series | Jon Silpayamanant (on Saw Duang)
- Jul 10 – Rochester, NY: Eastman School of Music | Eastman Cello Institute Workshop | Première by ECI students
Videos and Supporting Video Playlist
ASTA 2024: Creating New Works for Cello Students
