Tro sau jen, tro sau khmer

Last night I went to lohk gru (master-teacher) Yun Theara's house to study tro sau for the first time. As I didn't have a Khmer instrument of my own, I brought along my erhu (tro sau jen in Khmer) because the instruments are very similar. Yun Theara, a master of many Khmer instruments, especially those in the tro family, also has an erhu, so he was able to understand my instrument. Vice-Dean and Professor of Music at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Yun Theara is a well-respected Khmer musicologist who is also very knowledgable about Western musical theory and notation.

We started by discussing the various differences between the tro sau jen, tro sau thom (large tro sau), and tro sau dooj (small tro sau). I couldn't quite follow what he was saying, but I had a chance to watch him play the different instruments with great skill, rapidly transposing melodies for different instruments. I had heard him on recordings before and had even watched him play at a recording session, but I feel fortunate to now take lessons from him. Although I still don't understand Khmer music enough to appreciate his skill and aesthetic on the instrument, his musicianship and keen ear are very apparent, more so than in any other musician I have met in Cambodia.

The traditional way of teaching music in Cambodia is by rote memorization, and all of the classes I had seen so far used this method. Yun Theara, too, began to teach me a Khmer song, "Khmer Dom Benh," by playing it and having me repeat it back. This was pretty hard for me, as I have always learned music by reading notation, and I am not especially proficient on the erhu. But Yun Theara had also transcribed the song into Western notation, so I was able to read and remember it more easily. He is the only Khmer teacher I know who uses notation, in addition to rote memorization, to teach music.

Unlike most Chinese melodies, which are similar in phrasing and structure to many Western classical songs, Khmer melodies are very difficult for me to remember because the phrases seem so irregular and the meter of the tune is often obscured by rhythmically complex ornamentation. Again, while the Chinese pentatonic scale and system of temperment (tuning) is close to that used in the West, the Khmer scales use a different system of temperment. What this means is that when I hear I note in a Khmer song, it is sometimes between the notes of the Western scales I'm used to playing, so it sounds out of tune. Of course, it's not actually out of tune in terms of the Khmer scale, but my ear says it is. Khmer music even uses slightly different temperment when accompaning a male vocalist than when accompaning a female vocalist. I am excited to learn more about this music!

On a different note, my language teacher caught me off-guard by mentioning a music group called "The Monsters" or something like that. I was very confused, as I had never heard of any "Monsters" before, until he clarified himself and said "The Jazz Monsters." But I was still a little befuddled, because I had no idea how he had heard of my jazz combo before. And he mentioned it so casually that it sort of slipped below my radar. I suppose he followed some links from this blog, but in any event I am sure the other Jazz Monsters are happy to know that they are known even in Cambodia.