MAHAGITA

Music for the Burmese harp

(as recorded and performed by U Phone Myint)

written by
Ingo Stoevesandt

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 1

CONTENT:

Chapter 01: About the Burmese harp page 03

Chapter 02: how to play the Burmese harp page 04

Chapter 03: The transcriptions page 07

„Si ne war“ page 08

„Mya man gi ri“ page 10

„Thi dar – thi dar“ page 12

„Tha yar – tha yar“ page 13

„Sein htwe kyaw nyung“ page 15

„Waiza – yandar“ page 17

„The whole midnight“ page 19

„Tei dar“ page 20

„Lu ma nhaw“ page 21

„Taw hnit taung swe“ page 23

„Way bar ge ri“ page 27

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 2

Chapter 01: About the Burmese arched harp „Saung Gauk“

The arched harp "Saung Gauk" is a relict of more than 5000 years in musical history. Maybe coming
from Mesopotamia, it traveled through India all the way down to Southeast Asia. It can only be found
in Myanmar today and knows a rich tradition in the chamber music.

The Myanmar harp „saung“ or „saung gauk“ is an arched harp with 14 chords (traditionally, actually
widened to 16 or even more chords). It consists of a hardwood body shaped like a boat, which is
covered with deer skin or a dried cow bladder, in which three or four resonating holes are cut on a
promising astrological occasion. The fourteen to sixteen silk thread strings get attached by special
bindings (tassels) to the accacian neck which also are used for the tuning. Modern harps show simple
guitar tuning pegs at the neck, and unfortunately only few players actually know how to use the old
binding and tuning system.

Even if the actual shape seems to differ from the pictures in reliefs at Pagan's walls, we can assume
that the „saung“ is linked to a history of instrumental development which is very old: Analogue models
are shown on the walls of Angkor. The existence of arched harps is manifested in musical history over
a long time, first models date back to the year 3000 BC in Mesopotamia. From this first source it might
have spread all over Africa and later Asia.

There have been several attempts to reconstruct a possible immigration to Burma from India, refering
to the Indian "veena" principle (for example Judith Becker), but the true origin of this very ancient
instrument is still unknown and may stay speculative in nature. Another interesting (but still remaining
unresearched) fact is the appearance of other arched harps within Myanmars ethnic minorities and
according instruments like the "mi gyaun" zither of the Karen which is shaped like a crocodile.

The „saung“ became a famous instrument in Myanmars chamber music tradition and is not easy to
learn. It shares a modal usage of scales with several other instruments in India and Vietnam and
knows a rich tradition of songs and tunings, dating back over 800 years.

In the chamber music tradition, the harp accompanies a singer who not only sings but also preserves
the basic rhythm by striking a small metal bell called „si“ and a wodden finger clapper called „war“.
The title of the first piece in my „Mahagita“ transcription is a famous children song and is dedicated to
these two tiny instruments.

Another chamber music tradition knows a small ensemble, consisting of the „saung“, a xylophone
called „pattala“, a singer with „si“ and „wa“ and a small drum which is giving accents and a kind of
„applause“ to the performance.

Actual perfomances include up to 50 or more harps into a huge ensemble with other instruments, thus
resembling a kind of „European“ orchestra. Here the huge number of harps simply tries to amplify the
weak sound of the silk music in order to compete with the loud instruments (gongs, drums, oboe) of
the classical „hsaing waing“ orchestra. Of course this is a new development, as normaly the harp
belongs to the „silent“ chamber music and not to the „loud“ ensemble music.

Allthough many attempts for modernizing the harp music have been attended, the „classical“ or
traditional solo pieces that accompany the well known songs remain a basic skill for each player.

During my harp lessons in Yangon in 2010, my teacher U Phone Myint always pointed out how
important it is to know these traditional pieces by heart. Each harp student will face several of these
pieces during his lessons, and by learning them by imitation each student easily adjusts in the special
requirements of this unique music.

Normaly none of these pieces are written down, the students learn by imitation and are encouraged by
their teacher to improvise on these pieces in their own mood. Despite being a good student and
basing on my „western“ approach to music, I aksed my teacher for his allowance to write down some
of the pieces, which he luckily agreed on.

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 3

Chapter 02: How to play the Burmese arched harp „Saung Gauk“

The player sits cross legged on the floor, places the boat shaped body on the right leg with the arch
pointing to the right. The right hand plucks the strings with the thumb and index finger while the left
hand sometimes changes the pitch of a chord by pressing the thumb against it. The harpist follows the
metre provided by the "si" and "wa" of the singer, sometimes improvising in in interludes in the "ti kwe"
melodical mode required by the piece performed. These modes will be described later in this chapter.

Allthough the harp is played with only two fingers of the right hand, it is not easy to learn.
There are many different techniques and tunings to learn, like we will see below.
The right hand plucks the strings with the thumb and index finger. It is very improtant that the hand
stays flat and follows the direction of the strings upwards while playing.
Plucking the strings should happen at the spots indicated red in the picture below:

The left hand sometimes changes the pitch of a chord by pressing the thumb against it:

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 4

In the first lessons, the student learns:

- hot to tune tha harp in all modes

- how to use index finger and thumb
- how to use both fingers together
- how to use suspension notes
- how to introduce suspension notes
- how to use the important stop techniques
- and finally how to play the first easy pieces (see the next chapter)

All these basic skills of the first lessons were recorded by me on video and can be watched on
Youtube, as well as how to make strings and how to attach them with the tassels to the arched neck.
Please refer to the last chapter to find these videos on the internet.

The traditional tuning of the harp is not easy:

Each scale provided on the next page stands for a special „mode“ like in the ancient western modal
scales. Some of these pitches refer to the first basic tones of the oboe „Hne“ which we still find in the
traditional „hsaing waing“ orchestra:

If we look at the scale above, the names of the tones already indicate their heritage from the playing of
the oboe: "Hna pau" means "two fingers", "thou pau" means "three fingers" and so on. This scale is
fixed for every kind of chamber music, while it is used in the ensemble music only if the instruments
used within are tuned this way. The scale is reading to western eyes like a diatonic scale put
backwards, following the descending tendencies of Burmese music.

Not indicated are the microtonal differencies in the pitches of the fourth and seventh note, which
almost disappeared today, leaving back a western diatonic scale. The "old" scale is still discovered by
the great tolerance and acceptance of pitch discrepancies or mistuned instruments by the Burmese
audience and by cadencing formulas which sound "unfinished" to western ears.

The names shown above are only used in the ensemble music, the chamber music gives other names
to the tones, which indicates the fact that the chamber music has to be understood as a kind of "modal
music": There is a fixed hierarchy for pitches in the chamber music, condensing in scales which are
strictly bound to cadencial patterns and phrases. Each pitch knows its "friend" ("mei") note, which is
commonly a fifth higher or a fourth below. All "modal" scales appear like pentatonic scales with two
side notes, which always get performed in unstressed positions and in high registers.

Unlike in India or Java, these "modal" scales do not know proper circumstances to be used, the
reason for this might be, that there would be too much time and effort to retune an instrument.
In case a "modal" change appears, only the retunable instruments get retuned while non retunable
instruments simply leave out the tones which the instrument doesn't provide. This practice may also
function to explain the two central scales of the chamber music, in which either the second and sixth or
the fourth and seventh tone appear as seperated tones and are left out while playing.

Most of the ancient harp tunings are not used any more as the younger generation is not used to hear
the difference in the quarter tone steps, so all of the four actual major tunings are arranged as a
derivate of diatonic Western scales.

On the next page you can find an overview of the tunings used today.

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 5

The main actual recordings and videos on the internet of Myanmar harp music show that most of the
actual performers are not able or interested in using quarter tones any more.

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 6

Chapter 03: The transcriptions

„Mahagita“, the book of songs, maybe translated as „great“ or „royal“ music. It provides a huge number
of different songs and pieces, not only for chamber music but also for the „hsaing“ orchestra.

This collection is basically divided into sub-genres, like the ancient „kyo“music (the oldest pieces),
„patt pyou“ music (court music), functional music like „myin gin“ (music to make horses dance) or the
„nat chin“ (music for ghosts) or „bole“ (songs for lament and sorrow).

The pieces transcribed here are not easily put in one of these categories, as they just simply represent
a selection by my teacher U Phone Myint in order to show the interested foreigner a first overview and
insight into the variety of the actual and ancient harp music.

This is why this collection of pieces is not representive for the „Mahagita“ collection.
It simply follows the order in which I practised and recorded them with U Phone Myint in 2010.
The order is neither chronollogical nor follows any other aspects than a climax in difficulty.

I highly recommend to watch the videos of my lessons and the recordings of these pieces.
You can find them on my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/istov/videos

The intented reader will find slight differences in U Phone Myints performance if he follows the
transcriptions while watching the videos. The reason for this is that sometimes the player doesn't
follow the basic notation but implements ornamentations by mood or simply shifts single phrases.

This is common in Myanmar, and even if we ask two different performers to play the same piece we
will surely find great differences in their interpretation. Ornamentation, closing phrases, interludes and
preludes are free for the player and follow his personal skills and moods.

Allthough most of the songs start with a prelude, some performances skip this prelude and start the
song directly. Some performers also use the prelude to show off their technical skills, which is quiet
modern in harp performances and no traditional issue.

The simple appearance of the dual voiced songs is creating a unique style of music.
Besides asymmetrical settings in the bars, transiting intervalls of the great 7 th, off beat patterns and
cadencing formulas, one should never forget that the harp accompanies a singer. Normally, the
complete aspect of a song will be provided by combining it with the singers melodies and the rhythm of
the „si“ and „war“.

My basic intention was to show the complexity and richness of the harp music, as if it would be
performed alone. This is why I left out the singers voice and the „si“ and „war“ in my transcriptions.

Being a classical pianist, for me the fascination lies in the handling of the simplicity of the two voices,
and the way both voices create a continous flow of music. In western music, we concentrate on
melody and harmony. Allthough some songs in this collection show basic repetitions in their cadencing
formulas or the opening preludes, each song is creating a different atmosphere out of corresponding
sequences. They follow and lead a singers voice at the same time, so that a trained listener from
Myanmar will hear the language in the music and doesn't need a singer to listen to the text.

In combination with the interpretation by the performer, it is not the melody or harmonics which make
the song recognizable, but the way it flows and the mood it creates through the performer.

All of these aspects show us how unique and beautiful the harp music of Myanmar can be, and my
transcriptions will hopefully raise some interest into a music which we cannot find anywhere else.

Ingo Stoevesandt
Grasberg, 2014

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 7

Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 8
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 9
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 10
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 11
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 12
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 13
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 14
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 15
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 16
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 17
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 18
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 19
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 20
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 21
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 22
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 23
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 24
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 25
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 26
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 27
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 28
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 29
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 30
Mahagita – Music for the Burmese harp 31