For the schools that near to our Rolling Fun office, we offer the traditional cultural music. A musician performs the Vietnamese zither for a Vietnamese-children traditional folk song and other English songs that used in the workshop. The poetry piece below introduces the instrument.
Hi all students,
Have you ever seen or listened,
To this musical instrument?
It’s Vietnamese zither,
Now you are seeing,
Its name’s Dan Tranh [ɗâːn ʈajŋ̟]
A real cool thing.
The shape looks surprising,
Representing the nature,
It has a long soundbox,
Designed by the maker.
You see the curved top,
Looks like a round sky,
You see the flat bottom,
It’s the earth symbolised.
You see the movable bridges,
It’s a flock of wild geese fly.
The zither has sixteen strings,
Musician plays it by plucking.
A very long long time ago,
It played for the Queen and the King,
But nowadays,
It plays for people to sing.
This’s Vietnamese instrument,
The sounds are very different.
You now please be quiet,
Being focus, and listen.
[Image source: the Internet.
Poem source: see this link]
The video shows an example of a Vietnamese zither ensemble in Vietnam.
Title: Music of the Lantern Dance
(Variations on a folk song from the province Thanh Hoá)
Musical arrangement: Dang Kim Hien
Performers: Children Dan Tranh Ensemble
(Mrs. Dang Kim Hien, living in Melbourne, provided the link for this video).