CHAPTER XVII.

In the Land of Siam.

THE SIAMESE “PHAN.”

Geographically the three empires of China, Japan and Siam, may be considered as one region, and therefore, without doubt the _Sheng_, the _Sho_, and the _Phan_ have a common origin; and within the confines of these lands this kind of instrument has its home. There is no other type of the free reed, nor does it seem to have strayed beyond its home until after the lapse of many centuries—how many we cannot with any certainty say. Somewhere in the land of China the free reed had its origin; the first instance, too, of the employment of metal as a vibrating tongue to produce musical sound; and, as I said, the reed stamped out in metal was bound to be a free reed. Yet it is curious that no other nation had for music a metal reed, when we note that, as Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen has stated, the working of metal had been practised as early as 3000 B.C. in Chaldea. He tells us of earliest Chaldean inscriptions being certainly as ancient as 4000 to 5000 B.C., and that one of our earliest Chaldean sculptures contained a representation of the harp and the pipes which were attributed to Jubal. The last half dozen lines are a repetition from the first chapter, merely because it is desirable to have the facts they set forth born in mind in this part of the exposition also.

The instrument here illustrated, the Siamese _Phan_, is of the same family as the Chinese _Sheng_ and the Japanese _Sho_. The principle is the same as regards the production of sounds in each instrument. Although the _Phan_ in appearance is so different, yet details of its construction are the same,—viz., a collection of bamboo tubes forming a related series of pipes for a succession of musical sounds; a bowl into which these pipes are inserted, the bowl having an aperture for breathing purposes; and each pipe possessing a little free reed cut in a plate metal, and the sounds of the pipes only to be elicited when a small lateral aperture at the side of each pipe is closed by the finger of the player. The pipes are also slotted, and are of superfluous length, so much so that one is at a loss to account for the purpose or the advantage supposed to be derived from the excessive length; in fact, the illustration does not show the length to which some of the bamboos actually extend. The Siamese may be able to give a reason, but we are not; and the instrument being rarely found in this country, there are no facilities for investigation of the musical effects.

The instrument is apparently a rude survival of an early period when China alone was the civilising influence upon the natives of Siam; the little free reeds used presume access to an already established industry in the working of metals, and may have been obtained by the natives by way of barter.

An instrument in the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments is described by Mr. Victor Mahillon, and the scale is set out as below. The tubes are fourteen in number, fixed in two parallel rows of seven, as will be seen; and upon the right hand is the flat face of the bowl where the player places his mouth, and inspires the air from the interior, setting the reeds in motion in any of the pipes the lateral hole whereof shall have been closed. These are the notes:—

SCALE OF THE PHAN.

Pipes to the left hand of orifice of bowl:—

To the right hand:—

Notice the prominent relation of the fourth ♭_a_, ♭_d_, and that there are two notes alike,—♭_e_. These would, I expect, if tested, prove to be slightly different, so that one might be a true fourth to ♭_a_ above, and the other a true fourth to ♭_b_ below; each derived by a different progression, in the way that I have pointed out in the evolution of the _Sheng_.

The Phan belongs to the same family as the _Sheng_, and it is for that reason only that it has been brought to notice here.