Despite its centrality to Thai musical thought and practice, Thai and English-language scholars have been reluctant to use the term ‘improvisation’ to describe Thai music. This reluctance stems from a number of interrelated factors, including the incommensurability of terms and concepts in the Thai and Western musical systems, scholars’ lack of familiarity with Thai and/or Western musical structure, and the improvisatory practices associated with them, especially jazz, which is thought to exemplify improvisation, and lack of clarity in understanding the Thai musical concepts of prae, plae, and thang that underpin Thai musical thought and provide the context in which improvisation can, and in some cases must, occur. By laying out some general principles associated with improvisation, especially Pressing’s concept of the ‘referent’, and describing how these relate to Thai musical structure, thought, and practice, we clarify uncertainty about Thai music’s structure and performance processes. We show that in learning to perform, Thai musicians develop intimate knowledge of their musical system and the stylistic qualities of all instruments. Their training teaches them to think in terms that mirror the logic of the musical system and enables them to improvise in stylistically appropriate ways.

中文翻译：

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即兴，唐和泰国音乐结构

尽管它在泰国音乐思想和实践中处于中心地位，但泰国和英语语言学者一直不愿意使用“即兴创作”一词来描述泰国音乐。这种不情愿源于许多相互关联的因素，包括泰国和西方音乐系统中术语和概念的不可通约性，学者对泰国和/或西方音乐结构的不熟悉以及与之相关的即兴演奏，特别是爵士乐，这被认为是即兴创作的例证，并且在理解泰国音乐的普拉，普拉和唐格的概念时缺乏清晰性，这些概念支撑了泰国音乐思想并提供了即兴创作的背景，在某些情况下必须即兴创作。通过列出一些即兴创作的一般原则，尤其是普林斯的“指称”概念，并说明它们与泰国音乐的结构，思想和实践之间的关系，我们阐明了泰国音乐的结构和演奏过程的不确定性。我们表明，在学习表演的过程中，泰国音乐家逐渐了解了自己的音乐系统和所有乐器的风格。他们的培训教会他们以反映音乐系统逻辑的术语思考，并使他们能够以风格上适当的方式即兴创作。