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| Artisans and trainees performed together at Duyet Thi Duong Theater |
Musical notation returns to the stage
Recently, at Duyet Thi Duong Theater, artisans and trainees from Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater presented the initial results of the ‘Digitizing Hue traditional musical notation’ project through an experimental performance program.
Alongside classical pieces such as Kim Tien, Pham Tuyet, Lien Hoan, Binh Ban - Tay Mai, and Nguyen Tieu - Ho Quang, the program let audiences see how musical notation is turned into sound through the interpretation method (long ban). It also served as a chance to test how well trainees could read, understand, and apply the old notation system after their training.
The project is run by Hue Monuments Conservation Center, with funding from the Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VinIF).
According to Mr. Hoang Trong Cuong, Director of Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater, Hue musical notation system is built on five traditional musical notes - Ho, Xu, Xang, Xe, and Cong. These notes, however, only sketch the basic framework of a musical phrase; they do not capture the full performance technique.
As a result, the same notated phrase can take on a different sound depending on whether it is played on the dan tranh (zither), or the dan nguyet (moon lute), depending on how the performer presses, vibrates, slides, or slurs the notes.
In some cases, a single ‘Ho’ note can be interpreted in several different ways: plucked on an open string, fingered directly, or slurred in from another tune. It is this variation that gives Hue music its graceful and distinctive character.
The process of turning notation into sound is called ‘long ban’ (interpretation method), which was also the central focus of the experimental program.
A journey to preserve an old teaching method
Tran Thao, an artisan who advised on the teaching process, said court music represents the pinnacle of traditional Vietnamese music. In the past, musical notation was an essential tool that artisans used to learn, memorize, and pass down pieces.
However, with the widespread adoption of Western musical notation, Hue musical notation gradually fell out of use. For decades, teaching relied mainly on memory and hands-on, oral instruction, and many details were lost along the way.
“In the old days, artisans used the musical notation to vocalize and teach music directly. Later, that was disrupted for quite a long time. Being able to revive the musical notation today is something to celebrate,” said artisan Tran Thao.
He added that the value of the musical notation lies not just in the tokens themselves, but in the distillation of hundreds of years of court music practice. To learn it, a trainee must progress from vocalizing to reading and writing, and only then to practicing on an instrument - a process that demands patience.
Tran Viet Dung, an instrumentalist at Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater, said that even after years working in traditional music, he was still surprised when he encountered the old musical notation.
Through the training course, he learned how earlier generations recorded, taught, and studied music using their own notation system. He noted that old scores still preserve many symbols for performance techniques, including pressing, slurring, sliding, etc., allowing trainees to better understand the spirit of each piece.
“I hope the musical notation continues to be performed and taught more widely, so younger generations can understand how their ancestors preserved and passed down old music,” said Dung.
Director of Hue Monuments Conservation Center Hoang Viet Trung said that VinIF’s funding is a major encouragement for cultural preservation projects, a field that often faces difficulties in securing funding.
Under the plan, the data collected will form a digital library of musical notation, sound, and images illustrating performance techniques, along with related pieces. This will serve not only as research material, but also as a resource for future training.
Meritorious Artist Hoang Trong Cuong added that after the first phase covering the dan tranh and the dan nguyet, the project will expand to the sao truc (bamboo flute), the dan nhi (two-string fiddle), the dan ty ba (pear-shaped lute), and other instruments in the court orchestra. In the longer term, the goal is to build a digital database covering dai nhac (grand court music), ca Hue (Hue-Singing music), and court dance music - all closely related to Nha nhac.
Digitization, then, functions as an ‘extended memory’ preserving musical notation, sound, and performance technique. Once complete, the database will serve a wide range of purposes, from teaching and research to making it more widely accessible to the public.