Example 12: Sootsanaen (beginning with lai noi) as played by Tawng-koon. Transcription by Terry E. Miller. From Terry E. Miller, Traditional Music of the Lao: Kaen Playing and Mawlum Singing in Northeast Thailand (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985), 242.

The complex note arrangements of the khaen allow a good performer to play a melody (usually in the lower voice) simultaneously with chord sonorities and one or two drones above. Most players have no "formal" music instruction and the music they play is nearly always improvised. Serious players, however, can improve their technique by visiting khaen masters. Many schools and universities offer lessons in khaen, although their students do not learn how to improvise; they learn popular tunes and short compositions in traditional dance style.

In the past, the khaen was used in performances of Lao court music, which was similar to Siamese court music. Instruments of the ensemble were the ranat (xylophone), kawng wong (bronze gongs mounted on a circular wood frame), saw (fiddles), drums, ching, and several khaen. (End note 18) There are still classical ensembles which include khaen that perform court music in Laos, especially in Luang Phrabang (the former seat of the Lao court, located north of the capital -- Vientiane), but they cannot be considered a true court ensemble, because the Lao court no longer exists.

Today, the normal function of the khaen is to accompany traditional mawlum and molam singing, but it is more and more used also in lam sing and pong lang. Lam sing is a hybrid of mawlum singing accompanied by a Western rock band which always includes a khaen. Curiously, the khaen in these ensembles -- for all practical purposes -- is inaudible, as the khaen players (for some reason or other) do not use microphones. Pong lang refers to an ensemble of pong lang (xylophone), phin (three-string lute), wod (circular pan-pipes), khaen and percussion; often with multiples of each instrument.

The khaen can also be performed as a solo instrument, but there are few opportunities -- even for virtuoso players -- to concertize. There are no formal solo khaen concerts, no time set aside for them to perform during mawlum singing performances, and few recordings of solo khaen, although some khaen players manage to perform regularly at public markets. The government television station at Kawn-gaen (TV 5) sponsored mawlum singing contests in 1971 and 1972, but it rejected the suggestion to hold khaen contests, claiming that their audiences would become bored. The khaen player's low status is reflected in the pay he earns for providing accompaniment for mawlum singers: only ten to twenty percent of the amount the singer receives. (End note 19) Recently, annual competitions for khaen have begun; perhaps this is a sign of the instrument's increasing popularity.

Another use of the khaen is in the khaen wong, or khaen ensemble. In the villages, khaen are played only by men and rarely in groups, but in the cities, it is different. Many secondary schools and colleges began organizing khaen ensembles after World War II, and many of the players are girls. The groups normally perform classical Thai melodies without drones.

The future of the khaen is uncertain, as Western customs are gradually replacing ancient Eastern traditions. In Northeast Thailand, the khaen is played mostly by farmers living in villages; educated men consider the instrument too rustic for their social standing. It is thought to be merely an entertainment for old-fashioned men resisting modernization.

In former times traditional music ensembles performed at temple fairs. Today, rock ensembles (including instruments such as electric guitars, electric organ, saxophone and drums) perform at the fairs, perhaps as an attempt by the temple organizers to entice the younger generation to attend religious festivals. Professor Jar&252;nchai Chonpariot has tried to save the khaen in Thailand by holding contests on television, with some success. Despite this rapid modernization, the khaen has managed to retain its popularity as a symbol of Lao and Northeast Thai culture. As mentioned earlier, it is even performed on stage with modern rock bands alongside electric guitars and drums (pong lang).

Recently, the instrument has appeared in the West. Randy Raine-Reusch, an improvisationally-based composer and concert artist specializing in new and experimental music for world instruments, has performed on the khaen as a guest artist on a recording -- In the Shadow of the Phoenix (1998) -- with the American composer/accordionist, Pauline Oliveros, as well as on recordings with popular rock bands such as Aerosmith (1989), the Cranberries (1996) and Yes (1999).

Christopher Adler, an assistant professor of music at the University of San Diego in California, has become proficient on the instrument and has performed both traditional music and his own compositions for khaen at concerts for the Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference, the Bang on a Can marathon in New York City, and also with members of the Seattle Creative Orchestra. In addition he frequently plays traditional music for the Thai community in San Diego.

Following is an excerpt from Adler's Three Lai for khaen, violin and viola. Adler wrote, "There is no standardized pitch for khaen, but they all play a diatonic minor scale. Therefore it is convenient to write in A minor and let the instrument transpose. In page one from Three Lai for khaen, violin and viola, the strings augment the khaen's range and pitch vocabulary while the khaen plays in a quasi-traditional style." (End note 20)