Editing Thai Elephant Orchestra

{{Short description|Thai musical ensemble of elephants}}
{{Inline|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}

The '''Thai Elephant Orchestra''' is a musical ensemble consisting of as many as fourteen [[Thai elephant]]s near [[Lampang]] in Northern [[Thailand]]. The elephants play music, essentially as conducted improvisations, on specially designed heavy-duty [[musical instrument]]s. The orchestra was co-created by elephant conservationist [[Richard Lair]] of the [[National Elephant Institute]]  and the American musical artist and [[neuroscientist]] [[Dave Soldier]].  They have released three CDs on the [[Mulatta Records]] label with an orchestra ranging in size from six to fourteen elephants. The orchestra currently performs for visitors at the center.  It was created as part of the center's effort to  provide a place for former working animals.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Biggest Thing Out Of Thailand: An Elephant Orchestra |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/03/208338182/the-biggest-thing-out-of-thailand-an-elephant-orchestra |website=NPR.org |publisher=WUNC |access-date=25 February 2023 |date=August 3, 2013}}</ref>  Their music has been described as "genuine" by some music critics.<ref name="BBC (Hooper, 2013)">{{cite news |last1=Hooper |first1=Richard |title=Elephant orchestra: Can animals make real music? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24400364 |access-date=25 February 2023 |work=BBC News |date=13 November 2013}}</ref>

==Background==
It has been noted since ancient times that elephants seem to have an affinity for music. Performing circus elephants commonly follow musical cues, and early American circuses such as [[Adam Forepaugh]] and [[Barnum & Bailey Circus|Barnum & Bailey]] even featured "elephant bands."<ref name=NYT(2000) />  In the 1950s, German evolutionary biologist [[Bernard Rensch]] found that elephants can distinguish 12 tones on the musical scale and remember simple melodies, even when played on different instruments at various pitches, timbres, and meters.<ref name=NYT(2000)>{{cite news|last=Scigliano|first=Eric|title=Think Tank; A Band With a Lot More to Offer Than Talented Trumpeters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/16/arts/think-tank-a-band-with-a-lot-more-to-offer-than-talented-trumpeters.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 16, 2000|location=Arts}}</ref><ref name=Scientist>{{cite web|last=Flores|first=Graciela|title=When I see an elephant...paint?|url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/25148/title/When-I-see-an-elephant---paint-/|publisher=The Scientist|accessdate=21 March 2013|date=June 1, 2007}}</ref>

Three albums of music created by elephant musicians was conceived by New York-based musical artist Dave Soldier (a.k.a. [[David Sulzer]], PhD) and elephant expert Richard Lair, who works at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang. [[Traditional Thai music]] is a genre familiar to the elephants, so they chose Thai music scales with a few blues notes. According to Lair, many of the elephants took to their assignment "with gusto".<ref name="PRI">{{cite web|title=Elephant Band : Transcript|url=http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=01-P13-00009&segmentID=11|work=PRI : Living on Earth|publisher=World Media Foundation|accessdate=28 March 2013|location=Air Date: Week of March 2, 2001}}</ref>

==Music==
The Thai Elephant Orchestra primarily uses the ''Lanna'' Thai [[Pentatonic scale|five-note scale]], and most instruments are heavy-duty versions of [[traditional Thai musical instruments]]; additional instruments include drums and harmonica.<ref name=Leonardo>{{cite journal|last=Soldier|first=Dave|title=Eine Kleine Naughtmusik: How Nefarious Nonartists Cleverly Imitate Music|journal=Leonardo Music Journal|year=2002|volume=12|pages=57–58|url=http://mulatta.org/articles/Soldier_Leonardo.pdf|accessdate=25 March 2013|doi=10.1162/096112102762295142|s2cid=17933440 }}</ref>

Their musical works are of two general types. The first type, which are on the recordings, features the elephants individually improvising on the instruments with the only human interaction being cues as to when to start and stop. The other type is compositional and requires [[mahout]]s to teach or train the elephants to perform human tunes as a [[hocket]], with each elephant playing an individual note on [[Angklung|angalung]]s.<ref name=WNYC>{{cite web|title=Thai Elephants on Parade|url=http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/2004/oct/12/|work=WNYC|publisher=New York Public Radio|accessdate=28 March 2013|location=New Sounds : Episode #2329|date=October 12, 2004|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728104228/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/2004/oct/12/|archivedate=28 July 2012}}</ref>   

; Discography
* (2002) – ''The Thai Elephant Orchestra'' 
* (2005) – ''Elephonic Rhapsodies''
* (2011) – ''Water Music''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|title=Thai Elephant Orchestra|url=http://www.thailandelephant.org/en/orchestra.html|work=Art & Culture|publisher=Thai Elephant Conservation Center|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904031355/http://www.thailandelephant.org/en/orchestra.html|archivedate=2012-09-04}} — Story, photos and 4-part documentary
* [http://mulatta.org/articles/DaveKinship%20with%20Animals.pdf Kinship with Animals : Thai Elephant Orchestra ], article  by Dave Soldier
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gsjfk 2013 Interview with Dave Soldier on Thai Elephant Orchestra on BBC] 
*[https://www.npr.org/2013/08/03/208338182/the-biggest-thing-out-of-thailand-an-elephant-orchestra 2013 Interview about ''The Thai Elephant Orchestra''], NPR: ''[[All Things Considered]]'' by [[Jacki Lyden]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090318025514/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/2004/10/12 Interview on WNYC Radio] by [[John Schaefer]] 
*[http://www.economist.com/World/asia/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=492852 The Thai Elephant Orchestra] in ''[[The Economist]]''

{{Zoomusicology}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Zoomusicology]]
[[Category:Thai musical groups]]
[[Category:Animals in entertainment]]
[[Category:Elephants in Thailand]]