About ThaiMusicXML
Project Vision
Section titled “Project Vision”ThaiMusicXML is an open, royalty-free digital notation standard for Thai traditional music (เพลงไทยเดิม/Phleng Thai Doem).
Western music theory uses 5-line staves, clefs, 12-TET divisions, sharps and flats, and variable time signatures. These do not map directly to Thai music, so this format models Thai musical concepts: 7-tone scales, 8-measure grid systems, and structural speed levels (ชั้น/Chan). Thai traditional notation uses a different structure:
- 7-Tone System: Represented symbolically via solfège (ด, ร, ม, ฟ, ซ, ล, ท) or digits (1-7)
- Octave Markers: Represented via explicit attributes (low, middle, high) or native dot symbols (ดฺ, ดํ)
Technical Inspiration & Acknowledgments
Section titled “Technical Inspiration & Acknowledgments”MusicXML
Section titled “MusicXML”ThaiMusicXML does not use or fork code from MusicXML. It was heavily inspired by the MusicXML standard, maintained by the W3C Music Notation Community Group.
MusicXML showed that an open, text-based XML standard can connect incompatible music software. ThaiMusicXML follows its approach to open documentation, vendor neutrality, and community governance for Thai music.
The Thai Music Tradition
Section titled “The Thai Music Tradition”We express our deepest respect and gratitude to the masters, scholars, and musicians who have preserved Phleng Thai Doem across generations. This standard was created with the intention to make Thai musical heritage easier for software developers, researchers, and students to use.
License
Section titled “License”ThaiMusicXML is released under the GNU General Public License (GPLv3).
- Feel free to use, modify, and distribute ThaiMusicXML files for any purpose, including commercially.
- Give back to the community: If you build upon or distribute improvements to the core standard, code, or tools, you must keep those changes open-source under the same GPL license.
Contributions
Section titled “Contributions”Help Improve ThaiMusicXML
Section titled “Help Improve ThaiMusicXML”Contributions are welcome from software developers, ethnomusicologists, Thai traditional musicians, and technical writers.
If you contribute to the specification, write parsers or renderers, or maintain the schema and documentation, you are welcome to add your name to this list.