Contributions to Music Education Vol. 45 - Thai Music and Dance in the Heart of Bangkok’s Slums: The Forgotten Children of the Mercy Centre Become Beautiful

Oct 15, 2026

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Research and pedagogy intersect in Thai classical music and dance programs at Bangkok’s Khlong Toey Mercy Centre, founded in the early 1970s and expanded musically around 2010. Initially funded by Dr. Mick Moloney and later enhanced through donations, the program grew to include an Isan pong lang ensemble and dance teaching for young women, shifting participation from a few children to most residents. Public performances and recognition increased self-esteem and changed the Centre’s image from despair to beauty, while highlighting how an “elite” tradition can express artistry across marginalized, non-Thai family backgrounds.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time31 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Ethnomusicology Meets Music Education

A Place of Healing and Hope

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 45 (2020), pp. 127-146. TERRY E. MILLER Kent State University Thai Music and Dance in the Heart of Bangkok’s Slums: The Forgotten Children of the Mercy Centre Become Beautiful Although American Roman Catholic priest Father Joseph Maier founded the Mercy Centre in the heart of Bangkok’s Khlong Toey slums in the early 1970s, music was not part of the program until around 2010 when Dr. Mick Moloney began raising funds to support the teaching of Thai classical music. With additional donations, the music program has grown exponentially, adding Northeast Thai pong lang ensemble and providing a dance teacher for the young women. Participation has risen from a mere handful to the majority of children living in the Centre. Having a music program has also made an increasing number of public performances possible, both on stage for various festivals and on television, giving the Centre a visibility and image it formerly lacked. Performing in public, wearing beautiful costumes, and receiving accolades has boosted each child’s self-esteem in ways not previously possible. While music from Thailand’s northeast is widely popular, its classical music and dance are less so. That such an apparently “elite” tradition could serve to express the artistry of slum children surprises many, since Mercy’s children all come from the city’s lowest social groups. Indeed, some have non-Thai (e.g. , Cambodian) parents. The music and dance program has thus changed Mercy’s public image from one of despair into one of optimism and beauty. Keywords: Thai classical music, Thai dance, Northeast Thai pong lang ensemble, Father Joseph Maier, Mercy Centre, ethnomusicology, progressive music education Introduction Few place names strike greater fear in the minds of Bangkok, Thailand’s ten million plus citizens than “Khlong Toey,” the city’s vast slum around the Port of Bangkok that include slaughterhouses where thousands of hogs are butchered daily. Getting there can be a challenge. Taxi drivers routinely refuse to go there, claiming they don’t know the area or saying it is too dangerous to enter. Although Contributions to Music Education close to Sukhumvit Road and its many upscale ex-pat communities, to a TescoLotus hypermarket, and to Bangkok University, once you cross the railroad track and enter the slum, you do ﬁnd yourself in a distinctly different world. Lanes are narrow, children and adults throng the area completely closed in with small shops, houses, street vendors, and a constant hubbub of activity. In some ways Khlong Toey resembles other areas in Bangkok, but this place is fundamentally different. As a “slum,” it is not surprisingly also an area with a concentration of drug dealing and abuse, alcohol abuse, child abuse and trafﬁcking, prostitution, robbery, and Bangkok’s worst poverty. It was Khlong Toey and its endless needs that attracted American Roman Catholic priest, Father Joseph Maier, in 1972 after ministering to remote Catholic communities in northeast Thailand and northern Laos for ﬁve years. Saturday morning rehearsal with several American visitors observing. Father Joe at the rear. Note that all photos are by Terry E. Miller, and provided copyrightfree, with permission. Terry E. Miller Ethnomusicology Meets Music Education While in North America the ﬁelds of Music Education and Ethnomusicology are mostly seen as distinct, ethnomusicological research routinely encounters pedagogy. Music transmission practices throughout the world are aspects of“music education” in the broadest sense but normal areas for study by ethnomusicologists. Less frequent are explorations by music education researchers into these practices. The author has previously written about the unexpected effectiveness of how Thai classical music is transmitted to students of all ages and backgrounds (see “Lessons from Thailand: Why Thai Music Teachers are so Successful.” The Orff Echo 46-2 (Winter, 2014): 22-27). Bec

FAQs

When did music become part of the Mercy Centre’s program?

Music was not part of the program until around 2010, when Dr. Mick Moloney began raising funds for teaching Thai classical music.

What additions did the music program include over time?

With additional donations, it expanded by adding a Northeast Thai pong lang ensemble and providing a dance teacher for young women.

How did public performances affect the children?

Performing publicly, wearing beautiful costumes, and receiving accolades boosted each child’s self-esteem and increased the Centre’s visibility and image.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by nayy☆