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Trống quân singing in Bình Giang dates back to the Hai Bà Trưng era and developed most brilliantly from the 17th century to the early 20th century.
Trống quân singing includes love-making singing (Trống quân singing, mó cá singing, đúm singing, charades) and worship singing (drum teachings, dharma teachings, and incense poems).
There are numerous tunes for Trống quân singing in Thúc Kháng commune, Bình Giang district, but the most popular ones are "bồi singing" and "trải singing." There are six to eight lines of poetry in each song, ranging from ten to several dozen. Men sing first, women follow (men sing first, women sing last). In time with the beat, the singer beats his own drum. The steps of a singing session are: open the festival, invite, call, ask, quiz, draw, make love, and part ways.
Bình Giang people call Trống quân a barrel drum. The most unique art of Trống quân singing here is the way the drums are created. On a large field of land, dig an egg-shaped hole about 50cm deep. At the bottom of the hole, pour stuffed snail shells to diffuse the sound. On the mouth of the hole, place a sealed wooden tray, bury two bamboo poles about 1 meter high on both sides of the tray, and stretch a string of bamboo poles connecting the two ends of the pole. In the middle of the string, there is a stick - a drum, one end resting on the tray, the other resting on the string. When playing the drum, use a wooden stick to tap on the two ends of the string at the two poles, the drum will hit the drum surface, creating a thumping sound that can be heard far away.
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