Roneat means "xylophone;" aek means "one, first," or "leader." Therefore roneat aek means "first xylophone" or "leading xylophone." It is also known as roneat rut, which literally means "running xylophone." The roneat aek or the roneat rut is considered to be the leading instrument because its role is to start a piece and to cue the others. Many Khmer musicians think that the roneat aek plays the melodic line. In fact, it plays variations of the melody, which is usually carried by a vocalist or a sralai player. Stylistically speaking, the roneat aek is played in octaves, less commonly in fourths or fifths. The twenty-one bars of the roneat aek provide a three-octave range, but because it is played in octaves (between the left and right hands), it only covers a two-octave range.

The resonator of the roneat aek is approximately 46 inches long. It stands about 22 inches high, atop a 5.5 inch square base. The top edges of the resonator beneath the bars are padded to accommodate the bars when they are taken off the hooks when the instrument is not played. Some models are artistically and richly carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, or bone.

The roneat aek has twenty-one thick bamboo or hard wood bars, which are cut into pieces of the same width, but of different lengths and thickness. The lower the pitch, the greater the length, and the higher the pitch, the thicker the bar. The roneat aek bars are approximately 14.75 inches (lowest pitch) to 10.5 inches (highest pitch) in length. The width of each bar is approximately 1.75 inches, whereas the thickness is about 0.5 inch.

The player strikes the bars with two mallets whose heads are thick discs. The mallet handles are about 16 inches long. The soft discs are approximately 1.75 inches in diameter and 1.25 inches thick. The hard discs are 1.5 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.

Source: Sam, Sam-Ang. "Musical Instruments of Cambodia." Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 2002.

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