Abstract: "In every society, concerning the history of arts, musical instruments are almost universal components of human culture. The Myanmar Drum Ensemble (saing wain in Myanmar language) is one of Myanmar?s traditional musical instruments. In Myanmar society, the drum ensemble is used as part of the annual-­‐cycle rituals, life-­‐cycle rituals and crisis rituals. This research describes the dynamics of the Myanmar Drum Ensemble, saing wain. Field ethnography, focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interviews (KII), in-­‐depth interviews (IDI), informal conversations (IC) and direct observation (DO) were used for data collection. Study sites are Bo Tun Zan ward in Daw Pon Township, No.2 ward in North Okkalapa Township, No.5 ward in Mayangone Township, Ye Mon village, Kyungalay village, Kyauk Ain village in Hlegu Township. The Myanmar drum ensemble emerged from a merger of the Royal Music and the Folk Music from the Kone-­‐baung period (AD 1752-­‐1856). It has three special characteristics: its Melodic Character, its Harmonic Character and its Rhythmic Character. Furthermore, the members of the drum ensembles are known to have had close relationships with the public throughout the colonial and the post-­‐independence periods. Today drum ensembles have closer contact with people from the rural areas, whereas city dwellers rely more on modern musical instruments for entertainment.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.