Under Le So dynasty, there were some differences between royal music and religious music. The former was performed by Dong van and court music orchestra while the later was played by Giao phuong (the group of artists established by the feudal dynasty). During the decline of later feudal dynasties, especially the French colonial period, royal music was significantly differentiated.
Along with Roi bong (another name of Chau van singing in Central Vietnam), it was mainly based on music played by string instruments. Following the tradition of royal music, it consisted of two sub-types. They were "Dai nhac" which included percussion and trumpet and "Tieu nhac" which was made up by string musical instruments. Pieces of religious music were systematically ordered and named in Sino-Vietnamese. In terms of tone, this kind of music was mainly based on northern tunes, the natural five-scale built on the basic of the circle of fifth.