The top US diplomat said Thursday she would skip the traditional foreign ministers' skit at an Southeast Asian security forum, and instead perform a classical recital in keeping with these testing times.

"It's a serious piece, it is a reflective piece," said Rice, an accomplished classical pianist, as she flew to Asia from high-stakes Middle East talks in Rome.

"It is a serious time, it is not a time that is frivolous, and I will play something that is in accordance with my serious mood," Rice said, adding she would probably offer solace from the brooding works of Johannes Brahms.

The high-flying life of the world's most powerful woman, as Rice is often dubbed, leaves little time for piano practice, so she said she would resort to sheet music to keep the tune.

Rice's decision was a relief to some of her entourage. Karen Hughes, former spin doctor for President George W. Bush, now czar of US public diplomacy, admitted she had been let off the hook.

"I can't even hum," she confessed on the eve of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum gala.

Last year, Rice rumpled ASEAN feathers by skipping the foreign ministers' meeting and sending her then deputy Robert Zoellick.

Previous US secretaries of state, however, have caused a splash at ASEAN.

Two years ago Colin Powell, initially wary of lampooning himself at his first ARF in 2001, had them rolling in the aisles with a version of the Village People hit "Y.M.C.A."

Bill Clinton's secretary of state Madeleine Albright relished the occasion -- once donning a bowler hat and tuxedo for her star turn.

"When you're not so sweet, I call the Seventh Fleet, That's the American Way," she crooned, jabbing at her Chinese counterpart one year, to the tune of Bob Hope's "Thanks for the Memories."

By common consent, the Australians usually bring the house down.

And while ASEAN's founding creed means singing from the same political song sheet, the grouping looked certain to strike a bum note Thursday.

ARF groupies were braced for an ensemble of ASEAN foreign ministers warbling the grouping's official song, penned by Malaysia's Syed Hamid Albar.

"Each minister has been given a CD of the song so that they will know the tune. They are not practising together before the dinner," a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.

In addition to ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the ARF groups Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, East Timor, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

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