Music of Korea

Korean Music
 The art concerned with combining vocal and instrumental sounds for beauty of form or
emotional expression, specifically as it carried out in Korea, or the Korean peninsula, where a
strong indigenous tradition has been influenced by the Chinese and the Mongols.
 It is varied and complex. But all forms maintain a set of rhythms called JANGDAN and a loosely
defined set of melodic modes.

1. Folk Music
 Performances vary and based on singing, dancing, and acrobatics with instruments playing

3 Types/Genres of Folk Song

 Pansori
 Pungmul
 Sanjo

Pansori

 Is a long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer.
 The lyrics tell one of five different stories.

Pungmul

 A korean folk music tradition that is a form of percussion music includes drumming,
dancing, and singing.

Sanjo

 It is played without a pause in fast tempo.

 It shifts rhythms and melodic modes.

2. Court Music
 Refers to court banquet music originating from Korea

Korean court music comprises of three main musical genres

 Aak
 Hyangak
 Dangak

Aak

 Refers to Korean court ritual music originating from China.

 Aak means 'elegant music'.
 Hyangak

 Refers to court banquet music originating from Korea.

 Hyangak means 'indigenous/native music, folk music'.

Dangak

 Refers to Chinese court banquet music in Korea.

 Dangak means 'Tang music', as the genre was initially used for Chinese court music
which originated during the Tang Dynasty.

Chordophones
 These musical instruments which are played by:
o Plucking
 Picking or pulling them with fingers or a pick.
o Strumming
 Is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to
generate sound.
o Bowing
 Is a tensioned stick which has hair coated in rosin affixed to it.
 It is moved across some part of a musical instrument to cause vibration, which
the instrument emits as sound.

Gayageum
 A long zither with 12 strings.

Bipa
 Is a pear-shape lute that is a traditional Korean musical
instrument.
 It has the same Central Asian roots as the Chinese pipa.

2 Major Types

 Dang Bipa – 4 strings

 Hyang Bipa – 5 strings

Daejaeng
 A long zither with 15 strings. Slightly larger than
GAYAGEUM, it is used during the goryeo period.
 Haeguem
 Is a traditional Korean string instrument,
resembling a vertical fiddle with two strings;
derived from the ancient Chinese xiqin. It has a
rod like neck, a hollow wooden sound box, and
two silk strings, and is held vertically on the knee
of the performer and played with a bow.

Ajaeng
 Is a Korean string instrument. It is a wide
zither with strings of twisted silk. It is
played with a slender stick of forsythia
wood that is drawn across the strings in
the manner of a bow.
 The ajaeng mainly plays the bass part in
ensemble music.

2 Types

 Jeongak – used in court music

 Sanjo – used in folk music

Sohaeguem
 A modernized fiddle with 4 strings.
 Used only in North Korea.

Aerophones
 Is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate.

Daeguem
 Is a large bamboo flute, a transverse flute
used in traditional Korean music.
 It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a
special timbre.
 It is used in court, aristocratic, and folk
music, as well as in contemporary classical
music, popular music, and film scores.
 Piri
 Korean double-reed musical instrument, a type of
cylindrical oboe.
 The large mouthpiece and the body are made of
bamboo, and there are eight finger holes, seven on the
front and one on the back.

Taepyeongso
 Korean double reed wind instrument in
the shawm or oboe family, probably
descended from the Persian sorna and
closely related to the Chinese suona.
 It has a conical wooden body made from
yuja, daechu, or yellow mulberry wood,
with a metal mouthpiece and cup-
shaped metal bell.

Nabal
 Is a long, straight brass horn used in Korean traditional
music.
 As the instrument has no valves or finger holes it is not a
melodic instrument but rather plays a single sustained
tone.
 The precise frequency of the tone produced can be quite
different depending on the size of the individual
instrument.

Percussion
 Any musical instruments that makes a sound when it is:
o Hit
o Shaken
o Scraped

Pyeonjeong
 A set of 16 bronze bells used in ancient court music.
Buk
 Is a traditional Korean drum.
 While the term buk is a native Korean word used
as a generic term meaning "drum", it is most
often used to refer to a shallow barrel-shaped
drum, with a round wooden body that is covered
on both ends with animal skin.

Jing
 Is a large gong used in traditional Korean
music, particularly in samul nori, pungmul, and
daechwita to keep beat.
 It is usually made from high-quality brass and
is struck by a stick that is layered with cloth at
one end to soften the texture of the sound
produced.

Janggu
 Is the most representative drum in traditional Korean music.
 It is available in most kinds, and consists of an hourglass-shaped
body with two heads made from animal skin.