Traditional Music in Korea

안녕하세요! 한영합니다!

{Hi! Welcome!}

Outside of music, I'm currently learning Korean and its culture for not only for personal reasons but also to sometime teach there as well! And why not combine what I do outside of school and add what I do for profession. Which is music, obviously. This blog I will be sharing about some aspects of Korean culture that come from music!

{This will cover mini parts of Korean history. Also, fair warning, I had to use Wikipedia for some of these, since most of these kinds of music were not written down and it's very difficult to find any information and musical evidence.}

Bits of Korean History

For starters, the first thing is to give a brief and short history lesson about Korea before talking about instruments! 

{This may be a lot so I do dear apologize for this very long read}

Before there was a North and South Korea, Korea was a peninsula around 700,000 years ago.  Korea had three kingdoms: Goguryeo (고려) , Baekje (백제) , and Silla (신라). Here are some mini facts about these kingdoms!

Goguryeo: A dynasty started by Jumong (주몽朱蒙) during 37 BC. "The kingdom flourished in the 5th and 6th century CE and has left a rich cultural heritage best seen in its tomb art and architecture. Goguryeo gave its name to the modern state of Korea...Goguryeo was in constant rivalry with the smaller Baekje (Paekche) and Silla kingdoms."

Baekje: Regarded for its maritime power, resulting in the spread of Buddhism across East Asia

Silla: Longest sustained country in Korean history. "The name, Silla, implies that the virtuous achievements of the king are renewed every day and extended all over the world."

Traditional Korean Instruments

These are some of the traditional instruments in Korean culture: The piri, bipa, and a zither, which is used in today's time. The piri is a double reed aerophone instrument made out of bamboo. There are eight finger holes, seven on the front and one on the back. 

The bipa is a pear shaped lute and a plucked chordophone that was derived from the Chinese-traditional instrument, pipa, and introduced along the silk-road to Goguryeo and Silla. 

The zither is actually a classification for stringed instruments. But, the zither for Korea is called the gayageum (가야금), a plucked zither or chordophone. This is the best known traditional Korean instrument and it consists of 12 strings, nowadays having 18, 21, or 25 in today's time. 

Korean Folk Music {Traditional}

Folk music in Korea is...complex, since there are classified under certain melodic and vocal contours and rhythms. This is what we call Jangdan (장단). Jangdan categorizes these forms of folk music. 

Pansori (판소리), sometimes mistaken as 'Korean Opera' is a story-telling genre that includes a vocalist and a drummer. This is characterized by "expressive singing, expressive singing, stylized speech, a repertory of narratives and gesture, embraces both elite and folk culture." Here's more about Pansori from singer Ahn Sook Sun. 

Sanjo (산조) meaning 'scattered melodies' is a solo-instrumental music performance that's usually performed by a drum. The movements of sanjo include tempo that generally increase. This also includes some rhythmic and melodic modes in faster movements. 

Jeongak (정악) literally means 'right/proper music.' Jeongak is a classification of Korean court music. "Jeongak is played at a very slow pace. Some single beats can take three seconds. The beat matches the speed of breathing rather than the heartbeat as in most Western music. As a result of this slow speed, the music feels static and mediative."

Korean Court Music

Some of these aren't used much anymore as there isn't much work recorded and saved but there are a few examples of Korean court music.

Korean court music has 3 different genres: aak, derived from Chinese ritual music, hyangak, pure Korean form, and dangak, combing Chinese and Korean styles. 

Aak is usually labeled as "elegant music." "Aak began as the music played during the Korean "Jongmyo Shrine's Jerye Ceremony," and was later used for other occasions, and as Korean court music, often with lyrics praising the current ruler. "

Hyangak literally translates to "indigenous/native music." It is a traditional form of court music that originated during the three kingdoms of Korea. It is usually accompanied by folk dance which we call "hyangak jeongjae" that is performed in front of an audience. 

Dangak, meaning "Tang music," is described as Chinese court banquet music, since it was primarily introduced during the time of the Tang dynasty. This music is usually accompanied with dances called "dangak chongjae."

All three types of court music have accompaniments and a way that they perform, and were separated by gender. Female court dance accompaniments are called kinyo and kisaeng. Whereas male performers have 4 classes: "aksaeng, aggong, kwanhyon maengin, and royal processional musicians."

How traditional culture is influenced today

As you may know by now, I do in fact listen to K-pop, or Korean pop, which is an example of contemporary Korean music. Contemporary music today has produced solo idols and groups such as: Psy, BoA, Rain, IU, Epik High, Wonder Girls, 2AM, 2PM, Blackpink, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, EXO, Brave Girls, Big Bang, 2NE1, Seventeen, Twice, GOT7, BTS, Monsta X, Red Velvet, Momoland, GFriend, aespa, Itzy, Tomorrow X Together, NCT and NewJeans. Ouf of all idols coming from this list, there's one group that's the biggest and most successful K-pop group in korean history...and that's BTS. Their achievements are so big that it would be too much to add on here so I'll leave a link to see what they've done so far and going forward. 

BTS Notable Achievements

BTS member and one of the lead rappers, Min Yoongi, also known as SUGA or Agust D, uses Korean court music for some of his work, which includes one of his most popular pieces of work "Daechwita" that was written for his mixtape "D-2" published in 2020. Yoongi states that "The theme “Daechwita” was already on my mind when I first started working on this track,” he began. “so I sampled the sound of a real ‘Daechwita.'” Daechwita is a genre of traditional Korean music that consists of military music, usually performed while marching...The first thought I had was that I wanted to sample the music that is played during the ceremonial walk of the King,...so naturally, Korean elements ended up being an essential component to the track as well as the music video.”

Another example of traditional culture being used today comes from another work from BTS as a whole group. With this in mind, "Idol" is a song written by these boys for their album: Love Yourself: Answer (2018). The official music video includes traditional Korean clothing that is known as "Hanbok" and also includes traditional banquet dances, that come from a Korean masked dance called "bongsan talchum."

Korea is great! And I can't wait to travel there someday. I really appreciate everyone who visits my blog and leaves comments. Thank you to everyone who were in this class and I can't wait to see you guys in the Spring.

Before you go, I did want to add something else about Korea...their food! Korean food is delicious! This includes Kimchi or noodles! However...in Korea, there's one thing that is different. They do NOT play with their spices. There's a Korean company called "Samyang" and this company makes really spicy noodles. As a "victim" of these delicious but fiery pasta, I want to share with you a little hilarious video after reading about traditional music of Korea. Please enjoy and thank you so much for reading!

Works Cited

Koreaboo. “BTS’s Suga Shares Details About Composing Agust D’s ‘Daechwita.’” Koreaboo, 22 May 2020, www.koreaboo.com/news/agust-d-time-daechwita-suga-bts-korean-musical-influences.

Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Korean Court Music.” Wikipedia, 17 Dec. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_court_music#South_Korean_music.

---. “Music of Korea.” Wikipedia, 10 Jan. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Korea.

“Hyangak.” DBpedia, dbpedia.org/page/Hyangak.

What Does AAK Mean? www.definitions.net/definition/AAK.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “P’iri | Musical Instrument.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Apr. 2007, www.britannica.com/art/piri-musical-instrument.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Kayagŭm | Musical Instrument.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/art/kayagum.

Silla Facts for Kids. kids.kiddle.co/Silla#:~:text=Silla%20was%20one%20of%20the,extended%20all%20over%20the%20world.

“Asia Society Korea Travel Series 8 – Baekje Cultural Land.” Asia Society, asiasociety.org/korea/asia-society-korea-travel-series-8-baekje-cultural-land#:~:text=Baekje%20is%20recognized%20as%20one,of%20Buddhism%20throughout%20East%20Asia.

Cartwright, Mark. “Goguryeo.” World History Encyclopedia, 26 Jan. 2023, www.worldhistory.org/Goguryeo.

Lambert, Tim. “A Brief History of Korea - Local Histories.” Local Histories, 19 Sept. 2022, localhistories.org/a-brief-history-of-korea.

“Korea Information - History — Korean Cultural Center New York.” Korean Cultural Center New York, www.koreanculture.org/korea-information-history.

Culture of Korea - Academic Kids. academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Culture_of_Korea.

South Korea - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette. www.commisceo-global.com/resources/country-guides/south-korea-guide#:~:text=Korean%20culture%20is%20profoundly%20influenced,ancestors%2C%20and%20also%2C%20tradition.