Yield to the temptation of Korean music
KOREA HERALD
 |
This is the 55th in a series of articles highlighting tourism spots in Seoul. The guide for planning weekend trips in the capital city will help readers rediscover Seoul. - Ed.
By Annabelle Lee
Every country has its own traditional music. The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in Seocho-dong is a great place to experience the full spectrum of traditional Korean music and performing arts.
Most visitors to Seoul go to Myeong-dong for shopping and to Insa-dong for traditional culture. To enjoy traditional music, many of them go to performances at their hotel. Chongdong Theater, where the “Miso” performance is held, is also one of the most frequently visited places to listen to traditional music.
If you have more time, and are interested in Korean music, visit the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in Seocho-dong.
Be sure to look around the museum first. The instruments on display look like a stunning collection of art pieces. Generally, the old-fashioned Korean musical instruments are made of wood, stone, or clay. While modern instruments are made with scientific technology, these instruments are manufactured with natural materials, producing a more natural, organic sound.
Instruments like fine art
The instruments displayed in the central hall, such as the stone chimes and bronze bells, are decorated in five colors, like the dancheong patterns traditionally used when painting temples.
Most of the instruments were used for court banquets during the Joseon Dynasty. The instruments played by the musicians in the picture entitled “The Honored Visit of Great King Jeongju to Hwaseong,” which is also displayed in the hall, are very similar to those exhibited.
“Eo,” a wooden percussion instrument shaped like a tiger and “chuk,” a rectangular box with a wooden hammer, are especially eye-catching instruments.
The chuk, a percussion instrument, was mainly used in the Court Ancestral Ritual at the Jongmyo Shrine during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). The box is painted green, the color representing the east, where the sun rises. As the sunrise begins the day, the instrument symbolizes the beginning of a musical performance.
The eo, which comes in the shape of a prostrate white tiger, has 27 saw teeth on the back. When the head of the tiger is struck three times and the back is scraped three times with a bamboo rod called a “gyeon,” the music ends. The green Chuk is placed to the east, and the white Eo is placed to the west.
Likewise, the color and the placement of most Korean musical instruments are significant.
12 notes of the Korean scale
Korean musical instruments consist of string, percussion, and wind instruments. String instruments include the “gayageum,” a twelve-stringed zither, the “geomungo,” a six-stringed zither, and the “ajaeng,” a horizontal zither. Percussion instruments include the “janggu,” an hourglass shaped drum and the “buk,” a double-headed barrel drum with a wooden body. Wind instruments include the “danso,” a small, notched flute, the “daegeum,” a larger, horizontal flute, and the “piri,” a double-reeded bamboo oboe.
They are all displayed at the Instruments Hall on the right. Two more - the “nagak” and “saenghwang” - are particularly eye catching. The nagak is a seashell played as a horn, while the saenghwang is made from 17 bamboo pipes, each with its own reed, mounted in a metal wind chest.
Like in Western music, each octave has 12 semitones, which are called “yul.” Each yul has its own name - “hwangjong,” “daeryeo,” “taeju,” “hyeopjong,” “goseon,” “jungryeo,” “yubin,” “imjong,” “ichik,” “namnyeo,” “muyeok” and “eungjong.” Among these yul, hwangjong, taeju, goseon, jungryeo, imjong, namnyeo, and muyeok are used most and are equivalent to do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti. When writing down in a score, only the first syllable of each yul was used, but the whole name was used when specific scale was pointed out. Traditional musical scores are exhibited in the Korean Music History Hall, also known as the Old Scriptures Hall.
 |
Learn Korean instruments
The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts was founded in 1951 to protect and preserve traditional Korean music. The place is composed of many halls like Meyongin Hall and Jukheon Hall. The Experience Hall is a particularly interesting place, where you can find out about traditional Korean music through the “Magic Video” and a music game.
You can learn traditional music from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday in 12-week programs. Janggu, gayageum (beginner and intermediate), haegeum, and samulnori programs are offered, and the program fee is 30,000 won for the 12-week program. As the last program in 2009 is almost finished, the best time to start would be next year.
l Contact: (02) 580-3054 /
baewon76@gmail.com
The museum is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (except Mondays and New Year’s Day). No admission fee.
l Contact: (02) 580-3130 www.gugak.go.kr
Interview
Three charms of Korean music
Daulat Pane is an Indonesian who has stayed in Seoul for three years. He works for the KBS World Radio Station as the Indonesian service consultant. He is involved in the entire process of program production, and his main task is to introduce traditional Korean music. He singles out a musical instrument every week, and explains when it was created, how it is made, what it sounds like, and any story behind the instrument.
Though the title of the program has changed occasionally, the core content of the show has not changed for four years.
Through this experience, Pane has become an enthusiast of traditional music. He picked out three words that represent Korean music.
The first is magic. The music drives him into a state of complete absence, according to him, as if he saw a piece of very beautiful scene or picture. His favorite instrument is the gayageum and he loves all pieces played on the gayageum.
The second word is healing. He said Korean music could ease one’s fatigue at the end of the day and heal the soul.
The third word was exhilaration - he picked out samulnori, which is very cathartic for him. Korean music even sounds sexy to him. He said he hoped more people know about and get immersed in Korean music.
Nearby tourist attraction
l Seoul Arts Center
The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts is juxtaposed with the main center of the Korean modern arts, Seoul Arts Center.
Seoul Arts Center is a comprehensive art facility comparable to famous art centers worldwide, and has an opera theater, music hall, art museum, calligraphy museum and education hall, as well as outdoor cultural spaces like the music plaza, traditional Korean garden, outdoor stage and market.
The Opera Theater, the central place of the Seoul Arts Center has a circular roof in the shape of a traditional Korean scholar’s hat, and the music hall was designed in the form of fan.