Language and speech and communication itself is made through air and there are many things we can do with air and airflow. One of them is speech and sounds and articulating through with words and sounds. There is another way as well.... Which is music and tones and songs with or without music.
Korea has a lot of traditional instruments, but a very few instruments take center stage in the Korean music scene and popularity and still remain pertinent to this day.
The gayageum is a traditional Korean instrument that is in the zither class, which just means that they are stringed instruments that are in the family that consist of many strings stretched across a thick and flat body. The gayageum itself has 12 strings usually though it has been modernized to have 18, 21 or even 25 strings. It is one of the centerpieces of Korean traditional instruments and is fairly well-known. It is the most well known of the traditional instruments and is the sound that people seem to think of when thinking of ancient Korea. It’s thought to have been derived from the guzheng and share similarities to the Japanese koto and yatga (Mongolian) and many other instruments.
The gayageum can be found in literature as far back as 1145, in the Samguksagi, in the history of the Three Kingdoms of Korea and it was developed in the 6th century in which King Gasil after he saw an old Chinese instrument (believed to be the guzheng). The original name of the gayageum was gayago or gayatgo and later was changed to the name it is today. The gayageum was later improved during the reign of Jinheung in the Silla Dynasty. The first gayageum had many names: beopgeum, pungnyu, or jeong-ak gayageum. The gayageum is usually accompaniment for other music acts or as a background music, for the court and chamber and other lyrical songs.
The gayageum evolved later in around the 19th century with the emergence of more melodic music which is more improvisational and faster in tempo and this version of the gayageum is more prevalent in modern day than the older version of the gayageum. The traditional gayageum’s strings are made of silk and some of the newer gayageums use nylon strings.
The modern gayageum has a lot more strings than the older and more traditional versions of the gayageum. There was an introduction of nylon/steel strings instead of silk strings and brass strings have also been introduced to make a louder sound.
The implications this has on my target language is that the evolution of the instrument itself is very analogous to the change in the target language as well and the culture. There is a sense in wanting to preserve its nature and its’ beauty and the its’ own flare of its own culture (even though it may as well be derived from another country and culture) of Korea that is very reminiscent of the language as well. There is this tension between constant change and a sense of preservation and pride in their roots and the want to also spread its’ branches.
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