Today I am going to write traditional Korean musical instruments. Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. A great number of traditional Korean musical instruments – especially those used in Confucian ceremonies—derive from Chinese musical instruments. There are various kinds of instrument including in Traditional Korean musical instruments. For instance, wind instruments include flutes, transverse, end-blown, oboes, free-reed and trumpets. Also, percussion instruments also have a lot of different types such as Chimes, Drums, Gongs, Cymbals, Wooden Instruments. I will mainly talk about string instruments in this essay.
One of the most important categories of Korean musical instruments is string instrument. Korean string instruments include those that are plucked, bowed, and struck. Most Korean string instruments use silk strings.
For those Korean string instruments are plucked, they are also classified to three different categories, including zithers, harps and lutes.Zithers contains Gayageum (가야금--- a long zither with 12 strings), Geomungo(거문고—A fretted bass zither with six to eleven silk strings that is plucked with a bamboo stick and played with a weight made out of cloth ) ,Daejaeng (대쟁—A long zither with 15 strings), Seul(슬—a long zither with 25 strings), Geum(금 – A 7-stringed zither) and Ongnyugeum(옥류금 – A larger modernized box zither with 33 nylon-wrapped metal strings). And for harps which are no longer used, they only have one instrument which is called Gonghu(공후). There are four subtypes according to the shape including Sogonghu(소공후 – harp with angled sound, 13 strings and a peg that is tucked into the player’s belt), Wagonghu(와공후 – arched harp with a large internal sound box and 13 strings), Sugonghu(수공후—vertical harp without sound box and 21 strings) and Daegonghu(대공후—large vertical harp with 23 strings). Moreover, most of lutes are no longer used. For instance, Bipa(비파- a pear-shaped lute with 5 strings or 4 strings) is uncommon today. Its most modern reactions are modeled on the Chinese Pipa. And Wolgeum(월금) which is a lute with a moon-shaped wooden body, four strings, and 13 frets is also no longer used.
For those Korean string instruments are bowed, they have 2 subtypes called fiddles and zithers. Fiddles include Haegeum( 해금 – a vertical fiddle with two strings), Sohaegeum( 소해금- a modernized fiddle with 4 strings similar to a modern violin), Junghaegeum( 중해금 – a modernized fiddle with 4 strings similar to a modern viola), Daehaegeum( 대해금– a modernized fiddle with 4 strings similar to a modern cello) and Jeohaegeum(저해금 -- a modernized fiddle with 4 strings similar to a modern double bass).
The last type of string instrument is Yanggeum(양금). It is a hammered dulcimer with metal strings, struck with bamboo mallets and derived from the Chinese Yangqin.
Comments
Thanks for sharing this interesting post with us! I learned to play the flute when I was 10 years old and I hope if I have chances, I can learn to play Korean instrument in the future. My music teacher said that if you have learned an instrument, then it becomes easier to learn the second. Music instruments shared many common features and that attracts me so much.
I really enjoyed reading this post! I always wanted to learn how to play Korean instruments, but I never had the means to begin learning. After reading this post, I watched videos of people playing some of the instruments you mentioned and I found it really interesting! I also liked how you connected Confucianism in your post, because I think it's important to acknowledge China's influence in Korea.
I did not know there were so many different types of Korean instruments! In the past, I have played 단소, which is a Korean flute. The 단소 has a very husky sound compared to the flute, which has a very clear sound. I also played 장구, which is a Korean drum. It was interesting to read more about the different Korean instruments.
This is a great post! I am always interested in traditional instruments, and traditional Korean instruments share so many similarities with traditional Chinese instruments because, throughout history, Koreans used to send many people to visit China and learned many skills including music. I also like how you connect Confucian ideas with musical development. I learned many new things from reading your posts!
This is so interesting! It’s fascinating how there are different types of strings, including silk and metal. I think the different materials of the instruments (bamboo, cloth, etc.) reflect the materials that were available at the time. It also makes sense how many traditional Korean musical instruments derive from Chinese instruments, since aspects of the Korean language derive from Chinese.
This was a really cool cultural post about Korean instruments! I am a very musical person myself and learned a lot from your cultural post. I didn’t know there were so many cool instruments in Korean culture. I also thought it was interesting that you brought of Confucian ideals into your cultural post. This is cool because for my cultural presentation on Korean music, I found that many of the genres I researched had a lot of Confucian ideals in the lyrics and themes of the songs.
This was a really detailed and interesting read! I was really surprised at the variety of traditional Korean instruments there were. It was also interesting to learn that many instruments were inspired by traditional Chinese instruments as well. I think there are many aspects of East Asian culture that are shared between all the countries with traditional music being one of them.