The daegeum (also spelled taegum,daegum or taegŭm) 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. And daegeum has a wide range and has a fixed pitch,so other instruments tune in to the daegeum when playing together. [1] It is critical to understand that there are two types of daegeum:Jeongak and Sanjo. Jeongak Daegeum is a bit longer than Sanjo Daegeum and is the formal daegeum used historically at court. Sanjo Daegum is a bit shorter and historically more associated with the commoners. They both have the unique and aforementioned buzzing membrane.
Smaller flutes in the same family include the junggeum (Korean : 중금; Hanja : 中笒) and sogeum (Korean : 소금; Hanja : 小笒),neither of which today have a buzzing membrane. The three together are known as samjuk (Korean : 삼죽; Hanja : 三竹;literally "three bamboo"),as the three primary flutes of the Silla period. [2]
The solo performance called daegeum sanjo was pronounced an Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Korea by the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea in 1971. [3]
According to Korean folklore,the daegeum is said to have been invented when King Sinmun of Silla was informed by Park Suk Jung,his caretaker of the ocean (Korean : 해관; Hanja : 海官) in 681 that a small island was floating toward a Buddhist temple in the East Sea. The king ordered his caretaker of the sun to test whether this was good luck. The caretaker replied that a dead king who turned into a sea dragon,and two great warriors are giving a gift to protect Silla,and if the king would visit the sea,he would receive a priceless gift. The king soon sent a person to look for the gift. The person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night. On the next day,the world shook and it rained and wind blew,and the world was thrown into darkness for a week. When the king went to the island himself,a dragon appeared and told him that if the bamboo on the top of the island was cut down,made into a flute,and blown,the country would be peaceful. The king cut down the tree,and the flute made from the bamboo was called manpasikjeok (Korean : 만파식적; Hanja : 萬波息笛). [4]
Korea has produced music from thousands of years,until the modern day. After the division of Korea in 1945,both North and South Korea have produced their own styles of music.
A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole,in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length.
The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is a plucked zither with 12 strings,though some more recent variants have 18,21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument. It is based on the Chinese guzheng and is similar to the Japanese koto,Mongolian yatga,Vietnamese đàn tranh,Sundanese kacapi and Kazakh jetigen.
Korean court music comprises three main musical genres:aak,an imported form of Chinese ritual music;a pure Korean form called hyangak;and a combination of Chinese and Korean styles called dangak.
Munmu of Silla was a Korean monarch who served as the 30th king of the Korean kingdom of Silla. He is usually considered to have been the first ruler of the Unified Silla period. Munmu was the son of King Muyeol and Munmyeong,who was the younger sister of Kim Yu-sin. Under his father's reign,he held the office of pajinchan,who apparently was responsible for maritime affairs,and played a key role in developing the country's diplomatic links with Tang China. He was born Prince Beopmin,and took the name Munmu when he succeeded his father to the throne. After his death,he was known by the title of Dragon King. Munmu is known as one of the great rulers in the land of Korea. During his rule,he tried to achieve the welfare and happiness of the people and to improve the political and social system. He paid great attention to justice and equality and tried to avoid neglecting the people. Munmu also attached great importance to the development of culture and art and tried to promote them in the society. He even paid attention to creating an advanced cultural and educational environment.
The dimo is a special membrane applied to the transverse Chinese flute called dizi,giving the instrument its characteristic buzzing timbre.
Hyangak,literally "indigenous/native music,folks music" is a traditional form of Korean court music with origins in the Three Kingdoms period. It is often accompanied by traditional folk dances of Korea,known as hyangak jeongjae. These dances are performed in front of audiences—as opposed to the square dance more familiar to Westerners,which is primarily for the participants' enjoyment.
The taepyeongso is a 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 (citron),daechu (jujube),or yellow mulberry wood,with a metal mouthpiece and cup-shaped metal bell. It originated during the Goryeo period (918–1392).
The paixiao is a Chinese wind instrument,a form of pan flute. A major difference between the Chinese Paixiao and the panpipes used in European and South American traditions,is that at the top of the Chinese instrument the pipe holes are each cut angled or with notches. This allows for bending the pitch in similar capacity to the dongxiao down a minor second. This allows Chinese paixiao to be fully chromatic without loss in timbre,even though the included pipes are tuned diatonically. The method of blowing so is to hold the head of the frame with both hands,with the mouthpiece facing the front,place the lower lip on the mouthpiece,and find and blow each tube according to the pitch.
The danso is a Korean notched,end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo,but since the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. It was imported from China in the 19th century,where it is called duanxiao. The Korean name is the transliteration of the Chinese one,a short variant of the xiao.
The janggu or sometimes called seyogo is the most representative drum in traditional Korean music. It consists of an hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from animal skin. The two heads produce sounds of different pitch and timbre,which when played together are believed to represent the harmonious joining of Um and Yang. The janggu is one of the four components of samul nori (사물놀이),alongside the buk (북),jing (징) and kkwaenggwari (꽹과리).
The 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. And the ajaeng is divided into two types. The ajaeng used in court music is called jeongak ajaeng,and the ajaeng used in folk music is called sanjo ajaeng. The original version of the instrument,and that used in court music,has seven strings;while the ajaeng used for sanjo and sinawi has eight. Some instruments have as many as nine to twelve strings.similar to the koto but bowed
The buk (Korean: 북) 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. Buk are categorized as hyeokbu which are instruments made with leather,and has been used for jeongak and folk music.
Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string,wind,and percussion instruments. Many traditional Korean musical instruments derive from Chinese musical instruments.
The junggeum is a medium-sized transverse bamboo flute formerly used in traditional Korean music. Unlike the larger daegeum,it does not have a buzzing membrane. It was used in court,aristocratic,and folk music,but has largely died out,being rarely used today.
The sogeum is a small bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. Unlike the larger daegeum,it does not have a buzzing membrane. It is used in court,aristocratic,and folk music,as well as in contemporary classical music,popular music,and film scores.
Yi Saenggang,also known as Lee Saenggang,is a South Korean musician and a leading practitioner of daegeum sanjo,an instrumental style of Korean music played on the daegeum,a large bamboo transverse flute. His musical career spans over 60 years and he has been officially recognized as the master of Important Intangible Cultural Property by the Korean government.
The dangjeok (Korean: 당적) is a small end blown bamboo flute used in traditional Korean music. Slightly smaller than its close instrument relative,the junggeum,the dangjoek is of Chinese origin. Its name,derived from the Chinese Tang dynasty,dangjeok translates to "Tang end blown bamboo flute." The dangjeok is an aerophone which gives off a clear and bright sound,and has a limited one and a half octave range according to the ancient Korean music treatise,the akhakgwebeom. It is often played accompanied by the Korean lute and xylophone. Remodeled to enhance range,it is made of yellow bamboo or sick bamboo,and possesses a single end-blowing notch,and seven holes to control pitch,though the seventh hole is not used. Of traditional and current instruments of Korean origin,the dangjeok has the highest pitch.
The tunso is a Korean notched,end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean traditional music. It is similar to the danso,but longer and larger. The hanja tong (洞) was used to describe the shape of the instrument that resembles a long cave.
The bipa is a pear-shaped lute that is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is derived from Chinese pipa and was introduced through the Silk Road to Goguryeo and Silla. There are two major types of bipa:the four stringed dang-bipa and the five stringed hyang-bipa. While dang-bipa was a Tang-style pipa first introduced from the Chinese Tang dynasty and localized over time to have Korean characteristics,hyang-bipa was created in the Korean Kingdom of Silla. The instrument is also related to other derivatives such as Vietnamese đàn tỳbà and the Japanese biwa.
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