Music focus: Korea

Finding music and the instruments used for Korea have been new to all of us. I've never studied this before, so had to rely solely on the internet to source materials.

picture from here

A quick look in wikipedia lists quite a variety of traditional instruments of the string, woodwind and percussion varieties.  There are even a couple of horns.  It is evident that there is a strong influence from the Chinese.  Silk strings were traditionally used, with steel being implemented later.

I found it fascinating reading the pages I found on Korean instruments.  Ranging from 'primitive' to contemporary.  You may like to read this page from People's Korea.  I particular like this page, as it let's you hear a few samples of the instruments being played.

As I've already said, there is a great influence from China, and yet I read that Korean music is still quite distinctive.  Their music can be clearly categorised into that for the ruling class (chong-ak) and that for the common people (sog-ak).  Chong-ak is the more elegant and proper style of music, sometimes with lyrics or ensembles.  Sog-ak include the farmer's music, folk songs and Buddhist music. There is a fabulous article with lots of details here.  

Here's an example of Korean court ensemble music:



Using our western instruments, here's a very interesting variation on a Korean folk piece:



Finally, I'll be showing this to the children too. It's a three drum dance, so called because each lady plays three drums.



There's plenty more to explore, but I'm not going to make this too long.
To finish up, here's an interesting site with lots of audio examples of traditional music: Music from Korea. The few I've already listened to a most beautiful and peaceful (eg: Flower Story Two). It's worth downloading them onto the pc and playing them through your media player.