Traditional Korean Instruments

Let's talk about Korea!

but first... a disclaimer: when I say "Korea," I mean North and South Korea, but most of the information I found was on South Korea.




String Instruments

Gayageum


The Gayageum is the most well known Korean instrument in the West. It's a plucked chordophone traditionally made of paulownia wood, a hardwood tree native to Korea and Japan, and strings made of twisted silk. It usually has 12 strings, but it really varies depending on the Gayageum. They come in all shapes and sizes. What they all have in common is that each strings has a moveable bridge that you can adjust the pitch of the strings to tune them and to change the pitches to fit whatever scale the player is using. While they pluck a string, to do vibrato, they press the string on the other side of the bridge. 

Sanjo ajaeng


This video has a bit of an introduction, so skip o 00:30 if you want to skip straight to music. This instrument, as you can see, looks similar to the Gayageum, but there's a few differences. This one is played with a bow and has a double soundboard, which gives it a unique sound. The bow is traditionally made of paulownia wood and horse hair. Unlike the Gayageum, which comes in many sizes, the ajaeng comes in two sizes, a larger size and a smaller size. The larger size has 7 strings and is used in court orchestral music. The smaller size has 8 strings and is used in folk music or solo performances.

Winds

Daegeum



Flute-like instruments are common in every culture all around the world. Everyone seems to have their own version. This instrument is traditionally made of bamboo and has a closed end, which I thought was interesting. It also has a mirliton, a vibrating membrane that creates a buzzing sound. The player controls the intensity of the buzzing with how hard they blow into the instrument. When playing softly, the buzz is noticeable, but it's quiet. The buzzing becomes more intense the harder you blow. 
The buzzing reminds me of Mbira, where the main "noise" were the pitches, but there are often intentional idiophones attached to it. For the Daegeum, the main sounds are the pitches, and the secondary noise is the buzzing.

Saenghwang

(music starts at 30 sec)

The Korean Saenghwang looks just like a Chinese instrument we talked about in class: the Sheng. They're actually really similar because they're both free reed, handheld organs. The Saenghwang has 17 bamboo pipes, mounted on a windchest, which traditionally was made out of a gourd. Today though, it's usually made out of metal of wood. The difference is in the tuning. The Saenghwang is less popular than the Chinese Sheng, even in Korea. Few Korean musicians in Korea know how to play it, but when it's played, it's usually in chamber music.

Percussion

Pyeonjong



The Pyeonjong is a pitched percussion instruments with 16 bells and is struck with a mallet that is traditionally made out of cows horn. I don't know much, if anything about Korean music theory, so I can't tell you what scale the bells are tuned to, but they are more or less tuned in stepwise motion up some sort of scale. In context, you'll probably see the Pyeonjong being played, along with other percussion instruments, in an orchestra. The player has to hit the bells at an exact spot, or else it will play a different pitch. 

Bak



The Bak is made of 6 wooden boards that when played, they make a soft clicking sound. I couldn't find any examples of it being played by itself because it's never played as a solo instrument. It's always played either in an ensemble or in the orchestra. When it's played it's usually an indicator of something important or new in the music 


Sources 

“Daegeum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 May 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegeum.

“Korea Traditional Musical Instruments.” Google, Google, https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/korea-traditional-musical-instruments-national-gugak-center-gugakwon/TQLCWFVCGDVvKQ?hl=en.

“Korean Traditional Instruments.” The Musical Instruments Museum, http://www.mim.be/korean-traditional-instruments.

“Saenghwang.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saenghwang.



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