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Introduction From ancient times, the Korean people have preserved a long history of music. Through cultural exchanges with countries surrounding Korea, Korean music became vast and profound. In the north, there lay a territory which once formed part of the Korean kingdom of Koguryo; to the west, there lay China, Mongolia, Tibet, and India; and to the south, Japan. Although Korean music may have received admiration in the Orient and in the West, the composition, research, and performance of Korean music has not flourished. A few musicians or ethnomusicologists such as Hye- Ku Lee, Sa- Hun Chang, Man- Young Hahn and Kyong- rin Song have continuously researched Korean music with passion. However, it is not easy to understand their language; ethnomusicologists use a peculiar terminology and system in explaining and analyzing Korean music. It is frustrating for me as a musician and as a theorist. The purpose of this paper is to explore Korean music through more general methods normally used in analyzing other music. In this paper I shall analyze Chonp'ye Huimun, a music for the second order of the Korean Ancestral Shrine Ritual of the Yi dynasty. First, I will discuss the historical background and the general nature of Korean ritual music. Thereafter, I will investigate the pitch structure in the background and foreground, linearity and the rhythmic design inherent in Chonp'ye huimun. In addition, I will apply the spectral analysis used by Robert Cogan, which will reveal many hidden and mysterious aspects of Korean traditional music. I. Historical background of Korean Ritual Music The general nature of the ritual. From the earliest period of ancient Korea, there were various ritual music. However, after 1910, when the Yi dynasty was annexed by Japan, only the Confucius Shrine music and the Royal Ancestral Shrine music have been performed[1] (See the time line in Fig.1.) Fig. 1 The historical relationship of Korea and China
The Royal Ancestral Shrine ritual is basically similar to the Confucian Shrine ritual in organization and intent, but its music is entirely different. The shrine (Chongmyo) is located in downtown Seoul, to the left of the main palace when one is facing south, in accordance with the traditional Chinese requirement that the altar to the deities of earth and grain (Sajik-tan) is to the right. The memorial tablets of the kings of the Yi dynasty and their consorts are housed in two long halls, each facing a large stone-paved courtyard. Since the first performance during the first king of Yi dynasty in 1395, the ritual had been observed four times a year until the end of the dynasty. Discontinued in 1945, it has recently been revived and is now held once a year in May.[4] History of Royal Ancestral Shrine Music. There were several waves of Chinese musical influence in Korea, as well as indigenous creation and modification of these influences. During the Koryo ( 936-1392) and the early Yi dynasty (1392-1593) there was no consistency in music for the ritual. For some periods aak was used and in others various combinations of hyungak, tangak, and aak .Hyangak means court music of Korean origin and Chinese music that came to Korea before the Tang dynasty, including Central Asian acrobatics, juggling and masked play. The term now embraces compositions of the Shilla, Koryo and Yi Dynasties.[5] Tangak means literally music of the Tang dynasty in Korea. Tangak originally indicated music of Tang Chinese origin used in the Korean court. Strictly speaking, the Chinese music of the Koryo and Yi Dynasties is the music of the Sung Dynasty, but in a broad sense it is called Tangak. Authentic Tang music of this period is now scant and the music is no longer performed in Korea and China. Aak means court ritual music of Chinese origin. In A.D. 1116 the Emperor Hui Tsung of the Sung Dynasty sent Aak to Korea. So, Aak was first performed for the Royal Ancestral Shrine during the Koryo Dynasty. The term was gradually limited to Confucian ritual music as the other courtly forms disappeared. The Royal Ancestor's Shrine music, a type of court ritual music established in the 15th century, is excluded from the narrow sense of aak, for it evolved long after in hyangak style.[6] Some confusion could arise in the classification of Korean music since the term, Aak, began to be used sometimes to refer to any serious, cultivated and elegant music. In this sense, it covered tangak and hyangak as well, and even classical song.[7] The fourth king of the Yi Dynasty Sejong (1418-1450), a devoted music scholar himself, suggested the possibility of using hyangak exclusively, because the spirit of the dead kings did not have a chance to hear the hyangak to which they had been accustomed when alive. The main aim was to avoid worshiping the spirits of the dead kings with music of Chinese origin. This suggestion was finally followed up in 1463 when the seventh king Sejo established two large, primarily hyangak suites as the Royal Ancestral Shrine music . This music has been performed continuously for the past five centuries.[8] The music which King Sejo (1455-1468) chose was the work of King Sejong. The two suites selected by Sejo were Chongdaeop ("Achieving great works," fifteen pieces) and Pot'aep'yong ("Preserving the great peace," eleven pieces). Chongdaeop is a suite in praise of their military achievements; and Pot'aep'yong is a suite in praise of the civil achievements of the kings of the Yi dynasty. Both of them were written in Chinese during the reign of King Sejong. The music for these songs was borrowed from already existing Korean songs or ku-ch'ui music. Pot'aepy'ong consists of eleven songs all in p'yongjo (G mode), and Chongdaeop, consists of fifteen songs all in kyemyonjo (A mode). The suites were shortened and adopted as the music for the Royal Ancestral Shrine in 1464. As in the Confucian Shrine ritual, the music is accompanied by "civil" (munmu) and "military" (mumu) dances. The number of dancers, formerly 36, was toward the end of the dynasty increased to 64. In the military dance, half of the dancers hold wooden swords and the other half wooden spears. Like the music, the dances are revisions of those created during the reign of Sejong for banquet performances. The civil dance is danced to Pot'aep'yong, the texts of which describe the civil achievements of the dynastic founders and the military dance is danced to Chongdaeop, which relates their military achievements. The suites are still performed today.[9] In addition to its function as ritual music, Huimun from Pot'aep'yong which I will research in this paper, is appreciated as art music today. Fig. 2[10] The full performance of the Royal Ancestral Shrine Ritual
mumu: military dance II. The Music -- The General Nature of Instruments,
Instruments and Court Orchestra.-- Traditionally, instruments were classified in two different ways. The older system, which originated in the Chinese court and applied mainly to instruments of court ritual music, divided them into the eight categories of metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, clay, leather and wood, the essential materials for their manufacture. The second system grouped instruments according to the musical genre in which they were employed. This system applied only to court music and not to classical and folk genres. The total number of traditional instruments known in Korea, including those now obsolete, is more than 60, and 44 of those are in modem usage. Virtually all instrumental music in the court music tradition is for an ensemble of at least five players. As in the West, melody instruments are classified broadly into "strings" and "winds," but in Korea the "strings" include only plucked (komun'go and kayagum) and struck (yanggum) instruments, while the bowed strings (haegum, ajaeng) are grouped with the "winds." Thus the contrast between the rapid decay of plucked or struck strings and the continuous tone of bowed strings was evidently regarded as more significant than the contrast between strings and air columns as sound -producing media. There exist two different kinds of orchestra when the ritual music was performed: tungga and hon'ga. The distribution of the Royal Ancestral Shrine ritual music for each section between the two orchestras is exactly as in the Confucian Shrine ritual music. The instrumentation derives from the court banquet orchestra. The Royal Ancestral Shrine orchestra further adopted two drums (cholgo, chin'go) and two wooden percussion instruments (ch'uk, o), without making any significant changes in their usage. Instruments used only in Royal Ancestral Ritual music (Fig. 3) are the p'yonjong (assembled bell chime), p'yongyong (assembled sonorous stone chime), panghyang (a set of sixteen iron slabs in a frame), tang-p'iri (a cylindrical bamboo oboe), t'aep'yongso (a conical wooden oboe), t'aegum (large bamboo transverse flute), haegum (lute), ajaeng (half-tube zither), channgo (stick drum), cholgo (a medium sized barrel drum), chin'go a long huge barrel drum), citing (gong), pak (a set of wooden leaves), ch'uk (trapezoidal wooden box on a wooden base), o (scraper in the form of a wooden tiger with a row of teeth on his spine; a split bamboo stick strikes the tiger's head and scrapes the teeth). Fig. 3[11] The instruments of tungga (orchestra on a terrace) and hon'ga (orchestra on the ground).
Location of Instruments - The tungga orchestra was located in the upper stairway of the shrine and the hon'ga orchestra was located in the lower stairway during the ceremony. The diagram below shows the location of instruments of tungga and hon'ga.[12]
Pitch.[13] It is often said that Korean music is pentatonic, but this statement, while not altogether false, is misleading. Although the number of principal pitches never exceeds five, most folk music and much upper class music is built on scales of only three principal tones, with or without one or two subsidiary tones. Furthermore, what might sound as two tones connected by vibrato or glissando to the Western ear, is to the Korean ear one musical entity.
Rhythm -- Most Korean music employing definite meters, and some in metrically amorphous slow tempo, is accompanied either by an hourglass drum (changgo) or a barrel drum, or by both together. It is the function of the drum to maintain the basic rhythm. Korean music almost always begins on the first beat and ends in a rhythmically weak position. The phenomenon is no doubt related to such features of the Korean language as stressed initial syllables and unstressed final syllables, and the post-position of those grammatical items which correspond to articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. In very slow pieces the first stroke is split so that the right head drum is struck before the left, apparently as an aid in establishing the pace. Notation.[14] Eight types of notation are recognized in Korean music and each performs a different function.
III. Analytic Study of Chonp'ye Huimun Chonp'ye is the second section of the Royal Ancestral Shrine Ritual. The music "Huimun", which is an introductory piece, is played during the offering of the tribute to the order of Chonp'ye. Chonp'ye Huimun is a music for the tungga orchestra which comprises winds (taegum, tangp'iri), strings (haegum, ajaeng), percussion (panghyang, p'yon'gyong, p'unjong, cholgo, changgo) and singer. The percussion pak is struck at the beginning and end of the piece, and also at the end of each phrase. The drum (cholgo) is generally struck on the first beat of each phrase. The durations, the widely spaced percussion strokes, and slow tempo of modem practice combine to produce an effect of great majesty. The musical design and substance fall within the general traditions of Asian art and ritual music: heterophony; pentatonic musical language; recurring rhythmic cycles; and the Chinese-derived Ki-Seung-Chon- Kyul four-part form. However, each of these elements is imbued with a specific Korean nuance and accent. These nuances include a heterophony in which the human voice expressively elaborates the nuclear melody. And a pentatonic in which the focal priority note shifts in the course of the ritual, so that ambiguity plays an unusually important role. This piece consists of four phrases, which is closely associated with the traditional Chinese-Korean literary structure of Ki-Seung- Chon- Kyul. Ki means the introduction, Seung the development of theme, Chon the transformation, and Kyul means the summing-up. The constituent pitches of this piece are C4, D4, F4, G4, A4, C5, and D5 (Hwang, Tae, Chung, Im, Nam, Cheong Hwang, Cheong Tae). When the original piece was composed in the 16'" century the shaping force of the music heavily depended upon a regular rhythmic pattern -changdan (see Fig.5[16]). However, certain changes took place in the 19th century. Still, Chonp'ye Huimun is distinguished by its very slow, long and flowing melodic line. Text Setting -- The poem used in Chonp'ye Huimun is written in Chinese characters. There exist several different types of traditional poetic structure: three characters in four phrases; four characters in four phrases; and five characters in four phrases. The poem used in Chonp'ye Huimun has five characters in four phrases, onto again Ki--Seung--Chon--Kyul structure.
Musical Language-- Structural Background Structure and Elaboration - Growing Structure (in length, nuclear melody and elaboration). In accord with the previously mentioned ki-seung-chon-kyul structure, this piece is divided into four growing phrases. The first phrase lasts 85.5 seconds, the second phrase 101.5 seconds, the third 106.25 seconds and the fourth phrase lasts 140 seconds. Every phrase the refrain appears with the same rhythmic pattern (see Fig. 6 - music). Fig. 6 (click on each image to enlarge)
Figure 7 shows the nuclear melody of this piece, which also displays a growing structure in range and the number of attacks. The nuclear melody[18] (a phrase originated by Colin mcPhee in his book Music in Bali) means the fundamental notes of the melody. The first phrase forms a gently sloping ascending arch from D4 to F4 with 4 principal attack points. The second phrase creates a larger arch than the first phrase, moving from D4 back to D4 with 6 attack points. The third phrase forms a large inverted arch from D5 toA4 with 8 attack points. And the last phrase shapes the largest arch covering from D5 to C4, with 11 attack points. The overall shape of the last phrase also comprises two small arches of opposite direction.
In this piece, elaborating notes are used in many ways, and the number and the degree of elaboration is different in every phrase. The elaboration becomes more complex as the phrases proceed. Figure 8 shows the nuclear melody and elaboration around it. As mentioned in chapter II, vibrato and slides are part of the essential nature of Korean traditional music. Almost every where the elaboration of the nuclear melody appears as a form of vibrato, grace note, leaping 4th above, or wavering oscillation. The white notes in Figure 8 indicate the nuclear melody the black notes indicate the elaboration around the nuclear melody. Everywhere vibrato and grace notes appear continuously . In addition, from the second phrase to the end a new type of elaboration --leaping fourth above-- is added. In the third and fourth phrase an ambiguous wavering elaboration between two notes ,F-G, is extended for quite a long while, without resolving to a particular pitch. This same wavering elaboration reappears between C5-D5 in the last phrase.
Linearity -- In the nuclear melodic line, Chonp'ye Huimun essentially uses five notes: C,D,F,G,A. One of the Korean modes, p'yongjo (G A C D E) is transposed to C © D F G A). The first phrase displays all five notes in advance, which foreshadows the entire melodic structure. I follow the theorist Robert Cogan in regarding this scales as consisting of steps of two different sizes, 2 and 3semitones. It is analogous to, but different from, European diatonic structures whose steps are also of two different sizes, 1 and 2 semitones. Two important pitch- regions, C-D and F-G-A, dominate the entire piece. What is especially important about C-D is that it appears in two registers, and at the beginning and end of almost every phrase and of the whole piece. As can be seen in the reduction of the piece shown in Figures 8, the first and the second phrases show two different levels of pitch connection, whereas the third and the fourth phrases show more complex connections. The lower level connects the notes C4 to D4, the middle level connects the notes F4, G4 and A4. In the third and fourth phrases the lowest level C-D is shifted from register 4 to 5, forming the pieces highest level. When at first glance I observe the first phrase, D4 appears more crucial than C4, because C4 appears once at the beginning while D4 sustains much longer than C4. However, the number and duration of appearances of C and D are equal through the entire piece. Sometimes, as at the beginning and the end, C comes to dominate, as origin and goal of the motion. At many other times D dominates, with C as a neighbor or returning note: for example as the highest structural note. The pitch D4 is still powerful in the second phrase appearing at the beginning and the end of the second phrase. In this phrase the upper level is introduced first with the brief appearance of D5and C5. The second phrase is the first in which all three levels are active In the third and the fourth phrases the middle and the upper level have a more decisive role than the lower level. The pitch region D4-C4 of the lower level only appears at the end of the concluding fourth phrase. On the other hand the highest pitch region, D5-C5,dominates the third phrase at its beginning and end. The linear connection of C-D appears in both the lower and upper levels of the piece. In the middle F-G-A region of F is more important as a melodic goal in the first and the second phrases. However, A becomes more important than F in the third and fourth phrases, where G and F form large returning motions between As. Let me explain this linear motion in a large scale: the lower level moves from C4-D4--C4, the upper level moves from D5 to C5 while the middle level shows two arches opposite of each other, F4--G4--A4--G4--F4 and A4--G4--F4--G4-A4 (Fig. 9).
Musical Language - Structural Foreground ( Fig 10). The orchestra part in Chonp'ye Huimun plays the primary notes while the singer performs many elaborations like vibrato, grace note, leaping notes and wavering notes, besides the principal notes which it shares with the orchestra. Figure 10 shows the melody the singer performs. The encircled notes are those that the orchestra and the singer play together. In addition they form the nuclear melody of this piece.
Through the entire piece there exist three different kinds of elaborative elements in the melody : a leaping element marked x; a repeating element marked y; and an oscillating element marked z (Fig 10). These three elements sometimes appear alone, and sometimes appear combined together weaving an expansive decorative structure. In these elaborations element x combines with element z, while element y appears by itself. The leaping element x shows an arch shape in which the nuclear notes are in the beginning and the ending of the arch shape. As a modification of x, x' appears also, presenting an arch shape in which the stressed note is the apex of the shape. The stressed notes, played by the orchestra and singer, are usually repeated or sustained. The repeating element y only appears in the refrain of the very end of the long phrases. The oscillating element z covers major second interval: z descending z' ascending. In the first phrase, the three elements are introduced with the structure of z+x, y, z, y (Fig.10 and 11). In the second phrase the compound element of x and z plays a leading role, with the structure of x+z, x+z, x, z'+x, y. In the third phrase x and x' are equally crucial through the entire phrase; x', x', x, x, x+ z', y. In the fourth phrase, the leaping element x and the oscillating element z' alternates without being mixed (Fig. 11). Different elements are focused on as the piece proceeds, and the number of elements grows as the piece progresses. As the number of elements grows, however, each element is condensed. Fig. 11
Rhythm -- The tempo of Chonp'ye Huimun is extremely slow, indeed, each note is drawn out so long that it is sometimes difficult to feel the rhythm. Generally speaking, in Korean traditional music a specific rhythmic pattern called Changdan is used. When the original piece was composed in 16th century the music depended upon the Changdan, however, certain changes happened in the 19th century. So, it is now hard to find any Changdan in Chonp'ye Huimun. But, there is a particular rhythmic pattern dominating the entire piece. The principal rhythmic pattern (p) consists of four elements: a strong accent that is followed by a weaker accent, and another weak accent with a hold (/ ~ ~ --). A variant of this pattern (p') eliminates the middle weaker accents (/ ~ -). Besides these patterns two other patterns appear: (q) a strong accent followed by hold (/ --); and (r) three weak beats (~ ~ ~). Between the accents, strong or weak, come other "floating" elaborations of the nuclear melody notes. Here I shall refer to the spectrum photo of this piece (Fig. 12). You can see many thick and thin vertical lines in this photo. The thick vertical line indicates a strong accent which results especially from striking the cholgo on every downbeat. The weak accents are produced by simultaneous moving sounds of the singer and the instruments. The hold elements usually mark the sustaining of the nuclear notes. While at first it is very hard to feel the rhythm completely by listening to the music, the spectrum photo reveals the rhythmic pattern precisely. The pattern of combining the strong accent, weak accent and hold is shown regularly through the entire - spectrum photo. Fig.13 shows a summary of the rhythmic patterns appearing in Chonp'ye Huimun. Fig. 12
Fig. 13
In every phrase the patterns p and p' are primary and dominating. In the second phrase, the pattern r is introduced once. In the third phrase the pattern q is introduced twice. But, in the fourth phrase p, q, and r appear alternately, producing a series of p-r-q patterns. In addition, in every refrain the p'p'p' pattern is presented consistently. The number of rhythmic patterns of the first phrase is 6, the second phrase 8, the third phrase 9 and the fourth phrase is 11. As the entire structure grows in length, the nuclear melody, the elaborations, and the number of patterns in each phrase also display the same expanding structure. And as the piece progresses, the rhythmic pattern evolves further from the prime pattern. The numbers shown in Fig.13 indicate the length in seconds between strong accents in the spectrum photo, which means spans of time. Every ending of every phrase has exactly the same rhythmic pattern (p' p' p'), but the duration of each of these refrains decreases to the end of the piece: 8.3 --6.6--7--5.3. Also, the duration of the other rhythmic patterns becomes shorter as the piece progresses. The average pattern in the first phrase is 6.97, in the second phrase is 6.63, in the third is 6 and in the fourth phrase is 5.82. While the number of elements in the piece is growing, the speed of the elements is accelerating-so that in two ways the piece becomes even more dense. In the spectrum photo, we can compare the length of each pattern of each phrase and the growing density. As a final observation, I want to refer to the Golden Section. Until the fourth phrase starts, every rhythmic pattern has the strong accent except two places marked pattern r. In these two places the Golden Section occurs: one is at the positive GS and the other one is at the negative GS of the ritual (total duration is 153.8, so 153.8 x 0.618 = 94.4 and 153.8 x 0.382 = 59.4). IV. Conclusion In this paper I have investigated the historical background of Korean ritual music: the general nature of the ritual and history of Royal Ancestral Shrine music, and the general nature of instruments, musical language, rhythm and musical design of Korean music. Also, I focused on the analysis of many characteristic features of Chonp'ye Huimun: the structural background and foreground, linearity and rhythmic design. Chonp'ye Huimun consists of four phrases which are closely associated with the traditional Chinese -- Korean literary structure of Ki-Seung-Chon-Kyul. This four part form is also related to four dominating rhythmic modules :/ ~ ~ -, / ~ - , / ~ and ~ ~ ~. This piece shows a growing structure not only in form but also in length, range, elaboration and nuclear melody. The essential notes of this piece form the pentatonic scale -C, D, F, G, A-- where the focal priority note shifts within the C-D region and within the F-G-A region, so that the ambiguity gives this music a special interest. Based on the nuclear melody which is also played by orchestra, the voice expressively elaborates that melody with great length and great weight and freedom. This combination of order, growth, and freedom gives Korean music many unique and exquisite aspects. Notes Mee Eun Jeon is a composer/theorist whose music has been performed in America, Korea and Europe, and whose essays have appeared in Sonus, Musical Praxis and Romantic Music. |
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