earticle

영어

The history of Korean music is a history of mixing with foreign musics Koreanized through the process of assimilation. It appears that no mutually heterogeneous musics have been so intimately mixed in Korea as these days. No two heterogeneous musics can be really mixed with each other without the power of harmony contained in their inherent attributes. This study is made in the expectation that modem Koreans' soul-searching will be able to find a clue in the past history of music. Theoretically, the musics that our ancestors enjoyed have similarities to western musics in terms of the structure. The musics of the Goryeo Dynasty handed down to the Joseon Dynasty included many pieces of Chinese musics composed of 7-note scales. These were used as basic materials in making new types of musics in early Joseon Dynasty. The musical tones appearing in musical scores for three wind instruments in Samguksagi published in 1145 also include the names of popular musics of China. These show that the use of 7-note scales in Korea dates back long ago. The Geomungo(Korean six-string zither) section of Akhakgwebeom shows various methods of tuning the musical instrument, such as Nakshijo, Ujo, Choejajo, Takmokjo and Cheongpungche. It appears that the techniques of tuning in the past had a wider variety than those used these days that are chiefly composed of two, i.e. jeongak and sanjo. As such, it is guessed that the nation's past history of music contains various structural factors (such as notes and methods of tuning) that can be used to develop the diversity. Thus, it will be a worthwhile attempt to explore such factors to use them for creation of modem-day Geomungo musics.