Detail

Pyen-kyeng (Chinese : Pien-ching) The stone chemes, the counterpart of the bell chimes, have sixteen slabs of stone that progress from the lower right to left, then from upper left to right chromatically. The upper ridge of the longer side of the case with the c-stone, and as the note rises, the proportion is slightly reduced. It is to be noted that the longer side is narrower that the shorter side. So if, in tunign the stone chimes, the pitch is too high, then the surface of the stone is rubbed off, making the pitch lower. However, if the pitch is too low, the lower end of the stone is rubbed off to make the long side shorter. To play the stone chimes, one strikes the suspended stone near its lower end with a mallet made of horn. Chang-ko An hour glass drum. The skin of the left side is thick and is struck with palm, souding soft and low, and the skin of the right side is thin and is struck with a stick held in the right hand, sounding hard. The right side can be sounded higher or lower by moving the central belts that encircle the V-shaped laces to the right or to the left. The Chang-ko is used in playing both Korean and Chinese music, in court and in the country, and when it is used in rural bands or in Shaman music, then both sides are struck with sticks, making it louder. Tang-piri This cylindrical oboe is made of bamboo and have eight finger-holes including the back hole, and have double reeds. The Tang-piri, meaning Chinese oboe, is shorter and bigger than the Hyang-piri (meaning Korean oboe), and it is harder to play this big oboe. Its back finger-hole is the second hole instead of the first as on the Hyan-piri. Tai-Keum The Tai-keum, 2 feet 5 inches long, is the largest flute, larger than the Japanese Shakuhachi. It has a blow hole, a hole covered with a thin membrane, six finger-holes and five(sometimes one) non-stopped holes at the lower end, making 13 holes. The distances between the holes are equal. The Tai-keum was invented in Korea during the Three Kingdoms period(-668 A.D.) Afterwards, however, the Tai-keum was used widely in Chinese music as well as Korean music together with Komun-ko, Kaya-keum and Hyang-pipa. Taipyeng-so (Chinese : So-na) The conical oboe, Taipyeng-so, also called Soenap(Chinese : So-na), or Ho-jok(meaning barbarian pipe), or, onomatopoeically, nal-na-ri. It is a reed wind instrument like the Piri, but its pipe is conical instead of cylindrical, and its double reed is smaller and has a brass funnel. It has seven finger-hole with a back hole between the first and the second hole, resembling the Tang-piri. It is very loud and is suitable to be played outdoors. It was introduced into Korean from China during the fourteenth century and used by military bands. later it was diffused among the peasants who play it in rural bands. Na-bal (Chinese : La-pa) A long, straight brass trumpet made of three sections which telescope into each other. The long trumpet is without finger holes, and sounds only one deep sustained tone, like the shell trumpet. This brass wind instrument was used in military music, together with conical oboes, shell trumpets, cymbals, gongs and drums. Hyang pipa (Chinese : Pipa, Japanese : Biwa) The Tang-pipa, meaning Chinese short lute, and the Hyang-pipa, meaning Korean short lute, differ as follows: the former has a bend neck and four strings, whereas the later has a straight neck and five strings. On the other hand, the Korean pipa had ten frets of the same form as that of the Komun-ko. (the existant one has twelve frets) Wul-keum (Chinese : Yue-chin, Japanese : Gek-kin) The Wul-keum, also called Wan-ham a round body a long neck. However the Chinese Yuechin has a short neck while the wan-ham has a long neck, so they are defferent instruments. The Wul-keum that was used only for Korean music was tuned just as the Tang-pipa used in Korean music, i.e. The Wul-keum can be traced in mural paintings of Koguryo,(-668 A.D.) tombs, but, the History of Koryo(918-1392 A.D.) makes no memtion of it and, according to a Book on Music edited in 1493 A.D., it was used only in Korean music. Kaya-ko or Kaya-keum A long zither with twelve strings stretched over twelve movable bridges. The original one has a comparatively broad soundboard that makes the space between the strings wide and has a head that protrudes into two sides, resembling the ears of a sheep. The remodeled version has a narrow soundboard, making the space between the strings small so that one may play rapid passages easily. Its head is like that of the Komun-ko, without the sheep`s ears. There are two methods for tuning the instruments; one for classical music, the other for folk music and `san-jo`. Wa-kong-hu (Chinese : Kun-hu) It is known that Kao-li(Koguryo music) was one of the nine types of music of the Sui Dynasty and used both veritcla and horizontal harps and twelve other instruments. The harps that are preserved in the National Music Institute were procured from Peking in 1937 A.D. by Mr. Ham Hwa-jin, the former head of the Royal Conservatory. The verticla harp has 21 strings and the horizontal harp has 13 strings. Both of them produce weak tones, for their strings are made of silk.