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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Korean Traditional Music Workshop- Valuable Investment in the Future

At the Korean Music Center of Jindo, Jeollanam-do province, shouts of "Eolsu!" "Jihwaja!" "Jalhanda!" are heard from here and there among the audience during a pansori performance. In between, you could sometimes hear an awkwardly pronounced chuimse. This comes from the 19 foreigners sitting in the audience. They are foreign musicologists from seven different countries who have come here to participate in the Korean Traditional Music Workshop, co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (NCKTPA), held in Seoul and other cities from June 16 through July 2, 2005.

Under the Korean Traditional Music Workshop program, professors and doctoral students who specialize in ethnomusicology or music from universities or research institutions overseas are invited to Korea to acquire in-depth knowledge about traditional Korean music. The Foundation has been conducting this program on a biennial basis from 2001 in cooperation with the NCKTPA. Of note, this program is more professional and systemic than the previous "Training Program on Korean Traditional Musical Instruments for Musicologists and Musicians Overseas" that NCKPTA hosted from 1994 to 1998.
During this year's three-week workshop, the participants attended seven lectures on the theoretical aspects of traditional Korean music presented by prominent traditional Korean musicians and performance artists, such as Lee Ae-joo, Seungmu (monk dance) Human Cultural Heritage; Puphyeon, Representative of Buddhist Music Research Institute; and Kim Young-Woon, Professor of Korean Studies, Central Research Institute for Korean Studies. They also received practical instruction on a wide range of traditional Korean performance arts, including Gasa, Sijo, Janggu, Danso, Haegeum, traditional Korean dance, and Minyo (folk songs) from Kim Kwang-Sook, Seodosori Human Cultural Heritage and Lee Chong-Ho of NCKPTA Dance Company. In the evenings, they enjoyed a variety of traditional Korean music performances by viewing the regular presentations of NCKTPA. And a three-day field trip to Jindo provided an opportunity to experience traditional Korean music that remains alive and breathing today, which included a Jindo Ssitgim gut performance and a question-and-answer session with hereditary shaman Chae Jung-rea.
With interest in the Korean Traditional Music Workshop increasing by the year, the selected participants showed extraordinary passion and keen dedication in learning about Korea's traditional music. Practically 100 percent of the participants attended every event of the tightly packed schedule, including the regular evening performances at NCKPTA. The organizers were also pleased that the participants eagerly purchased a variety of traditional Korean musical instruments, along with CDs, DVDs, and books on Korea's traditional music and culture. All the participants were highly appreciative of the opportunities provided by the program to systematically acquire knowledge about Korea's traditional music.
Music is one of the most potent means for revealing the culture of a country, while a country's traditional music plays an essential role in providing an understanding of the culture's independent development. In spite of this, the Korean Studies programs at universities overseas have in large part been focused on Korea's language, economy, and history thus far. In fact, there is only a handful of scholars who major in or teach traditional Korean music, while the courses on traditional Korean music offered at universities are few and far between. This workshop program, which had been established amid this context, is now bearing fruit, such as the establishment of the Association for Korean Music Research (AKMR), as part of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM).
The impact of the workshop extends well beyond the education and training on traditional Korean music. In particular, it facilitates the creation of personal networks between the participants and the prominent traditional Korean musicians and performance artists who took part in the workshop activities. Through these networks, the participants now have ready access to technical and practical information and advice about establishing a traditional Korean music program at their respective universities or conducting related research. As an example of this, Professor Alison Tokita of Monash University in Australia, who majors in Japanese music, gained a vision through the program, which has inspired her to pursue efforts to establish a permanent museum on Korean, Chinese, and Japanese music at her university, with the assistance of the Korean Studies scholars and Chinese participants that she became acquainted with during the workshop.
The Korean Traditional Music Workshop has contributed greatly to enabling traditional Korean music, which is sometimes misunderstood as a mere imitation of Chinese music, to secure its place on the international stage as an original and refined music of Asia.

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