(1-1N, p. 3)

The Koreans, like the Welsh, claim to be a musical people. When I First visited Korea in 1972, my initial impression was that this was probably a story invented by the media to excuse the abundance of second-rate crooning which took up hours of broadcasting time. Now, however, having lived and worked among musicians and non-musicians in Seoul and in the provinces, I can see that there is after all truth in the claim. Music is an important part of the Korean way of life. Whether at the ubiquitous drinking parties or at kisaeng parties, where each male guest looks forward to taking his turn at singing a song, they let themselves go. Listeners join in clapping out the time with far less sense of inhibition than is usual in the West. Every weekend traveler in the countryside will come across busloads of singing and dancing passengers. Drink may help on these occasions, but it is not an essential concomitant of musical enjoyment. The enormous Sejong Cultural Center was opened in April 1978 with a grand Festival program that used both its main hall, seating over 4,000 people, and its small hall of more than 500 seats on almost every night for three months. In a rich musical kaleidoscope this Festival included the Royal Ballet from Covent Garden and Korean traditional dance, solo recitals on the hall's six manual pipe organ and on the Korean taegum flute, the Vienna Opera Company and solo p'ansori singers, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the traditional Korean orchestra of the National Classical Music Institute.

It was significant, though, that during the eleven-week Festival only nine performances of Korean music, and seven of them new compositions, took place in the main hall, a fact which helps to emphasize the categories which still exist within music in Korea today. These clear groupings are as follows:

(1) Korean classical music, including both ensemble and solo instrumental music and vocal music such as kagok. I would personally include sanjo performances in this category, because although this solo instrumental form is derived from folk performances and is classified by the Koreans as a folk genre, and although it is now quite widely practiced even by school-children, yet in complete performance it is primarily part of the concert hall repertoire.

One or two of the orchestral pieces in the classical category can trace their origins, though not their present form, back to the Koryo dynasty (918-1392). The majority, however, are later. In common with Chinese classical music the names of composers and dates of composition are rarely known and not considered important, except by musical historians.

(2) Korean popular music, including national and regional styles of Folksong, farmers' music, Buddhist chant and dramatic music. Under the latter heading comes the ever-popular p'ansori and music to accompany mask dance dramas. These historically important forms of rural entertainment still cling precariously to a spontaneous type of existence, though the twin ravages of advancing urban sophistication and foreign tourism mean that they are increasingly to be found on the city stage.

(3) 'Korea-Western' popular music, the music of radio and TV light entertainment and commercials, fundamentally Western but with that distinctive, pan-Oriental ring to it. This type of music differs only slightly from Seoul to Singapore. Lest I should appear to belittle this music I should record a noticeable change in it in recent years, deriving from Korean composers' use of native folk styles as the basis for many of their new songs, which seems to me to represent an improvement. This sort of music is much more widely heard than imported Western pop music, which might constitute a subdivision (1-1N, p. 4) of this category.

(4) Western classical music. The programs for many of the Sejong Cultural Center's opening Festival concerts were understandably conservative, concentrating on the 18th and 19th centuries, but sit in on one of the coffee houses outside Ehwa University, or listen to the cacophony coming from the practice rooms at Seoul National University College of Music, and you will hear everything from Musica Antigua to Webern, and be reminded that Asian musicians play and appreciate Western classical music just as well as Westerners themselves.

Of the above categories the third is predictably the most widespread. The fourth would come next in importance in Seoul, where over eight million of the country's 38 million people live, and in other cities, though it is unlikely to be as familiar in the countryside as folk-music, p'ansori, etc. Korean classical music is the least well known and appreciated either in the capital or the provinces. Dance programs apart, most of the Korean concerts during the Sejong Cultural Center Festival were poorly attended. Furthermore some of the audience were inclined to talk quite loudly during the performances, even though recitals of non-Korean music were listened to with rapt attention.

The purpose of this paper, however, is not to analyze modern ratings, but to show that even a thousand years ago music in Korea was classified into distinct categories which were not so unlike those of today. Certain comparisons are possible, though any attempt at detailed analogies would not be worthwhile.

For many centuries, including those of the Middle Ages with which we shall be mainly concerned here, Korea was a tributary state within what is known as China's 'culture zone.' She sent tribute gifts of considerable value to China, not at a regular annual rate as she was expected to, but only often enough to ensure that the Chinese rulers felt a special bond and sense of responsibility for their peninsular neighbors. Embassies in each direction were sometimes large 1, and those to China were not infrequently headed by a member of the Korean royal family. The Chinese Emperor was usually informed promptly of royal deaths and accessions in Korea, and he sent symbols of investiture, honorific titles and costly gifts to Korean royalty. Practical signs of China's concern included military aid, gifts of medicine and visits by doctors, large gifts of tea and textiles, etc. Educated Koreans wrote in the Chinese script and Korean students were accepted at the Imperial Academy in China. Koreans obtained posts in the Chinese bureaucracy and vice versa. Monks traveled in both directions to seek and expound upon the Buddhist scriptures; merchants traveled in both directions in search of more tangible and immediate profit. Clearly there were numerous opportunities for the transmission of all kinds of music.

One of the most important links between the two courts was in their use of ceremonial rites, the Chinese broadly defining the nature of the rites which the vassal state could observe, and the Koreans basing the detailed prescriptions for these upon Chinese examples and classical sources. Music was a key part of ceremony. It was thought to establish balanced relations between peoples of the Empire, and between Chinese and barbarians. It followed from this that both the theory and performance of music should be as perfect as possible, and as early as 114 B.C. the imperial government established a department to supervise it. 2

In T'ang China (618-907 A.D.) music was highly organized, practically in its institutions and performance at court 3 and conceptually in its treatment by politicians and musicologists. The latter divided music into three categories: ya 'elegant' (court music), su 'everyday,' and hu 'foreign.' By the mid-T'ang su and hu had fused into a new su category, and even the resulting two-fold division was becoming rather blurred. Foreign music had been part of court music tradition for centuries and was institutionalized at the T'ang court in the shih pu chih (see Glossary). The resident groups of musicians and dancers coming from as far afield as Koguryo (northern Korea) in the East, and India, Samarkand, etc. in the West, together with the central Asian style of the dance and drinking tunes rediscovered by Lawrence Picken, 4 suggest that the outlook of the Chinese court was receptive to foreign musical styles. Certainly the strenuous attempts that were made in the tenth and eleventh centuries to restore the pure cosmological properties to ceremonial music suggest a feeling that all was no longer well with the native tradition.

In the Unified Silla period (668-918) the Koreans began, like the Chinese, to refer to musical categories. These were tangak, Chinese music, and hyangak, Korean music. They were apparently based on the Chinese hu (though without the overtones of 'barbarianism' that hu implied to the Chinese) and su. Both types of music were played at court and in the succeeding Koryo dynasty visiting Chinese embassies were entertained with Korean as well as Chinese music. What the Silla court was not in a position to practice or enjoy, because of its inferior vassal status, was 'elegant' music.

In 1110, however, for political reasons, Emperor Hui Tsung granted King Yejong the status of 'genuine king,' and followed this up in 1114 with a large gift of instruments and music, a direct and unusual contribution to the store of tangak. Then in 1116 he made the unique presentation of 428 instruments and 'elegant' music itself, with appropriate instructions and vestments. 5 Thus a third category, aak, was added to the Korean repertoire for use at the highest sacrificial occasions of state.

In time there came effectively to be a fourth category, that of genuine folk music minsogak, for if hyangak originally meant the whole of native Korean music, by the middle of the twelfth century it was coming to mean more specifically the Korean music played by or for the upper classes, including some pieces of foreign music which had become Koreanized. This later form of hyangak is now also known as chongak, 'proper music,' 6 and includes orchestral suites, ritual music, military music, and song forms such as kasa and kagok. During the Koryo period tangak seems to have consisted entirely of Chinese tz'u of the eleventh century and later. The court employed teachers of several Chinese instruments and of Chinese singing and dance. The court took care to ensure that the Chinese music played was as correct as possible by sending missions to the mainland from time to time to check on this. New Chinese dances were also incorporated into Koryo ceremonies.

Tangak and aak bore the authentic stamp of the acknowledged superior culture of the Middle Kingdom, yet it appears that hyangak was, even so, (1-1N, p. 5) rated more highly at court. More court musicians were employed to play hyangak than tangak even in the early twelfth century, 7 and after 1126 political and commercial connections—and hence possible musical influences—were severed until the thirteenth century. In the early Yi period (1392-1910) King Sejong tried to have genuine classical Chinese music restored, 8 but he also suggested that more native music should be played to the spirits of the dead Korean kings, and in 1460 King Sejo obliged by having two hyangak suites arranged for use at the Royal Ancestral Shrine ceremony.

In T'ang China the categories of su and hu had tended to fuse, which was perhaps right and proper since one of the functions of music was to unite all the Emperor's people within the Chinese culture zone. Even in the Koryo period, however, the musical categories were still carefully defined in Korea, partly for nationalistic reasons. The Koreans were unwilling to surrender either their political or their cultural integrity wholly to the Chinese: partly for musical reasons, as there were fundamental differences between Chinese and Korean music which made the widespread fusion of the two almost impossible; 9 and partly for sociological reasons, because the educated ruling class used music like other cultural forms to emphasize its separateness from the ordinary people. It and it alone could appreciate Chinese writing, porcelain, music (tangak), and later its own chongak. The very style of upper class culture, music included, was so different from that of the lower classes that while the elite might enjoy some of the entertainments of the ordinary people, as for example they came especially to appreciate p'ansori and sanjo, it was almost unthinkable that the masses should have the opportunity, far less the expertise, to understand aak, tangak or chongak.

	Royal ancestral shrine music is performed annually at the Royal Shrine (Chongmyo). It belongs to Korea's classical music tradition.

It is also hard to believe that ordinary Koreans knew any Chinese popular music. In an age of mass illiteracy and in the absence of a musical notation system from which people could teach themselves new tunes, the transmission of music in the mediaeval period depended either on deliberate learning by copying from a teacher, as happened in the case of Chinese music at court, or by constant hearing and subconscious and conscious repetition. The latter is the only way that Koreans outside the court could have learned foreign tunes, and it is probable that direct contact between local people and foreign visitors was too limited for that to occur.

Thus we may summarize the state of music in mediaeval Korea as follows:

(a) At court there was aak, foreign ritual music that was probably strange to Korean ears; 10 there was modern Chinese music, introduced during the early Koryo; and there was 'modernized' Chinese music, pieces which had been originally imported but later lost their Chinese-ness. The court orchestra included a number of musicians from India and central Asia, so non-Chinese foreign music was also heard and was included in the hyangak category.

During the Silla and Koryo periods the court patronized Buddhism extensively, and 'educated' Buddhist chant was a mixture of native styles and those imported from China and central Asia. Once again, however, the element of class distinction was present, for the foreign styles were more difficult and required special training and the monks who could sing this pomp'ae were another elite element.

Last but not least there was high class Korean music. It is impossible to say what percentage of the population at large appreciated this, just as we cannot tell how far beyond the court and into the ranks even of provincial officialdom and landed gentry the appreciation of tangak might have gone. All that can be said is that the educated rulers of mediaeval Korea were a very small part of society as a whole, and that these types of music were certainly a recherche interest.

(b) Out in the countryside, and possibly within the walled compounds of many a local official's home too, the common music was the raucous, vigorous music of folksong and farmer's music. There was workchant to help with the routine of daily life, and when the routine of misfortune and death came around, the wailing music of the shaman was more likely to be heard in the village than the comforting drone of Buddhist chant. More cheerful occasions were the performances of the popular masked dance dramas, accompanied by lively music on the p'iri and percussion instruments, while from the story-telling tradition came the nearest thing in Korea to opera, p'ansori. In the provinces, too, probably some time before the twentieth century, the sanjo form originated.

As we said earlier, it would be dangerous to make detailed comparisons between the mediaeval and modern periods, but perhaps we may see certain areas of continuity and change in the structure of musical performance and appreciation in Korea:

(i) In the Middle Ages music was firmly associated with class distinctions, and in assiduously maintaining the performance of hyangak the court was also emphasizing its right to political independence. Nevertheless it would be hard to define just how much unseen Chinese influence infiltrated (1-1N, p. 6) into hyangak and chongak. For example, was there any ancient link between the Korean claim to appreciate the quality of the silent tension that tied together the fading notes from plucked strings, yo-um, and the Chinese recognition of invisible muscles binding together strokes or characters in a piece of calligraphy?

Music in modern South Korea is not deliberately linked with social stratification, nor do the authorities there make as much use of it for political or economic ends as they do in North Korea or the People's Republic of China, yet as we have already noted, patterns of musical habit and enjoyment do exist which reflect social groupings, and the use which is made of the National Anthem and such unofficial 'anthems' as the Saemaul tune demonstrate an awareness of the practical power of music. Nor is it by chance that martial music blares across school playgrounds before morning classes begin.

	"Nongak," or "farmer's music," is a colorful pageantry of music, dance, acrobatics, and singing. It consists of many regional styles and falls under the classification of Korean popular music.

(ii)In mediaeval Korea, as in the Republic today, the appreciation of serious, 'classical' Korean music was limited to a small section of the population. (1-1N, p. 7) In traditional Korea it belonged to the ruling class. In modern society it is still the cultivated taste of comparatively few people, though in recent years there has been a definite increased interest. It is not limited particularly to Koreans of the upper classes, but a good training in it is hard to come by: it is only taught in four high schools throughout the entire country, and only four of Seoul's twenty-plus universities have departments of Korean music. Those at Seoul National University and Ehwa Women's University have about one hundred students each, compared with over four hundred in the departments of Western music.

(iii) Western classical music is more widespread and better appreciated than Korean classical music. It is not infrequently broadcast on television. I would hesitate to call those who enjoy it elite, but they are a minority nevertheless, and probably represent the most educated people in society. There is no comparison, however, with the conscious aura of exclusiveness which seems to have surrounded those who appreciated tangak in mediaeval Korea. Bills advertising concerts of Western music appear in the most unlikely backstreet locations in the suburbs of the capital.

(iv) Unlike traditional Korea where foreign popular music seems to have been unknown, South Korea today—from downtown Seoul to the most remote village—is bombarded by a surfeit of Western and pseudo-Western light popular music. Despite this, traditional folk music and dance remain popular, particularly among the older generation but not exclusively so: performances will always attract a small but serious number of teenage boys and girls.

(v) Religious music in Korea has, over the centuries, been fundamentally native in style. During the Silla period it incorporated some foreign forms, though these did not influence the most widespread type of chant, yombul. From the nineteenth century onwards Christianity played a part in introducing the Koreans to Western concepts of musical structure and harmony. Like popular music, Christian music in Korea today is a mixture of the Western and the native, but in a country where approximately 15 percent of the population is Christian its past and present influence should not be overlooked. '

FOOTNOTES

1 The Korean embassy of 1030, for example, consisted of 293 men.
2 See Michael Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China. Allen & Unwin, 1974.
3 See Shigeo Kishibe, A Historical Survey of Music in the T'ang Dynasty. Tokyo, 1961. (In Japanese, with English summary)
4 See L.E.R. Picken,'Tunes apt for T'ang Lyrics From Sho Part-Books of Togaku.' Essays in Ethnomusicology, a Birthday Offering for Lee Hye-ku, Seoul 1969.
5 See K.L. Pratt, 'Music as a Factor in Sung-Koryo Diplomatic Relations 1069-1126,' T'oung Pao, LXII, 4-5. 1976.
6 Later, the terms chongak and aak became popularly interchangeable, representing a pronounced change in the Korean understanding of the term 'elegant music.'
7 By almost 2:1. In the Yi dynasty this ratio was actually exceeded. In 1651, 429 musicians were employed to play Korean music and 190 Chinese ritual music.
8 See R.C. Provine, 'Sejong and the Preservation of Chinese Ritual Melodies,' Korea Journal 14/2, 1974.
9 See Lee Hye-gu, Topics in Korean Music, Seoul, 1967.
10 An idea of its sound may be gained from the piece Munmyoak on Lyrichord disc LL7206 'Korean Court Music.'

GLOSSARY

KAGOK    A classical lyric song, slow but highly refined in vocal technique and much favored by educated Koreans perhaps since the Koryo period. It consists of five sections of unequal length and is sung with ensemble accompaniment.

KASA    Resembling kagok, a musical setting of Korean poetic couplets. It exhibits certain features of folk technique and is looser in structure than kagok.

KISAENG    The Korean equivalent of the geisha. At kisaeng parties close attention to the wishes of the male guests is paid by these hostesses, but many Korean men will assert that the musical element at such parties is the most important.

P'ANSORI     A story told dramatically by a solo singer accompanied by a single drummer. The vocal technique is very elaborate and demands extraordinary breath control. An abrasive quality is preferred and as in lyric song strong vibrato is used. Only five stories make up today's p'ansori repertoire.

POMP'AE     Buddhist chant, consisting of simple chant yombul, and the more difficult hossori and chissori. Hossori is based on Chinese verse meter and the longer chissori on Chinese and Sanskrit prose.

SAEMAUL     Literally 'New community.' The social and economic movement introduced in 1971, intended especially to invigorate and improve conditions in the countryside and to improve public consciousness generally in community affairs. In the opinion of some commentators it has played a significant part in South Korea's recent economic revival.

SANJO     An instrumental form for a solo instrument with drum accompaniment which developed out of folk traditions in the 19th century. Styles of sanjo 'schools' have been passed individually from masters to pupils and only since the 1960s have any been transcribed. They are most commonly played on the kayagum (the 12-stringed zither), though sanjo for other instruments are also heard. Divided into sections which are played without a break, the kayagum sanjo begins slowly and increases in tempo to an exciting rhythmic climax of great virtuosity.

SEJONG (King, r.1418-1450)     One of Korea's most famous rulers. He was responsible for encouraging work on medicine, astronomy and music, but is perhaps best known for his invention of the Korean alphabet han'gul.

SHIH PU CHIN     Ten sections (literally 'branches') of music at the T'ang court for which special groups of musicians and dancers were maintained. They included Chinese banquet music and foreign artists from nine different states.

TAEGUM     An indigenous instrument, the largest of the Korean flute family (c. 2'5" long). It is a transverse flute with nine holes including the blowing hole and one hole covered by a membrane. It has a soft and beautiful tone and in folk music, such as its sanjo, it is played with a wide vibrato.

TOGAKU     The Japanese term for 'tangak,' or music of the T'ang dynasty, when it was imported into Japan. It is still performed by the Gagaku court musicians, and though its style has changed over the centuries it is one of the oldest living musical traditions in the East.

TZ'U     Chinese verse in irregular 5, 6 and 7 beat lines which was favored during the Sung dynasty (960-1279).

Keith Pratt is Spalding Lecturer in Chinese at the University of Durham. England. In 1978 he held a Leverhulme Fellowship in order to research into the history of Korean music.

The text of this article was presented to the Ethnousicology Seminar at the Queen's University of Belfast, by whose permission it is reproduced here.