The ''daegeum'' (also spelled ''taegum'', ''daegum'' or ''taegŭm'') is a large

bamboo flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kno ...

, a

transverse flute A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length. Transverse flutes include the Western concert flute ...

used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

. It is used in court, aristocratic, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, as well as in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, and

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

. And ''daegeum'' has a wide range and has a fixed pitch, so other instruments tune in to the ''daegeum'' when playing together. Smaller flutes in the same family include the ''

junggeum The ''junggeum'' (also spelled ''chunggum'' or ''chunggŭm'') is a medium-sized transverse bamboo flute formerly used in traditional Korean music. Unlike the larger ''daegeum'', it does not have a buzzing membrane (although it did have one in anc ...

'' () and ''

sogeum The ''sogeum'' (also spelled ''sogum'' or ''sogŭm'') is a small bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. Unlike the larger ''daegeum'', it does not have a buzzing membrane (although it did have one in ancient times). It is used ...

'' (), neither of which today have a buzzing membrane. The three together are known as ''samjuk'' (; literally "three bamboo"), as the three primary flutes of the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

period. The solo performance called ''daegeum sanjo'' was pronounced an

Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Korea The Intangible Cultural Heritage (, ''Muhyeong Munhwajae'') are aspects of intangible culture that the government of South Korea has officially designated for preservation in accordance with the 1962 Cultural Property Protection Law. They are p ...

by the

Cultural Heritage Administration The Cultural Heritage Administration () or CHA, formerly the Cultural Properties Administration, is the agency of the South Korean government charged with preserving and promoting Korean cultural heritage. It is headquartered in the city of Dae ...

of South Korea in 1971. Jeongak Daegeum

According to Korean folklore, the ''daegeum'' is said to have been invented when King

Sinmun of Silla Sinmun of Silla (r. 681–692) was the thirty-first king of Silla, a Korean state that originated in the southwestern Korean peninsula and went on to unify most of the peninsula under its rule in the mid 7th century. He was the eldest son of Sil ...

was informed by Park Suk Jung, his caretaker of the ocean () in 681 that a small island was floating toward a Buddhist temple in the East Sea. The king ordered his caretaker of the sun to test whether this was good luck. The caretaker replied that a dead king who turned into a sea dragon, and two great warriors are giving a gift to protect Silla, and if the king would visit the sea, he would receive a priceless gift. The king soon sent a person to look for the gift. The person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night. On the next day, the world shook and it rained and wind blew, and the world was thrown into darkness for a week. When the king went to the island himself, a dragon appeared and told him that if the bamboo on the top of the island was cut down, made into a flute, and blown, the country would be peaceful. The king cut down the tree, and the flute made from the bamboo was called manpasikjeok ().

References

External links

''Daegeum'' pagevideo and audio
* {{Authority control Side-blown flutes Korean musical instruments Important Intangible Cultural Properties of South Korea Bamboo flutes

See also

References

External links