The ''geomungo'', alternate name ''hyeongeum'', is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

s. ''Geomungo'' is a representative

stringed instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play so ...

made in

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

before the 5th century. Scholars believe that the name refers to

and translates to "Goguryeo zither" or that it refers to the

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

and translates to "black crane zither" (). The ''geomungo'''s place in Korean culture is traditionally that of a scholars' instrument for self-cultivation, much like ancient Chinese had done with the ''guqin'' in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. However, the Koreans never adopted the ''guqin'' as a folk instrument but instead inherited the Confucian and literati ''guqin'' lore wholesale and applied it onto their own ''geomungo'' lore.

History

The ''geomungo'' originated circa the 4th century (see Anak Tomb No.3 infra) through the 7th century from the kingdom of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korea, Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of History of Korea, Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (), many states and statele ...

, although the instrument can be traced back to the 4th century. According to the 1145 historical text '' Samguk sagi'', the ''geomungo'' was invented in the 6th century by prime minister Wang San-ak by remodeling the form of the ancient Chinese instrument '' guqin'' (''gogeum'', also called ''chilhyeongeum'', literally "seven-string zither"). After his death, the instrument was passed down to Ok Bogo, Son Myeong-deuk, Gwi Geum, An Jang, Cheong Jang, and Geuk Jong, while being widely spread over the kingdom. However, National Gugak Center of Korea raises the possibility that the geomungo originated from a traditional musical instrument of Goguryeo before Guqin was introduced. Meanwhile, Japanese scholars claim that the predecessor of geomungo was Wo Konghou (卧箜篌), a fretted bridge zither that was used in China since at least the Western Han Dynasty, and opinion about predecessor of Geomungo is still discussed among East Asian Scholars. Archetype of the instrument is painted in

tombs. They are found in the tomb of Muyongchong and Anak Tomb No.3.

Construction

The ''geomungo'' is approximately 162 cm long and 23 cm wide (63.75 inches long, 9 inches wide), and has movable bridges called ''anjok'' (雁足 "goose feet") and 16 frets called ''gwae'' (棵; numbered 1 to 16 from left to right). It has a hollow body where the front plate of the instrument is made of paulownia wood and the back plate is made of hard chestnut wood. Its six strings, which are made of twisted

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

passed through its back plate. The pick is made from bamboo sticks in the size of regular household pencil. Near the bridge is a leather-covered section called ''daemo'' to protect the surface from the striking of the ''suldae'' stick. The six strings are named (from closest one to the player outward) ''munhyeon'' (文弦 "civil string"), ''yuhyeon'' (遊弦 "roaming string"), ''daehyeon'' (大弦 "big string"), ''gwaesangcheong'' (棵上清 "clarity upon the frets"), ''gwaehacheong'' (棵下清 "clarity below the frets"), and ''muhyeon'' (武弦 "martial string"), and are numbered 1 to 6 respectively in notation (or 文、方、大、上、中、下 in tablature form). Strings 2 to 4 go over fret 1 and are positioned over the frets whilst 1, 5, and 6 are supported by the ''anjok'' bridges. Strings 2 and 3 are used to play stopped notes and the rest are played open or as drones (even string 4 which is above the frets, though it is sometimes played stopped in some pieces). The thickness of the strings are not sequential: usually the thickest string is the ''daehyeon'', followed by the ''munhyeon'' and ''muhyeon''. The ''yuhyeo'' is usually the thinnest string followed by the ''gwaesangcheong'' and ''gwaehacheong'', though some have the ''gwaesangcheong'' as the thinnest followed by the ''yuhyeon''. Modernized geomungo increases the strings to 11, which are made of nylon. As with the traditional version, three strings are over the frets and the others are all open. But the traditional version of the geomungo has 6 strings, with three over the frets. Recently, the 6-string ''geomungo'' has been modified quite a lot, with the appearance of electronic geomungo (전자 거문고). The instrument has been played with a ''hwaldae'' bow (활대 거문고), similar to playing the '' ajaeng''), and some versions have more strings. The Chinese wo konghou has 7 strings while the traditional geomungo only has 6 strings. In the development of culture, besides the conservation artists, inheriting the cultural tradition of the nation, there are artists who change and modernize the traditional culture of the nation.

Playing method

The ''geomungo'' is generally played while seated on the floor. The strings are plucked with a short

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

stick plectrum called (술대/匙), which is held between the index and middle fingers of the right hand, while the left-hand presses on the strings (mostly 2 and 3) by either pulling or pushing to produce various pitches using the thumb and first four fingers. The left-hand ring-finger usually wears a leather thimble (called ''golmu'') to act as support as the strings are high above the frets and are difficult to press down firmly on the frets. The player can use the stick to strike the ''daemo'' leather protector during plucks to create percussive effects. The most typical tuning of the open strings for the playing of traditional Korean court music is (from string closest to the player outwards) Eb, Ab, Db, Bb, Bb, and Bb an

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

lower than the central tone. For sanjo and folk music, the Eb string is raised to F (plus all the strings might be raised a major 2nd up). The instrument is played in traditional Korean court music and the folk styles of sanjo and sinawi. Due to its characteristically percussive sound and vigorous playing technique it is thought of as a more "masculine" instrument than the 12-string or 24 string gayageum (another Korean zither); both instruments, however, are played by both male and female performers. The geomungo has a large range of playable songs and also has a large range of tunes. The geomungo historically had a notation tablature system similar to that of the guqin Chinese seven-stringed zither ''jianzipu'' system, but this has been superseded by modern staff notation. The Korean-born, U.S. resident ''geomungo'' performer and composer Jin Hi Kim plays a custom-made electric ''geomungo'' in addition to the regular instrument. A geomungo was featured in Korean K-pop group Blackpink's music video " Pink Venom", played by Jisoo at the start of the video.

Notes

References

External links