GAYAGEUM: Korean musical instrument

The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional string musical instrument that is like the Korean zither. The musical instrument has 12 strings, but some more recent versions of the musical instrument have 21 or more number of strings. The musical instrument is perhaps the best known musical instrument from Korea. The musical instrument is related to other Asian musical instrument, including the Chinese gushing, the Japanese koto and the Mongolian yatga as well as the Vietnamese dan tranh.

According to the Samguksagi, an account of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the gayageum was technologically advanced around the 6th century in the Gaya confederacy by King Gasil after he detected an ancient Chinese instrument. He ordered a music performer called Wu Ruk to make up music that could be performed on the musical instrument. The original name of the musical instrument was gayago and later the name was changed to gayageum. The gayageum was then extra developed by Wu Ruk during the supremacy of Jinheung in the Shilla Dynasty.

The ancient version of the musical instrument of King Gashil was known by many names, including beopgeum, pungnyu, or jeong-ak, gayageum. The musical instrument is typically connected with supplement for court music, chamber music as well as lyric melodies. This version of gayageum has broader gaps between the strings of the musical instrument and performs dawdling tempo music like Yeongsan-hoesang and Mit-doduri.

The sanjo version of the musical instrument is said to have progressed in the 19th century with the development of sanjo music—which plainly means dispersed melodies, a musical form that comprises fast tempos and some other improvisation. The sanjo gayageum version of the musical instrument has handier string spacing and a diminutive length to let music performers play the faster passages requisite for sanjo.

Modern versions of the musical instrument that have more strings normally use nylon-wrapped steel strings, analogous to the ones used for the Chinese guzheng. Brass strings have been as well announced to manufacture a flamboyant sound that is favored for accompanying dance. To perform contemporary music, gayageum that has a inordinate number of strings have been technologically advanced, increasing the range of the musical instrument. The musical instruments are seen with 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, or 25 strings, though musical instruments with more strings can be seen. The 21 string version of gayageum is typically found in North Korea.

The beobgeum gayageum is about 160cm as the length and 30cm as the width and is about 10cm deep. The body of the musical instrument is manufactured of a solitary piece of paulownia wood. The resonator cavity is carved out of the piece of paulownia.

The sanjo gayageum version has about 142cm as the length, about 23cm as the width of the musical instrument and is about 10cm deep. The soundboard of the musical instrument is manufactured of paulownia, but the sides of the musical instrument as well as the back of the instrument are manufactured of a harder wood like chestnut or walnut.

On the soundboard of the musical instrument, anjok, which is a movable bridges support the strings of the musical instrument. The bridges of the musical instrument move to fine-tune the tuning and intonation of the musical instrument. The strings of the musical instrument enter the top of the instrument’s body from tolgwae, which are the tuning pegs beneath the musical instrument. At the other extreme of the musical instrument, the strings storm around free fluctuating pegs, twisted via the holes at the bottom of the musical instrument, and then the strings are all knotted in a coil.

The left hand of the player presses the strings of the musical instrument to increase the pitch, and finger movements plays different movements like shaking, bending, vibrating the musical instrument’s strings. The right hand of the player plucks or strums the strings of the musical instrument. The tone of the musical instrument is soft, faint, and refined. Folklore opines the Gayageum was first manufactured by King Kasil in the Kaya Kingdom approximately around the 6th century, and was technologically advanced further by Ureuk in the time of King of Jinhung during the Silla dynasty.

According to some evidence, meanwhile the musical instrument has been traced back to a much earlier period than the Silla dynasty. Recent archaeological quarries in the Kwangsan zones in Jeolla-namdo Provincer exposed flotsam and jetsam of a Gayageum from about the 1st century BCE.

The musical instrument is employed in three various versions of music, leading to variations of the musical instrument, including the Pungryu gayageum, which is the main version of the musical instrument, Sanjo gayageum, which a smaller and modernized version of the musical instrument and the newer isibil hyongeum, which is a 21-stringed musical instrument.