On the rhythm of the Korean music education at elementary schools

This article aims to present a lecture note on how to teach Jangdan, rhythms of Korean traditional music, at elementary schools. As traditional music is regarded as a practical music that emphasizes the order related closely to the dance, and this idea may correspond to dance sports in the West, I connected Jungmori Jangdan with Viennese waltz. From this view children may be easily understood when comparing Korean rhythm with Viennese one, as Viennese waltz has an identical beat-phrasing structure with 'Jungmori Jangdan', one of the Korean rhythmic cycles, in terms of its dance phrase and meter, In particular, teaching Jungmori Jangdan would help children understand Jinyangjo, the slowest tempo, which is its upper rhythm, as the former is regarded as the Jangdan of the 'golden mean (中庸)' in Korean folk music. It is also a basic Jangdan to explain the characteristics of Korean rhythms, in general, that includes compound time and hemiola rhythm in terms of a formation of division.