한국음악의 美

The Beauty of Korean Music

This paper discusses the beauty of Korean music by examining the following three musical pieces: Ujo Isudaeyeop Beodeureun, a female song of gagok, Chunmyeongok of gasa, and Jeonpyehuimun of Jongmyojeryeak (Royal Ancestral Shrine Music). The beauty of music is in its expression which depends on accents and sigimsae (embellishment) such as chuseong (raise a pitch), toeseong (lower a pitch), and jeonseong (suddenly raise and release a pitch) related to dynamics. Since the sixteen-beat gagok begins on the sixth beat and repeats an eight-beat rhythmic cycle (jangdan), the beauty of Ujo Isudaeyeop can be investigated by the unit of eight-beat jangdan. Each section or sixteen-beat phrase shows various musical characteristics, which can be described as energetic and determined, soft and calm, heartaching released like a sigh, and solemn as in a sunset in the ocean. The beauty of Isudaeyeop is revealed through the various expressions of dynamics, and such beauty is newly sensed each time one listens to or sings the piece. Thus, it is a great master piece. Chunmyeongok is verbatim a leisure and dreamy music, and its form is like a complex variation. Examining Chunmyeongok by sections and phrases, one can learn that the aesthetic expression is revealed through contrast and repetition according to its lyrics. Jongmyoak (Jongmyo music) was originally used for banquets but was adopted to the Jongmyojerye during the period of King Sejo. Among the pieces of Jongmyoak, the Jeonpyehuimun of Botaepyeong has four lines, each of which has five Chinese characters and is read by the unit of two or three characters. Studying the aesthetic features of the piece by examining its melodic line and beat, one can notice that each note of the piece has a lively energy. Throughout the whole phrase structure, the music becomes loud from the first phrase through the forth, and at the end of the forth phrase it becomes soft like a serene wave of the sea. Also, the diverse feelings expressed through the melodic lines show the solemnity of Jongmyojerye and the beauty of exquisite expression.