I took part in a performance of Korean traditional music last Friday playing gayageum. It went great. Friday started out being one of those not-so-good, not-so-bad days (the usual headaches with work and school), but it ended up fantastic. The turnout was surprisingly good and I recognized quite a few people in the audience. My part was only 10 minutes and that was just playing 4 different Korean folk songs (Arirang, Ggot Norae, Doraji, and Nodeul Gangbyeon), just a small fraction of the show, and it's a bit funny having practiced for so many hours merely for those 10 minutes! Nonetheless, it was great fun. Now that I have those four songs mastered (somewhat), I'll see if I can learn some Jeju folk songs and gayageum sanjo peices before I return to the US for grad school. One thing I'm concerned about is whether or not I'd be able to find a qualified gayageum instructor in the US... It's just not something that's well-known, even with the large Korean population in SoCal.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
