KJCKorea
Journal Central

This study aims at the restoration of HYANGGA's musical mode. There is very few data on HYANGGA’s performance, and only a handful of musical scores remains. Would we ever be able to sing HYANGGA again? Can we only read works of HYANGGA with the help of borrowed Chinese characters? Fortunately, Japan has preserved the old songs from the 7th~8th centuries, SAIBARA, which was originated from Korea. SAIBARA has the same characters as GAGOK, the classical song of CHOSUN dynasty. SAIBARA has very slow tempo and its dominant mood is gentle. The scholar-officials (sadebu) were the main audience of the GAGOK. The officials enjoyed the songs accompanied by geomungo, and the majority of GAGOK pieces were accompanied by geomungo. <CHEONGKWACHEONG> is also a song accompanied by geomungo. The close relation between GAGOK and <CHEONGKWACHEONG> was demonstrated by CHOSUN dynasty scholar-officials who were enthusiasts of geomungo. They testified that the modes of singing GAGOK, slow-moderate-fast THAEYUPs, came from <CHEONGKWACHEONG>. We can infer the relation between SAIBARA and <CHEONGKWACHEONG> from the clear association between SAIBARA and GAKOK. The common factor between SAIBARA and <CHEONGKWACHEONG> may be the type of performance, and this factor can be determined by the geomungo. In this study I try to clarify the common factors between the three singing modes by examining the historical records and musical scores from CHOSUN dynasty. Further studies should involve investigation of the equivalent resources from Japan and China.

<CHEONGKWACHEONG>, HYANGGA, SAIBARA, GAGOK, THAEYUP