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Study abroad Experiences of Early Korean Female Musicians and Their Manifestation of Modernity: Focusing on 1920s~30s in Modern Korea

  • Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology
  • Abbr : JKSM
  • 2023, 31(1), pp.53~87
  • DOI : 10.34303/mscol.2023.31.1.002
  • Publisher : The Korean Society for Musicology
  • Research Area : Arts and Kinesiology > Musicology > Other Musicology
  • Received : April 15, 2023
  • Accepted : June 1, 2023
  • Published : June 30, 2023

Chang, Jeong Youn 1

1추계예술대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to shed light on the early Korean female musicians who studied abroad, focusing on the 1920s and 1930s when studying abroad increased, and to examine how their experiences of studying abroad, which involved conflicts between personal aspirations and societal demands, manifested in modernity. Studying music abroad played a crucial role in shaping the music culture during the early modern period in Korea. Music had been used as the most useful educational tool to encourage women to participate in the national movement to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. For women who received modern education, therefore, music was not just an object of enjoyment but also a mission and duty to learn, master, and pass their knowledge to future generations as well as to enlighten society. Overseas education provided opportunities for these early female musicians to open their eyes to the modern world in complex and diverse ways, where societal demands for giving back and personal aspirations for self-realization were intertwined. All of them experienced and embodied modernity through different processes, and their experience of studying abroad and continuous reflection amid internal conflicts guided them to determine their own life paths. It can be said that the early women musicians, who acquired ‘autonomy’ through their pursuit of self-realization and reflection on reality through study abroad and education, expressed ‘modernity’ in their own lives as a response to the ‘modernity’ they experienced.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2024 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.