Samulnori (Korean percussions) practice experience - Lab Report Example

The subsequent paragraphs give a detailed account of how the genre originated, more about the four mentioned instruments including their respective symbols and the material they (instruments) were made off, the pioneers of this genre and finally, the repertoire that existed for Samulnori. Samulnori is not only a development but also a revival of a music tradition that went by the name Pungmul (also called the Framer’s music). Samulnori came in to being when the two Kims (Kim Doksu and Kim YogBe) first performed at a concert, a shrunk form of Pungmul, which was initially characterized by a large number of actors, at times, an entire village would be urged to take up various roles for the success of the same.

The name that the genre bears was given after a short while just after the concert by U-Song (Hesselink, 41). The name was used to connote both the reduced number of performers and instruments used in the playing of Pungmul. The number of instruments (as mentioned earlier) was reduced to four, while that of performers on some occasions was also four but during some performances, the number went up by one person. Despite the changes seen, Samulnori performers retained the dress code which was being used by the Pungmul performers.

As mentioned earlier, the performance of Samulnori was characterized by the use of four instruments. However, each one of them had both its own distinctive symbol and the role it played (each instrument had something it represented and also, something was compared to). For instance, kkwenggwari, which was a small hand-held gong often made of either silver or gold trace, was played by the person leading a given group (all groups were led by a kkwenggwari player). The leader played the instrument by the use of the bamboo mallet.

This instrument represented a star but in terms of comparison, it was compared