I want my final project to be about traditional Chinese percussion instruments. Since high school, I played two types of traditional Korean drums: janggu (장구) and buk (북). I have wanted to learn bits and pieces about Korean history and music through the events these instruments were used for. Korea and China have similar, as well as the some of the same, string instruments. I assume that there is Chinese influence on Korean instruments, meaning similar instruments were introduced into Korea as gifts and/or via trade. In addition, I would like to hear the music or rhythm made by a band of Chinese drums. In Korean culture, samul nori (사물놀이) is a genre of percussion music played by four different musical instruments. I would like to know more about early China’s percussion genre and compare the two cultures’ music.
It would be cool to learn about the long history between two countries. It can be learned through books, but also listening to the sounds and picking up the differences and similarities make learning more interesting. I think it is also important to maintain the culture of the past. Traditional music is still celebrated and included in special events, so clearly there is value in learning it.
EDIT: My final project idea is now completely different. Please look at my more recent blog post titled, “Annotated Bibliography.”
