Can't write much today, as have two essays to edit at work. Both are about the gayageum, a 12-stringed zither that has the same place in Korean traditional court music as the violin in western chamber music/orchestras. The Foundation is hosting a concert of a master gayageum player, Byungki Hwang, later this month (which is already November! wow). Based on the descriptions and essays I've been correcting, I'd love to go. The guy basically revolutionized the concept of traditional music by composing entirely new pieces for the gayageum - before, pieces were handed down from master to pupil with changes occuring slowly and organically, or through improvisation on the core melody.
This guy decided to compose entirely new songs for the ancient instrument (the first documented gayageum player performed for a king in the Silla dynasty in 551), so is really venerated in music. The essay he wrote about the differences between western and Korean musical philosophies is fascinating: basically, he says that the dominance of the bowed string instrument (i.e., the violin) in western classical music suggests that rationalistic logic and control are highly valued (i.e., you can control when the sound stops, how loud it is at any moment, etc.) In contrast, the dominance of the plucked string instrument (the gayageum) in Korean traditional music suggests that a balance between man (plucking the string) and nature (determining when the sound fades) is highly valued in Korean/eastern philosophy.
There are a couple Korean musical terms that don't have western equivalents, such as "yeoeum" - the after-tone - and its literary equivalent "yeoun" - the feeling that remains after reading a poem and closing the book. In painting, "yeobaek" refers to the unpainted parts of a traditional Oriental painting; viewers are more likely to speak of the creative use of blank space rather than the actual mountains or what have you.
Sorry if this is all a little academic. Having had music lessons on various instruments for several years as a kid, I find this absorbing, and in some ways profoundly revealing.
Test tomorrow. Bluagh.