This study is concerned with melodic relations between Kim Chang-jo, who is recorded as the pioneer in Gayageum Sanjo in a modern sense, and Kim Juk-pa, Kim Byeong-ho, Ghang Tae-heung, and Choi Ok-sam, who are known to be in his line.
While it can ...
This study is concerned with melodic relations between Kim Chang-jo, who is recorded as the pioneer in Gayageum Sanjo in a modern sense, and Kim Juk-pa, Kim Byeong-ho, Ghang Tae-heung, and Choi Ok-sam, who are known to be in his line.
While it can be defined differently , a theme melody in Western music generally refers to the vital being that determines differentiation and unity among pieces, the ground for development, and so on. In other words, no musical piece can be created without a theme melody. When the general logic of this "theme" is applied to the transmission process of Sanjo, it is doubted that the types of Sanjo after Kim Chang-jo can be differentiated from the original line.
The doubt about the strong homogeneity between Kim Chang-jo and Sanjo after him was derived from the results of this study, along with empirical facts I naturally acquired through performance over several decades and the analytical review of predecessors' works.
In addition, Sanjo from the master-disciple relationship with Kim Chang-jo has his principal or central melodies be present as they are, or in a varied and expanded form, in each important passage throughout the structure of its framework; for this reason, it can contain the factors with different meanings in terms of content differentiation from that of Kim Chang-jo. Reconsideration should be given to the conceptual ambiguity of the so-called "school" by which masters make transmission to their disciples.
In this study, a comparison was made between Kim Chang-jo's Sanjo and that of Kim Juk-pa, Kim Byeong-ho, Ghang Tae-heung, and Choi Ok-sam known to be in his line to identify similar-melody relations in a beat of pieces, and an attempt was made to find similar melodies on the basis of the primary melody, with microtones treated as Sigimsae excluded from the primary melody.
Similar melodies also included identical and modulated ones, those in the octave relations, and those partially varied on the basis of the main tones.
Since Kim Chang-jo's Sanjo is divided into Jinyangjo, Joongmori, Joongjoongmori, and Jajinmori movements, only the movements in these beats were addressed for the other Sanjos. As a result, Kim Juk-pa's Sesanjosi, Kim Byeong-ho's Eotmori and Danmori, Ghang Tae-heung's Sesanjosi, and Choi Ok-sam's Hwimori were excluded from this study.
The analysis of similarities between Sanjo of Kim Chang-jo's line and his Sanjo obtained the following results in percentage:
1. Kim Juk-pa's Sanjo
22 beats (22%) out of 100 in Kim Juk-pa's Jinyangjo are similar to 23 beats (23.96%) out of 96 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 18 beats (28.13%) out of 64 in his Joongmori are similar to 18 beats (26.87%) out of 67 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 19 beats (44.19%) out of 43 in his Joongjoongmori are similar to 19 beats (34.55%) out of 55 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 23 beats (25.56%) out of 90 in his Jajinmori are similar to 24 beats (9.96%) out of 241 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 64 beats (44.14%) out of 145 in his Hwimori are similar to 69 beats (28.63%) out of 241 in Kim Chang-jo's Jajinmori.
2. Kim Byeong-ho's Sanjo
21 beats (29.17%) out of 72 in Kim Byeong-ho's Jinyangjo are similar to 19 beats (19.79%) out of 96 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 10 beats (30.10%) out of 33 in his Joongmori are similar to 12 beats (17.91%) out of 67 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 7 beats (38.88%) out of 18 in his Joongjoongmori are similar to 9 beats (16.36%) out of 55 in that of Kim Chang-jo. 43 beats (40.57%) out of 106 in his Jajinmori are similar to 30 beats (12.45%) out of 241 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 28 beats (34.15%) out of 82 in his Hwimori are similar to 24 beats (9.96%) in Kim Chang-jo's Jajinmori.
3. Ghang Tae-heung's Sanjo
23 beats (24.47%) out of 94 in Ghang Tae-heung's Jinyangjo are similar to 14 beats (14.58%) out of 96 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 9 beats (15.52%) out of 58 in his Joongmori are similar to 7 beats (10.45%) out of 67 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 7 beats (21.21%) out of 33 in his Joongjoongmori are similar to 7 beats (12.73%) out of 55 in that of Kim Chang-jo. 36 beats (14.88%) out of 242 in his Jajinmori are similar to 26 beats (10.79%) out of 241 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 7 beats (11.11%) out of 63 in his Hwimori are similar to 14 beats (5.80%) in Kim Chang-jo's Jajinmori.
4. Choi Ok-sam's Sanjo
30 beats (35.71%) out of 84 in Choi Ok-sam's Jinyangjo are similar to 30 beats (31.25%) out of 96 in that of Kim Chang-jo, 13 beats (20.31%) out of 64 in his Joongmori are similar to 17 beats (25.37%) out of 67 in that of Kim Chang-jo, and 5 beats (16.67%) out of 30 in his Joongjoongmori are similar to 5 beats (9.09%) out of 55 in that of Kim Chang-jo. 18 beats (11.69%) out of 154 in his slow Jajinmori are similar to 15 beats (6.22%) out of 241 in Kim Chang-jo's Jajinmori and one beat in Joongjoongmori, and 16 beats (10.19%) out of 157 in his Jajinmori are similar to 22 beats (9.13%) in that of Kim Chang-jo.
In conclusion, Sanjos in Kim Chang-jo's line have the following features in their overall stream:
First, they contain more identical melodies than similar ones in lower beats of Jinyangjo or Joongmori, with lots of identical melodies contained irregularly after Jajinmori.
Second, each Sanjo shows the same melodic type as that of Kim Chang-jo in Jajinmori and Hwimori.
Third, the melody that starts each movement is generally similar to that of Kim Chang-jo.
Fourth, the part similarly varied for each Sanjo is shown variously every movement.
As analyzed above, Sanjos in Kim Chang-jo's line are dependent on his melodies and are tied to the contents of his "theme" melody. They only differ in the musical atmosphere by performers' emotions and Sigimsae, addition of new tunes and variation, and expression methods.
It is considered that these factual examples can also be found easily in other Sanjo genealogies of traditional music. It is a human limitation that even the same education contents at the same place in the same time frame are differently accepted by transmittees due to personal differences in the contextual understanding. There is also no exception in interpretation of other types of art. From this point of view, it can be seen that Kim Chang-jo's tunes are played in the original form or are varied, expanded, and arranged according to disciples' subjective views. This leaves some room for reconsidering the insistence on the independent concept of their own "school" in Kim Chang-jo's line.
I also know that the analysis had partiality and incompleteness. The incompleteness is concerned with the degree to which the methodology can be proved in objective numerical values in terms of Sanjos in the master-disciple relationship with Kim Chang-jo, whether it is suggested by predecessors or by me.
This study is significant because differentiation of Sanjo in the master-disciple relationship as insisted by predecessors can lead to doubt about the instructional value of oral transmission, including tradition and transmission, and their stay in Kim Chang-jo's melodies can lead to another doubt about the qualification of the seniors in the master-disciple relationship. This is because it is impossible to escape from confusion about the master-disciple relationship with Kim Chang-jo among current generations. Further research should be conducted to complement and correct this incomplete study.