Gayageum

A gayageum is a traditional Korean zitherlike string instrument, with 12 strings, although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings. It draws its name from the ancient Korean confederacy of Gaya, where it is said to have been invented. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The gayageum is supposed to have been made by King Gashil, of the Gaya confederacy, around the 6th century. However according to CCAIS (2005), excavations in Kwangsan, Jeolla-namdo Province have found some fragments of a gayageum dating from the 1st century BC. The gayageum of King Gashil is known as the beobgeum (law-zither, ??) gayageum , pungryu (elegance, ??) gayageum, or jeong-ak (right music, ??) gayageum. It is associated with court music, chamber music, and accompaniment to lyrical songs. The sanjo gayageum is believed to have evolved in the 19th century with the emergence of sanjo music, literally scattered melodies, a musical form involving some improvisation. The closer spacing of the strings and shorter length of the instrument enable a musician to play the faster passages required for sanjo (Choi 2005). The sanjo gayageum is now the most wide spread (KCMPC 2001).

Korea: — For other places called Korea, see: Korea (disambiguation)...

Zither: [[Image:Zither1 David Dupplaw.jpg|thumb|A Musima Guitar Zither...

String instrument: A string instrument (also "stringed instrument") is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....