한국의 악기연구 현황

Abstract

In this paper I deal with the present situation of the study of musical instruments in Korea. I classify the research on musical instruments into four categories: first, collection and exhibition; second, study of musical instruments in general; third, scientific and technical research including music acoustics and study of structure; fourth, study of making musical instruments. The results is as follows. First, museums with collections of musical instruments began to be established in the second half of the 1990s. However, compared to the number of museums of musical instruments in America, the small number of the museums in Korea is an indication of the present situation with regard to the study of organology, which is not very active. In these times of globalization, only a few museums have collections of musical instruments from other countries. However, the Museum of Musical Instruments of the World is expanding the exhibition hall, reflecting the increasing interest in the world musical instruments in Korea. Second, in the field of study of musical instruments in general, introductory books have increased in number and become diversified in content. However, scholarly papers about musical instruments are fewer in number than those about other aspects of music. During the ten-year period from 1994 to 2004, only an average of 6.3 papers were published per year. Also, though the organology of Western ethnomusicology was introduced into Korea, we still need a discussion of the system of classification of Korean instruments from the ethnomusicological point of view. With the beginning of publications of journals of musical instruments such as The Journal of the Study of Korean Musical Instruments, the discussion about musical instruments will become more active in Korea. Third, I see that the level of scientific and technical research of musical instruments in proportion to that of music and the science and technology itself is still relatively low. With the establishment of Korean Musical Instrument Research Institute in 2006, the scientific and technical research on musical instrument acoustics is expected to grow, regarding the recent trend of the combination of science, technology, arts and culture and the rapid growth of IT and CT. The results of the scientific research on musical instruments will be used for practical purposes, such as the standardization of musical instruments for education, etc. Forth, the methods of manufacturing Korean musical instruments began to be described in detail only since 2000. It has a comprehensive nature, so its description can be done in a variety of fields such as technology, crafts and design, etc. We need to examine instruments making methods from the East and the West, systematize education and study of making Korean musical instruments. In conclusion, I foresee that musical instrument research will gradually develop more and serve practical purposes in Korea. In the future, the curators, scholars, scientists, makers and players need to work in cooperation and move in a direction where the study of musical instruments can satisfy the desire for the culture of the people and improvement of Korean music culture.