Korean traditional string instruments such as the gayageum가야금, geomungo거문고, ajaeng아쟁 and haegeum해금 use strings made of silk threads. The twisted silken strings produce rather dull yet soft sounds. But the yanggeum양금 is different because it uses steel strings and a thin stick crafted out of bamboo trees, creating a clear, sharp sound. The name “yanggeum” refers to a western string instrument, for the word “yang” means western. The instrument was imported from the west by the diplomatic envoys who had traveled to China during the reign of King Yeongjo영조 in the late 18^th century. Yanggeum was also called “guracheolsageum구라철사금,” a string instrument from Europe. Since European music had a different music-playing system than ours, it was difficult to play Korean music with the yanggeum. But the person who made that possible was Hong Dae-yong홍대용, an esteemed pragmatist of the late Joseon period. Let’s listen to “Hahyeondodeuri하현도드리” played with the geomungo and yanggeum together before learning more about Hong Dae-yong. Here’s Kang Yu-gyeong playing the geomungo and Jo Il-ha the yanggeum.

Hahyeondodeuri / Geomungo by Kang Yu-gyeong, yanggeum by Jo Il-ha

Famous scholar and travel diarist Park Ji-won박지원 was close friends with Hong Dae-yong. Park described the yanggeum in one of his writings like thus.

“It is unknown when this instrument was imported into our country, but Hong Dae-yong started playing our tunes with it on June 18^th of 1772. I saw him playing a Joseon song with this instrument around six in the evening in his library. I witness how sensitive he was musically. Although it was a trivial happening, it marked the beginning of something, which is why I remember the time and place in such great detail. Since then, the techniques of playing the yanggeum were introduced far and wide and now nine years later every geomungo or gayageum musician came to play the yanggeum.”

Just imagine these two renowned men in a room, one trying to figure out how to play a song with the new instrument and the other watching his friend in amazement and getting ready to record the scene in his diary. It must have been an amusing and heartwarming sight. Thanks to Hong Dae-yong, the yanggeum carved out its place in Korean traditional music. Sounding clear yet not very loud, it was usually played in chamber music pieces like “Yeongsanhoisang영산회상.” These days the yanggeum is played in many creative pieces, such as “The Place Where You Have Been.” Here’s gugak trio Murr playing the piece.

The Place Where You Have Been / Played by Murr

The yanggeum was first created in Central Asia. It was called the hammered dulcimer or santur back then. The instrument was taken to Europe during the Crusades. The dulcimer is known to have inspired the clavichord and subsequently the piano. It was Catholic missionary Matthew Ricci who took the instrument to China, which was eventually introduced to Joseon through the emissaries. The yanggeum features a trapezoid wooden body with seven sets of four metal strings. A thin bamboo stick is used to strike the strings, but the problem is that the metal strings are so sensitive that the sounds emanating from it are not consistent. It wasn’t easy to tune the instrument since a tuner had to inspect 56 strings in all. Another problem was that it was impossible to produce ‘nonghyeon농현’ or vibrato with the metal strings. A gayageum or geomungo player would create a vibrating sound by jiggling the strings with the left hand. Nonghyeon is used to express a deep emotion or add a light touch to the music, but the yanggeum is incapable of making such a sound, thus frustrating Korean traditional musicians. However, young musicians have found a way to incorporate the instrument in creative pieces lately. Here is an example of the yanggeum used in a gugak piece. This is “Arcade” played by Dongyang Gozupa.

Arcade / Performed by Dongyang Gozupa