Корей аспабы қаягым туралы

Traditional Korean string instrument

The gayageum or kayagum (hangul=가야금) is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is a plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument. It is based on the Chinese guzheng and is similar to the Japanese koto, Mongolian yatga, Vietnamese đàn tranh, Sundanese kacapi and Kazakh jetigen.

According to the Samguksagi (1146), a history of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the gayageum was developed around the sixth century in the Gaya confederacy by King Gasil (also known as Haji of Daegaya) after he observed an old Chinese instrument Guzheng. He ordered a musician named Wu Ruk to compose music that could be played on the instrument. The original name was gayago(or gayatgo) and later gayageum. The gayageum was then further improved by Wu Ruk during the reign of Jinheung in the Shilla dynasty. The ancient gayageum of King Gasil was called by several names, including beopgeum (law zither, 법금), pungnyu (elegance, 풍류), or jeong ak (right music, 정악) gayageum. It is normally associated with accompaniment for court music, chamber music, and lyric songs. This type of gayageum has a wider spacing between the strings and plays slower tempo music such as Yeongsan hoesang and Mit doduri.

The sanjo gayageum is believed to have evolved in the 19th century with the emergence of sanjo music, which in Korean literally means "scattered melodies", a musical form that involves fast tempos and some improvisation. The sanjo gayageum version of the instrument has closer string spacing and a shorter length to let musicians play the faster passages required for sanjo. The sanjo gayageum is now the most widespread form of gayageum. All traditional gayageum use silk strings, though since the late 20th century, some musicians use nylon.

Modern versions of the gayageum with more strings often use nylon wrapped steel strings, similar to those used for the Chinese guzheng. To play modern music, gayageum with a greater number of strings have been developed, increasing the instrument's range. Gayageum are available with 13, 17, 18, 21, 22, or 25 strings, The 21 string gayageum is normally found in North Korea.

The gayageum is traditionally played when sitting on the floor with crossed legs, the head of the instrument resting on the right knee and the tail resting on the floor. When played whilst seated on a chair or stool, the tail end is usually placed on a special fold out stand, similar to a camp stool, or another chair/stool. For modern gayageum, they may be placed on a special stand with the player seated on a chair behind the instrument. The people of North Korea usually play whilst seated on a chair, but they do not use a stand of the tail end. Instead, the gayageum has detachable legs that are fixed into the end to raise the tail high enough. The gayageum is played with both right and left hands. The right hand plucks and flicks the strings close to the bridge of the gayageum, whilst the left hand pushes the strings on the left side of the bridges to raise the pitch and adds vibrato and other ornamentation.

The six or more schools of the gayageum sanjo include Seong Geum Yeon, Kim Juk Pa, Kim Yoon Deok, Kang Tae Hong, Kim Byeong Ho, and Choi Ok Sam schools.

Contemporary music composers have been creating modern music for the gayageum. Hwang Byung Ki composed "Forest" as a first modern gayageum piece, Sungcheon Lee created 21 string gayageum and new pieces. Beomhoon Park composed the gayageum concerto "New Sanjo" (새산조) for 25 string gayageum, and following generation's composers and western musicians have been composing modern music for it.