Jeng Yi, Application Essay Example

Recently, on _____ , I attended the Jeng Yi concert performance at _________. The ensemble of dance and percussion performers is based in Toronto, but performs music that is based in traditional Korean styles. The Jeng Yi ensemble has been widely active since 1998. The group’s name refers to the idea of a spunky or outgoing person who is playful and expert at the same time. The founder and artistic director of the group is Charles Hong, a highly respected authority on Korean percussion and dance who studied with Kim Duk Soo, the master-leader of the most famous Korean drum and dance group, SamulNori. According to an article in the Korean Times titled, “The Beat Goes On, Solo Style,” (2001) the tradition of SamulNori “goes back to the roots of Korean society. The instruments once upon a time laid down the beat in “nongak” or farmer’s bands for sowing and harvesting festivals, and played a role in military and entertainment events along the way.”1 The Jen Yi ensemble bridges between the historical tradition of the music and the expectations of modern audiences.

The concert was held in a small venue and this added to the feeling of intimacy between the performers and the audience. Another factor that added to the feeling of closeness was that the performers avoided using a stage and instead performed on the floor. This actually brought a feeling of great spontaneity and surprise, which seemed in keeping with the spirit of the ensemble’s name. The small room allowed for only a relatively sparse audience. That said the people who were in attendance responded enthusiastically to the program. The performers wore formal costumes that were colorful and exciting. One of the reasons why I chose this concert was because it featured music from another culture and I am interested in the way that music can transcend cultural boundaries. Another reason was because the performance featured music and dance and I am attracted to the way that music and movement influence one another. The program of Korean percussion-dancewas entirely new to me; I had never listened to this type of music or attended a similar concert previously.

The music that was performed by the ensemble is, as previously mentioned, based on traditional Korean percussion and dance music that goes back for many centuries. As mentioned in the article “One- The Historical Development of Korean Folk Music,” (2001), there are two main branches of contemporary Korean music that is rooted in traditionalism. These branches are, generally speaking, either “court” music of “folk” music. The article states: “Korean traditional music today is conveniently categorized into two branches: music that was performed in the court and music that was performed for commoners outside of the court during the Chos?n period (1392–1910).”2 With the current modern interest in traditional Korean folk music, what Jen Yi does is to create original compositions that are rooted in the past.

The performers used only percussion instrument s throughout the duration of the concert. Therefore, the use of rhythm, tempo, and volume emerged as the primary ways by which the themes of each of the pieces were expressed. This is, of course, a strange foundation for a concert to the average American. The virtual elimination of melody and the frequent use of crescendo created a sense of chaos and excitement. However, the sheer volume of the drums and the intermingling rhythms of so many different drums without any unifying melody or simply identified “beat,” struck me, initially as being off-putting or even a bit noisy. The colorful costumes of the performers and their dancing, along with the way they accrued the drums as they danced, drew me in to the program while, initially, the actual sounds seemed somewhat jarring. After a short while, I began to view the drums not as noise, but as thunder – with same implication of power, randomness, and the unrelenting force of nature.

As soon as I started to feel this way, I began to really understand the aesthetic being employed by the ensemble. It all started to make sense to me, including the use of an intimate venue without a stage. The musicians were only trying to entertain the audience; they were trying to take them “time travelling” through history by way of rhythmic and visual response, to a time before technology, before science, and before humanity and nature were in conflict. This suspicion of mine was substantiated by Nathan Hesselink in the article, “Three- On the Road with “Och’Ae Chilgut”- Stages in the Development of Korean Percussion Band Music and Dance,” (2001). In this article, Hesselink writes that “This second stage in Korean percussion band music and dance is very much an urban phenomenon, at least among the more professionally established groups. Performances are generally indoors in concert halls or arenas and are held on dates or at times that have no particular seasonal or religious significance…”3 This shows that the modern revivals of the traditional Korean percussion and dance performances are meant to be a living monument to the past and a way of fusing good things from the past to the future.

Once I had this understanding of the music I started to appreciate it more and I also started to perceive more depth and variety in the sounds. Melody was present, but it was conveyed more through accelerations and decelerations of tempo along with modulation of volume. The rhythms of the music varied from almost asymmetrical sounding patterns like furious rain on a metal roof, to the sounds of a jaunty march. One thing that is crucial to keep in mind in regard to all aspects of the concert is the fact that every sound was accompanied by the movements of the performers. The connection between the movements and the changing rhythms gave the performance the air of a ritual. When I started to see the concert this way, my enjoyment increased. The book, Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity (1998) mentions that “Music, ritual, and dance are today no doubt the most visual and audible representations of Korea both in Korea and abroad. Commercial folk performances are now a common event at many tourist sites ranging from the Yong-in Folk Village to the Sheraton Walker Hill nightclub. “4 There is obviously something very powerful in the way that Jen Yi’s brand of traditionalism connects the past, present, and future.

I walked away from the concert with ringing ears and a smile. I don’t know whether or not I’ve learned to have a greater appreciation of traditional Korean drum and dance music, but I do know that I’ve gained a deeper appreciation of how music can unite different ages in history and help to preserve valuable traditions of the past. In the case of the Jen Yi concert, one of the traditional ideas that is conveyed by the music is that humanity and the cycles of nature are connected and that music is an expression of this connection. The music of Jen Yi also reminds us that we are not lonely, isolated individuals, but participants in a vast community that shares certain unchangeable things such as a response to rhythm and color and movement.

These ideas seem increasingly important in a world where everyone is fragmented and looking at a computer screen, completely disconnected from the people aroundthem and, for the most part, cut off from nature. Jen Yi reminds us all that music is a way of linking to the very essence of what it means to be human. The drum and the dance aesthetic is the most “primitive” aesthetic that one could imagine but if current trends are any indication, it may prove to be one of the most popular and enduring musical styles in history.

Notes

1.”The Beat Goes On, Solo Style,” Korea Times (Seoul, Korea), April 5, 2001.

2.Song Bang-Song, “One- The Historical Development of Korean Folk Music,” in Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century and beyond, ed. Nathan Hesselink (Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2001), 5.

3.Nathan Hesselink, “Three- On the Road with “Och’Ae Chilgut”- Stages in the Development of Korean Percussion Band Music and Dance,” in Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century and beyond, ed. Nathan Hesselink (Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2001), 62.

4.Hyung Il Pai and Timothy R. Tangherlini, eds., Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity (Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998), 9,

Works Cited

Hesselink, Nathan, ed. Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2001.

Pai, Hyung Il, and Timothy R. Tangherlini, eds. Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998. Korea Times (Seoul, Korea). “The Beat Goes On, Solo Style.” April 5, 2001.