Music Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2796
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Item VOICING THE UNHEARD: GENDERED PRACTICES, DISCOURSES, AND STRUGGLES OF GUGAK MUSICIANS IN SOUTH KOREA(2018) Yeo, Hyunjin; Witzleben, John L.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigates how individual musicians’ experiences and gender identity are shaped by interacting with cultural ideals of gender roles in different levels of South Korean society and the ways in which they interact with gendered performances of music. In the last few years, gender has been a popular topic not only in academia but also in everyday conversations in South Korea. Traditional gender norms have been challenged, and various types of masculinities and femininities have emerged. As different ideas of gender roles coexist in society, gugak (literally “national music”) musicians, too, face challenges in the middle of social transition. This study aims to deliver the often unheard voices of two groups of musicians: male gayageum (Korean zither) players playing a “women’s instrument” and female fusion gugak musicians playing “cheap” music. Based on in-depth interviews and my eighteen years’ involvement in the gugak field, I examine how both groups of musicians negotiate conflicts as they face contrasting gender norms and values between the gugak community and South Korean society at large. In this process, their performance becomes the prime site where their ideas of masculinity and femininity are put on display. By playing particular instruments and styles of music, defying negative discourses on them, and demonstrating their competence, I argue that performances and narratives of the musicians ultimately complicate the hegemonic views of masculinity and femininity. By revealing untold stories of the often unheard groups of musicians, this dissertation sheds light on studies concerning what has been excluded from scholarly discussions, which will provide a more comprehensive picture of individual actors and communities in society. This work also contributes to studies on the complex interplay between individual actors, diverse ideas of gender, and performance.Item THE MUSIC PERFORMED FOR THE SACRIFICIAL RITE AT THE ROYAL ANCESTRAL SHRINE OF THE CHOSŎN DYNASTY (1392–1910): INDIVIDUAL AGENCY AND DISCOURSE ON MUSIC EXPRESSED IN THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY KOREAN ENCYCLOPEDIA _TONGGUK MUNHŎN PIGO_ (1770)(2016) Law, Bing Kuen Anthony; Provine, Robert C.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 1964, the South Korean government designated the music for the sacrificial rite at the Royal Ancestral Shrine (Chongmyo) as Intangible Cultural Property No. 1, and in 2001 UNESCO awarded the rite and music a place in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Royal Ancestral Shine sacrificial rite and music together have long been an admired symbol of Korean cultural history, and they are currently performed annually and publicly in an abridged form. While the significance of the modern version of the music mainly rests on the claimed authenticity and continuity of the tradition since the fifteenth century, scholarly inquiry sheds further light on contextual issues such as nationalism, identity, and modernity in the post-colonial era (after 1945), as well as providing additional insights into the music. This dissertation focuses on the Royal Ancestral Shrine’s musical past as reflected in documentary sources, especially those compiled in the eighteenth century during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). In particular, the substantial music section of an encyclopedic work, Tongguk Munhŏn pigo (Encyclopedia of Documents and Institutions of the East Kingdom, 1770), mainly compiled by a government official, Sŏ Myŏngŭng (1716–1787), provides a considerable amount of information on not only the music and sacrificial rite program, but also on eighteenth-century and earlier concerns about them, as discussed by the kings and ministers at the Chosŏn royal court. After detailed examination of various relevant documentary sources on the historical, social and political contexts, I investigate the various discourses on music and ritual practices. I then focus on Sŏ Myŏngŭng’s familial background, his writings on music prior to the compilation of the encyclopedia, and the corresponding content in the encyclopedia. I argue that Sŏ successfully converted the music section of the encyclopedia from a straightforward scholarly reference work to a space for publishing his own research on and interpretation of the musical past, illustrating what he considered to be the inappropriateness of the existing music for the sacrificial rite at the Royal Ancestral Shrine in the later eighteenth century.Item KOREAN DANCE AND PANSORI IN D.C.: INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS, THE BODY, AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY AT A KOREAN PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO(2009) Ash-Morgan, Lauren Rebecca; Provine, Robert C.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is the result of seventeen months' field work as a dance and pansori student at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio. It examines the studio experience, focusing on three levels of interaction. First, I describe participants' interactions with each other, which create a strong studio community and a women's "Korean space" at the intersection of culturally hybrid lives. Second, I examine interactions with the physical challenges presented by these arts and explain the satisfaction that these challenges can generate using Csikszentmihalyi's theory of "optimal experience" or "flow." Third, I examine interactions with discourse on the meanings and histories of these arts. I suggest that participants can find deeper significance in performing these arts as a result of this discourse, forming intellectual and emotional bonds to imagined people of the past and present. Finally, I explain how all these levels of interaction can foster in the participant an increasingly rich and complex identity.Item Ssibaji, An Opera in Two Acts for 9 Characters, Percussion and Piano(2006-12-11) Suh, Ye Sook Lee; Wilson, Mark E; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The SSIBAJI (translation: The Seed-Bearer) examines an aspect of Korean culture which in not widely known in the United States. And, even though the subject matter is little known, it is a story of universal appeal. The complexity of emotion for every character and the mythic overtones are what drew the librettist, composer, and director to this unique story. In Korea, in the 18th and 19th centuries, a high born family whose eldest son's wife was barren, often turned to a surrogate mother to bear a son. Carrying on the family lineage was critically important. These arrangements were carried out in secret. The surrogate, impregnated by the husband, would live in hiding in the servants' quarters while the wife lived out a sham pregnancy. If the surrogate gave birth to a son, she was paid, usually in farmland, and chased away. If she gave birth to a daughter, she was paid half, and kept the child. These girls often became surrogate mothers themselves, prized for descending from a high-born father. SSIBAJI is both a love story and a tragedy. The husband, who initially refuses to go along with this practice, falls in love with the surrogate. The wife risks the love of her husband in order to maintain her status in the family and provide an heir. Ssibaji, 17, falls in love and is foolish enough to believe that she can defy convention and keep her child, her lover and her own life. The story line is simple while the emotions are complex and difficult. The formality of Korean culture, the dramatic class distinctions, the beauty of the setting, the fascinating rituals, all add sub-text, texture, and fascination to the story. The libretto was written by an Emmy Award winning playwright Laura Harrington.