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 >Information on Pansori |
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The writer (Dae-Woong Baik) had an opportunity to visit the lesson that Gwon-Jin Jeong, who is an art holder of Shimcheongga of Gangsanje (a kind of Pansori school), taught his pupils. At that time, he taught Shimcheongga. In the part with a narration, ¡°A phoenix¡¦¡±, Gwon-Jin Jeong pointed out to his pupils, ¡°It is not a phoenix¡¯s sound, but a sparrow¡¯s.¡± In the part of ¡°Big wave....¡± in [Beom-pi-jung-ryu] (an important part of Shimcheongga ? which explains Shimcheong¡¯s riding on a vessel for sacrifice and her feelings at that time), he said, ¡°It is not sea water, but stream water.¡± He added, ¡°Every object (including its concept) has its own Seongeum when it is expressed through Pansori. It is the very true meaning. In order to perfectly find out this true meaning, an appropriate mixture of Gil and Jangdan is necessary.¡±
The above suggests a significant example regarding what is Seongeum in Pansori. That is, Pansori not only pursues sound quality and sound color, but also expresses the concept of an object with a human¡¯s restricted voice. By doing this, Pansori seeks after the true meaning of an object. The essence of the Pansori aesthetics is in pursuit of the true meaning of an object through Chang (music), Aniri (words) and Balim (actions), which tells the importance of Seongeum in Pansori. In fact, the most important factor of Pansori is Seongeum. The saying that a noted singer has attained a sound means that he/she freely uses several Gils and Seongeums to describe all the sounds in nature.
Seongeum is a very wide concept that intends to express the essence/the true meaning of all the objects available in nature through a human voice. Therefore, in a wide sense, Seongeum means a great aesthetic planning of Pansori, but in a narrow sense, Seongeum can be the properties of the sound (sound quality, sound color and vocalization) which are the results of this planning. Here, Seongeum of the narrow sense will be discussed.
Pansori pursues a human voice extremely so terminology regarding voice or features of voice is very much developed, which is ¡®Mog¡¯, ¡®Mogseongeum¡¯, or ¡®Seongeum¡¯. Seongeum includes ¡®Cheong¡¯, ¡®Seongeum¡¯ and ¡®Mog¡¯. |
¡®Cheong¡¯ means the height of a sound. Pansori doesn¡¯t precisely measure the height of a sound through physical analysis nor talk about it based on the analysis results. It makes subjective evaluation of the height of a sound, listening to it. ¡®Cheong¡¯ is divided into the following 7 types:
Choisangseong (Highest sound) ? Jungsangseong (middle high sound)? Sangseong (high sound)? Pyeongseong (normal sound) ? Haseong (low sound) ? Junghaseong (middle low sound) ? Choihaseong (Lowest sound)
(High sound ¡ç Medium sound ¡æ Low sound) |
In a narrow sense, Seongeum is restricted to the special features of sound (sound quality) and its vocalization. Sound quality is made comprehensively through vibrato (minute trembling of sound), movement of the vocal chords and the resonance organ so in consideration of the auditory terminology that directly means the sound quality and the terminology of vibrato, movements of the vocal chords or actions of the resonance organ, Seongeum can be classified as follows:
1) Tongseong:
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Voice that directly comes from the stomach |
| 2) Cheolseong: |
Hard and tough voice like a steel hammer |
| 3) Suriseong: |
Hoarse and rough voice |
| 4) Seseong: |
Thin, weak and clear voice |
| 5) Hangseong: |
Voice coming from a throat after being bent |
| 6) Biseong: |
Voice coming from the nose |
| 7) Paseong: |
Changed voice that falls to pieces like a broken gong |
| 8) Balbalseong: |
Changed voice that trembles |
| 9) Cheonguseong: |
Remarkable voice, that is, a gifted singer's voice |
| 10) Guigokseong: |
Mysterious voice like a ghost's crying that men can't imitate |
| 11) Saengmog: |
Voice coming from the throat that is not cleared yet |
| 12) Sokmog: |
Voice that is made inside the throat, but doesn't come out of the throat |
| 13) Geotmog: |
Superficial and dull voice |
| 14) Ddeokmog: |
Tasteless voice that is not harmonized |
| 15) Norangmog: |
Too skillful and excessive voice |
| 16) Mareunmog: |
Roughly dried voice |
| 17) Gudenmog: |
Straight voice without winding which is not stylish |
| 18) Nookeunmog: |
Voice that has no Sangseong (high sound) and is made with Hatakseong (low thick sound) only |
| 19) Doenmog: |
Voice that is made with only Sangseong (high sound) without going down |
| 20) Doonggeunmog: |
Smooth voice |
| 21) Goonmog: |
Delicious and bent voice that is made when excited |
| 22) Neolbeunmog: |
Wide-ranged voice |
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¡®Mog¡¯ is noteworthy to be included in Seongeum. ¡®Mog¡± means several sounds that are made by changing the vocal organs, which is called ¡®Mogjaechi¡¯. Sound quality indicates the characteristics of sound at a certain moment, but Mog focuses on the consecutive changes of sounds. Sound quality appears when the factors of time are not considered, but ¡®Mog¡¯ appears when the factors of time are considered. The changes here are not restricted to sound quality only and they include the height of sound and strength/weakness of sound too. And the changes are intentional and so big that the extent of the changes can be clearly recognized. This phenomenon is originated from Pansori¡¯s unique vocalization like trembling or breaking.
Vocalization of Pansori is to give changes to sounds, not to make plain sounds. That is, it trembles or breaks down the sounds, not maintaining the height of the sound same from the beginning to the end. In Pansori, this vocalization is highly developed and how to use it is an important condition for a competent singer. Therefore, singers make their best efforts to use various methods of trembling or breaking sounds. The terminology related with this is ¡®Pyojeongmog¡¯ or ¡®Pyomog¡¯. ¡®Pyojeongmog¡¯ or ¡®Pyomog¡¯ means a unique type of sound changes that an individual or a group of the same genealogy has. Through this, the sound characteristics of an individual or a certain genealogy are seen. A noted singer should have his/her own unique ¡®Mog¡¯ and for this, singers continuously train themselves or seek after teachers.
Therefore, it is an endless work to list every ¡®Mog¡¯ because strictly speaking, each individual may have one¡¯s own Mog. Here, typical Mogs that are frequently mentioned in Pansori are introduced.
1) Aguiseong
(Hungry ghost¡¯s sound): |
Sound that is strongly made by pulling back the vocal chords left and right |
| 2) Relaxing Mog: |
Voice that slowly relaxes Seongeum |
| 3) Rolling Mog: |
Voice that slowly rolls up |
| 4) Chopping Mog: |
Voice that is deliciously chopped on a certain key point |
| 5) Cutting-Off Mog: |
Voice that is cut off in a certain case while making a sound |
| 6) Rolling Mog: |
Voice that is made by fast turning slow voice and then slowly rolling up |
| 7) Pushing Mog: |
Voice that pulls sound and then, pushes |
| 8) Bell Mog: |
Voice that rolls over like a bell |
| 9) Breaking Mog: |
Sharply broken voice |
| 10) Weaving Mog: |
Weaving voice softly and nicely |
| 11) Sticking Mog: |
Sticking voice without taking off |
| 12) Cutting Mog: |
Voice that cuts sounds to have edge |
| 13) Squeezing Mog: |
Voice that squeezes a plain sound to make it delicious |
| 14) Piercing Mog: |
Voice that pierces high with the highest sound |
| 15) Digging Mog: |
Voice that digs down deep |
| 16) Scattering Mog: |
Voice that spreads and scatters sound |
| 17) Tightening Mog: |
Voice that tightens sound to take off |
| 18) Spreading Mog: |
Voice that spreads sound |
| 19) Picking Mog: |
Voice that picks up sound |
| 20) Protruding Mog: |
Voice that protrudes the plain sound up |
| 21) Pulling-up Mog: |
Voice that snatches to pull up sound while making plain sound |
| 22) Overturning Mog: |
Voice that overturns sound once while making sound correctly |
| 23) Pulling-back Mog: |
Voice that pulls plain sound to one side or corrects the overturned sound right |
Seongeum of Pansori is various and affluent even though clear explanation of each is not easy. Singers show their techniques and capabilities through various and affluent Seongeum. Therefore, Seongeum is a key of the artistic expression in Pansori, which is the reason why Pansori is called ¡®Seongeum Play¡¯. |
Among many Seongeums, Ddeokmog, Suriseong, Cheonguseong, and Yangseong are most meaningful and distinctive. The voice used in Pansori is rough Suriseong, which is already mentioned in [Chapter 3. A. Singer]. Cheonguseong is a rough, but relatively clean sound so it is regarded as the best ¡®Seongeum¡¯. Compared with Suriseong, Cheonguseong is suitable for expressing high tone and sad melody. Male singers who have this Cheonguseong are Dong-Baik Lee, a noted singer from Seocheon, Chungcheongdo who worked during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, and Bang-Wool Im. And female singers all have this Cheonguseong. It is difficult for women to make rough sound.
Cheonguseong is the best sound, but it doesn¡¯t mean that a clear sound is good. Too clear sound is called ¡®Yangseong¡¯, which doesn¡¯t have depth so it is not regarded as valuable Seongeum. And if Suriseong becomes too rough, it is called ¡®Ddeokmog¡¯, which is not regarded as valuable Seongeum either. Those who have Ddeokmog have too a rough throat so they can¡¯t make high tone. Jeong-Ryeol Jeong, a noted singer who worked during the rule of the Japanese imperialism had a voice that is almost similar to Ddeokmog, but he made desperate efforts to master various techniques of using low tone. These four ¡®Seongeums¡¯ are as follows: |
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