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>Information on Pansori

Pansori is an art that is perceived through Jangdan, rhythm. Jangdan is a type of rhythm that Koreans make in terms of time. That is, Jangdan of Pansori is a product of long Korean culture and a crystal of the Koreans’ life rhythm.
Jangdan has various factors of rhythm like time, speed, accent, and pattern. Jangdan is a combination of time that has a certain accent, and it is felt to have each different speed. It is also recognized as a fixed pattern. This Jangdan prepares a structure for Pansori and provides dynamic power to Pansori. However, Jangdan is made through renewal and continuity of segment-based movement, not by movement of the same time. It is reinforced by recurrence of similar factors and it becomes repeated. That Jangdan is not the same movement means that it is not a mechanical and repetitive movement that is based on regularity and cycle. That is, Jangdan is patterned so it is maintained through balance of both extremities ? restraint (recurrence of similar factors) and freedom (renewal). Restraint gives order to Pansori while freedom gives vital energy to Pansori.

In order to discuss Jangdan of Pansori, it is necessary to fixate it as a certain time and pattern. For this, Wonbak which is regular and mechanical time is set up. ‘Won’ means origin. In other words, Wonbak means the origin of concrete rhythms that are realized in Pansori. That is, various rhythms of Pansori are variations of this Wonbak. Wonbak is not a perceptive phase, but an ideological time. Therefore, Wonbak is an abstractive rhythm. In other words, Wonbak is ideologically-made time.
Wonbak of Pansori is shaped into the following seven patterns:

As seen in the above, it is possible to express the patterns of Jangdan through Wonbak. However, a drummer doesn’t beat Wonbak mechanically and fixedly. Escaping from this Wonbak, he/she uses his/her personal drumming style (variation). Here, we should pay attention to the fact that variations (a drummer’s personal drumming technique) don’t come from Wonbak. There are numerous variations, depending on the concepts of the drum rhythms that are culturally made, and from these variations, Wonbak came.
A drummer beats a drum based on the pattern of Wonbak, pursuing its harmony with sound. In order to beat a drum, a drummer should grasp the rhythms in sound first. This rhythm is a rhythm interpreted by a drummer, and a drummer makes rhythms of the drum, suitably for the rhythm that he/she interprets.
Compared with sound, a drum has a small number of factors that make accents. A drum doesn’t have time value or pitch that exists in sound, and its sound quality is simple. Therefore, the rhythm that is made by a drum is simpler than the rhythm made by sound. A drum is simple, but should make complicated things.
In addition, the rhythm of a drum is close to the regularities of time. That is, it is a more mechanical rhythm. A simple and mechanical thing (drum) should make more complicated rhythms momentarily so it is difficult. A drum expresses more segmented rhythms than sound, and it puts a rhythm into the pause part for compensation. By doing this, a drum completes its own rhythms. Through this process, a drum and a sound are melted into Pansori by mutual reaction including conflict, harmonization, or supplementation. As a drum has several burdens, it faces more difficulties. It explains the origin of the word “one drummer, two noted singers.”