Everyone Watched a Mask Dance Drama Performance

July 21^st, 2011

At Dankook University the lesson plan for the day included showing the students the movie Seopyeonje which everyone should watch as it's fabulous, so I started out with a lecture orienting them to types of vocal music with extra emphasis on pansori (the subject of the movie). I think they really enjoyed it.

In the evening I met up with Kathy and Tim again and we went to the Dragon Hill Spa (찜질방) which was awesome, of course. They were quite impressed and really appreciative of the awesomeness that is Korean bathhouse culture.

July 22^nd, 2011

Prof. Hilary Finchum-Sung came to guest lecture to the class. Not knowing the route to Dankook University I met her at 강남 Gangnam Station and we took the bus together. This meant we had lots of time to chat, yay! She's far enough into her career to have great advice, but new enough to not have outdated information or have forgotten what you really need to know when you're at my stage. She gave a great lecture to the students—her focus was globalization in Korean music, talking about whether fusion is Korean music, for example, but she gave a good solid overview of Korean music before she got to the point of the lecture. Although I had taught the students lots of the same stuff, the reality is that they are being hit with tons of brand new words, an entire world of things they knew nothing about two weeks ago, so a solid well-organized review was great for them. Also she brought her 해금 haegeum with her and demonstrated different types of music on the instrument.  

For the end of class we discussed one out of two planned articles, then practiced 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum motions. The students are getting better and better. I rode back to Seoul with Hilary and went straight to 선릉역. I drank coffee and worked on my computer until it was time to meet Kathy. We briefly walked through the park at the royal tombs, then met Tim and ate dinner before the mask dance drama performance for the evening.

Not the best cell phone photo of Kathy

The performance was the third in this series where they are combining different arts on themes. The theme was 노장, the old monk. Oddly 북청사자놀음 Bukcheong Saja Noleum showed their monk dance, then we saw the 은율탈춤 Eunyul Talchum old monk scene, or the start of it anyway. It felt very choppy and artificial and honestly the other two were not displayed well in comparison... Last there was about an hour of 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum. The performance included the 8목중 8 dark-faced monks plus the entire old monk scene all the way through the shoe seller and 취발이 Chuibali. 8 students from Dankook had come (6 of mine and 2 others) and they all enjoyed it. After they show they took photos with some of the performers, then I said bye to my friends who were there and Tim, Kathy and I had a drink before saying good-bye until who knows when. 

Karjam Leaves and I Practice Songpa Sandae Noli

July 1^st, 2011

In the morning Karjam finished up and uploaded to Youtube another video, the making of "Losar Dodlih" featuring Yoon Jihee (and you can see Go Seokjin on the video, too). Please visit it and give it lots of love! 

Karjam finished packing and re-packing then we had coffee/tea with our landlady. One last lunch in Karjam's favorite of our local restaurants (I'm actually glad I don't have to eat there anymore, I'm so sick of their food!) Then we headed to the airport. There is a new airport subway train that departs from Seoul Station and has a check-in counter for some of the airlines, including Korean Air which Karjam was flying. This was a real life-saver as his bags were SO FREAKING HEAVY. We checked in and went through immigration (no line and no line) there, then boarded the subway to the airport with his two instruments and a small backpack with his carry on stuff.

I was really sad to say good-bye to Karjam at the airport. It sounds dorky, but I'm more in love with my husband now than I ever was before, seems to keep increasing. I wonder if there is a limit?

July 2^nd, 2011

In the morning I worked on the computer in my empty house. In the afternoon right after writing something I –thought- was perhaps good I got on the bus and it turned out 박주현 Bak Juhyeon, our 대금 daegeum player was also on the same bus on his way to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli practice. So we talked, starting with me asking him to help me understand some ideas I'd been playing with in my writing from his perspective, which helped a lot, but also meant I have to change some stuff. Better to change now than later! 

At class we had a fairly good turnout (it wasn't raining). 함완식 Ham Wanshik, 김명하 Kim Myeongha, 함승헌 Ham Seungheon and his wife and son (his son is so cute!), 어원석 Eo Wonseok, 윤지희 Yun Jihee, the 피리 piri player who's name I never remember, plus the two elementary school kids, their mother, and a guy who has attended 5 or so sessions of a community class and wanted to practice with us.  Ham Sr. talked and played the janggu while Kim Myeongha led the dancing. The difference between Ham's motions and Kim Myeongha's motions are like night and day. I think I prefer Kim as his motions are very natural. However in a calculated attempt to keep Ham happy with me I danced with Ham's motions all day and I know he saw that. After a good practice of basic motions Ham Sr. decided to lecture new guy about the instruments which 1) Ham doesn't know that much about 2) the musicians are younger and lower in status and can't contradict him 3) he didn't even find out if new guy already knew about the instruments or not… which he probably knew as much as Ham knows. So I was a bit frustrated. We then did basic motions again and Kim Myeongha led Eo and Ham Jr. through two acts (Buk Noli and Omjung).

After class Yun Jihee and I went to dinner together and she grilled me about advanced studies in the US. She didn't seem concerned about English, she wanted to know more what type of studies were possible in what type of department. It was nice to feel I might be helping her, since she helped so much with Karjam's CD.

More Studio Time

June 22^nd, 2011

Today 윤지희 Yun Jihee, the 해금 haegeum player for 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli came to the studio to add haegeum tracks to two of Karjam's songs. One of those songs, "Losar Dodlih" will have more different tracks on it than any of the other songs on the CD. Normally I like sparser arrangements and Karjam likes fuller arrangements, but I'm pretty excited about this. I think Jihee is super super sweet and she was ultra-professional. We had to leave the studio after that because another client was coming.

June 23^rd, 2011 Karjam's Birthday

For Karjam's birthday we watched "Super 8" (we liked it), bought Karjam really good quality headphones (he was stoked!) and went to a fancy-dancy Chinese restaurant. Honestly I could barely eat my main dish and only enjoyed the shared bokchoy. My soup? Best not to mention it. But Karjam was stuffed and very very happy.

June 24^th, 2011

We worked on re-recording some vocal tracks for the CD and making editing choices on the other tracks.

In the evening we went to see a 가사 gasa and 시조 shijo concert (these are two types of sung poetry of the Joseon Dynasty and to many people NOT very attractive because they're very very different from what most people are used to). It was super cool, though, and Karjam enjoyed it because he loves hearing different types of singing and new things. 

Culture Heritage Tour to Daecheon/Boryeong

April 16^th, 2011

On Saturday I took mom with me to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli. Everyone was really sweet to mom and the 피리 piri player with missing fingers, 주현 on 대금 daegeum and윤지희 Yun Jihee on 해금 haegeum were all there, plus of course 함완식 Ham Wanshik (Nat'l Human Treasure) on the 장구 janggu. So mom was able to hear a lot of awesome playing in addition to watching me dance. For dancers we had only 함승헌 and Ham Sr.'s friend. I really should learn his name. He was very sweet to mom and told her she was much more beautiful than I was and that she didn't look her age. Ham Jr. talked in English to mom, Ham Sr. was his usual friendly self. We did the basic motions, Act 3 (this time I was 먹중 병 which is the one of the three with a really long speech. I didn't do so badly!), then Act 4 (this time I was the old procuress who doesn't have any lines), then we did 말뚝이놀이 which is Act 10. I played 샌님 Saennim, the oldest of the yangban and the only one with speaking lines. I'd never paid attention to that character before. It was not half as much fun as being the youngest yangban, 도련님, who is a bit retarded and unruly.

After practice we walked a bit in the park there and then looked at the ice-skating rink in Lotte World before going back home.

April 17^th, 2011

Policy Director of the Cultural Heritage Administration 엄승용Eom Seungyong invited me to go hiking with him and Prof. David Mason. It sounded like it would be fun—outside Seoul, spring weather, hiking, a temple, things I hadn't seen before… so I asked if it would be okay if mom tagged along and they said yes. A little later Seungyong clarified that we should pay our own ticket there (대천역 Daecheon Stn) but that after that the transpo and lunch would be provided. That sounded even nicer. I bought our tickets –to Daecheon- on Friday but not the tickets home as I had no idea when we'd be heading back to Seoul.

We woke up early and got to the station on time, then took the approximately 3 hour train ride down to Daecheon (this is the train station for 보령 Boryeong a town most known for its mud festival in the summertime. This festival is mostly marketed to foreigners, and I am adverse to it for that reason if not because nothing sounds good to me about wallowing in a bunch of mud with strangers who shouldn't be exposing as much (mud-covered) skin as they are). Actually my friend Eugene did a post about this—read it.  When we arrived the scene I had imagined (of Seungyong, David, some (perhaps English speaking) people interested in heritage and tourism) was abruptly shattered by the reality that Seungyong (undoubtedly incredibly busy) who is from Daecheon had combined our plan with a plan to get together the alumni of his high school. Many of these people were interested in heritage and promotion of Daecheon, Boryeong and the area, but not many of them worked in that area. There were several professors, a high school principal who was quite the cultural expert, local councilmen and other politicians, and more colorful characters amongst Seungyong's high school fellows, and there were also a few younger people (not sure how they got involved with the tour) and officials for Daecheon's culture and tourism department including an English-speaking tour guide (who like many, no let me change that, like most tour guides in Korea knew almost nothing but memorized (or cribbed on notepaper) facts without contextualization and with plentiful errors). She was one of those idiots wearing 3 inch fairly spikey heels on a cultural tour where we'd be clambering around in grass and woods and what not.

View of the Port of Boryeong

I was not in the most social mood and I find large groups of men in their mid-50s a bit much to deal with so I only really talked to five of the Koreans on the tour, they were all very nice. I was most impressed with the high school principal as he was legitimately excited about showing us these sites and had very deep knowledge. I also talked with Chris, a blogger David knows who had come on the tour. He seems interested in learning more about Korea, but hasn't gotten very deep into it yet. I should send him some suggestions for good books.  David who speaks no Korean despite a prodigious memory for Korean terms related to history and culture spent a lot of his time educating the tour guide (I would have done it if he hadn't, but he was much more prepared since he seemed to have brushed up on the local area and what we'd be going to see –and- as a professor of tourism (at Kyunghee University) he has a highly developed idea of how tour guides should be presenting things. Also some (though not all) of our sites for the day were related to his own areas of concentration, specifically religion). Sometimes I disagree with David's ideas, but I have to say I was immensely impressed with how he handled the social aspects of large-group-of-powerful-older-Korean-men. His manners were unfailingly correct and he handled things like an impromptu speech during lunch perfectly—thanking the vice-mayor (who'd joined us for the meal) and everyone else, remembering the names and hitting just the right tone. He really came across well, although he did give a short lecture in English that I thought should have gone deeper, because even though they do not know English well (many of them) they were pushed by the principal to really complex and detailed understandings when he was speaking and I think that David should have pushed their knowledge, not just their ability to understand English.

Really awesome informative principal

Gate to the Commandery

It's spring

Ink stone

As for the sites, well, I am not the type to feel comfortable being ushered on and off buses, into the pose for group photos, to the next stop and so on. Also I felt a little hesitant to ask questions in front of so many people for fear that I had misunderstood what I'd just heard or for fear that I'd garble my question. I did ask some questions one on one, though. The experience of going on a 문화유산답사 munhwa yusan dapsa (Cultural Heritage Educational Lecture/Tour) was interesting though in the context of a book chapter by Robert Oppenheim and as a reminder of another way that Koreans have tried to turn back and learn about their past/culture. Since I like to quietly explore things on my own, I don't normally get this perspective, but it's important to remember it as I write my dissertation.

We saw the site of the execution of several Catholic missionaries, including 5 French martyrs. We went to 충청수영성the commandery for the naval defense force in the region (part is being excavated but it's mostly ruins), and to 성주사지 the site of Seongjusa Temple, which is also now a ruin, but it's one of the original temples for the 9 mountain schools of Shilla Era Buddhism, so it was really awesome to go there—it was the biggest reason I wanted to go on the day trip, though I was also looking forward to hiking which never happened. We got to see a private and very unusual shrine to Sanshin (according to David who specifically wrote a book about Sanshin) and even stopped to see the training center for the provincial human treasure for ink-stone carving (used in calligraphy). We also had an elaborate lunch—almost all seafood including plentiful sashimi in Boryeong Port. The weather was lovely all day.

We didn't get seats for the train home. I managed to keep mom in seats almost the whole way (which was good since she really slept a lot) and Karjam sat between two cars, but I stood up all but perhaps 20 minutes. And my knees were already killing me.

We watched "Hanna" which was a little disappointing before going home. 

A Songpa Sandae Noli Rehearsal Where I'm the Only Person Dancing

April 1^st, 2011

Had 허창열 Heo Changyeol and 세정 Sejeong over for lunch. Between the two of them they could somewhat communicate in English with Karjam, and it was a pleasant visit. And my food came out really well.

I submitted the completed translation.

Karjam and I saw "Black Swan."

April 2^nd, 2011

I went to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli class and for some really strange reason I was the only person there to dance. 함완식 Ham Wanshik was there to play 장구 janggu, 박주현 Bak Juhyeon (who went to middle school, high school and college one year behind Sejeong, Changyeol's girlfriend) was there to play 대금 daegeum and 윤지희 Yun Jihee was there to play 해금 haegeum. In addition 안병인 Ahn Byeong-in was there as the dance instructor of the day. Needless to say I felt self conscious as the only person to dance with all these others, but it got worse because Ahn was apparently tired out from rehearsal on Friday night, so he wanted me to dance all by myself and prove that I knew all the motions correctly. This was very intimidating because we don't have a memorized set of motions, and each person who leads dance practice does it differently. Plus I have never had to do any motion on my own, I'm always following along (I'm an excellent motion-mimic in general). After a bit of a false start I got going all right, until I had to do 겨울보기 one of the motions with sort of tricky and specific timing. I practiced just that motion for quite a long time until Ahn was convinced, did a couple more, then reviewed all of them. Ahn left and Ham and I practiced the dialogue for Act 3 and Act 4, which was nice of him. Obviously –he- doesn't need to practice.

Bongsan Talchum Performance

December 17th, 2010
In the morning I went to Severance Hospital –again- and yet by the evening my ear was almost as painful as it’s been at any time during this whole long annoying infection. And the new pills he’s trying on me cost way too much- 70 bucks or so- if Karjam hadn’t insisted I wouldn’t have picked them up.

In the evening I went to 무형문화재선수회관의 풍류극장 the Pungryu Geukjang (theatre) at the Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage to see a performance of 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum with 양은석 Yang Eunseok and two of his co-workers. Eunseok is a friend from summer 2009 at 임실필봉농악전수관 Imshil Pilbong Nongak Training Center. He’s amazingly talented, both as a drummer and notably as a singer of 민요 minyo. If only he would stop smoking! As usual the advertising materials existed for the performance but they’d done a horrible job of getting the word out. I didn’t even know about the performance until Monday, even though I’m in the building week after week. On the evening of the performance there were posters (even free ones for the guests) and bookmark-like cards to advertise the show around the building, but considering that the foot traffic is not the highest, such advertising materials need to go out in advance, as far in advance as possible (in my opinion). More directed advertising can focus on a few days before but passive advertising such as distributing cards needs to be out there so attendees at other shows can pick them up weeks in advance.

The performance began with an introduction by 박상운 Bak Sang-un and two musical performances- 대금산조 Daegeum Sanjo followed by a 해금 독주 Solo Haegeum piece. Both were performed by younger members of the group. The performance was 사상좌춤 Sa-sangjwa dance, 발목중춤 the scene of the 8 dark-faced monks (with solos by the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th monk), 노장춤 the Old Monk’s dance and 사자춤 the lion dance. I video-taped the two middle pieces, since I don’t think I have the Old Monk’s dance and I’ve ruined previous performance videotapes of the dark-faced monks by being too excited about the performance and speaking the 대사 daesa monologues with the monks loud enough for the camera to pick up the sound. Either Bak Sang-un or in one case the National Human Treasure 김애선 Kim Aeseon spoke between acts, and their announcing was very rich—I will have to transcribe it (or get it transcribed) for future analysis- very rich indeed.

Friday morning dawned snowy. This is the view down our break-neck (esp. when icy) hill from our stairs. Karjam shows off his facial hair. I show off the clean hair on my head (if only I didn't get more water in my ear...)