Field Notes: April 18th at Songpa Sandae Noli Practice

These days I rarely write up real field notes. That's stupid of course. Yes, I'm not writing my dissertation, or revising it at the moment (I have an overdue book chapter for an edited volume to write instead). Of course later I will forget details. So yesterday I actually took some decent field notes and I'm going to actually type them up! Wonders never cease! (Note, that I should be writing the book chapter).

The full length performance for this year is on the 9th of May, so there are only a few days left before the performance to practice. This means that the attendance is higher, and everyone takes things more seriously.

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Today in the morning (11?) 함승헌 took his 이수자 test. I recorded an interview with him about it. He said it was more frightening than when he interviewed for anything else ever in his life, he had to talk about how his life aligned with practice of SSN (as a non-full-time performer), and answer a few questions to gauge his knowledge of the art, demonstrate the basic dance motions, and perform (with just 장구 and 피리 and no one across from him) the part of 취발이. He passed. More details are on the MP3 file.

Because Ham Jr. had done his test, a certain number of people had been around for a few hours already by the time I arrived at 1:45 (practice started at 3). Principally 이한복, 강차욱 (those two played the music for the test), 김영숙, 이병옥 and 함완식 who must have been very proud that his son advanced to 이수자 but I couldn't see any hint of that in his face or deportment. Other people also arrived before me, and shortly afterwards. The 심사위원 who had come for the exam had introduced various conversations while talking with 이병옥 and 함완식 and had infected everyone with an attitude of seriousness about how to best prepare for the full length performance. One of the things they said was that the 서울놀이마당's madang is too large, and if we try to take up the whole thing it loses feeling and looks bad-- they advised that the performance happen in the center with people sitting around outside, as has been done before some years. 김영숙  is going to look into the legless chairs with backs and see if we can get some of them for the viewers.

Before practice started I mostly talked with 김영숙 about a variety of things-- I started off by talking to her about the subject of the book chapter-- women in mask dance dramas. The interview was very unscripted and rambling, I basically stayed next to her and the conversation wove in and out of the topic, commenting on people around us, and various criticism that the office manager (a woman of opinions, no joke) had about other people and recent events. I managed to pull out my voice recorder and turn it on, tucked under my arm. The moment she sees the recorder she gets too reticent, and almost won't talk about anything at all -- even without seeing a recorder she often says things to undermine the value in her words (ex. "I'm not a talented dancer"). There was a ton of background environmental noise, including even the noise of at times 3 or 4 instruments in the small space-- and the recorder was under my arm, not held close to her mouth. And, as I said, the conversation ranged widely. The critical things of course I would never use, but the comments about women doing mask dance drama I need, so I'll just send her an email in a few days with the English content referring to the conversation, and a translation, and ask if she wants me to say "an experienced woman who has been a mask dancer more than thirty years" or if it is okay to use her name. Since what she said was already very curated (on that subject) and she knows I'm writing this chapter and have already talked to a lot of other performers about it, she'll probably agree for me to use her name. If I was confident of my memory, I wouldn't have sneakily recorded at all, but I excuse the sneakiness because I'll show her exactly how I want to use her words and get her permission to use her name before I ever do it. I much prefer what I can do with people like 이병옥, just stick the recorder in his hand, and just easily record in a quiet location.  At one point Yeongsuk and I went to the office, but by then she'd basically finished saying anything about her ideas and was asking me questions about my work situation and when I'll know if I am signing a new contract.

After stretching and basic motions (perhaps 30 minutes, combined), 이병옥 and to a lesser extent 함완식 pointed out some issues. One was confusion over 3 different dance motions with similar names and motions (the difference being the 장단 the motion is performed to, and whether you walk in a circle, or do the motion in place). When SSN does basic motions, unlike other mask dance dramas, such as Bongsan Talchum or Goseong Ogwangdae where everyone does the same sequence of events, the sequence and number of each motion before doing the next motions depends on who is leading. 김명하 was leading, in the front left corner facing the mirror and next to the musicians (이한복 (on piri or daegeum), 강차욱 (on janggu or piri), 윤지희 (haegeum) and another woman who is a friend of Jihee's, I think her name is 김희경, also playing haegeum plus 함완식 sometimes playing the janggu), I was in the back right corner, and over the instruments and space, I could only occasionally hear the call of the next motion, and just had to be quick on my toes so that I wouldn't make a mistake. Each motion is repeated on both sides for two, four, or even a dozen times before moving on. Since most members of the group, including 김명하 are older and their physical conditioning is not very good (they're older than me, and don't do hapkido 5 days a week), by the time they finished most people were drenched in sweat, but I felt like we had really barely practiced some of the motions. After discussion about the three similar motions and trying to clarify the names so that everyone wouldn't get confused, the discussion moved onto why SSN is called a --------- dance. I will have to ask someone, because I thought I'd noted the name correctly, but googling the name doesn't return a result. The conversation then went on to discuss if (or not) SSN has distinctively bold use of the wrist in dance motions. The senior members all denied this, although Ham Sr. brought up the fact that one of the original members at the time of certification had had particularly active wrists.

After this interlude practice of scenes commenced. The first scene was 곤장놀이, after the scene ended 이병옥 emphasized that everyone had to use very precise pronunciation in the performance. The eight monks were each told to practice at home to make their performance more "멋있어요" (in this case we can gloss this as meaning impressive). Next they practiced 침놀이 and after the scene ended 함, 이 and other senior members, such as 이수환 criticized the crucial end of the scene, correctly the delivery and actions of the players "죽든지 살든지, 내가 몰라." After this everyone last focus for a good 10 minutes, then came back together to practice the 7th scene (the first one with 노장). I was extremely happy to see them making all the 먹중 coordinate their motions, because the last two times I've seen this scene someone has been off. After the scene was rehearsed there was a discussion of line delivery "as if you have no mic" because this will match the traditional tone better (and, dare I say, the mics DO fail sometimes).

Crappy cell phone photos of rehearsal

Next the 먹중 (most of them) got a rest and they practiced the 샌님/말뚝이 scene. 다미 will perform as the youngest of the 3 양반, which disappointed me. I would really have liked to perform that role. After they practice there is a long discussion. As with most discussions the voice or authority starts with "I remember when [old teacher so and so] used to do this..." "It used to go like this" -- to actually find fault with others without bringing up the past is much less common and only happens if you're super confident about your opinion (like 이병옥). The discussion goes over where the members of the scene should be, and in what orientation to the audience, Ham Sr. accused 탄종원 of over-action, and 다미 is given feedback both pulled aside (by 장규식 who usually does this role) and by the group. There is a group repeat-after-이병옥 of some of the words (no longer used) so that pronunciation and delivery is correct. A lot of this focuses on 사처. If you drag it out it's a place for the dead, not a pigsty.

Then 김명하 runs through part of the scene as the shaman. Last year the shaman was 이영식, and I am not sure why it's changed. 김명하 will perform in the majority of the 12 acts-- my rough count has him delivery more lines and being on the stage more than anyone else.

There is a brief discussion of final bows (yes or no, carrying a mask, wearing a mask, in costume, only for those in the last scene, etc.). Should we do "fan service"? (Here they mean, should we offer a chance to take photos together when we've got our costumes on). This discussion often involves "다른 단체" (other groups...). And finally it is agreed that after the bow (where everyone is in the last costume they wore), there should be a period of group dance with the audience.

Everyone hesitated to leave, but I live so far away, I bowed and left quickly.

Bongsan Talchum Performance (in the cold) and Wolduk's Wedding

April 23^rd, 2011

We were supposed to take KTX back to Seoul, but since 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli practice was cancelled, we switched to the much cheaper bus. In the evening all three of us went to 남산한옥골 Namsan Hanokgol which is a completely unpopulated 한옥 hanok (traditional Korean building) village in Seoul accessible from 충무로 Chungmuro Subway Station. We were there for a performance of 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum but we were early enough that we could walk around a bit in the last rays of the setting sun on the picturesque buildings.

Quite a few of the evening class students showed up, or specifically 하연, 정현, and 신마. I sat in the front row with mom and took photos on my long zoom (most of the time) and Karjam stood u p above the entire seating area and took video looking down on us. Most of the audience evaporated during the show because it was beastly cold. The performance however was totally awesome, I am so glad that mom got a chance to see that particular show because they really were just blazing.

First they performed 사상좌춤 sasangjwachum, the dance of the four Buddhist novices. Next was the dance of the eight dark-faced monks, they performed monk 1 which I never get to see (except the other day when I went to see 최창주 Choi Changju's class). Then 2, 3, 4, and 8. Of course at the end all 8 danced together. Next they did the story of 소무 Somu and 노장 Nojang, the old monk. What was special is that they really did the whole thing, starting with carrying Somu onto the stage in the litter. The shoe seller and monkey came on and did their bit and last 취발이 Chuibali came and chased of Nojang so he could take Somu for himself. Finally (of course) they did 사장춤 sajachum, the lion dance. I truly think that the two who did the lion were probably the only comfortable people there (temperature wise).

After the show when I was bowing to everyone 장용일 Jang Yongil told me that they don't care if there is just one person in the audience, they're going to give it their all, but he also thanked us for staying in the freezing temperatures.

Mom and I went to Lazy Sue's and had tea and shared a dessert before heading home.

April 24^th, 2011

Sunday was a really busy day. First we got dressed up and went to 김월덕 Kim Woldeok's wedding to 이주원 Yi Juwon. I had an immediately great impression of him, and I think that Woldeok must have been embarrassed to say that he was handsome, because she had said he wasn't yet he looked quite dashing. We took photos with the bride and then sat down to wait for the wedding, Karjam over on one side near the microphones he'd use to sing a congratulatory song, the two of us on the groom's side (better seats were available for filming Karjam and the wedding). It was a large hotel wedding where you sit at your lunch table to watch the wedding. After the ceremony (Karjam's song went off very well) we had lunch, took the group photos and all that. We also peaked in on the 폐백 pyaebaek traditional ceremony for a few minutes with Bonnie and Curtis.

Mom and Karjam went home, I headed to the 임실필봉농악 서울전수관 Imshil Pilbong Nongak Seoul Training Center where I was about 1.5 hours late to a rehearsal with 개전연 Gaejeonyeon (my 풍물 pungmul club) for our performance next weekend from 1-4. The room was packed with 19 participants all dancing and/ or playing instruments. It seems that there are three of us doing 잡색 japsaek (dancing in costume and playing the part of a specific character). I will be 화동 Hwadong , a male character who wears red robes and a red hat with pheasant feathers. I could have asked to do 소고 sogo but someone has to do japsaek and I enjoy it. It's certainly livelier than the other parts, although not a way to show off skills! In the future when my상모  sangmo is just a little better I hope to do sangmo, of course. Of course 은정/도령 Eunjeong was leading the rehearsal. She'll obviously be the 상쇠 sangsoi (꽹과리 ggwaenggwari lead player) for the performance as well.

I rushed home and then mom and I went to check out 인사동 Insadong although it was getting late and shops were rapidly closing. 

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 Club Practices Songpa Sandae Noli!

April 9^th, 2011

Georgy came to Seoul. Otherwise, nothing interesting.

April 20^th, 2011

I made pancakes for breakfast and then miraculously despite putting it off for weeks did our taxes. I hate giving the government taxes out of my fellowship money. It's just offensive. Seriously.

I went to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli class. Class was just 함완식 Ham Wanshik with no one to help him, but he did a great job. The older woman (53 but her skin looks maybe 35) who is a friend of 이수환 Yi Suhwan was there. Her name is 김은수 Kim Eunsu. The interesting thing was I started asking her about who she'd been practicing with. Apparently everyone would know this, but I didn't, 방송 통신대학교 which I am too lazy to look up but it's like Broadcasting Communications University, but it's a remote plan where you can learn without necessarily full attendance, or just evenings or weekends, or internet or whatever, has a club for Songpa Sandae Noli, or more specifically they have a club called 민속연구회 Folk (Culture) Research Group (they go by Minyeon 민연) that does Songpa, Samulnori, and Korean dance for example fan dance. They've been doing this since she says 77 or 78 and most of the participants aren’t good at Songpa but a few are very good, and they should come learn from the group sometimes, but they don't since some people are so good, and they perform and everything. She still practices with them every week. She said they might come except they're busy older people with families. 

For class we did Act 3 and Act 4 (before Aesadang enters the stage). It went pretty well. 어원석 Eo Wonseok and 함승헌 Ham Seungheon were both late, in Ham Jr's case very very late, so it was me, Eunsu, Ham's friend, and the two elementary school girls. 

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.

Great Songpa Sandae Noli Rehearsal

March 26th, 2011
Saturday has traditionally been my day for 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli. When I returned to Korea late last summer everyone still practiced in one group on Saturday, but before long they decided to split up the practice so that the 이수자 isuja would have their own special practice on Friday nights. This was partially out of a sense that what they needed to practice was different than what others needed (the isuja handle the bulk of the performance duties but haven't been doing it as long as the higher ranked people, so they are still rehearsing specifically to improve their performance), and partially because the timing was more convenient for the majority of the isuja. Honestly I was annoyed at first, because I thought it would be poor for my research not to see how the isuja were practicing. But honestly, I've seen them all practice before right when I got here and in past years. There really isn't anything that would have been that different. With them gone, the idea is that the Saturday and Sunday practice could actually work on equipping the jeonsuja (registered students) and other junior members with the skills needed to perform with the troupe. Which I'd like, since I've only been able to perform Songpa Dari Balpgi so far. Recently I was talking to 어원석 Eo Wonseok and he told me that he practiced for more than ten years before he was allowed on stage. Talk about a way to discourage people from continuing to practice! With isuja and jeonsuja on the same day, basically the jeonsuja are expected to learn from watching, without many chances to actually stand up and participate.

In class on Saturday we began with three accompanists (I forget the name of the 피리 piri player, but 함완식 Ham Wanshik our National Human Treasure was there to play janggu and 박주현 Bak Juhyeon came to play 대금 daegeum. Jeonsu gyoyuk jogyo 이수환 Yi Suhwan was there, as well. There were three jeonsuja, Eo, 함승훈 Ham Seunghun and me. For learners we had Ham Wanshik's annoying friend, Yi Suhwan's friend (her second or third practice), plus the two elementary school girls. It was sort of obvious from the moment I got there that Yi would be running class that day, but I'd just been fighting with him on FB over the previous two days (and I felt very disrespected) so I was not particularly happy to see him. I did not greet him warmly or talk to him directly at any point during the practice. However, it was the best practice I've had for Songpa Sandae Noli –ever- in my 7 years with them. Before things started Yi and Ham were discussing why the preparations for the performance would be on Friday not on Saturday, because of course this creates a problem since Eo and Ham Jr. will perform, but they aren't welcome to Friday night practice. So they have to practice acts that need multiple players without the others who will actually perform in the Annual Full Length performance (scheduled for May 15th this year).

First we all did the basic motions with Yi leading, using our voices instead of the 장구 janggu to mark the timing (deong ddak gi deong ddak –eolsu- and repeat). It was a bit odd because most everyone doesn't have the level of physical conditioning to keep up the 입장단 Ip Jangdan, so I was more or less the only person doing it by the end. It was also weird, and I don't know if this is an old habit that has fallen out of practice, but Ham Wanshik kept practicing 불림 bullim scripts instead of doing the jangdan (the timing is the same), and it was really distracting because I've never heard that done before. After about fifteen minutes the three musicians sat down to play and the rest of us went through the basic motions for over 15 minutes in a circle. It was long enough that we worked up a good sweat. Yi told Ham Jr. and Eo they'd have to work on their acts and after a short discussion (where Yi pointed out incredibly obvious things like how your motions should be bigger –spatially- in a big madang than if you're performing on a small stage) we moved onto practicing the acts.

The two then ran through the act (act 5) one time, then Ham Wanshik had the rest of us join in. We did it one more time after which Ham could not resist being all authoritarian so he went to the white board to explain all about the act, but then gets worried he's not quite on and asks me not to write down what he's writing on the board. Which wasn't something I could fully follow anyway, as it had more to do with the historic meaning of 곤장 (act 5 is 곤장놀이) than anything that happens in the play. Ham should really either prepare a lecture or not go to the white board, but I guess I can't tell him that.

Then we switched to act 3 (the one I've been practicing) and this time I was 먹중 갑 Monk 'Gap' instead of 'Eul' which I've done every time so far. I did a pretty good job, actually. I delivered my lines with confidence, anyway. We were all (except Eo) reading from the script the whole time, though. Next we practiced 말뚝이 Malddugi's act, which was the first time I could ever do that one! I got to be 도련 Doryeon, the youngest of the yangban, and that was fun because he's all goofing off and running around and stuff (but no dialogue). Coolness!

Class ended then, a full two hours after we started!

After class, unfortunately, Ham Wanshik's annoying friend decided to confront me in the middle of Lotteria when we were all having a nice bit of fries and soda and various types of burgers. We'd gotten in each other's faces a couple weeks before—honestly I didn't behave like a Korean should and he was being a dick, so we were both at fault. Whatever, worked it out.

March 27th, 2011
Chans Bros on the computer and at home on the computer. I skipped Sunday Songpa Sandae Noli practice because I just wanted to get some sleep instead.

From K-Arts to Bongsan Talchum to the Seoul History Museum

March 23rd, 2011
The research activity of the day was to go see the 한국종합예술학교 K-Arts students practice 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae again. Karjam came with me, expressing his desire not to go basically at every moment. We arrived right at 8, and some students were eating dinner still. However they started before too long. 태환 Taehwan announced the performance date—May 7th.

They did basic motions with 희수, 혜미, 재윤, 준영 playing instruments. Then they did act one, Taehwan felt a big heavier in his motions. As he practiced 윤만 was practicing his own stuff, while 혜미 and 정운 were in the back of the room eating dinner.

Next they practiced act three, but they kept stopping and taking things again. 만희, 준영, 정우, everyone basically was on 희수's case for continually screwing it up. He must have a hard time remembering stage blocking. As for 만희 he got very little correction, but when he did he responded that 창열 had said he was doing it right but 대천 had agreed with the critique, so he was trying to find a middle ground.

Act two was next and 정우 looked a lot more masculine. They went through the act with no interruptions, although at one point 민기 just announced that he'd take his line over again (and did so). Afterwards they had a discussion of what went right and what needs to change. 정우 and 민기 get in a discussion about where (on the stage) to do the dialogue. 민기 says "when the teachers perform, 원양반 does a circle like this right in the center." And acts it out.

Act five was next. 준영 had hurt his leg and couldn’t move very well, but it almost worked better (certainly funnier). They took the parts several times esp. the part with the two songs, trying to get the timing all right. During one of his parts 윤만 tells everyone "don't laugh" because he's having a hard time due to difficulty keeping a straight face.

Last of all they practice act 4, and the two "ladies" are played by 정운 and 재윤(not the normal actors) and they totally goof around making it hard for 경진 to concentrate, but it's all in good fun.

At the end of the practice the students completely confirmed my absolutely positive impression of them. They were so awesome. They all came and sat down in front of Karjam and introduced themselves as a group and asked him to introduce himself and then to sing. And then Karjam asked them to sing (they sang a mourning song from 진도 씻김 굿) and then they asked me to give them feedback on the days rehearsal (my general feedback was that they were getting so much better and that now they were more comfortable with the roles they'd be able to fix the little things). Karjam was happy on the way home. He was definitely impressed.

March 24th, 2011
The research activity of the day was to go to 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum class, but I was a bit late because of the sudden heavy wet snow shower that snarled traffic. In class we had 12 people not including 김은주 Kim Eunju but including 인수 Insu who was there to practice his drumming accompaniment skills (which meant that Eunju was able to move around and teach without drumming). 박용철 Bak Yongcheol had brought another of his troupe people, a huge man, to class. 현석 Hyeonseok was there, too. And I felt guilty I hadn't come earlier, he'd been there waiting since 5:30 without dinner since his family doesn't have the money to spare. I guess I need to feed him every week as well as paying his tuition (to be fair, he doesn't know I do that). We practiced all the way through the monk parts and did lion dance at the end.

March 25th, 2011
On Friday I spent hours with 지수 Jisu again, then rushed home, changed, and went to a meeting of "Pine and Tiger" (a special group for discussion of issues related to tourism/expressing Korean culture to foreigners) which was a bit unsatisfying as Director 엄승용 Eom Seungyong was so late and we just couldn't have the meeting right without him. We did, however, tour the 서울역사박물관 Seoul History Museum. It is devoid of English, but actually has a lot of awesome displays—photos from the late 50s and early 60s, a display of items from daily life, and a great diorama of the city. After touring around we went to dinner, half way through Eom Seungyong finally joined us. The group didn't really jell, although I think I made a great impression on the two Korean members. Karjam and I saw "The King's Speech" in the evening.

Songpa Sunday

March 6th, 2011
I woke up, made 된장찌게 bean paste stew for our breakfast and headed to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli class, again. Aimee, however, went to tour some of Seoul's awesome historic sites.

At Songpa we had class with 강차욱 Gang Cha'uk drumming and professor 이병옥 Yi Byeong-ok leading the movements and then a lecture and dialogue practice session. Yi rehearsed the movements in a different order than 안병인 Ahn Byeong'in but it was an even smoother transition from one movement to another. We practiced looking forward at the mirror first, with Yi in front of us (also facing the mirror). After that we worked in a circle, to do the movements as we continually moved clockwise (or occasionally counter-clockwise). Yi had us all stop, sit down, and taught us more Songpa history. This was really engaging, especially because he'd brought his first book (based on his MA dissertation) and it had photos which he talked to us about at length (through that we learned about the former practice space and how things were run then). He also told us that his wedding was the first traditional wedding ever at Korea House. He had the wedding there when no one was having traditional weddings, and it gave Korea House the idea to start holding traditional weddings. (At present they hold real weddings that are usually open to whatever tourists wander by and they hold reenactments when there are no real marriages to take place, so that there are weddings every Saturday and Sunday during the warm weather months). At Yi's wedding there was a congratulatory performance of three of the scenes from Songpa Sandae Noli, ending with the birth of 취발이 Chuibali's son. At that time Yi was usually Chuibali, but not on that day. It was supposed to make sure that he had a son in his marriage, and he had two, so he called it quite effective (the one of his sons that I know practiced with us on Sunday, too). Because I had practiced Act 3 the previous day, Yi decided we should all do Act 3 again. However we didn't have time to stand up and do it, we only practiced the dialogue while sitting down.

After class we had a really good lunch in Lotte Department Store (we being Yi, Gang, 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk, Yi's son, the student from Ewha and 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon). It was a fun conversation, with awesome people. The Ewha student and I took the subway together. She is in her third year as a 타악 percussion major, interestingly they really have to learn all kinds, not just Korean percussion and with the Korean stuff they are required to be good on all the instruments, not to have a major instrument like the 풍물 pungmul students at KNUA do.

When I got home (still feeling sick) I wanted to take a nap, but the moment I closed my eyes Kim Yeongsuk called me to talk to me about a wide variety of Songpa and arts policy things related to my meeting on Friday with director 엄승용 Eom Seungyong.

Songpa Sandae Noli and Aimee Arrives

March 5th, 2011
I could not get to sleep last night until five in the morning, which was a terrible problem as I had to get up at 6:15 to go meet my friend Aimee, who I first met 12 years or so ago while traveling in Laos. Aimee and I have since met up again all over, but this time she's finally coming to visit Korea. We went back to my place and went to sleep.

Today, being Saturday, was 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli practice and for once I was actually a few minutes early. Unfortunately from the moment I walked in I was in an argument with the most annoying other guy who hangs around Songpa (though I hesitate to call him a group member as his dance is horrid, he's never performed and he irritates most people so much that if he wasn't National Human Treasure 함완식 Ham Wanshik's good friend, he'd have been long gone. Aimee went to go walk around Jamshil and I practiced, today, because the group was having a big meeting, we had better attendance. For class it was annoying man, 어원석 Eo Wonseok and a woman I'd never seen before (she turned out to be a college classmate of 이수환 Yi Suhwan who had practiced way back in the day). After rehearsal when they were talking with her (and learning the afore-mentioned) I heard them telling her very specifically that if she wanted to become a real professional performer, then she should start attending rehearsal regularly. This was significant in that the speakers were positioning themselves as professionals in contrast with the woman's background as the member of a club.

Class was initially taught by 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon and 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk, who drummed while Tahn led the movements. After a few minutes 안병인 Ahn Byeong'in showed up and he drummed so Yeongsuk could dance. It was interesting because for one thing Ahn was insistent that they start to have a regular sequence of moves ("Like 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae") and he had a sequence in mind (which was really just a sequence for practicing the motions one after the other in the same order, not much like Goseong's sequence which would do a motion only once or twice, then return to the same motion several movements later). He talked to Tahn quietly about it and then Tahn led us with Ahn's motion sequence, which was 9 motions and although I cannot write down the order now, by the fifth time through it, I was feeling fairly comfortable and fluid (although others were complaining that we needed a break).

Near the end of practice Ham Wanshik came over (from the office meeting) as did others in the upper echelon of the group (Professor 이병옥 Yi Byeongok, Human Treasure 김학석 Kim Hakseok, 김명하 Kim Myeongha) and they danced with us. Ham then decided that since I'd said I wanted to learn to be one of the dark faced monks that I should really learn to be 먹중 을 Mokjung Eul from the 3rd act (연닢). So we practiced one time with Tahn Jongwon, Ham and Kim Myeongha as the other people in the act, then they all recorded the 대사 daesa for me so that I practice the intonation at home. Pretty cool. I mean, I was surprised to be given a speaking role to practice, but it was fun.

There was more political stuff with the group that I shouldn't write about here.

Aimee and I left and went all over Seoul—we had a meal in 신촌 Shinchon, sought out tourist maps and stuff for Aimee in the 광화문 Gwanghwamun area, and walked to 명동 Myeongdong-- in other words I showed her a lot of Korea. And taught her to read, so she can get around on her own. Yes, phonetically reading Korean is that easy.

Last Day of Rehearsals for Week 2

January 28th, 2011
I felt pretty under the weather, especially in the morning, despite the ginger tea and the vitamin C I've been eating.

I don't know if I should say that I am unlucky today, or to say that I had two very close calls. First in the afternoon practice session for Act 3 (Bibi), 희수 Heesu, in the excitement of the moment, managed to knock over my tripod and video camera (which was on the lowest height possible) (I was using my camera at that moment, but the video was still recording). The tripod broke, one leg completely snapped off--which honestly is crappy construction because Heesu didn't hit it hard. But the tripod cost a tiny fraction of what the video camera, which was completely unscathed, cost. Then less than an hour later, after afternoon practice was mostly done, I was interviewing 이윤석 Yi Yunseok (the Human Treasure, so this is like the MOST important interview here) and my voice recorder batteries died. But I noticed it. I may have lost as much as 15 minutes. But I recorded more than 30 minutes on the new batteries, including going back and trying to ask the first questions in a different way (to the extent possible without taking up too much of Yi's valuable time).



Otherwise, in the morning we had practice which was essentially talking people through Act 2 (Yangban), and then having them actually run through it. There was a huge difference between the KNUA team and the other team, even though many of the performers have changed (most, except 민기 Min'gi is still the key character of 말뚝이 Malddugi (though the other key character of 원양반 Won Yangban was 기영 Giyeong and now it's 정우 Jeong-u). They saw it last week, and they had a very good idea of what to do (and had also, when needed talked about it among themselves). The contrast with the other team was extreme. After lunch the same thing continued, but with more rehearsal of Act 3 and a group run through of both Act 1 and Act 4. The entire day was supervised by 전광열 Jeon Gwangyeol. At the end of the afternoon practice 하현갑 Ha Hyeon'gap performed the monk's dance in clothes but no mask and 대천 Daecheon and 창열 Changyeol ran through Bibi to everyone's delight.





At lunch time I walked to town again, they would have made curry for me without the meat in it, but I've never been a fan of Korean curry mix. I bought a coffee for Min'gi and set it out in the main hall with a note written by the office manager on it, but I think they still figured out it was me. Oh well. I tried. (This is because I drew his name and have to do nice things for him). But because they figured out it was me, I have to do his final day of cleaning while he relaxes (according to the rules, anyway). I also bought a side dish for tomorrow's breakfast, partially because it was good, and partially because of SBS coming back, but then they called and said they're not coming back. I'm actually really relieved. I just don't have the energy. If they were coming back they'd be here during evening rehearsal. Which would make it harder to do interviews and stuff. I interviewed 최영호 Choi Yeongho before the morning class and 경진 Gyeongjin before dinner, then like I said Yi Yunseok, and later I interviewed Daecheon and then 이재훈 Yi Jaehun, who is a 전수교육조교 2nd ranked (below human treasure) member of the group. Sometime during that interview my voice recorder ran out of room, we were talking until midnight, I hope I got most of it.

The evening practice was just more and more run throughs for both groups (except 윤만 Yunman was sick so he couldn't run through his scene and 솔지 Solji from the drama group 북재통 substituted for him. After the last rehearsal I was interviewing but when I finished that I learned we were having a big 뒤풀이 duipuli with everyone there. The KNUA students didn't bring anything (alcohol or food) which was embarrassing, but I wasn't there long, anyway. Shortly after I got there 황종욱 Hwang Jong'uk made an appearance, he sat with me and we talked about how to improve festivals and performance environments, we may (at least he said we would, but let's see if it happens) go to 안동 Andong together and talk to those guys about what needs to change, how to improve the festival. Then Changyeol fetched Hwang and told me to come and meet them at our place, which I did after a few minutes. We drank and every member gave their little wrap up of the experience speech. I went to bed at 2:00 because I had to wake up to make breakfast in the morning.

Back to Seoul and Songpa Sandae Noli

December 11th, 2010
We woke up and packed and left for the bus station without either Jinhong or Georgy waking up. The ride back to Seoul was uneventful. However as soon as we got off the bus it was apparent that the temps in Seoul were well below freezing. When we got to our apartment and turned on the boiler, it said it was 7 degrees Celsius inside! Dang!

I quickly changed and rushed to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli for our last rehearsal of 2010. The KTV guy, contrary to my expectations (but true to his word) came back. We had a full turn out of all the folks at rehearsal, but first 이병옥교수님 Professor Yi Byeong’ok gave us a short lecture on Songpa Sandae Noli. Increasingly as he talked you could see that 함완식 Ham Wanshik (the National Human Treasure and dominant personality, while Yi is the rank below) wanted to butt in, he had things that he thought needed to be explained. Fortunately since he’d set up the agenda after awhile he was able to take center stage, first he began by filling in what he perceived to be needed gaps in Yi’s explanation (principally he talked about how the area changed with the flood in the 1920s and so on). Then he went off, like last week, about how 삼현육각 Samhyeon yuk’gak music includes 가야금 gayageum and what not. After a long explanation he asked the music experts in the room if he was right, at which point one of them was brave enough to try to say he was not, but Ham only partially listened to his opinion. I think this situation was complicated by having the KTV guy filming everything. Bad enough to object to something privately, worse in front of the group, even worse to be caught on camera objecting to what someone has said.

We then had basic exercises with an almost full musical accompaniment, followed by a rehearsal of scene 4, 북놀이 Buk Noli. The scene was rehearsed twice, first with sort of the standard group acting out the parts, then 양흥기 Yang Heunggi and 함승훈 Ham Seunghun played the main roles for a second run through of the main parts of the act. Ham Seunghun needed to hold the 대사집 script book in his hand as he rehearsed. Next they rehearsed 말뚝이놀이 Malddugi’s Scene, but didn’t really switch things up so we could get done and leave (Ham Wanshik had told people we’d be done at 4 but we weren’t and people were starting to get restive).

We all went to a restaurant for dinner, it was just a short walk away and I walked with 서병무 Seo Byeongmu. I really like him when he’s not drunk and trying to speak English to me, when he’s sober his English is not that bad (but he doesn’t speak it to me when he’s sober, only to Karjam). Koreans are often very reticent about their English ability until they get drunk, thinking that their English is better just because they’re not so embarrassed to try to speak. Sad, really, because no one speaks better after they’re drunk than when they’re sober.

I arrived before “my” crowd which was a bit awkward, but after 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk arrived she moved around where everyone was sitting until I ended up with 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon, the videographer (안석재 An Seokjae), and the 해금 haegeum player (윤지희 Yun Jihee), with Kim Yeongsuk, 이연순 Yi Yeonsun, 전경희 Jeon Gyeonghee and 장규식 Jang Gyushik next to us. We toasted the end of the year and to Songpa Sandae Noli’s success in the next year.

Yang Heunggi drove me to 용산 Yongsan since he had the night shift at the hospital.


Photos of rehearsal 1st Tahn Jongwon rehearses Buk Noli, 2nd Ham Seunghun with the script book, 3rd Malddugi (김명하 Kim Myeongha) drives out the yangban (Jang Gyushik is the last in the line of yangban)




At the restaurant:

Drumming with Songpa Sandae Noli

November 27th, 2010
송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli rehearsal starts at 3, I arrived a couple minutes early with a DVD of three recent performances to give them (not excerpts but the entire performances). The rehearsal was small, people are busy and Saturday is a hard time to meet, but also the rehearsal on Friday (I have to remember to ask for regular permission to attend that) was both well attended and resulted in various tension/arguments that may have made some people say “to heck with it” and skip rehearsal today. We practiced the basic motions then 함완식 Ham Wanshik had us all grab 장구 janggu and practice drumming for about twenty-five minutes. I found the style of teaching really hard, but mostly because I am the weakest drummer by far. Also I’ve never tried drumming with my hand hitting the drum head on the left instead of the stick (which is how it’s played for accompanying Songpa Sandae Noli). We practiced two different 장단 jangdan (rhythmic patterns) but when Ham told me to play on my own (and demonstrate that I’d learned it/knew what I was doing/how well I could do) I completely froze up. I was still trying to figure out how to coordinate two different types of hand motion I had never tried before (hitting and damping) with the stroke of the drum stick in my right hand on the other side of the drum. It really frustrated me, not that I was annoyed at Ham, I wasn’t, but just that I still can’t even do such a simple thing. No wonder the group is very picky about who drums and super sensitive about how people drum. I was obviously upset, but I really just needed to spend the whole 25 minutes practicing one jangdan while the others drummed louder drowning out any of my potential mistakes. Since Ham literally went around the circle of drummers after every two-three minutes of practice, most of the time was watching/listening to others drum by themselves and comparatively little was actually drumming ourselves.

After class ended 원석 Wonseok and 승현 Seunghyeon both came to me and told me some various tips, Seunghyeon assured me he could only drum well because when he was young he’d been ordered to practice, screwing up he’d been hit and cried and practiced and been wrong and been hit and cried.

After drumming Wonseok and Seunghyeon rehearsed Act 2 (옴중, 먹중 놀이) for probably the first time they’d ever done it (I also think it was unexpected that they’d be asked to do it) but before class had started Ham was talking to 김명하 Kim Myeongha about how he’d practiced and done the comparatively easy parts (like the 8먹중 who don’t have speak except for group lines) for only a few years and then the old gentlemen that he’d learned from had made him start trying the other roles, because it was hard (Ham emphasized that it already felt hard to him) to dance at the same level as one got older (Ham also listed off how old various now-deceased Songpa players had been when he first began to learn). We practiced the basic motions one more time for the day and then quit.

I wanted to talk to 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk (the office manager) and 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon so I went to the office to wait for them to come back. Ham Wanshik and Kim Myeongha also went there and we discussed the North Korean hostilities (not a vocabulary set I know well in Korean) for a bit until Kim Yeongsuk and Tahn came back to the office. Then Kim Yeongsuk told me to leave but I said no, and stayed for a very frank discussion of group issues that I shall keep off this public record. Suffice to say I have to take down some (all? still not sure about that) of the video scenes I uploaded from Namwon. Some of the performances were not good enough (according to them) and the group is evaluating how to improve.

When the discussion ended and Ham and Kim Myeongha left, I kept talking with my friends (actually in Korean culture they’re older than me so we’re not really friends, but I like them just as much as I like my other friends who –are- the same age as me). After a bit we decided to go watch Social Network. It was better than I’d expected, even sort of suspenseful in parts.

Cell photo: leaves on the street as I walked to the bus stop


November 28th, 2010
Got up early and went hiking on 아차산 Achasan with 이경호 Yi Gyeongho and Aniko. I’ll post photos when I get around to it.

Mom's Birthday

September 11th, 2010
My mom’s birthday. I love my mom!

It was raining all day again. I met an Indonesian guy at the train station, bought a computer off him that Georgy wanted and shipped it by KTX to Daegu (only 6,000 at it got there 3.5 hours later). In case you’re curious, it’s called 당일배송 and the phone number to check out the cost to your destination is 1544-7781.

I arrived at 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli’s office early, with two donuts that I wanted to share with 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk, but there were already people in the office, so I just gave them to her and headed to the practice room. We have performances coming on 10/3, 10/10 (full length performance), 10/17 and 10/31 after the bulk of the troupe gets back from the Shanghai World Expo performances they’re doing at the end of this month. We had warm-ups, then from 3-4 there was rehearsal for the full length performance, and then they switched to Shanghai prep mode. I rehearsed the part of one of the two 소무 Somu, although I’ll not be performing it anytime soon, at least I had an opportunity to rehearse a character, for which I was grateful. We ran through that scene, the 신자수놀이 Play of the Shoe Seller, twice because every time there has to be a new monkey recruited (a child is needed) and the monkey had come to rehearsal and needed to practice. However the person who was going to play the shoe seller, 안병인 An Byeong’in, was not there. Two other people rehearsed it instead, each held the script book, read a line, spoke it and consulted the book again. The monkey seemed a bit hesitant, two different people (first 이병옥 Yi Byeongok the second time 김명하 Kim Myeongha) modeled what he was to do, but he seemed like he was not likely to be the best monkey ever. Not very enthusiastic. 20 people showed up, including 5 musicians. The next scene to rehearse was 말뚜기놀이 Malttugi Noli. When one person would forget a line, the others would give him a cue, but several times during the two run throughs 함완식 Ham Wanshik (the Human Treasure and director of the group) would stop everyone to ask for more intentionality in certain movements which he would model and explain again that the words must be projected from the belly with some volume! Kathy showed up for the last few minutes of rehearsal (she was supposed to get their at ten minutes to start time), and got scolded by Ham for taking photos. After rehearsal while the others were preparing for Shanghai Ham and I sat and went over all of the English for the pamphlets until he was fully satisfied.