Korea and the Western Drumset: Scattering Rhythms

Simon Barker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780367599379
• eBook ISBN: 9781351923866
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Ethnomusicology

For over a century, drummers have been turning to a variety of percussive traditions as prompts for the creation of new expressive possibilities on the drumset. In this book, Simon Barker sets out in detail the developmental processes he has followed creating an improvisational language for the drumset utilizing Korean rhythm/sticking cells, aesthetic conceptions, improvisatory codes, and developmental procedures. Barker offers historical overviews of Korean traditional rhythmic forms, analysis of rhythmic structures appearing in a variety of styles, an analysis and chronological account of his development of a 'Koreanized' approach to the drumset, a methodology for performing p'ansori accompaniment on the drumset, an introduction to Korean extended techniques, and a large collection of drumset studies based on Korean traditional forms such as tasÅ­rÅ­m, ch'ilch'ae, and ritual music structures from Korea's East Coast. Barker also explores physical practices employed by Korean musicians which aid in the development of a relaxed, dynamic approach to performance. He creates a framework for creating an alternative approach to drumset education and performance through an engagement with Korea's extraordinary rhythmic and aesthetic traditions. The volume includes accompanying downloadable resources featuring recordings of developmental exercises, solo drumset improvisations, and ensemble performances, each track representing a subject of discussion within the volume.

Chapter 1
Two Streams

Introduction

In 1998 I began researching the possibilities of applying Korean rhythmic forms to the Western drumset in order to develop an improvisational language applicable to contemporary musical procedures. This ongoing project emerged in response to several musical and personal questions arising during professional activities as a performer and educator of contemporary jazz/improvised music.

As an aspiring musician in the early 1990s I was fortunate to be involved with a community of improvisers dedicated to exploring a range of conceptual approaches to group improvisation and rhythmic organization. In my practice over the subsequent two decades, two primary streams of musical activity have emerged which may be summarized as:

• Stream 1: Improvisational practices relating to pre-conceived rhythmic conceptions, frameworks or organizational principles as found in the music of Mark Simmonds (The Freeboppers) and Scott Tinkler (Scott Tinkler Trio, Drub, Scott Tinkler/Simon Barker).
• Stream 2: Improvisational practices relating to spontaneous rhythmic interactions with no reference to pre-determined rhythmic frameworks but grounded in firm aesthetic principles as seen in the music of Phil Slater (Phil Slater Qt, Bo5N), Matt McMahon (Bo5n, Matt McMahon Trio) and Showa 44 (Carl Dewhurst and Simon Barker).

The collection of ensembles presented in Stream 1 and 2 represent several ongoing musical relationships that have provided the primary motivation for my research into Korean rhythmic traditions. Throughout the last 15 years the combination of evolving improvisational frameworks, rhythmic conceptions, and approaches to ensemble interaction have provided the impetus for the development of an alternative drumset vocabulary that may be manipulated to realize the various conceptual and aesthetic goals of my musical community.

A useful analogy for conveying the broader concept of this research can be seen in recent news that the Indonesian ethnic minority living in the city of Bauer and Bauer, located in Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, has chosen the Korean script hangŭl as the official alphabet to transcribe its aboriginal language.¹ In essence, the ethnic minority utilizes Korean expressive tools as a means of self-expression removed from the Korean origins of the script. In a similar manner, the research contained in this volume represents an attempt to develop a musical idiolect through the use of expressive tools found in Korean traditional music.

Chapter 1 of this volume features an overview of previous research in this field, an introduction to the history of the drumset, and a detailed examination of the musical, aesthetic, and personal motivations for embarking on this research.

Analysis appearing in Chapter 2 is centered on a SamulNori performance of the motif ch’ilch’ae, a developmental exercise transmitted to me by changgo teacher Kang Sun Il, and tokkaeki variants appearing in Kolmaegi kut, as performed by a family of ritual musicians from Korea’s East Coast. Chapter 2 also includes an interpretation of developmental procedures appearing in the music of SamulNori and reveals organizational codes appearing in East Coast ritual music.

Chapters 3 and 4 feature a detailed analysis of developmental processes I have followed in order to create a Koreanized approach to the drumset including an alternative approach to “creative coordination” greatly inspired by rhythmic processes occurring in the music of SamulNori. Chapter 3 also features analysis of several drumset performances from both solo and ensemble contexts, which display a variety of techniques, rhythmic models and developmental procedures found in Korean music, whilst Chapter 4 concludes with an analysis of my solo performances based on rhythmic material appearing in East Coast ritual music.

In addition to a range of drumset studies included in Appendix I, a series of activities for students of the drumset can be found throughout the text (each designed to offer students an introduction to practical applications of research outcomes detailed in this volume). Activities appearing in this book are presented as boxed tutorials and represent literal “how to” sections for students of the drumset. Video demonstrations of all activities appearing in this book can be found on the accompanying DVD. The DVD also features several solo drumset performances containing rhythmic forms and extended techniques discussed in the text.

This volume also includes an accompanying CD featuring recordings of developmental exercises, solo drumset improvisations, and ensemble performances, each track representing a subject of discussion within the volume. The symbol

(followed by a track number) indicates that an example can be found on the accompanying CD.

It is my hope that research outcomes detailed in this book will benefit students of the drumset by offering a methodology for engaging with non-Western rhythmic traditions as a means to developing new approaches to the drumset. The study also contains several new drumset techniques and creative coordination concepts that offer students alternative approaches to performing and organizing rhythmic material. Furthermore, my analysis of developmental procedures occurring in Korean traditional music may provide a conceptual framework for musicians looking for alternative approaches to developing rhythmic material in both ensemble and solo contexts.

Research outcomes associated with my analysis of Korean rhythmic forms may benefit students of Asian music traditions and may offer students of Korean percussion an insight into aesthetic, developmental, and improvisatory codes appearing in Korean music. It is my hope that this study will complement existing research on the subject of Korea’s rhythmic traditions and that it will provide assistance for further research efforts into Korean drumming vocabularies and improvisational practices.

Within this volume I use the McCune-Reischauer Romanization system for Korean terms as outlined by the Korean Ministry of Education in 1988.

Previous Research

To my knowledge this is the first study into the possibilities of employing Korean rhythmic resources on the drumset as a means of developing an improvisational language. This research also represents a preliminary analysis of changgo rhythm/sticking variants appearing in the music of SamulNori and ritual musicians from Korea’s East Coast.

Over the last 50 years, a huge number of non-academic publications offering drumset adaptations of non-Western rhythms have appeared. The student of the drumset is now expected to have a basic understanding of a range of rhythmic traditions ranging from Cuban clavé and Afro-Cuban rhythms, Brazilian bossa nova and samba, to reggae, afro-beat and beyond. The last decade has seen a great number of jazz drummers embracing rhythmic traditions from the Balkans and Indian sub-continent, while non-Western performers around the world are adapting their traditional rhythmic forms to the drumset at an unprecedented rate. Examples of literature include African Rhythms and Independence for the Drumset: A Guidebook for Applying Rhythms from North, Central and West Africa to Drumset (Samba/Thress 2008); Afro-Cuban Rhythms for the Drumset (Malabe/Weiner 1994); The Essence of Brazillian Percussion and Drumset (Uribe 1994); and West African Rhythms for Drumset (Hartigan 1995).

This study offers a methodology for engaging with a non-Western rhythmic tradition by presenting an analysis of Korean rhythmic models and musical procedures coupled with analysis of my own adaptive processes as they appear on recorded performances.

I am greatly indebted to Keith Howard for his exhaustive research into various forms of Korean arts practice. Analysis found in “Why Do It That Way? Rhythmic Models and Motifs in Korean Percussion Bands” (1991–92) has provided an ongoing conceptual framework for this project since my first encounters with Korean music in 1997. Howard’s extensive work establishes a framework for analysis of cellular components appearing within Korean rhythmic structures, and offers a means for the identification and classification of larger rhythmic forms. Howard’s methods of identifying karak variants appearing in ritual music from Korea’s Chindo Island have guided my development of a series of descriptive parameters representing changgo rhythm/sticking variants appearing in the music of SamulNori and East Coast ritual music.

Howard supervised the Ph.D. research of Simon Mills (2003, 2007), whose vital work explores all facets of East Coast ritual performance and has been a crucial resource for this project. Mills’s identification of inter-generational differences between playing styles of East Coast ritual musicians highlights the pliable nature of East Coast rhythmic models and presents a framework for further study into the role of improvisation in East Coast ritual music.

A primary focus of my research has been the development of an approach to the Western drumset that represents a response to Korean aesthetic, vocabulaic, and physical practices relating to music performance. During periods of changgo study in Korea with educator Kang Sun Il, many lessons were spent in preparation for performance with breathing and movement exercises relating to certain rhythmic patterns and the development of a broad tone. In Nathan Hesselink’s “Kim Inu’s “P’ungmulgut’ and Communal Spirit” (1999–2000), we find a translation of Kim Inu’s “P’ungmulgut” and Community Spirit,” in which Kim emphasizes that a vital component of p’ungmul performance is an understanding of the relationship between musical performance and dance.

According to Kim Inu:

“Pungmulgut is played with your heel!” are words spoken by many a famous soe (small hand-held gong) player. No matter how well the rhythms are produced, it is dance which produces them—if this gesture of labor [dance] is unable to create enthusiasm (shinmyong), it is considered dead p’ungmulgut or “malttukkut” [literally, “post [or stake] performance”], regarded as lacking power or ability. (Hesselink 1999-2000: 105)

Hesselink’s work also features an acknowledgement of Korean conceptions of rhythmic tension and release, described by Kim Inu as “weaving in and out.” Such examples of Korean conceptions of rhythmic tension and release along with ideas relating to the physicality of performing rhythmic forms provide the framework for a further enquiry featured in this volume.

Turning to material focused on the Western drumset, Theodore Dennis Brown’s extensive study (1976) represents the most in-depth analysis to date of the development and subsequent evolution of the drumset from its origins in the late nineteenth century through to 1940. In his study, Brown emphasizes the role of invention in shaping jazz drumming as evidenced by musical developments resulting from the appearance of the bass-drum pedal and high hat pedal. Brown also notes the culturally diverse origins of the drumset, which in early years included Chinese woodblocks, cymbals, and tom toms (which drummers preferred over European tunable tom toms due to appealing decorative paintings), and African cowbells.

Brown’s acknowledgment of evolving perceptions of the drummer’s role within a jazz ensemble in response to musical developments provides a framework for establishing motivations for new approaches to the drumset as developed by drummers such as Joe Jones and Kenny Clarke.

Royal Hartigan’s exhaustive research into the possibilities of adapting African, Indian, and Javanese rhythmic structures to the African-American drumset has greatly influenced this study. In Blood Drum Spirit: Drum Languages of WestAfrica, African-America, Native America, Central Java, and South India (1986), Hartigan documents the processes and results of a series of musical exchanges between himself, African Master drummer Freeman Donkor, and African-American jazz musician Edward Blackwell. Hartigan describes Edward Blackwell’s performance style as representing the Africanization of the drumset, a term which I have adapted for describing this research.

Hartigan offers an extensive overview of contemporary drumset practices highlighting recent developments including new approaches to coordinated independence, odd and even rhythmic groupings, and the use of non-Western rhythmic traditions as a source of improvisational material for contemporary drumset performers.

A further study exploring Ed Blackwell’s drumming style by David Schmalenberger explores relationships between Blackwell’s early development in New Orleans and his subsequent African influenced performance style emerging in later years. In Stylistic Evolution of Jazz Drummer Ed Blackwell: The Cultural Intersection of New Orleans and West Africa (2000), Schmalenberger notes that although Blackwell was deeply influenced by his experiences performing and travelling through Africa, the bulk of his drumset vocabulary was established through early experiences drumming and studying in New Orleans and via the influence of renowned jazz drummer Max Roach.

This study also owes much to the work of Anthony Brown whose analysis of jazz drumming developments from 1940 to 1959 offers many anecdotal insights into the revolutionary musical concepts developed by drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach (1997). Brown’s research is focused primarily on historical perspective and features a limited analysis of several recorded performances.

The Drumset Since 1890

The following overview of the history of the jazz drumset owes much to the extensive work of Theodore Dennis Brown whose History and Analysis of Jazz Drumming to 1942 (1976) provides the most comprehensive research of the early development of the instrument to date. This section also draws on the work of Anthony L. Brown whose research into the developments of BeBop drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach follows on from T.D. Brown’s work and provides a much needed addition to the subject of developments in drumset artistry. To date, there is a paucity of research on the subject of jazz drumming that goes beyond historical anecdote. However, the exhaustive work of Royal ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Music Examples
• List of Activities
• CD Contents
• Acknowledgments
• DVD Contents
• 1 Two Streams
• 2 Archetype and Form
• 3 Scattering Rhythms
• 4 Five Companions
• Conclusion
• Appendix I: Musical Notation and Drumset Studies
• Appendix II: CD Notes
• Appendix III: DVD Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Discography
• Index