Fulbright Forum
7:00 P.M. on Friday, April 30th, 2010
R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
The Korean-American Educational Commission warmly welcomes you to our second Fulbright Forum of the 2009-2010 program year with Fulbright Senior Scholar Dr. Soojin Kim Ritterling.
“Korean Traditional Percussion Music Performances in Contemporary Korean Society”
Open to all, the Fulbright Forum serves as a periodic gathering for the Fulbright Family at large, including past and present grantees and friends of Fulbright. Please reply to Emily Kim Goldsmith (executive.assistant@fulbright.or.kr) by Tuesday, April 27th if you will attend. Regrets need not reply. This month's Forum will be held at 7:00 PM sharp on Friday, April 30th in the 6th floor conference room at the KAEC Building in Mapo-gu, Seoul, with a reception to follow in the 3rd floor administrative offices. Please visit the KAEC website for maps and directions (http://www.fulbright.or.kr/en/kaec/map.php).
To respect both the audience and presenters, late arrivals will not be allowed to enter after 7:05 PM.
Summary
Korean folklorists trace the origin of Korean percussion music performance, Gut (spiritual invocation) to the time of the Tribal Leagues (B.C. 1st Century) as people of Buyeo, Dongye, Goguryeo and Samhan gathered and performed agrarian celebrations as described in detail by the Chinese historian, Chenshou (233-297) in the Records of Three Kingdoms. These harvest rituals by tribes' singing, dancing and performing instruments are considered very similar to the Pungmul gut performance, which was very common during the late Joseon Dynasty after the rice transplantation method had been introduced in Korea. Pungmul gut, also called nongak, maegu, or gut, is music and dance performed with instruments such as kkwaenggwari, janggu, jing, and buk for traditional rituals, communal labor, mass entertainment, fund-raising, and military procession.
Through time, the Pungmul gut has evolved in Korean society reflecting political changes and modernization resulting in the birth of a new musical genre, called Samulnori in 1978. During its thirty years of short history, Samulnori, rooted in the Korean traditional Pungmul gut, has established a new direction for Korean percussion music performance. In this presentation, the presenter examines Pungmul gut as it appears in contemporary society focusing on Korean communities, schools, public performance venues, and musical instructors who are passing on the new and old traditions.
Featured Performing Group:
Members of Pungmul Dongari from Gaebong Elementary School, Seoul
Gyeong-ok Lee, Director
Ji-hyeon An, Assistant Director
Sang-in Song, Coach
Biography
Dr. Soojin Kim Ritterling is an Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she teaches general music methods classes in music education and supervises field experience. An applied vocal instructor, she also directs the UW-L Korean Percussion Ensemble and Women’s Samulnori Ensemble.
Prior to joining the faculty at UW-L, Dr. Ritterling taught Music Play programs (for children from birth to age four) at the University of Southern Mississippi. She earned her BM and MM in music education from the Korea National University of Education and her Ph.D. in music education from the University of Southern Mississippi. Her dissertation investigated the influence of sequential movement activities on young students’ singing abilities.
She is a contributing author for the Korean music units in the Spotlight on Music textbook series by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill. Dr. Ritterling has written articles on music and movement development in preschool and elementary levels and multicultural music education as a columnist for the Wisconsin Music Teacher. Her professional affiliations include MENC: The National Association for Music Education, Wisconsin Music Educators Association, College Music Society, The Gordon Institute for Music Learning, and National Association of Teachers of Singing.
