National Gugak Center and National Palace Museum Collaborate on Joint Research of Royal Court Musical Instrument Artifacts

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The National Gugak Center announced on the 13th that it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for academic exchange and joint research cooperation on royal court musical instrument relics with the National Palace Museum of Korea.

Through this agreement, the two institutions plan to establish a mutual cooperation system in related fields such as joint promotion of research projects, exchange of academic, technical, and research information, and consultation. Taking this agreement as an opportunity, the National Gugak Center will conduct joint research with the National Palace Museum of Korea on Pyeonjong and Pyeongyeong, royal court relic musical instruments from the Joseon Dynasty, over four years from 2021 to 2024.

Pyeonjong and Pyeongyeong are representative instruments played in royal court ritual music. Pyeonjong is a set of bronze alloy bells, while Pyeongyeong is a set of L-shaped stone chimes made of Gyeongseok (a type of stone). Most of the existing Pyeonjong and Pyeongyeong relics are held by the National Gugak Center and the National Palace Museum of Korea.

The National Gugak Center plans to conduct original sound research of the relics through acoustic characteristic analysis, while the National Palace Museum of Korea intends to identify the manufacturing materials through scientific component analysis of Pyeonjong and Pyeongyeong. Through this joint research, the two institutions will analyze the manufacturing techniques and acoustics of Pyeonjong and Pyeongyeong from the Joseon Dynasty, and utilize the findings as materials for producing replicas of royal court instruments and restoring the original sounds of royal court music in the future.

Kim Young-woon, Director of the National Gugak Center, stated, “We will continue to strive to preserve, transmit, and develop Gugak while establishing it as a contemporary musical culture,” adding, “We plan to steadily build a close cooperation and joint research system with the National Palace Museum of Korea to enhance the value of royal court music culture.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.