가야금 (Gayageum)

The Gayageum is a Korean zither-like string instrument, made of 12 strings and paulownia wood. After seeing a guzheng, an old Chinese instrument, King Gasil, of the Gaya confederacy, is said to have made the gayageum around the 6th century.  King Gasil ordered Wu Ruk, a musician, to compose music that could be played by this new instrument. The Gayageum was associated with court music, chamber music, and lyric music. On the soundboard, which is the bottom long board, the Anjok (the bridges) are used to adjust for tuning. It is amazing to see how the Chinese influenced this traditional instrument, which is only a small part of traditional Korean history. Although it looks like a simple instrument, it is amazing how different finger movements can change the way music is made from this instrument. With your left hand, you press the strings and use various finger movements, like shaking, bending, and vibrating the strings. With the right hand, you either pluck or stomp the strings. Even the words for these different finger movements shows how different the sound would be. The modern version of this traditional instrument has more strings.