GAYAGEUM BYEONGCHANG

Byeongchang is a vocal genre in which the singers accompany themselves on their instruments such as gayageum, geomungo and haegeum (except, of course, the wind instruments). The majority of the byeongchang repertoires are for gayageyum, so generally byeongchang refers to gayageum byeongchang. Song repertoire for the byeongchang usually comes from among the areas of pansori, danga (vocal warmup songs used before pansori) and folk songs. A perfect balance between the vocal lines and the instrumental sonority are required to deliver an effective performance. Thus, it is considered to be one of the most artistic genres requiring a performer’s mastery of both singing and playing.