Korean Music Initiative (MIT-KMI)
Motivation:
Despite a number of Hansori activities and a relatively large ratio of Korean students at MIT, it is an unfortunate fact that Korean culture still is poorly represented, and its resources are limited and rare. In the MIT Lewis Music Library, one can find only two books, three CD's, and two videotapes on traditional Korean music. On the other hand, one can easily locate a more comprehensive collection on Japanese, Chinese, or Indian music at the MIT music library.
As displayed in the following table, a simple subject-word search from the MIT on-line library catalog clearly shows both relative and absolute lack of information on Korean music, whose history and importance parallel the music from other cultures. Certainly, such lack of information and resources on Korean music will also prevent any in-depth study of Asian or world music, not to mention Korean music itself.
| Subject Keyword | Number of Items |
|---|
| Music, Korea | 4 |
| Music, China | 10 |
| Music, Japan | 22 |
| Music, India | 86 |
Goal:
Motivated by the situation, seven members of Hansori have initiated a new project called "MIT Korean Music Initiative (MIT-KMI)." It is our belief that traditional Korean music deserves more recognition and representation at MIT, and through the project, we plan to accomplish a simple goal, which is {\bf to expand the resources on Korean music at MIT.} As described in the following time-line, this project involves a survey of traditional Korean music, purchase and donation of a comprehensive collection of CD's, books, and videotapes to the MIT Lewis Music Library.
Benefit to the MIT Community:
MIT-KMI will bring more balanced and detailed resources on the traditional Korean music to the MIT library system. Thus, by publicly providing an indispensable tool for studying Korean, Asian, and even world music, we believe MIT-KMI will greatly benefit the whole MIT community and contribute to the formation of a more harmonious and culturally-richer environment at MIT.
Time Line
- February - April:
- General Research: We will contact libraries and various organizations in Korea to look for useful sources on Korean music. Korean groups in other colleges may be of great help.
- Specific Research: After studying the sources, we will narrow our selection of CD's, books, and videotapes to certain categories that are appropriate for our purpose.
- April - Summer:
- Purchase: We will purchase CD's, books, and videotapes of our final choice from Korea, most likely, or from large cities in the United States like New York or Los Angeles.
- Donation: The purchased items will be donated to the MIT Lewis Music Library by the end of the summer.
Budget
Traditional Korean Music is divided largely into two: People's Music and Court Music. People's Music is again divided further into five genres: Poongmool/Samulnori, Pansori, Kut/Sinawi, Sanjo, and Minyo. We are planning to purchase a total of about 30 CD's, one sixth of which will be those of Court Music and the rest, those of People's Music. To be more specific, out of 25 CD's on People's Music, four will be those of Poongmool/Samulnori, six will be those of Pansori, six will be those of Kut/Sinawi, six will be those of Sanjo, and the remaining three will be those of Minyo. As for books, 15 will be purchased upon receiving funding, all of which will be books printed in English. Three of them will be books on general, introductory topics, and the rest will provide more specific topics about traditional Korean music, Court and People's alike, to the MIT community. In addition, in our plan is the purchase of two or three videotapes, including Seo-Pyun-Jae, which is the most famous film on traditional Korean music, and Samulnori Performance.
For further information on Hansori or MIT-KMI, please contact us at hansori-request@mit.edu.
Minjoon Kouh(kouh@athena.mit.edu); last updated March 17th, 1997
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