Regarding tanso...
"Players of the old tanso are renowned for their ornamentation of melodies,
with a catalogue of complex pre-tone and after-tone decorations. Less
vibrato was possible than on the taegum (a horizontal flute, around 80-85
cm, made of a length of yellow bamboo with prominent nodes), a function of
the limited potential for lip movement on the small mouthpiece (as Peter
pointed out).....The 40 cm long tanso is related to the larger, 60-65 cm
t'ungso. The latter, also known as the t'ongso or t'ungae, once played in
the orchestra at the Rite to Royal Ancestors, had six finger holes. Akhak
kwebom attributed to it a range of just over two octaves, but rural t'ungso
lack any standard form." "Texts state that King Sunjo (r. 1801-34)
imported the tanso to Korea (alas, no million year history) While some
scholars
suggest that these texts document its first appearance on the peninsula,
all we should conclude is that the instrument had not been used in court
ensembles before this time"...as compared with the shakuhachi, as has been
pointed out, both instruments share a common layout of four anterior finger
holes and a posterior thumb hole....also "the base of both instruments
flares out, since it is cut from the root bulb. Old jade examples have
been discovered and today plastic seems unfortunately to be gaining
popularity (like PCV pipe with shakuhachi?)" - from Korean Musical
Instruments by Keith Howard, pp. 46-48, OUP 1995.
Some years ago I picked up a taegum in South Korea ...quite an interesting
instrument, a horizontal flute with a mirliton (tissue cut from bamboo or
reed creates a buzzing effect) but perhaps is more of a spiritual analogue
to the shakuhachi...also with a very long history...in legend attributed to
King Shinmun (r. 681-92) ...who was instructed by a dragon to cut a flute
from bamboo on a mountain peak in order to protect his realm...."A flute
was made from the bamboo and, whenever this was played, enemies retreated,
illnesses were cured, rain came after drought, and the sea remained calm"
(p. 43, Korean Musical Instruments).
Cheers,
Dan Ribble
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