Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/415

 dancing-girls, and they cultivate music merely to enhance their meretricious charms. These people have never conceived of music as a great moral force; it has always been counted as merely an instrument of sensual pleasure, and as such has been classed with dancing, drinking and debauchery. It is for this reason that common music is denominated chap-doen sorai, " low down noise," by respectable people, and only one song in ten could with decency be published.

These people have a sort of musical notation which differs radically from ours. It has no staff and no notes, but simply a string of Chinese characters which indicate in some occult manner the various cadences. If we were to attempt a comparison with the Western method, we might say that it is like reducing the tune " Yankee Doodle " to the form do do re mi do mi re si do do re mi do si sol, etc.

We must not forget the Korean labour songs, which form, to the Western ear, the most charming portion of Korean music. The peculiar and elusive rhythm of these songs is quite unique in its way. It captures the ear, and you find yourself humming it over to yourself ad nauseam. It is a curious psychological study. Throughout the East there is a lack of the personal element. Individuality is adumbrated, and men count themselves not so much integral factors of society as mere fractions of a social whole. The unit of society is not the individual nor even the family, but it is the clan, the company, the crowd. Thus in their work they band together and accomplish tasks by the multiplication of muscle. This necessitates a rhythmic motion, in order that force may be applied at the same instant by every arm. Each band of ten or twelve workers has its leader, whose only duty is to conduct the chorus. He stands at one side and chants a strain of four syllables, and immediately the men take it up and repeat it after him. No work is done while he is singing, but as the men take up the chant they all heave together. It seems a great waste of time, but it would be very difficult to get Koreans to do certain forms of work in any