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Jeongganbo Notation

Type Object Region Joseon Time 1360

Jeongganbo is a Korean court ritual music notation using grid cells to record pitch and duration with Chinese characters and symbols;…

Timeline

  1. 1360–1370Gyeongseong royal palace · Korean PeninsulaIn the 1360s the Goryeo court inherited Tang-Song ritual music traditions, appointing musicians to teach Tang, native, and ritual music. Musicians notated piece melodies and beats in grid notation, using Chinese characters for pitch names and in-cell symbols for duration, forming a precursor of jeongganbo used to transmit ceremonial music for suburban sacrifices, investitures, and other rites.
  2. c. 1365–1392Gyeongseong · Korean PeninsulaAmid the Yuan-Ming dynastic change, the Goryeo court compiled old scores under the influence of Ming envoys and remnant Yuan forces. Grid notation continued in musicians' oral transmission and manuscripts, was inherited in Joseon's reconstruction of court rites after Yi Seong-gye's founding, and was finally formally compiled into the jeongganbo system by King Sejong's court in the mid-15th century.

Sources