Infrastructure for the Conservation of Music History
Music Museum of Keimyung University
A Specialized Music Museum for the Conservation of Music History
At the Music Museum of Keimyung University, one can find a variety of articles ranging from Eastern and Western musical instruments, to sounders, records, and books. Since its inception in 2000, it has functioned as a hub of academic research on music by collecting and preserving historical materials and records on Daegu music. On display are more than approximately 200 Eastern and Western instruments (geomungo, ajaeng, clarinet, bassoon, etc.), sounders (gramophones and recorders), and about 500 old books. In particular, there is a cembalo (harpsichord), a popular keyboard instrument before the advent of the piano. The museum serves as an excellent repository of music history.
Special eye-catchers are, among others, gramophones and records from the 1880s and geomungo and gayageum, traditional Korean stringed instruments, which were made 150 years ago. Visitors can appreciate the sound of the musical instruments and sounders if they want.
Gramophone Museum of Hanyoung Art Center
Traveling Back 100 Years Ago through the Gramophone
The Gramophone Museum of Hanyoung Art Center, established in 2005, is well known as a place where one can learn stories related to the history of sound. It houses approximately 100 gramophones, 20 music boxes, and 7,000 SP records. Its major collections include rollers which were in use before Edison’s invention of a gramophone, cylinder music boxes, and phonographs of Edison’s time which used to be called “talking machines.” Listening to old songs played from an antique music box, one feels as if traveling back 100 years ago.
Nokhyang, Korea’s First Classical Music Hall
Artists’ Beloved Place during the Korea War
Korea’s first classical music hall, Nokhyang, opened in Daegu in 1946 and was the cradle for many outstanding works of artists. Its founder, the late Yi Chang-su, named the hall “Nokhyang” (綠香), wishing that the fragrance of music would abound like lush greens. Poets, artists, and music lovers came to the place to find solace in classical music from the weariness of the wartime period. As numerous artists and writers frequented the place, many music groups were created here. Also, to music students, it functioned as a classroom by facilitating exchange with career artists.
- The late Yi Chang-su, founder of Nokhyang
