Pyeonjong
Encyclopedia
The pyeonjong is an ancient Korean musical instrument
consisting of a set of 16 bronze
bells, played melodically. The bells are hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the stone chimes called pyeongyeong
, they were an important instrument in Korea's ritual and court music going back to ancient times.
Although all the bells have the same shape they vary in pitch according to thickness; the thinner bells are lower in pitch and the thicker bells produce higher pitches.
Several sets of Chinese bianzhong
were imported to the Korea
n court from China during the Song Dynasty
. The instrument is still used in Korean court music.
Traditional Korean musical instruments
Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.-String:Korean string instruments include those that are plucked, bowed, and struck...
consisting of a set of 16 bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
bells, played melodically. The bells are hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the stone chimes called pyeongyeong
Pyeongyeong
A pyeongyeong is a traditional Korean percussion instrument, a kind of stone chime or lithophone formed of sixteen L-shaped stone slabs suspended from a frame...
, they were an important instrument in Korea's ritual and court music going back to ancient times.
Although all the bells have the same shape they vary in pitch according to thickness; the thinner bells are lower in pitch and the thicker bells produce higher pitches.
Several sets of Chinese bianzhong
Bianzhong
Bianzhong is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. These sets of chime bells were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some of these bells have been dated at between 2,000 to 3,600 years old. They were hung in a wooden frame and...
were imported to the Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n court from China during the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
. The instrument is still used in Korean court music.