Scan 74
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1low segment of bamboo, the end of which is covered with parchment. Long keys project from the other end of the stem and the instrument is played by using a bow.
3To this list of instruments may be added another of the style of the Japanese koto, being a long piece of timber, four to six feet in length, more or less elaborately ornamented and provided with six strings arranged on nineteen frets variously disposed. This is laid on the floor and played with a plectrum. An instrument similar to the zither is also in common use.
5The so-called military music is rendered by a band with a different set of instruments from those above described. In this case there will be four to six short horns having a flaring base, a sort of trombone, a couple of drums and one or more pairs of cymbals. This "military" music is somewhat noisy and rasping when heard close at hand, but heard at a distance it is decidedly pleasing, having somewhat the effect of Scotch bagpipes.
7In former times, a pretty custom prevailed in Korea. The state of the country, peaceful or otherwise, would be signaled in from the borders to the palace, by means of fires built at evening by watchmen stationed on convenient mountain peaks. These fires would be seen by the watchman stationed on the evergreen-clad mountain facing the palace at Seoul on the south, and he would light the requisite number of fires on his little altars in full view of the watchers at the palace; then three old, gray-bearded men would enter the royal presence and, bowing to the ground before their king, they would announce the message of the fires. The great bronze bell in the center of the city then would toll for the evening closing of the massive city gates, which closing would be attended by the bagpipe-like music of the military band stationed at the yamen of the governor of the city. After the gates were shut to the accompaniment of this weird music, the men-folks were obliged to stay at home, only officials and their servants being allowed on the streets, which were given up to the women until the opening of the gates with the recurring dawn.
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