Darha Nopigom

Darha Nopigom is a gayageum piece by Byungki Hwang. This piece consists of 5 movements.

This piece is performed by gayageum, played by Byungki Hwang, accompanied by janggu.

First movement starts with gayageum playing and harmonizes with janggu. Janggu is a double-headed drum on which the musician maintains an ostinato. This movement uses rubato while progressing through changing time signatures. As the piece starts, Gayageum sets the tonic as G. Then Byungki Hwang divides sections into upper and lower tones. Throughout the piece, the Gayageum starts on the tonic and ends on the dominant of a pentatonic.

Second movement has a specific time signature of duplet or 12/8. Its mode is jungjungmori. Jungjungmori is a unique Korean scale, which is commonly used in Korean folk music. And this movement is faster compared to the first movement. Similarly in this movement, at the beginning gayageum starts with low tonic tones but later it continues with high dominant pitches.

Then in the third movement, the time signature changes again to 1/8. Its modes is eonmori. Eonmri is another unique Korean scale, which often can be seen in Korean folk music. In this movement, 2 and 3 beats harmonize together and create a fast 10 beat tempo. The tempo of this movement is faster than the previous one. At first, it starts with lower tones and then descends with even lower tone. After, gayageum plays in high tones. But in the end it finishes with the middle tone.

Next movement does not have a set tempo. The tempo speeds up as the song goes on. The gayageum plays melody by exchanging low and high tones simultaneously. Then it finishes by playing an arpeggio.

Last movement is hwimori. Hwimori is another unique Korean mode, which has the beat of 208~230. The tonic in this movement is G. He plays other notes quickly but simultaneously plays a drone or pedal tone. This movement is major and it contains glissandos, which the movements starts with high tones and goes down. Overall, the Gayageum has the melody throughout the piece and janggu harmonizes with gayageum. And at each movement, gaygageum plays a pedal tone that provides a homophonic texture for the melody.