Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Story Singing

5. Acquiring Sori

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . acquiring sori Therearethreemodesofnarrativityinp’ansori:sori,thesinging;aniri,thespeaking; and ch’angcho, the recitative inbetween singingand speaking.This ethnography of p’ansori singing focuses on the point where narrative lyricism converges with the musical poetics of the sori. This chapter explores the essence and aesthetics of sori, the details of the process of acquisition, the developmental schemes of the schools and styles of singing, and the grammar of sori and its tonal application in singing. A singing voice is the culmination of many things: inherent vocal and tonal presence, stylistic “authenticity,” musical deftness, strength, and aesthetic sensibility . It is what the singer is born with and has cultivated. A trained p’ansori voice is typically husky, resonating with ki(strength) and subtle expressiveness simultaneously . Bel canto (Italian, “beautiful singing”) in comparison is characterized by tonal beauty, pure line, and clarity of enunciation,1 using abdominal respiration with a de¶ated diaphragm that in turn presses on the internal organs.2 P’ansori is characterized by its own tonal aesthetics; it is said to resonate in the lower abdomen but with a different manner of respiration, resonation, projection, articulation , and aesthetic orientation. What is considered proper in bel canto is avoided in p’ansori: the pure line position of the larynx, diaphragmatic contraction, and abdominal pressure. Generally, the voice, departing the larynx, becomes ampli ¤ed as it passes through the pharynx. In Western operatic singing, tonal depth is enhanced by the mechanical function of the larynx and the alteration of the shapeof theresonator termed“covering,”bythesensationofadditionalspaciousness in the pharynx, and by a high velum, a low tongue, and a lowered larynx.3 While it is undesirable in Western opera to have the vocal folds “adducted or approximated prior to phonation,”4 p’ansori uses the increased pressure on the larynxresultingfrom notloweringit,5 anditismostlythelarynxthatampli¤esand resonates,creatingpharyngealtensionthatcharacterizesthevoiceashard-pressed and husky. The preference for the hard-pressed or attacked voice reveals an elementofp ’ansori’saestheticsthatprizesperseveranceratherthanease,parallelwith . . . . . . 158 : Ethnography of a Voice musicians’ belief that the paulownia grown in harsh soilis diminutiveand gnarled but makes better zithers. Who are the learners of p’ansori today? In traditional Korean society, p’ansori alongwiththeotherfolkperformingartswas practicedamongsocialoutcasts,exclusivelysharedthroughkinshipamong “insiders.”Evenintoday’slesshierarchic society, stigmatization persists despite political protection, intellectual inquiry, and cultural education. With increased academic and amateur channels for learning about p’ansori, learners have become diverse, including intermediate and high school students bound for p’ansori majors in college, extracurricular p’ansori clubs, motivated housewives, senior citizens, working professionals, and folklorists. Only the future will tell how these learners and researchers will help shape its performative identity. Aseriousquestionforprospectivelearnersiswhosevoicetoemulate.Thevoice not only re¶ects but also shapes one’s character. “The voice,” my own teacher would stress, “should be ableto exude songmôt[inner taste] rather than arti¤cial colorfulness .”Twofactorsarekey:personalpreferenceandpublicrecognition.Withthe politicalrecognitionoftheartasa“NationalIntangibleAsset,”thequestionof“which lineage” or “whose cheja” (disciple) has a lasting impact on the future of ambitious learners. Serious learners are also aware that “a habit acquired at three persists until eighty,” as the Korean adage goes, and once processed internally, the “voice” is not easily undone. Unlike in the past when p’ansori was the exclusive property of “insiders ,” prospective learners today have broader choices in “adopting” their vocal “parents ,”alreadypublicizedviacassettetapes,CDs,andthescreenaswellasthestage. Theadventofwriting,printing,andrecordingtechnologiesandmassmediahas shifted the pattern of transmission from traditional apprenticeship to “lessons.” The long years of vocal “polishing” in solitary con¤nement are truncated to a monthlong summer camp in leased quarters in a temple or villa; a month in the countrywiththemasterteacheristhemodernversionoftheoldapprentice-master intimacy. Týgým (attainment of the voice) continues to be a process that “takes a lifetime and more,” as the elders put it, and the typical process of “receiving” (sori patki)and“polishing”(soritakki),frommyobservationandexperience,entailsthe steps outlined below.· · · Receiving and Polishing · · · preparing the learner’s text The teacher dictates each day a few lines as they should sound in plain recitation without music, and the learner enters them into his or her narrative “savings . . . . . . Acquiring Sori : 159 book.” Tormented by oral transgression against the “standard rules of Korean orthography” during dictation, I would often ask my teacher to clarify the spelling . Coming from a literacy-based culture, I had little tolerance for orality’s autonomy . I had dif¤culty accepting that in oral tradition words are sounds and that orthographic and grammatical rules are subordinate to oral/aural harmony . In descriptive linguistics, points of articulation are located between two dimensions: vertically high...