Arirang

Arirang audio arrangement track

The pentatonicity of the Arirang melody lends such a plaintive air to the piece and I wanted to showcase a few Korean traditional instruments in my arrangement.

Firstly, the song being set to a pentatonic scale suited an Orff ensemble arrangement so well… I had initially wanted to simply notate the melody and have a bass drone as accompaniment. However, I felt that this would have done a disservice to the beautiful harmonies of this piece, and I’m so glad I finally decided to use the I-vi-IV-V (etc.) bass progressions instead.

Some of the audio FX the poor samples were put through

As you will have noticed, for this project the original instrument samples used were not of Korean instruments. I modified from the limited samples I had, and used a combination of filters and other plug-ins to tweak the timbres to match as closely as I could the authentic sounds of Korean instruments I had researched. For example, I used an erhu sample, adjusted the EQ and reverb settings to achieve the ‘scratchier’ and more delicate timbre of the haegeum. This isn’t ideal, of course, and I hope to purchase a wider variety of instrument samples in future for more authentic-sounding arrangements, especially when it comes to ethnic music.

I love working with strings in my arrangements, and it is a special combination of hair-pulling frustration and immense satisfaction I experience during this whole process of getting the strings section to produce the exact effect I want. For me, strings are the most fickle sounds and it takes a precise touch to coax them into the shape that you would like them to take. It’s a skill that I’m still struggling with, but once in a while due to sheer luck and a lot of effort, I make it work. Again, I try to learn from each project I undertake, and improve with every new arrangement I create.

I hope this video brings its viewers a little closer to experiencing Korea’s culture through its music.