Abstract

This research project examines the role played by improvisation in American jazz and Korean traditional folk songs, examining the structural and expressive parallels between Sanjo, Sinawi, bebop and blues-inflected jazz. 

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Central to Korean traditional music, Sanjo and Sinawi balance structured rhythmic cycles with spontaneous self-expression. Sinawi draws from Korean shamanic ritual and is known for collective improvisation, where several instruments engage in extemporaneous musical conversation inside a recurring rhythmic framework (jangdan). Sanjo is a unique form of solo performance developed on the back of this fusion-style sound – weaving together traditional rhythmic and melodic foundations with the individual attributes of the performer. My research evaluates how Sinawi and jazz evolved parallel philosophies regarding musical modalities, despise emerging from different geographical and cultural worlds. 

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Both traditions highlight a performer’s ability to improvise within a system: jazz musicians operate with chord progressions and swing rhythms; Sanjo performers create new and altered versions of certain melodies using the rhythmic structures of jinyangjo, jungmori and hwimori. The relationships between performers is of utmost importance in both traditions. The interdependence between soloist and rhythm section in jazz matches that between the instrumentalist and percussionist in Sanjo, where musical tension, release, and conversation transpire in real time. 

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Methodologically, the project combines historical and musical analysis with creative synthesis. Based on extensive experience in jazz drumming practices and Korean percussion performance, the researcher has contributed five original pieces that combine jazz harmony, rhythm and improvisational structure with the tonal and rhythmic patterns of Korean traditional folk music. Interweaving janggu and kkwaenggwari instruments with standard jazz instrumentation, the sonic and the cultural compatibility of both styles are represented. 

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Through the communal acts of listening, responding, and composing, this project seeks to elucidate improvisation as a universal musical language – an art form that transcends geographical and cultural borders.