The Art of Korean Drumming

Korean drums play an important part in traditional Korean music, ranging from folk music to royal court music. There are a wide variety of shapes and sizes, for use both in accompanying other instruments and in special drumming performances.

In the traditional Korean classification of instruments, drums are grouped with the hyeokbu (혁부, 革部), or instruments made with leather. A notable class of these leather drums are Korean barrel drums.

During the Joseon period, many types of drums were used for royal court music, including the janggu, jwago, yonggo, gyobanggo, jingo, jeolgo, nogo, and others. Among these, the janggu was also used for folk music and later became the most commonly used drum used in Korean music.