Beompae : Korean Buddhist chant and its adaptability in contemporary practice

This dissertation investigates Korean Buddhist chant, collectively known as beompae, and its practice in contemporary Korean society. My particular focus is on its adaptability, which enables the ecological sustainability of this oral tradition. By examining the historical evidence, I show that the practice has endured long years of turmoil while overcoming various challenges and conflicts. Its contemporary manifestation is investigated through Sasipgujae, a funeral ritual held after forty-nine days of passing, for which beompae songs are primarily used. By scrutinizing various aspects of the performance, I demonstrate how it is currently undergoing a multitude of progressive developments to adapt to the contemporary challenges pertinent to many traditional practices. Considering various issues of transcribing beompae’s melismatic melodies, I devised a hybrid notational system that includes more detailed information than using staff notation alone. This system adopts digitally generated line notation, producing an intuitive representation of melismatic beompae melodies that conforms to the pedagogical practice of beompae practitioners who often implement hand-drawn lines to aid in their memory. This project, therefore, serves as an adaptational effort to develop an advantageous representation that could contribute to the practice’s ecological sustainability. Possible benefits of the hybrid notation include: 1) promoting better communication between practitioners and scholars, 2) becoming a useful pedagogical tool, and 3) encouraging comparative studies with other Buddhist chant traditions. As an example of its application, this system is used in a musical analysis of “Halhyang,” the first beompae song students learn. I propose a possible reason behind this pedagogical choice and, in doing so, present a perspective on the tonic note of beompae.