Here’s a short video of me playing the opening section of kayagum sanjo (가야금 산조). The instrument is called the kayagum; I studied it when I lived in Korea. Sanjo is a classical form of music that starts out slow and gradually builds up speed and energy. It takes about twenty to thirty minutes to play the complete piece. (You’re seeing just part of the opening slow movement here.)
This is my first time trying to play on video, and I haven’t practiced the kayagum since I left Seoul in 1984. Stay tuned for longer and longer segments, played with more skill than what I’m evincing here.
As a person with Parkinson’s disease, I have two points to add:
- I could never have done this now if I wasn’t also taking Sinemet. After I was diagnosed with PD, and before I started Sinemet, my right hand (which you see here plucking and flicking the strings) trembled too much.
- The music itself stayed with me, in my mind, even though I didn’t play this instrument for about thirty years! I feel like I never left it.
Oh, and a third point: I tremendously enjoy doing this.
I found the music good for meditation. I tried to hypnotize myself (something I’ve studied) and suggest that I would accept each fact of life, each encounter as I would the next note you would play.