"Chwi-ta-dae" is the traditional military band of Republic of Korea and it is a direct translation of woodwind and percussion instruments. "Chwi-ta-dae" is originated from "Go-chwi-ak" from the ancient time and the name "Chwi-ta-dae" represents the ne...
"Chwi-ta-dae" is the traditional military band of Republic of Korea and it is a direct translation of woodwind and percussion instruments. "Chwi-ta-dae" is originated from "Go-chwi-ak" from the ancient time and the name "Chwi-ta-dae" represents the newly expanded military band.
"Chwi-ta-dae", which has been inherited for a thousand years, deserves more respect and more activities. Even though "Chwi-ta-dae" is Korea's important property that needs to be protected and inherited properly, it has been pushed out by the Western and Japanese culture. It is only known as a band that plays ancient music and is preserved rather improperly and poorly. "Chwi-ta-dae" is often performed at the local festivals' parades, leading the march with lack of proper instruments, costumes and gestures under the name of "traditional reappearance". It surely made many viewers, including myself, disappointed. This paper is to suggest that "Chwi-ta-dae" needs to be changed from its old image by expanding its usage, modifying its wrong figurations and the governmental activities to make "Chwi-ta-dae" known both domestically and internationally. The first purpose of this essay is to emphasis a requirement of a more effective systems for introducing the Military "Chwi-ta-dae" to outside of Korea, making it as a symbol that represents the country.
The second purpose of this paper is continuity of record. There are published historical records of "Chwi-ta-dae" beginning way back from the ancient time -even before AD357- during the time of King "Go-kook-won" of "Ko-ku-ryo" until the 1980's, written by scholars such as Doctor Jang, Sa-hoon, Doctor Lee, Sook-hee, Professor Kim, Ho-suk. Although they have recorded the historical footage of "Chwi-ta-dae" to a certain extend, there still are very little amount of records from the 1990's until today. There are almost no records of the activities of Military "Chwi-ta-dae", therefore this paper criticizes the problems with current use of "Chwi-ta-dae" and discuss what needs to be modified. To be more specific, it is necessary to rearrange the historical footage of "Chwi-ta-dae" which holds an important position in national events.
Thirdly, this paper will help the chiefs and the performers to run military "Chwi-ta-dae" as well as small ensembles of "Chwi-ta-dae" in local areas and ensembles outside of Korea. The officers and the noncommissioned officers (N.C.O) and soldiers who become parts of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) "Chwi-ta-dae" and the Army Headquarter "Chwi-ta-dae" are professional performers of military ceremonies and they are given with a great deal of responsibilities to have perfect ceremonies. Most of commissioned officers who join the Traditional military band -or the Miliitary "Chwi-ta-dae"- have no experiences with traditional Korean music or they have studied only western music at universities or other institutions. The problem is that it takes lots of effort and time for them to learn and to get used to their work. When they finally become experts, they are stationed at another place with different duty assignments. Because of characteristics of military, it cycles over and over again. Under these poor circumstances, the performing soldiers are the ones who suffer. The performing soldiers in the Military "Chwi-ta-dae" are graduated or current students at traditional music institutions and they are the ones who will lead the Korean traditional music to the future. As the chief of Military "Chwi-ta-dae", it is his job to coach his musicians, lead his band effectively and accomplish the missions given to the band in both domestic and international events. The responsibilities given to the conductor is relatively higher than other bands' conductors because "Chwi-ta-dae" is a symbol representing Korea. For these reasons, a guideline is needed for the bandleaders to understand how "Chwi-ta-dae" has been inherited from the past and the process of ceremonies when supporting. The main goal of this essay is to provide examples and suggestions to those who take parts in both local and Military "Chwi-ta-dae".
Current Military "Chwi-ta-dae" has 3 separate purposes; as a ceremonial band, as a street-parade marching band, and as a concert band. "Chwi-ta-dae" performs different repertoires that are suitable. For this study, different subject matters are arranged by separate chapters. Papers -related to the subjects- are gathered and studied in order to rewrite in modern language. To study about the use of "Chwi-ta-dae" in governmental events, examples of welcoming foreign VIPs at the Blue House, Seoul Airport and Korean War Museum, are gathered. These gathered materials have been verified by attending workshops where the related experts discussed about these subject matters.
In order to study festivals in the nation, examples of military events have been gathered by collecting reports and by attending those local festivals at "Won-joo", "Je-ju", "Jin-hae", and "Gye-ryong". Information on researching local festivals have also been gathered by discussing the current situations and problems with related experts at seminars. The study of attending international events is written based on researching which festivals the MND and Army Headquarters' military bands have participated, my experiences from attending international festivals (in the U.S., Japan and England) as the conductor, and exchange of information with military officers from different countries have been gathered and analyzed.
The unknown activities of Military "Chwi-ta-dae" from the 1990's have been gathered by going through papers related to military music, published by the MND, and written reports from participated ceremonies. The analysis of the traditional Korean military bands' participation in other countries' military tattoo festivals, and pros and cons from participating in those events is also mentioned in this paper.
This paper is consisted into four chapters.
The first chapter focuses on the historical footage of "Chwi-ta-dae" from the ancient time to the modern day.
The second chapter is the investigation on the functions of the "Chwi-ta-dae". It focuses on the current use of "Chwi-ta-dae" in national and military events based upon the procedures written in the old books such as "Gook-jo-o-reh", "Kyoung-gook-dae-jun", "Man-gi-yo-ram", "Byoung-hak- ji-nam-yeon" and it defines the ceremonial process as well as presenting the issues and expanding plans of "Chwi-ta-dae".
In third chapter, it describes the expectancy effects from the actual performances of Korean Military "Chwi-ta-dae" in domestic festivals, such as "Won-ju Tattoo", "Jin-hae Tattoo", "Gye-ryong Military culture festival", and "Je-ju international wind music festival" and other international festivals.
The last chapter suggests the unification of current gestures of Military "Chwi-ta-dae" in missions, in order to support the ceremonies by itself. By illustrating these examples and gestures, smalll ensembles of "Chwi-ta-dae" can be benefited by following these guidelines.
Overall, to combine this research paper I've observed the history of Korean "Chwi-ta-dae", the history of the Army Headquarter and the MND. "Chwi-ta-dae" along with past and present advance in overseas which is the basis of a research contents. "Chwi-ta-dae" is a marching band which represents Korea. It is now certainly passive that "Chwi-ta-dae" is used only in Domestic events or ceremonies. Therefore. my opinion is that Korean "Chwi-ta-dae" should be continually participate in worldwide events and stages with a matter of interest by Korean government. Also, I've insisted that to develope a competitive program, there needs be a increase numbers of members, size and the capabilitiessuch as "Boo-chae-choom", "o-go-moo", "Sam-go-moo", "Jung-juh-goot". "Poong-shin", "Hoon-ryoung-moo", "Gum-moo", National Military Honor Guards' "Sword Manship", and "Pahn-goot" in Korean military band, which will match well with a Military in Korean military band . I've also stated that when we compose a Korean Military in Korean military band with these multi-functions, in Korean military band will re-born to be a world's traditional band equipped with a strong international competitive power. Moreover, Korean Military "Chwi-ta-dae" which leads these kinds of culture will role in helping citizens to foster their dignity and pride on our nation, as well as to broadly inform our cultural nation to the whole world.
Our nation should realize that investment cost to support for the events (100 million\ - 200 million\) would worth extremely more than its value to advertise the country. From time to time, it is very painful that there are some cases where they try to reduce a manpower in military as well as a band.
As you can see in the paper, you can recognize how tremendous effect "Chwi-ta-dae" will bring it to us through events and performances in overseas. I'm ensure that If we continually develope and progress this program, we could inform our nation a dignity of an upgrade culturati, also in aspect of military affair diplomatic it will bring a magnificent effect on enhance in national prestige through Art.
Nowadays, it is fortunate that the small minority of people in National Defense are supporting Korean Military "Chwi-ta-dae". Military "Chwi-ta-dae" could have not been maintained without those supporters who also helped to make inroads to abroad even though there are many difficulties. I hope that this paper provides an opportunity for Military "Chwi-ta-dae" to develop to become a symbol that represents our nation.