Korean Job Discussion Forums

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What songs do you hear Korean kids play every time they get near a piano?
Most likely, your list will compare closely with mine:

■ 아리랑 (Arirang)

One reason for this song's popularity is that it is in the pentatonic mode.
That means that when you play it in the key of F#, it comes out on the black keys only.
But so are oodlums of other Korean songs.
There must be some other factor, too.
Let's take a look:




Note that every note, with one exception, is an adjacent black key.
That one exception is at the midpoint--the first note on the third line.

■ 고양이 춤 (Cat Dance)



This seems to be the Korean counterpart to "Heart and Soul."
This, too, is in the key of F#. It is all on the black keys except for the E#'s.
Notice the similarity between the second half and the first half.
I saw this song listed in a Korean piano book as "foreign."
This surprised me, because I never heard the song until I came here.
(But then again, I never heard the "Congratulations" song until I came
here, either.)

■ 구슬비 (Glass Beads)



Except for the third line, this song can be played in five-finger position.
Moreover, notice that the second line is the same as the first line, only a step lower.

This is the best I can do in translating the song:

Drop, drop, silver beads in clover,
Mockingly, glass beads in a spider web,
Swinging, in every blade of grass, dense,
Smiling and laughing, flower petals, chopped up.

If you can understand this song, please write back.

■ 바둑이 방울 (Dog Bell)

Like the song listed above, this song is mostly in five-finger position and has simple patterns.

When I lived in 구미, the elementary piano student nextdoor played this song all the time.

I have a 2:30 student who arrives early and plays this song on my electronic keyboard.
I am going to take advantage of the teachable moment by teaching the song in English: