Culture and Arts Performance Vocabulary

Viewing Exhibitions and Performances

Passages about exhibitions and performances often ask about conditions such as location, time, and admission fee. '휴관(closure)' means that an art museum or museum closes on set days and does not admit visitors, so visitors cannot view exhibits on closed days. In a fee item, '무료(free of charge)' means that no money is paid, and the condition that follows '단, ~(however, ~)' must be read separately from the free admission. '~ 전까지(until ~)' means that something is allowed up to that point in time, so visitors cannot enter after the admission deadline has passed.

Verbs related to viewing are paired with specific objects. Actions of looking at and enjoying a painting or work with the eyes are expressed with '구경하다(to look around)', '감상하다(to appreciate)', and '관람하다(to view)', while '주문하다(to order)' and '졸업하다(to graduate)' cannot be used with paintings. At an exhibition, the object one stands before and looks at for a long time is a painting.

'-고 싶다(want to ~)' expresses a desired action, so it must be read as a plan that has not yet been decided. Distinguishing between things that have already finished and things one hopes to do in the future is the key to solving content-matching questions. A confirmed plan is expressed with '-기로 했다(has decided to ~)' or '-ㄹ 예정이다(is scheduled to ~).

Options in content-matching questions are often made by changing the fee, place, day of the week, or who went. A typical example is an option that changes an item marked '무료(free of charge)' into 'must pay money', or that changes a closed day into a day when viewing is possible. Options that change the order of companions or activities also appear often. '-ㄴ 후에(after ~)' means that the next action follows after the previous one has ended, so the order of leaving the exhibition after viewing and then going elsewhere is distinguished with this expression.

'아주(very)' is an adverb that emphasizes degree before positive expressions such as '좋다(good)' and '아름답다(beautiful)'. '별로(not particularly)' and '전혀(not at all)' must be used with negative expressions such as '~지 않다(not ~)', so they do not fit in positive sentences. '가끔(sometimes)' indicates how often an event occurs from time to time, so it is not used in a position that emphasizes degree.

In sequence-arrangement questions, connecting words and demonstratives serve as clues. A sentence containing an expression that refers back to earlier content, such as '그래서(so, therefore)' or '그 그림(that painting)', cannot come at the beginning of a passage. A sentence introducing the subject comes first, and sentences describing the impression or result come after it.

'-면서(while ~ing)' means doing two actions at the same time. How long something took is expressed with '~시간이 걸리다(to take ~ hours)'.

'어렵다(difficult)' means hard to understand or hard to handle, and it is the opposite of '쉽다(easy)'. The '걱정(worry)' felt before watching a performance is the mind that anticipates in advance that something will be hard, so the content of the worry includes difficulty. '그런데(however)' is a connective expression that introduces a result opposite to the preceding content.

Stage performances are classified by form. 연극(theater play) is a performance in which actors take on the roles of several characters on stage to show a story, while 뮤지컬(musical) is a performance that presents singing, dancing, and acting together. Audiences enjoy both by seeing actors directly in a theater, but musicals differ in that singing and dancing are at their center.

Korean traditional 탈춤(mask dance drama) is a performance in which actors wearing masks show a story through dance and song, and by watching it one can learn about the lives and thoughts of people in the past. Texts introducing a performance often cover both the style of the performance and the content that can be learned from it.

The purpose of a text is the behavior the writer hopes readers will take or the information the writer wants to convey. A text that conveys information to know before viewing, such as closing days or crowded times, is written to tell visitors about precautions to take during their visit.

Traditional Korean Musical Instruments

Traditional Korean musical instruments are divided according to how they produce sound. 가야금(a Korean zither) is a string instrument with strings placed over a resonating box made of paulownia wood, and it is played by plucking the strings with the fingers. 피아노(piano) is a keyboard instrument introduced from the West, so it is not regarded as a traditional Korean instrument.

Each instrument has a verb that matches the action that produces its sound. 가야금 is expressed with '뜯다(to pluck)' or '타다(to play)', and 해금(a bowed fiddle) is expressed with '켜다(to bow)' because its sound is produced by rubbing the strings with a bow. 북(drum) and 장구(hourglass drum) are expressed with '치다(to beat)', and 대금(large bamboo flute) and 피리(bamboo flute) are expressed with '불다(to blow)'.