Academic Workshop: Practice of Harmony Revisited

The questions raised on stage by the performance Practical of Harmony are expanded into a space for academic discourse through this workshop. Rather than confining harmony to the realm of technical music theory, the workshop takes a multifaceted look at how this theory has been structured and received within broader social and historical trajectories.

Co-hosted by EMT and the Department of Musicology at Seoul National University, the program features Professor Seo Jeong-eun of Seoul National University, musicologist Dr. Jeong Yi-eun, and emerging musicologists, who will present diverse perspectives on harmony. A roundtable discussion between director Kim Jae-hoon and the participating scholars will take place before and after the main presentations, followed by an open dialogue where audience members can share their thoughts and questions prompted by the performance Practical Harmony. The entire program will run for approximately 120 minutes.

Although harmony has served as a foundation for countless musical traditions, from Western classical music to jazz, pop, rock, and experimental music, how it has been received in everyday life and become embedded in our society within particular historical contexts has received limited attention beyond academic circles.

This workshop revisits the contexts underlying the sensory resonance left by the performance, inviting participants to reflect deeply and engage in dialogue about how the intricate rules constructed on musical scores have translated into the language of social order and emotional empathy within our society.