Dissatisfied comments about Pungmul (Korean traditional percussion) band’s activities can be seen easily on CBNU-related SNS, such as ‘CBNU Daeshin Jeonhaedripnida’, ‘CBNU Daenamoosoop’ on Facebook or CBNU’s Daum online cafe. Typical samples are, ‘Samulnori(Korean traditional percussion quartet)’s sounds are so annoying,’ and ‘Samulnori has returned right after Chuseok! The past few days were so nice and quiet.’ Those noise problems from the Pungmul band’s activities are being voiced every year, but no effective solutions have been found yet.
  To investigate the actual harm caused by the Pungmul band’s activities, the CBT carried out a CBNU student-oriented survey in October. Among the 112 respondents who answered the survey, 61 students(54.5%) responded that they had been harmed by Pungmul band’s activities. Among these students, 33 students(54.1%) responded that they have been affected in the dormitories, 37 students(61.7%) answered, ‘Pungmul band’s activities distracted them while studying,’ and 11 students(18.3%) answered, ‘It made it difficult to sleep.’
  Wi Jeong-hyeon(’16, Dept. of Architecture), who resides in Yang Seong Jae(BTL) of the CBNU Residence Halls, said, “I wanted to take an extra nap on the weekend to recover from sleep deprivation, but I couldn’t because of the Pungmul band’s activities. Someone from upstairs even shouted out of the window, telling them to knock it off.” An anonymous student said, “It disturbed my sleep. They should practice in an underground space rather than near the dormitory where lots of people can be distracted.”
  The school members are not the only people who are suffering from the noise. Due to Pungmul band’s activities on “Montmartre Hill”, which is located in front of Talmadang Field and the school museum, the neighboring rural area and Hyundai Apartment residents are also suffering from the noise. Team leader Lim Won-jeong(Student Service Team, Student Affairs), who is in charge of CBNU club guidance and clubroom management, said that the neighboring residents’ noise reports are endless via dialogues with the CBNU president on the CBNU website or via phone calls. He said, “For our school’s main Pungmul band, we provided an underground space in the old Student Union, but it’s not very spacious, so there’s a limitation on their activities. Before gigs or regular performances, which are usually held in early May and early October, they do field practice on Talmadang, and at those times, we receive noise reports more than any other times.” Moreover, civil complaints about the noise have been received every year. He added, “There is no proper space that we can provide to each college’s affiliated Pungmul band. Each college provides their Pungmul band with a space, but the noise problem that is caused from inside forces them to practice outside, such as Talmadang or Montmartre Hill. We cannot just prohibit their activities, so we don’t have any choice but to advise them to lessen the noise and limit their practice time.”
  In this way, Pungmul bands are in an awkward situation as there are no proper solutions concerning their activities. The College of Veterinary Medicine’s Pungmul club president, Ahn Byeong-ho(’15, Dept. of Pre-veterinary Medicine) recently posted a letter of understanding on a hand-made poster on campus. He told CBT, “Through the letter of understanding, we posted our words of apology and a performance schedule. There are some people who criticized us as it is not an understanding but a one-sided notice, but it seems like there were also people who understood our circumstances.” Also, he explained that friction with students frequently occurs   and said, “Many students posed problems via Facebook, and some students personally approached us and posed their opinions. For those reasons, we adjusted our practice time to avoid class hours and studying times, and we attached boxes and bubble wrap to our instruments to lessen the noise as much as possible.” He added about all of their efforts to minimize the noise problem, “We are trying to find a practice space off campus these days. We asked the Student Affairs to rent a gym, but we couldn’t because all time slots were already occupied. So right now we are continuously looking for off-campus facilities.”
  CBNU’s student president, Kim Tae-yeong, said that the noise problem is not only Pungmul band’s problem. He said, “From street performances at Jupiter Park in Jungmun to college festivals or welcoming parties for the freshmen every year, noise problems have always been an issue. For right now, limiting place and time is the best solution, but if the ‘Glocal Sports Center’ is established in 3 or 4 years, all sorts of noise problems will be resolved.” He added that the Pungmul band will be able to use the underground space of the Glocal Sports Center.

By Min Tae-kwan
 tk36@cbnu.ac.kr