Park Yeon

• Born: 1378
• Died: 1458

Park Yeon was a Korean scholar-official and musician in the Joseon court. He is credited with developing a new type of pyeongyeong (C: biānqìng), a type of ancient Chinese lithophone percussion instrument, which he updated with the addition of pitch pipes.

Born into a scholar-official family, Park passed the Confucian exams and earned a position in the bureaucracy in 1424. However, soon afterwards he left his bureaucratic post in favor of serving as a court musician.

References

• Gallery labels, The Story of King Sejong.