21 February 2021Japan

KCUA Special Lecture: “Sounds of Kyoto, Innovation of WA (Japanese Traditions): An Investigation of Acoustic Analysis of a New SHAMISEN with WASHI (Japanese paper) Membranes”

The purpose of this lecture is to explain how acousticians address the issue of timbre using a modernized, traditional Japanese string instrument, i.e., SHAMISEN. Typically, SHAMISENs have a resonant body covered by animal skins like many traditional drums. It became harder and harder to use such materials due to a couple of reasons. A solution may be using paper materials, which could cause a change in timbre. A new model cannot have exactly the same physical characteristics as the traditional one.

The expected audience of this lecture is general people who may not be familiar with the acoustic science. The home-taking-message is: “Science is not to convince people, but to make people to try to understand.”