Koto Sounds Into Your Art and Music

This course is a lecture and workshop and will
explore the ways to integrate koto sounds into
your art/music making.
We will be exploring How the koto works:
possibilities and limitations
Like any instrument, koto has its own physical
reality that allows koto to do certain things and
not other things. We will learn these realities so
we can think about what it means to have koto
sounds and the special and unique aspects of this
instrument.
Koto notation systems and Western notation systems
Koto has its own notation system. There are
reasons why we still use it. We compare it and
Western notations and learn about the
possibilities and limitations of each notation
system as well as how we can utilize both systems.
Other ways to communicate with koto performers for
your art-making.
Using a notation system is only a way to
communicate with performers about your ideas. We
will explore other ways to communicate with
performers for your art-making.
Classical koto music, Ghibli music, city pop, and
other forms of music may be used as examples for
this course

Learning Goals:
Students will be able to create a sketch of their
artwork that includes koto sounds, discuss it, and
have it played by a koto performer.