Symposium: Japanese Aesthetics in Contemporary Sound And a Demonstration on the Traditional Japanese Sho

Sho is a mouth organ of Japanese court music. The sho consists of a lacquered wooden cup-shaped body, into which 17 narrow bamboo pipes of varying length are inserted vertically to form a circular cluster. Two of the pipes are mute; the remainder are fitted with small metal tongues vibrating freely through a small slot, and made to speak by closing a finger hole on the pipe. The instrument plays single notes and chords identified in the notation by the names of the pipes, and the player can maintain a continuous sound by sucking and blowing alternately. The sho is related to the Chinese sheng and to other East Asian mouth organs.