Japan is a culture of strong contrasts. Rapid advances in technology are balanced with the careful preservation of traditions in music, dance, theater, painting, sculpture, woodwork, ceramics, and other arts. One of the most remarkable of these traditions is that of Gagaku (雅楽), the music of the Japanese Imperial Court. Unlike Western notation, Gagaku is a tablature system, in which each of the instruments has a separate notation, with each symbol representing a finger position on the instrument. Join Robert Garfias, a distinguished ethnomusicologist, to learn more about a particular Gagaku manuscript now on display at the Fowler in Communications Systems in a Global Context. He will discuss the notation for the Sho, a bamboo mouth organ with 17 pipes. RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/japanesemanuscript