Interdisciplinary Theory & Technology

East Asia's unique musical instruments and traditions have sadly been increasingly loosing favor to Western music and musical instruments. This invention intends to help reverse this trend by melding cutting-edge Western-music technologies with the noble innovations, timbre, playing techniques, and performance environments of East Asian musical instruments and traditions. Example Japanese Koto, Chinese Sheng, Vietnamese Koto, and related instruments may be fitted with separate pickups for each string for amplification, music synthesizer interfacing, separate string electronic pitch shifting and exotic signal processing, etc. String strain gauges can be added, as well as electronic strumming pads and miniature keyboards. Example Chinese Pipa, Japanese Biwa, and related instruments may also include any of these as well as harp, bass, or sympathetic strings, percussion impact sensors, and electronic music control switches, sliders, and buttons. Sophisticated sensors, synthesizer control, and signal processing may also be introduced into East Asian flutes, gongs, drums, and bowed instruments. Video cameras may be attached to an instrument, and may be used as an instrument itself in conjunction with hand gestures or dancers. Any of the above may be used to control lighting effects as well as sound electronics.