“Music is a world within itself. It is a language we all understand.” This was a quote from Stevie Wonder. Music from all kinds of cultures may not be understandable by all because of the language barrier, yet there is sure to be something to relate to. It could be the voice of the singer, the echoing beat, the lyrics that intrigue you, or even the unusually ancient instruments in the background. However, will this still be applicable to traditional music which has a completely different beat, genre, and mood from the modern-day music we all know and love? Actually, this kind of music is still very much evident, yet it takes on another form as it is affected by the modernization of society. Aside from the instruments, the theme of nature is…show more content… Comparing and contrasting these 2 kinds of music is important because we see just how far our modern world has advanced from the olden times. We also see how our past affects our present even in the subtle changes in music. In order to do this, we look at one of the countries known to preserve their culture even in terms of their music: Japan. Traditional Japanese music and modern-day instrumental Japanese music are similar because of the influences from other cultures and similar theme of nature but are also different because of their difference in genre and purpose. However, pure traditional Japanese music is more important than modern-day Japanese instrumental music as it is constant with time and preserved through various…show more content… This is because of the effect traditional instruments (such as the koto and shakuhachi) give when producing sound no matter what the genre. For traditional Japanese music, take for example the classic Sakura which makes use of the koto in order to create music resembling nature wherein the way the music tries to depict the season of spring and the movement of the blossom petals. On the other hand, we have an example of modern-day Japanese music using the koto wherein Aya Asakura’s solo performance at TED evokes imagery such as raindrops falling, rushing of wind, and water flowing over rocks. We can see that both traditional and modern-day Japanese music evoke imagery relating to nature because of the uniqueness of the use of traditional Japanese