31:Tacb, ## Sonification Legend After picking out the Japanese words that are specific to playing a certain instrument (弾く、吹く、叩く、鳴らす), I grabbed audio samples from [forvo](forvo.com) of both male and female speakers and put all of my data and samples into [sonic pi](https://sonic-pi.net/tutorial.html). I attempted to smooth out the volume inconsistencies from the samples so that I could match the loudness of each word to the number of instruments played by either gender. And just to cover all bases, instruments played by both men and women were added to each gender's tally. To conclude, I threw in the word for "instrument" and mapped the volume to the proportion of male and female players. Just keep in mind that the differences in pitch between men and women may affect our perception of loudness. But who cares? Let's just enjoy the sound of Japanese words for now! --- ## About When I first laid eyes on this dataset, I knew the focus would be on Japan. I carried out a shallow study of its musical landscape, from the countless instruments to the various melodies and rhythms that were once exclusively reserved for royalty and rituals. It was all rather captivating (especially [gagaku](https://gagaku.stanford.edu/) - if you like to nerd out about music, you're in fora treat), but something was missing. I needed to tell a story with this data, to weave a musical tapestry that would leave an indelible impression on anyone who heard it (Pressure on!). While I didn't achieve the latter, I did manage to weave the data together with my love for the Japanese language: what are all the ways to say "to play an instrument" in Japanese? I mean, sure, I knew a couple of them, but I had to scour Google and even consult Chat GPT to confirm my suspicions. As it turns out, the Japanese language has a different word for "to play an instrument" depending on which one you're playing. Talk about a symphonic revelation! **弾く** (hiku/hajiku) - This is the most common verb for playing an instrument. It is used for string instruments like guitar, piano, harp, and so on. **吹く** (fuku) - This verb is used for playing wind instruments like the flute, trumpet, saxophone, and so on. **叩く** (tataku) - This verb is used for playing percussion instruments like drums, xylophone, maracas, and so on. **鳴らす** (narasu) - This verb means "to ring" or "to make a sound" and is used for chimes and bells. **奏でる** (kanaderu) - This verb is often used to describe playing a musical instrument in a more emotional or expressive way. It can be used for any type of instrument. **演奏する** (ensou suru) - This is a more formal way of saying "to play an instrument". It can be used for any type of instrument. --- 32:T12c6,string = { ``; }33:T1ca4,drum = { ``; }34:T969,sho = {`` }35:[{"id":"cffb474ce781ac8914047577db36a9ca9389017a84e1c2b6365d6025bd09e9ab1a667a94724301253c81b11d996ecb488cd7235bd5d4147eb5e0ae6966541dbe","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/cffb474ce781ac8914047577db36a9ca9389017a84e1c2b6365d6025bd09e9ab1a667a94724301253c81b11d996ecb488cd7235bd5d4147eb5e0ae6966541dbe","name":"japanJukebox.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1678132132057.068,"size":5640236},{"id":"195353125d1addfd2f1852add87fc6d90e90eac12d27abc0024a9fb0246dd66e857ec58dfd12c2faaf26aa764095e89a73aac5175ef8993c03cc7436a194942f","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/195353125d1addfd2f1852add87fc6d90e90eac12d27abc0024a9fb0246dd66e857ec58dfd12c2faaf26aa764095e89a73aac5175ef8993c03cc7436a194942f","name":"Japan - Global Jukebox - instruments@8.csv","type":"text/csv","lastModified":1678126067921.299,"size":9299}] 2f:{"title":"Striking a Chord","cells":[{"id":502,"value":"# Striking a Chord \n## Gender representation in Japanese instruments\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":477,"value":"viewof progress = {\n const player = html`