In recent years, a large number of ancient East Asian music scores were discovered, demonstrating that East Asian musical instruments and notation underwent extensive changes in the last millennium. How to understand, restore and/or reconstruct ancient music through historical musical instruments and notated has become is a complicated and timely job. Launched in 2010, the East Asian Notation Research Center in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music has collected a large number of ancient and notated scores from all over the world and established a database of ancient tablature and other kinds of musical scores. This lecture discusses the Center's collection and examination of East Asian ancient notated sources and their interpretation.

Professor Weiping Zhao is Chair, Professor and Advisor of Doctoral Students of the Department of Musicology at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He leads a national research project on Chinese Ancient Music History at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and directs the Center for Research on Music Cultures of China and Japan.