Abstract
It has been mandatory to introduce the teaching of playing Japanese musical instruments in junior high school in Japan since 2002. Consequently, it has become necessary to teach the college student to be music teacher, including practical learning, in their education. In this education, it is necessary for them to acquire the performing techniques and to appreciate the characteristics of sound culture in Japan. When teaching, it is important to confirm to what extent the students acquire the performing techniques and how they appreciate the tones of the Koto. In this study, through getting the students to perform the Koto and asking them how they are performing it well, we investigate to what extent the tones of the Koto can be appreciated by them, the beginners attending the Koto performing class seven times. The results from this investigation will be made the best use of in the teaching and study-planning of the Koto. This study makes the following clear: the students feel the characteristics of both the Japanese sounds and the Koto-tones related to them, conceptualize those characteristics, and acquire them as knowledge.
