Sound Beyond Borders

The lecture focuses on the techniques of percussion and their diverse applications, with emphasis on the unique timbres and practices of unconventional instruments. Topics include the study of extended techniques, the sonic potential of special instruments, guided listening of works written for them, and the analysis of non-traditional performance as sources of aesthetic inspiration. Through theory, listening, and discussion, students will learn to transform sound materials into compositional resources while developing sensitivity and critical insight into contemporary percussion idioms.

Ya-Hsin Cheng 
Percussionist, graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France. She is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion (adjunct) at National Taiwan Normal University, Tainan National University of the Arts, and National Sun Yat-sen University, and collaborates with My Yamaha and My Music. Her awards include the 3rd prize at the 2005 Claud Giot International Vibraphone Competition (France), 3rd Prize at the 2009 Luxembourg International Percussion Duo Competition, and 2010 nomination at the Taishin Arts Award for a solo recital. Her performances span classical and contemporary music, experimental theater, visual arts, sound design, dance, and film scores. She has contributed to cross-disciplinary projects such as A Millennium Pipa, Mountain and Nightingale, Fractals, Fragments of Light, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s film The Assassin, and visual artist Su Yu-Hsien’s documentaries Plaster Gong and Memories of Tataka. In 2009, she co-founded NanaFormosa Percussion Duo with Yu-Ying Chang, performing across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, releasing albums Lueur (2014) and Moon Inside(2019, nominated for the 31st Traditional Arts Golden Melody Award). Recent projects include ISCM Pan-Asian Sound (2020), C-Lab Sound Art Festival (2021), online video concerts Ultra-Percussive Intimacy and Wandering the Time Track (2022, Cloud Stage Award), and the percussion-video.