Worlds of Music : An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples
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Book Description
This market-leading, best-selling text covers ethnomusicology-the study of music in a people's way of life, which treats music as a distillation of cultural styles. The authors of this text approach diverse musical styles with the desire to understand them on their own terms-as the people who make the music would understand them. The text is organized by region. Each study focuses on the life histories and autobiographies that are essential to understanding music as a human activity. Song lyrics are singled out by the authors as a way to understand the meaning and purpose of musical performances. Musical examples, or transcriptions, are included on the accompanying CDs, and are treated throughout as points of departure for discussion. Student music-making projects-singing, building and playing instruments-greatly increase music appreciation and allow students to experience firsthand what it's like to be an ethnomusicologist puzzling out unfamiliar music. This text seeks to provide as much pleasure as knowledge, fostering lifelong curiosity and a desire to experience and appreciate music in all its forms.
About the Author
Jeff Todd Titon received the Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, where he studied ethnomusicology with Alan Kagan and musicology with Johannes Riedel. The author or editor of seven books, including Early Downhome Blues, which won the ASCAP?Deems Taylor Award, and Powerhouse for God, he is also a documentary photographer and filmmaker. Smithsonian Folkways recently published two CDs from his field recordings of Old Regular Baptists in eastern Kentucky, and he is coeditor of the five-volume American Musical Traditions, a production of Schirmer Books with the Smithsonian Institution, listed by Library Journal among the outstanding reference books of 2002. He developed the ethnomusicology program at Tufts University, where he taught from 1971-1986. From 1990-1995 he served as the editor of Ethnomusicology, the journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology. A Fellow of the American Folklore Society, since 1986 he has been Professor of Music and the director of the Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology at Brown University.
Worlds of Music : An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples,Jeff Todd Titon,Wadsworth Publishing,0534591035,Ethnomusicology,Genres & Styles - International,History & Criticism - General,History and criticism,Instruction & Study - Appreciation,Music,World music,Music / General
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