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CompleteMartialArts.com - Music in Our World

Music in Our World
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Our Price: $60.07
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Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.17
EAN: 9780070272125
ISBN: 0070272123
Label: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Studio: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

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Editorial Reviews:

Music in Our World is the first text in music appreciation completely devoted to the study of music elements and to investing students with active listening skills.

The text examines each musical element from a number of angles - completely integrating world music throughout the discussion. The three chapters on Melody, for example, cite the work of Hildegard of Bingen, Ravi Shankar, and Giacomo Puccini.

This unique, elements-based approach engages students in actively listening to the broadest range of music available for music appreciation.


Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Good with the bad
Comment: Good: textbook engages form AND context. Attempts to combine multiplicity of legitimate approaches to music, reflecting postmod. emphasis on culture and function rather than just form, theory and "greats" from Western tradition. Appropriate length for course of likely nonmajors and 100 level.

Bad: sloppy transitions - very choppy, unbalanced shifts between formal components and the situating of those components into a cultural setting. Ex.: Ch. 4: What is the point of discussing meter with Klezmer? Both musical examples are in simple time (duple and quadruple) and don't uniquely demonstrate anything - a Britney Spears song could suffice in this context. Basically, it is a poorly written attempt at getting away from the dated music appreciation model. Maybe it could work with supplemental materials?

Also, $60 bucks for a new copy? It hasn't even been updated to a new edition.

So, looking for a book that isn't obsessed with the Western classical tradition? Start here, but don't settle with this book.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Good Scope, Bad Definition
Comment: The professor for my general education music appreciation course picked this book because she likes its emphasis on world music and the way that it is organized around the five elements of music. I really like this structure as well. What I don't like so much is when she has to say, "Oksy, this is what the book says, but that's a horrible definition of phrase," for example. "This is the definition we will use." Now, obviously any college course isn't built around a book, but goodness, that doesn't excuse bad information, or lack of information! My professor also remarked, sarcastically, "I like how there are so few musical terms discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. Oh, go off and read them, you'll see."


Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: No soundscape!
Comment: Anticipating a lecture on Gregorian chant by Randel, the new president of the University of Chicago, I approached our newly acquired copy of MUSIC IN OUR WORLD through its index. Turning to the indicated pages I saw how Gregorian was discussed in the set of pages overlapping with Hildegard of Bingen. Of course I wanted to hear the contrast between the two musics. Alas! the CD meant to accompany the text was, according to the what we learned from Amazon, NOT YET AVAILABLE. Yet we knew from other sources that the disc had already been produced. Our searches by other routes led always to dead ends. Thus, when attending our president's lecture, I had only the words without any sound in my ears. Curiously, he also offered no samples of the music. Apparently words rather than notes are sufficient for the musical cognoscenti. Would Amazon or the book's publisher please make it EASY for the would-be-customer --who is neither professor nor student of music-- to find the CD meant to accompany the text? Renate Fernandez P.S. I've just learned that what I'm hoping to hear is catalogued as COMPACT DISC SET FOR USE WITH MUSIC IN OUR WORLD by Stuart-White. Again, another curiosity, its authorship is reversed. No matter, I shall soon be able to hear it. I very much like the book's combination of text, illustrations and caption, and boxes. The illustration of textures and melodies on page 113 has me puzzled, however. The absence of words or syllables under the line illustrating Monophonic texture fails to clarify how the line accords or fails to accord with the word. You can see by my comments that there is a potential readership/listenership outside of the circle of pros that is eager to accede simultaneously to MUSIC IN OUR WORLD.


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