The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction [Paperback]

Martin Clayton (Editor), Trevor Herbert (Editor), Richard Middleton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0415938457 | ISBN-13: 978-0415938457 | Edition: New Ed

The Cultural Study of Music is an anthology of new writings that serves as a basic textbook on music and culture. Increasingly, music is being studied as it relates to specific cultures--not only by ethnomusicologists, but by traditional musicologists as well. Drawing on writers from music, anthropology, sociology, and the related fields, the book both defines the field--i.e., "What is the relation between music and culture?"--and then presents case studies of particular issues in world musics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The strength of the text is its breadth of analysis: the essays are brief, pithy, and thought-provoking. Recommended.
–C.A. Muller, University of Pennsylvania, Choice, Sept. 2003

About the Author

Martin Clayton is visiting Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago, and Lecturer in Ethnomusciology at the Open University. Richard Middletown is Professor of Music at the University of Newcastle. Trevor Herbert is of Professor of Music at the Open University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New Ed edition (January 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415938457
• ISBN-13: 978-0415938457
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Superficial, poorly edited, stale., April 15, 2005

By 

Reader/Viewer (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction (Paperback)

The postgraduate seminar that I take part in chose this text because we hoped that it would offer a taste of various aspects of the cultural study of music that we weren't already familiar with, we hoped that it would make a good starting point for interesting discussions on issues in contemporary music and musicology. We were wrong! This book is superficial at best. A large part of every discussion was spent complaining about the poor quality of the scholarship or the hatchet job the editors have obviously done on the articles. Most of the ideas in this book are stale and much better discussions occur in other publications. It's disappointing to see authors of Lawrence Kramer's quality in a collection this bad, his was one of many articles in which simple ideas became confusing because of poor editing. This attempt to make musicology bite size fails miserably. The only useful thing about this collection is the list of further reading at the end of each article.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent stuff!, August 7, 2006

By 

Jonathan Marpugsnacht "JM" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction (Paperback)

for some this book is very tough (see other reviews), but I found it startlingly good - well edited, insightful and covering a wide range of materials ad concepts in the field. It's interetsing that those who don't like it are usually those who also don't like the critical turn in musicology. Choose your sides!!!

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars what a nightmare!!, May 18, 2006

By 

sociophile (bakersfield, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction (Paperback)

This book was one of the worst reading experiences I've had. I can't imagine how the information in this book could be useful in any way. The contributors are long-winded and never really say anything substantial, probably due to poor editing. STAY AWAY!!