Sounds Of The Silk Road: Musical Instruments Of Asia [Hardcover]

Mitchell Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2005

From the cymbals and gongs used by Chinese priests use to invoke deities to the oboes and drums of Turkish weddings, music and its related instruments are an integral part of life throughout Asia. Sounds of the Silk Road surveys the instruments of Asia and the traditions that have engendered them, offering the reader ways to approach these often unfamiliar objects and the music they produce. This beautiful book is the first to deal with this topic in such depth and breadth, and is the first to feature of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston's world-renowned collection of Asian instruments. Each chapter focuses on a specific country's musical traditions and instruments. Some 50 instruments are highlighted, ranging from silk-stringed zithers to shell trumpets and from double-headed drums made from human skulls to the complex Javanese gamelan. Intended for the general reader, this visually stunning volume introduces the uses, sounds, history, playing technique, decoration, and symbolism of Asia's skillfully crafted and fascinatingly diverse musical instruments.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: MFA Publications (August 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878466886
• ISBN-13: 978-0878466887
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional contribution to academic library Multi-Cultural Music History reference collections & supplemental reading lists, September 14, 2005

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sounds Of The Silk Road: Musical Instruments Of Asia (Hardcover)

Informed and informative, Sounds Of The Silk Road: Musical Instruments Of Asia by Mitchell Clark (Research Fellow, Department of Musical Instruments, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) focuses upon the diverse musical instruments used in Asia from cultures ranging from the Turkish empire to the Tibetan mountain ranges. Clark draws upon the extensive collections of Asian musical instruments held by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to illustrate and showcase the beauty, diversity, and application of some fifty instruments that range from sil-stringed zithers and shell trumpets, to double-headed drums made from human sculls and the Javanese gamelan. Superbly enhanced with more than one hundred full color photographs of these often rare and sometimes obscure instruments, Sounds Of The Silk Road introduces the use, history, sounds, playing techniques, decorations, and symbolism of these instruments that were so integral a part of Asian cultures from the warding off of evil spirits to the celebrations of life's milestones including marriages, births, and funerary rites. Accessible organized with each individual chapter dedicated to a particular instrument, Sounds Of The Silk Road is enthusiastically recommended reading for non-specialist general readers with an interest in Asian cultural history, and an exceptional contribution to academic library Multi-Cultural Music History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a good book for a good price, unique topic not found in other books, September 3, 2005

By 

ephyfe "gentleman collector" (delaware) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sounds Of The Silk Road: Musical Instruments Of Asia (Hardcover)

As far as I know, there are no other books out there that cover the musical instruments of asia at a reasonable price. This book has descriptions with color pictures of many of the musical instruments of asia. I was specifically interested in Japanese instruments that I had seen in prints, and I was able to find pictures of all these instruments. If you have an interest in this topic and don't want to pay a lot of money this book is worth getting.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book of Treasures, August 18, 2009

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sounds Of The Silk Road: Musical Instruments Of Asia (Hardcover)

Thailand, Burma, and Indonesia are not normally considered when speaking of the Silk Road, and Japan and Korea are regarded as only Eastern extensions to the Chinese hub. However, marine shortcuts around the Indian Ocean to the Near East were historic but more hazardous alternatives to the typical caravan routes across Central Asia; thus, we can give license to the title of this splendid illustrated edition to the exhibit, Sounds of the Silk Road. The couple of illustrated encyclopedias of musical instruments mainly depend on drawings, but this book is of beautiful colored photographs of the instruments within the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and it includes views of details and historic artistic depictions of the instruments from the various lands. The full history of the evolution, variation, and spread of musical instruments across the Silk Road is yet to be discerned and popularly presented. This book indicates how rich a history it would be; meanwhile, we can appreciate the fine art and craft involved in their design and production. This a wonderful book of treasures that would delight any musician or fan of world music.