Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, Shorter Version (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

by Jeff Todd Titon (Author), Linda Fujie (Author), David Locke (Author), David P. McAllester (Author), David B. B. Reck (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This shorter version of the best-selling WORLDS OF MUSIC is based on the 4th edition and provides much of the authoritative coverage of the comprehensive version in a format that's accessible to students without any background or training in music. Using the case-study approach, the text presents in-depth explorations of music of several cultures from around the world. The authors all ethnomusicologists working in their fields of expertise base their discussions of music-cultures on their own fieldwork and give students a true sense of both the music and culture that created it. General editor, Jeff Todd Titon, has written the text's opening chapter, that introduces students to ethnomusicology and relates each chapter's music heard on the accompanying CDs to the fundamentals of music in a worldwide context. The text concludes with a chapter that invites students to participate by undertaking a fieldwork research project that increases a student's understanding of music in daily life. Two CDs accompany every copy of the book on the inside back cover. The selected recordings cover a wide range of music-cultures and include authentic recordings from the authors' fieldwork. Leading off is the long-standing jewel in the Worlds of Music crown - James Koetting's magnificent recording of postal workers canceling stamps at the University of Ghana post office. A Western-sounding hymn tune performed against African rhythms, this piece, more that any other, lets the student hear contrasting music-cultures. Packaged with the text, the CDs make this book the best value available for the course.

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer; 2 edition (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534627579
• ISBN-13: 978-0534627577
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #260,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #43 in	Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Ethnic & International > Ethnomusicology
  #46 in	Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Ethnic & International > International

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expensive, yet very useful, July 27, 2006

By	Daniel Bjorndahl (Sunny, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't mean to take the same words of the reviewer Nicholas H. Canale, but he's right. Worlds of Music is an excellent book containing two CDs to introduce you to the music of the world and its relation to the culture the music is found in.

The book contains an introduction which explains musical terms to non-musical people. From there, you're on your own to understand the how these terms apply to odd music cultures. Hopefully you will have a great professor or musically-inclined friend to help you out. Nevertheless, the authors all have Ph.D's in ethnomusicology (or a similar subject) and are very good at presenting information.

The book does indeed cost a pretty penny, but its well worth it. Then again, worth doesn't mean much if you're taking a 'World Music' class at college and don't have a choice. Even still, the situation isn't bleak - the audio examples are great, and you're bound to enjoy at least one foreign music you never considered worth your time before reading Worlds of Music.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but for the price, and for being a college text, should be better., August 28, 2008

By	Priscilla A. Arnold "Music Is Life..." (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For one, some very important regions (Middle East, for example) are missing from this "World Music" text book. It also seems to be a bit choppy in the efforts to highlight the most relevant areas of regional music. Rather than taking an overview perspective of each region, the author delves fairly in-depth into certain divisions of the specific examples he seems to find most interesting.

Since the book is intended to be an overview, I would have like to have had a systematic approach to each region, and the traditions, influences, instruments and patterns seen in each type of music. It wasn't that easy to follow, although the information provided was interesting. Unfortunately, there's not a lot out there in this subject, so there is little competition.

As with all text books, the price is immoral!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book!!!!, September 21, 2007

By	G. Monterosa-Ibarra "gabbieteama" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is interesting and the CDs that accompany the book are perfect with the reading!