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Had to go purchase the cd's seperarly bringing the price near what the school was charging for the set. Book was fine but ws disappointed that it did not come with the cd's that were required for my daughters class. In reading the description again, I got exactly what I was promised.
Product is in great condition, same as described. Excellent service. Shipped very fast, and received well within the time stated.
For the general information gathered from this text, anyone will be able to gain loads of interesting facts about the different cultures and their musical ceremonies/practices. While the text book is informative and enlightening on many of the aspects of World Music, it is frustrating that he continually puts out newer editions that have minimal changes except for the CD.
It doesn't cover Brazil which is full of various musical traditions and is such a large country. I've been teaching a world music course out of this textbook for a couple years now and will say that there are some positives to it: the CD compilation is great, good variety and interesting and there is some really good, detailed information that students would find interesting-it's good for people who go into world music without knowing much, it can be engaging and intriguing. But, on the other hand from an academic, teaching point of view there are some flaws. Students can get a lot out of it, and especially the CDs, but if you teach with it, I highly suggest using supplemental information and even make your students be critical of the information they find in the book as well as how it's arranged.
One other problem is that there is no chapter on the Middle East which is really unfortunate. I don't think this is a horrible textbook, of the few out there, this is probably the better one. You wouldn't want them walking away from a class thinking these musical traditions are known and practiced by the entire population (as with ganga singing). It's not that the information is at all wrong or presented in a bad way, it just needs clarification for students.
But one problem is that some chapters focus on a country or region within a country, i.e. My Bosnian student had never heard of Bosnian ganga singing until this class. It was the book I used as a student. Some of the chosen examples of traditions are highly localized too and not indicative of the general population.
Whereas other chapters focus too broadly-an entire chapter that covers the whole continent of Africa and one on South America. I will admit it's difficult to cover an entire world of music in one book, it must be an editor's nightmare on how to arrange the information. - Japan, South India, Native America.
Titon has provided very interesting facts about music making from many world cultures. Mr. He has also produced a 3 CD sound compilation of musical examples for this book that is indispensible.If you're tired of today's bland market of music that has sadly squashed historical music making of any kind, this book is an excellent journey into the world's most basic roots of song and music. This book is wonder and a treasure trove of musical ideas from around the planet. For example, how many music historians are aware of how the Native Amercians used song to identify each of their tribes.
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