Designed for undergraduates and general readers with little or no background in music, Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures--including the Americas, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Europe--and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. Thinking Musically explores the importance of musical instruments and discusses the fundamental elements of music--including rhythm, pitch in melodic and harmonic relationships, and form--and examines how they vary in different musical traditions. The author considers the effects of cultural factors such as gender and ethnicity on the perception, interpretation, and performance of music, as well as the forces of nationalism, cultural encounters, and westernization. New to the Second Edition *Revised to bring the book up-to-date with current trends that are influencing music around the world, including the accelerating impact of technology (YouTube, MySpace, and digital downloading) and the increased effects of globalization *Increased consideration of the pressures exerted by gender and mass media on the form, content, and performance of music *Expanded discussion of fieldwork (in Chapter 7 and throughout the book) *Includes additional photographs, expanded CD tracks, and new activities Thinking Musically is the cornerstone of the Global Music Series; each case study in the series uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure--covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Thinking Musically can be used with case studies in any combination to provide a rich exploration of world musical cultures, or it can be used independently as a short introduction to world music or music appreciation. Thinking Musically includes two 80-minute CDs--corresponding with activities found throughout the text--that feature selections from a wide variety of musical cultures.

Table of Contents:
FOREWORD; PREFACE; CD TRACK LIST; LETTER TO THE READERS; 1. THINKING ABOUT MUSIC; People; Music Makers; Listeners; Music; In Terms of Sound; Calling Something "Music"; Aesthetic Values in Music; Meaning; Music and Textual Meaning; Music as Text; Use; Transmission; Oral and Aural Transmission; Written Transmission; 2. THINKING ABOUT INSTRUMENTS; Instruments as Objects; Ideas about Instruments-types; Ideas about Particular Instruments; Spiritual Associations; Associations of Sexuality and Gender; Cultural Status; Aesthetic Value; Item of Technology; Item of Commodity; Timbre and Aesthetics of Sound; Instruments in Music; Instrumental Capacity; Ideas about Ensemble; Heterogenous and Homogeneous Sound Ideals; Musical Roles; 3. THINKING ABOUT TIME; Rhythm; Pulse; Irregular Durations; Rhythm for the Text Alone; Organizing Time into Units; Duple and Triple Meters; Single and Compound Meters; Asymmetrical Meters; South Indian Tala; Southeast Asian Colotomic Meter; North Indian Tala; Middle Eastern Rhythmic Modes; Korean Changdan; African Polyrhythm; Music in the African Diaspora; Speed; 4. THINKING ABOUT PITCH; Pitch; Pitch Names; Syllables; Numbers; Letters; Setting the Pitch; Who Sets the Pitch; Pitch Placement; Thinking Horizontally; Intervals; Naming Intervals; Microtones; Scales; The Chromatic Scale; Diatonic Scales; The "Oriental" Scale; Numbers of Pitches in an Octave; Pitch Functions; Mode; Thinking Vertically; Tone Clusters; Naming Vertical Intervals; Dissonance and Consonance; Functional Harmony; Thinking Horizontally and Vertically; Performing One Melody; Solo and in Unison; Interlocking Parts; Rounds; Heterophony; Performing One Melody with Another Part; Melody and drone; Homophony; Performing Multiple Melodies; Polyphony; Melody and ostinato; 5. THINKING ABOUT STRUCTURING; Improvising and Composing; Composing Persons; Putting Something Significant First; North Indian Instrumental Form; Sonata Form; Telling the Story; Music for the Moment; Contrasting Instrumentation; Through-composed Music; Strophic Form; Responding to the Context; Expectation for Audience-Performer Interaction; The Need for Intra-ensemble Interaction; Audience-performer Interaction in Storytelling; A Ritual Context; Echoes of a Ritual Practice; Call and Response; Music and Movement; Coming to the end; Aesthetic choice and intellectual play; Contrasting Rhythmic Modes; Social Values; 6. THINKING ABOUT ISSUES; Encounters and Identities; A Focus on Influences; A Focus on Boundaries; The national community; Regional identities; Gender; Multiple Identities; Authenticity; Transcending Boundaries; The Mass Media; Globalization; The Local; 7. THINKING ABOUT FIELDWORK; Picking a Project; Planning the Project; Doing the Project; Finishing the Project; Glossary of Musical Terms; References; Resources; Index