Excursions in World Music

by Bruno Nettl, Timothy Rommen (Editor)

Excursions in World Music is a comprehensive introductory textbook to world music, creating a panoramic experience for students by engaging the many cultures around the globe and highlighting the sheer diversity to be experienced in the world of music. At the same time, the text illustrates the often profound ways through which a deeper exploration of these many different communities can reveal overlaps, shared horizons, and common concerns in spite of and, because of, this very diversity.

The new seventh edition introduces five brand new chapters, including chapters by three new contributors on the Middle East, South Asia, and Korea, as well as a new chapter on Latin America along with a new introduction written by Timothy Rommen. General updates have been made to other chapters, replacing visuals and updating charts/statistics. Excursions in World Music remains a favorite among ethnomusicologists who want students to explore the in-depth knowledge and scholarship that animates regional studies of world music.

A companion website is available at no additional charge. For instructors, there is a new test bank and instructor's manual. Numerous student resources are posted, including streamed audio tracks for most of the listening guides, interactive quizzes, flashcards, and an interactive map with pinpoints of interest and activities. An ancillary package of a 3-CD set of audio tracks is available for separate purchase.



PURCHASING OPTIONS

Paperback: 9781138101463

Hardback: 9781138688568

eBook and mp3 file: 9781315619378*

Print Paperback Pack - Book and CD set: 9781138666443

Print Hardback Pack - Book and CD set: 9781138666436

Audio CD: 9781138688032

*See VitalSource for various eBook options (mp3 audio compilation not available for separate sale)

Genres: Music, Textbooks, Nonfiction

540 pages, Paperback

Published August 10, 2016

About the author

Bruno Nettl is professor emeritus of music and anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An internationally renowned musicologist, he is both a founder and past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the author of many books.

Reviews

[QianJunYu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book, terrible content, the authors are not good. They did not do good Ever since they publish their first edition of this book. They did not do good Ever since they start their work at university of Illinois or even back in university of Michigan

[Kim Browers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was assigned this book as part of my undergrad studies in 1998. I decided, upon forming a Near-Eastern music ensemble this year, to go back and re-read this in its entirety. My goal was to see if there was more detailed information about maqamat or cultural terms for musical ideas from the Middle East, North Africa, and Baltic regions. I found the material to be already outdated by the 90's when it was written, finding most of the fieldwork or examples were from the 1970's. That was disappointment #1. Disappointment #2 was that much of the terminology, instrumentation naming, and styles were barely touched on, or were using terms that were Anglicized or simply no longer employed. I did learn a bit about Chinese and Japanese music that I didn't know from before, but that's because I knew essentially nothing!

And disappointment #3 was that there is supposed to be an audio recording companion to this text, which was missing. I wanted to look at the discography, but none of the artists are credited by name, and not even song names were used. They use things like "karnatic song". That's not even remotely useful if you're using this as a launch point for primary music sources.

In summary, there wasn't enough technical/ethnic background to make this interesting for even intermediate-level studies of Ethnomusicology, but you would require some background knowledge or training to follow some of the nuances of music theory (meters, phrasing, AABB, etc.).

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this as a course book nor as layperson reading, as it fell short in both arenas.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nettl was a visiting lecturer when I was in college and I took his ethnomusicology course, for which this was assigned reading. It recently popped up in a box of old materials from college and I reread some of the chapters. The pieces are designed for a beginning reader and don't delve into great detail. There are separate sections on a variety of ethnomusicologies - Japanese, Native American, etc. Puzzlingly all of Sub-Saharan Africa is represented by one section about an mbira performance. I thought the piece by Nettl on music in prerevolutionary Iran was the most interesting, with another good one the piece on ethnic communities in the United States.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for a college course. It was not riveting, but I learned some good info.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook. Not bad.