Music-Philosophy & Social Aspects

During the early medieval Islamicate period (800-1400 CE), discourses concerned with music and musicians were wide-ranging and contentious, and expressed in works on music theory and philosophy as well as literature and poetry. But in spite of attempts by influential scholars and political leaders...

Murder Ballads Old & New: A Dark and Bloody Record is an exploration of an age-old topic-- our human need to document the horrors of the world around us. The murder ballad, here expanded to include songs about traumatic loss in modern variants and...

Seen through the lens of Buddhist wisdom, Lovesic in Kyoto is a journey through spirit, language, musicianship, and the beauty and contradictions of modern-day Japan. From racing through New York City subways to riding his bicycle past white-faced, kimono-clad maiko in Kyoto, author/expatriate Jay...

Award-winning music educator Merlin B. Thompson invites today's teachers to link their teaching with notions of humanity and create success by building on what students naturally bring to their own musical journey. Filled with over fifty practical and inspirational teaching tips, More than Music...

Morton Feldman: Friendship and Mourning in the New York Avant-Garde documents the collaborations and conflicts essential to the history of the post-war avant-garde. It offers a study of composer Morton Feldman's associations and friendships with artists like John Cage, Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Frank...

Inventors in the age of the Enlightenment created lifelike androids capable of playing music on real instruments. Music and the Forms of Life examines the link between such simulated life and music, which began in the era's scientific literature and extended into a series...

Inventors in the age of the Enlightenment created lifelike androids capable of playing music on real instruments. Music and the Forms of Life examines the link between such simulated life and music, which began in the era's scientific literature and extended into a series...

Living Genres in Late Modernity rehears the American 1970s through the workings of its musical genres. Exploring stylistic developments from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, including soul, funk, disco, pop, the nocturne, and the concerto, Charles Kronengold treats genres as unstable constellations...

Living Genres in Late Modernity rehears the American 1970s through the workings of its musical genres. Exploring stylistic developments from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, including soul, funk, disco, pop, the nocturne, and the concerto, Charles Kronengold treats genres as unstable constellations...

Consciousness has been described as one of the most mysterious things in the universe. Scientists, philosophers, and commentators from a whole range of disciplines can't seem to agree on what it is, generating a sizeable field of contemporary research known as consciousness studies. Following...

Joining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can't Stop Won't Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth of the New York rock scene, led by a...

Grammy-winning music producer, Ian Brennan's seventh book, Muse-Sick: a music manifesto in fifty-nine notes, acts as a primer on how mass production and commercialization have corrupted the arts. Broken down into a series of core points and actions plans, Muse-Sick is a concise and...

Music may be the universal language that needs no words--the "language where all language ends," as Rilke put it--but that has not stopped poets from ancient times to the present from trying to represent it in verse. Here are Rumi and Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop...

Alfredo Zotti, a professional musician and bipolar survivor with a university degree in social anthropology and three years study of psychology, provides an introduction to music theory with specific case studies of applications for Alzheimer's, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, anxiety, depression...

Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR and GQJoining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can't Stop Won't Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth...

"An inspired and intuitive navigation of the drone continuum . . . with a compass firmly set to new and enlightening psychedelic truths"-- BECK In 1977 Sniffin' Glue verbalised the musical zeitgeist with their infamous 'this is a chord; this is another; now form...

This book provides an overview of professional musicians working within the healthcare system and explores programs that bring music into the environment of the hospital. Far from being onstage, musicians in the hospital provide musical engagement for patients and healthcare providers focused on life-and-death...

Alfredo Zotti, a professional musician and bipolar survivor with a university degree in social anthropology and three years study of psychology, provides an introduction to music theory with specific case studies of applications for Alzheimer's, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, anxiety, depression...

Morton Feldman: Friendship and Mourning in the New York Avant-Garde documents the collaborations and conflicts essential to the history of the post-war avant-garde. It offers a study of composer Morton Feldman's associations and friendships with artists like John Cage, Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Frank...

This book examines Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis as distinctively global symbols of threatening and nonthreatening black masculinity. It centers them in debates over U.S. cultural exceptionalism, noting how they have been part of the definition of jazz as a jingoistic and...

Bob Wiseman believes most things in life are universal or, as Lauryn Hill says, everything is everything. Bearing in mind that advice, Wiseman writes about finding the link between music and daily life, like what is common between Mary Margaret O'Hara, hiding around the...

Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation tells the story of the mixtape from its history in 1970s bootlegging to its resurgence as an icon of nostalgic analog technology. Burns looks at the history of the mixtape from the early 1980s and the rise of...

Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration explores global relationality within the realm ofintercultural collaboration in contemporary dance. Author SanSan Kwan looks specifically at duets, focusing on "East" "West" pairings, and how dance artists from different cultural and movement backgrounds -Asia, the Asian...

This book examines Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis as distinctively global symbols of threatening and nonthreatening black masculinity. It centers them in debates over U.S. cultural exceptionalism, noting how they have been part of the definition of jazz as a jingoistic and...

Author Melissa Chemam's in-depth study of the influences that led to the formation of the Wild Bunch and then Massive Attack looks into Bristol's past to explore how the city helped shape one of the most successful and innovative musical movements of the last...

Made in Ireland: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, sociology and musicology of 20th- and 21st-century Irish popular music. The volume consists of essays by leading scholars in the field and covers the major figures, styles...

During the early medieval Islamicate period (800-1400 CE), discourses concerned with music and musicians were wide-ranging and contentious, and expressed in works on music theory and philosophy as well as literature and poetry. But in spite of attempts by influential scholars and political leaders...

In this book author Cathy Benedict challenges and reframes traditional ways of addressing many of the topics we have come to think of as social justice. Offering practical suggestions for helping both teachers and students think philosophically (and thus critically) about the world around...

The historical significance of music-makers, music scenes, and music genres has long been mediated through academic and popular press publications such as magazines, films, and television documentaries. Media Narratives in Popular Music examines these various publications and questions how and why they are constructed....

Igor Stravinsky left behind a complex heritage of music and ideas. There are many examples of discrepancies between his literate statements about music and musicians and his musical compositions and activity. Per Dahl presents a model of communication that unveils a clear and logical...

A provocative, entertaining but ultimately serious examination of rock's most essential questions: Beatles or Stones? Which is the best air guitar to play? Does Rush suck? And what is the meaning of Billy Joel? Metaphysical Graffiti is a book for music fans, humor fans,...

As Scruton argues in this book, in earlier times, our musical culture had secure foundations in the church, the concert hall and the home; in the ceremonies and celebrations of ordinary life, religion and manners. Yet we no longer live in that world. Fewer...

Metaphysical Graffiti explores the philosophical themes prevalent in the music of the classic rock era. Each chapter is a detailed study of a classic rock performer or ensemble, applying insights from philosophers ancient and modern. It will appeal to an audience that was inspired...

Make Arts for a Better Life: A Guide for Working with Communities provides a ground-breaking model for arts advocacy. Drawing upon methods and theories from disciplines such as ethnomusicology, anthropology, folklore, community development, and communication studies, the Guide presents an in-depth approach to researching...

Environment, craft, and meaning in the work of Appalachian instrument makers. How can the craft of musical instrument making help reconnect people to place and reenchant work in Appalachia? How does the sonic search for musical tone change relationships with trees and forests? Following...

WInner of the Best First Book from the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Winner of the Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award Winner of the Ann Saddlemyer Award from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research Reimagining how we understand and write about...

Drawing on a mix of collaborative autoethnography, secondary literature, interviews with leading improvisers, and personal anecdotal material, Jamming the Classroom discusses the pedagogy of musical improvisation as a vehicle for teaching, learning, and enacting social justice. Heble and Stewart write that to "jam the...

Drawing on a mix of collaborative autoethnography, secondary literature, interviews with leading improvisers, and personal anecdotal material, Jamming the Classroom discusses the pedagogy of musical improvisation as a vehicle for teaching, learning, and enacting social justice. Heble and Stewart write that to "jam the...

Key is one of the simplest building blocks of music and is among the foundational properties of a work's musical identity--so why isn't it a standard parameter in discussing film music? Key Constellations: Interpreting Tonality in Film is the first book to investigate film...

In our noisy world, music is the key to inner silenceRichard Wolf first tried Zen meditation in his teens, but no matter in what posture or for how long he sat, transcendence proved stubbornly out of reach. It was only years later that he...

Despite the presence of the Flaming Lips in a commercial for a copier and Iggy Pop's music in luxury cruise advertisements, Jeffrey T. Nealon argues that popular music has not exactly been co-opted in the American capitalist present. Contemporary neoliberal capitalism has, in fact,...

What can hip-hop tell us about Egypt today? A decade ago, millions of Egyptians took to the streets in a people-led revolution that captivated the world's attention and sent ripples across the Middle East. But the so-called "Arab Spring" quickly faded, and a return...

""The world today is such a wicked place,"" Black Sabbath declared in 1969, when they recorded their debut album, set against a backdrop of war, assassinations, social unrest, and disillusionment. Cries for justice from the Civil Rights Movement, and for peace and love from...

Ihave learned whatReggioEmiliaisinthreestepsortiers.Thefirststepwas theyearsIhavespent workingattheECLC.Fromeight-hour daysoverthesummer, tocominginforjustthreehoursintheafter-careprogramafterhighschool, to subbingasapreschoolteacherwhenhomefromcollegeonbreaks, mycommitment tothemissionofthephilosophyofinspirationonlygrew asIgainedmore experience. Irememberoneofthefirstassociationsmydevelopingbrainhadwith theReggioapproach.Therewasasubstitute fortheartspecialistwhocameinwith coloringpages, aboxfulloffreshcrayons, andawarmsmile.Oneoftheteachers whisperedtome,"wellthatisnotReggio!"Shelaterexplainedtomethatbecauseof theItalianphilosophy thatinspirestheECLCwedonot giveourchildrencoloring pagesbecausewewantthemtobeabletocreateontheirownand explore freely.As Italkedmore withtheECLCdirectoraboutthephilosophyandwhytheychoseto traintheireducatorsinthisway, mydefinition ofwhatReggioismatured.Rather thanjustbeinganideathatencourageschildrentocomeupwiththeirownart projects, itgrewtobeabeliefthatchildrenareplayfulandpowerfulcreatorsif giventherightsuppliesandnurturance. InspiredbytheReggiophilosophy, I learnedabouttheimportanceoftrulylovingthechildrenIteachandtaking thetime to listentothemtalkAuthor: Allison Shira KayeISBN-10:...

What does it mean, in a polarized political climate, that feminism is popular in mainstream popular music during the 2010s? Engaging with feminist theory and previous research about gender and music, this book investigates the meaning of current trends relating to gender, feminism and...

Heavy Music Mothers explores women and heavy music and how women have historically engaged with musicking as mothers. With a focus on original interviews with contemporary rock and metal mothers, this is the first scholarly study that contextualizes the challenges and contributions of mothers...

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was the Afrobeat music maestro whose life and time provide the lens through which we can outline the postcolonial trajectory of the Nigerian state as well as the dynamics of most other African states. Through the Afrobeat music, Fela did not...

""The world today is such a wicked place,"" Black Sabbath declared in 1969, when they recorded their debut album, set against a backdrop of war, assassinations, social unrest, and disillusionment. Cries for justice from the Civil Rights Movement, and for peace and love from...

Author Garth Cartwright has travelled the length and breadth of the UK, conducting more than 100 interviews with some of the icons of the record shop trade and the wider music industry, including Martin Mills (Beggars Banquet), Geoff Travis (Rough Trade), Andy Gray (Andy's...

Music is surrounded by movement, from the arching back of the guitarist to the violinist swaying with each bow stroke. To John Paul Ito, these actions are not just a visual display; rather, they reveal what it really means for musicians to move with...