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Bought the book new but didn't realize that the CD's are sold separate, look for a used book deal that has them included if you are going to need them.
In reading the description again, I got exactly what I was promised. Book was fine but ws disappointed that it did not come with the cd's that were required for my daughters class. Had to go purchase the cd's seperarly bringing the price near what the school was charging for the set.
Shipped very fast, and received well within the time stated. Excellent service. Product is in great condition, same as described.
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. 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.
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. It doesn't cover Brazil which is full of various musical traditions and is such a large country. My Bosnian student had never heard of Bosnian ganga singing until this class. Whereas other chapters focus too broadly-an entire chapter that covers the whole continent of Africa and one on South America.
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. 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 was the book I used as a student. But, on the other hand from an academic, teaching point of view there are some flaws. - Japan, South India, Native America. Some of the chosen examples of traditions are highly localized too and not indicative of the general population.
I don't think this is a horrible textbook, of the few out there, this is probably the better one. 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 one problem is that some chapters focus on a country or region within a country, i.e. It's not that the information is at all wrong or presented in a bad way, it just needs clarification for students.
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