In the introduction to What in the World Is Music? (2nd ed.), Alison E. Arnold and Jonathan C. Kramer posit that ours is an exceptional age: that, due to modern technology, there “has never been a time in history when music was more available, more portable, and more pervasive than today” (p. 1). The latest edition of What in the World Is Music? marshals a vast array of artistic case studies and methods of inquiry to help students make sense of this unprecedented level of diversity and access to the musical fruits of human labour.
The book comprises fifteen chapters that are grouped into four parts. Parts 1 and 2 take an inquiry-based approach to music as an auditory and social phenomenon. The first chapter, “What Is Music?” defines the term and posits a four-approach framework for understanding human musical behaviour. The physics of sound and mechanics of hearing are also introduced here. Chapters 2 and 3 address the human voice and musical instruments, respectively, providing information on sound production and the social contexts of singing and playing. Chapter 4 introduces elements of music, with subsections on rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, genre, and style. Chapter 5, which posits the question “where does music come from?,” introduces a wide array of origin myths and theories related to the genesis of musical practice. Chapter 6 introduces ten functions or contexts for music-making within human life.
Following these introductory chapters, Parts 3, 4, and 5 each introduce a new overarching framework of inquiry; each part contains three chapters elaborating on that theme. Part 3: Music and Identity contains chapters about group, hybrid, and oppositional identities. Part 4: Music and the Sacred includes chapters on sacred chant and devotional singing; sacred embodiment and enactment; and sacred space and time. Part 5: Music and Social Life concludes the text with chapters about narrative singing, theatre, and opera; music in public spaces; and music in tourism, sound recording, and film. Each chapter consists of collections of location- and genre-based case studies ranging in length from a paragraph to several pages each.
Planning any introductory-level survey course requires the instructor to set priorities for student learning and make compromises; the course textbook should ideally reflect these priorities. What in the World Is Music? (2nd ed.) favours topics organized by conceptual frameworks rather than geographic or historical context and prioritizes breadth over depth; it is designed to be used in either introductory-level music appreciation or world music courses. Two similar texts that come to mind are Kay Kaufman Shelemay’s Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World (3rd ed., 2015), which focuses on fewer case studies but examines them in more depth (including providing detailed listening guides), and Timothy Rice and Dave Wilson’s Gateways to Understanding Music (2nd ed., 2023), which is organized historically but is inclusive of global classical, popular, and vernacular traditions. While the first edition of this text was more closely related to Western classical music appreciation textbooks, the second edition’s philosophy and content are generally more aligned with world music survey texts.
The primary draws of What in the World Is Music? are the sheer variety of sounds it represents and the eclecticism of its approach. For instructors hoping to introduce students to the widest array of musical genres, performance contexts, and approaches to inquiry possible, this text will prove a delightful and trusty companion. The text is approachable, with bite-sized sections, ample and vibrant images, and links to a compelling array of audio and video examples. Some individual content areas and indeed entire chapters are distinctive. The chapter on voice, for example, is a rare inclusion among introductory music textbooks, which tend to emphasize instrumental traditions. Overall, the radiant spirit of inquiry this book presents in its tone and content is likely to energize and intrigue students and veteran teachers alike.
Another interesting feature of this book is its decentring of canonical Western classical and “world” genres; the text does not centre or privilege any repertoires or modes of musical thought, other than slight favouritism toward the authors’ areas of expertise and a puzzling near-exclusion of music from the island Pacific and Australia. The examples are weighted toward the twentieth century, but inclusive of the full historic spectrum of human musical activity. In taking this approach, the text makes a bold move toward dismantling structural cultural inequities present in many collegiate music curricula. Yet, with little overt discussion about insider/outsider perspectives, ethnocentrism, or ethical approaches to representing music and culture, this book gives little assistance to instructors wishing to engage students in interrogating their own access to and representations of musical knowledge.
What in the World Is Music? (2nd ed.) is divided into fifteen chapters, making it easy to use as the core text for a standard-length college semester. With the clean and easy-to-navigate inclusion of audiovisual examples in the electronic format of the book, this textbook would be an ideal resource for an online course or a large-enrolment lecture course. However, the AI-generated practice questions in the e-book are at best useless, and at worst may distract students from focusing on modes of inquiry rather than specific pieces of factual knowledge. In general, the book’s format likely lends itself best to students who are not expected to engage in further, upper-level study in music because it contains no listening guides, score excerpts, or other peripherals to aid in-depth analysis of individual tracks or genres. Instructors hoping to emphasize a deep understanding of historical and cultural context, musical analysis, or applied music-making activities within their classrooms will want to look elsewhere.
Ultimately, if this book has a singular message for readers, it is that studying the diversity of the world’s musical heritage is not only an essential way to connect with others but also a way to experience one of the most marvellous features of human existence. In cultivating this spirit of inquiry and wonder, What in the World is Music? provides an inspirational addition to the overall field of introductory-level music survey texts.
