This is a very informative collection of articles covering many aspects of South Asian music. It includes articles about North and South Indian classical traditions, folk traditions, dance, and popular music. There are also many articles about the role of music in society, women in music in South Asia, and South Asian music worldwide. Each region of South Asia is also covered with individual chapters. Many of the musical concepts and structures are exemplified in the accompanying CD; the relevant CD tracks are clearly noted in the text.

Living in Dubai, I have found myself immersed in South Asian culture, and recently started studying carnatic music on the veena, simply because it was here. Lacking all knowledge of the contexts in which the veena is played, I found myself floundering in my studies. The first teachers I worked with here either haven't had enough English or enough music theory studies to explain the music. I searched on the Net for information about carnatic music, but found that most of the information was written by Indians for Indians, using terms that I don't understand or can't make sense of. What makes this book different is that it is written for Western audiences, and the Indian terms are fully explained. As a result, this book has been a tremendous resource for me in explaining the music theory that I was struggling with, as well as the context of the music in Indian society. I've never read an encyclopedia cover to cover before, but once I got started reading this one, I couldn't stop.

The Study of Ethnomusicology is very usefull book to a person who's mother tongue is not English.The way Mr. Nettl uses English in his book is very colourfull and understandable,and it is NOT boring!To describe my experieces of this book shortly is; a stranger became a friend. The Study of Ethnomusicology is not only for ethnomusic researchers, but for all kind of music studies. Why 8? Well, nobodys perfict.

This book is an overview and introduction to the field of ethnomusicology. In the introduction, Nettl mentions that the book could be used as an introduction to ethnomusicology for graduate students. However, the text is quite accessible and the terminology and concepts are easily comprehensible to the general reader. The book consists of essays by Nettl on numerous topics that cover the field of ethnomusicology. Many of the essays have catchy titles that address commonly-held beliefs about ethnomusicology directly, such as "The Non-Universal Language", or "Music Hath Charms". The book is very well referenced, and it provides a succinct introduction to the ethnomusicology literature. If you want to know what ethnomusicologists do (or think about), this book will be quite useful.

As a linguist, I was struck when reading this book by how relevant much of linguistic theory and research could be for the field of ethnomusicology. The methods of historical linguistics could be quite useful for researchers studying the spread of instruments or musical forms. Formal theories of syntax and phonology could also be applied to intervals in scales and rhythms. Nettl considers many of these possibilities, and reviews published research in these areas. One important area that could receive even more focus is the association of form and meaning, a concept that is at the foundation of linguistic research, but doesn't seem to be a central issue for ethnomusicologists, at least as discussed in these essays.

An excellent set of articles on improvisation, with one on the psychology of improv, and articles on Gamelan, Arabic music, jazz, Cantonese opera, Latin dance, Hindustani music, children's games.

Improvisation is not the same everywhere. And there are differences from culture to culture, and performer to performer, in just how much of a performance is improvised. These essays address these and other issues.

A well elaborated introduction to ethnomusicology that still persists an important source nowadays.At the same time he had summarized the state of the art of contemporary discipline, Nettl also contributed to the consolidation of the ethnomusicology method of working.

I am currently a teaching assistant for a class which uses this textbook. Comparatively, this is probably one of the better introductory textbooks for students who are not necessarily musically inclined, such as the class I work with. There is not a great deal of technical music jargon and it provides some decent contextualizations. However, some chapters are lacking in information and can be quite a dull read for students, such as the chapter on Japanese music. And at times authors give too much in the way of personal "fieldwork" anecdotes instead of covering other areas or possible issues. The third edition came out not too recently, but from what I can tell, contains almost the exact same information as the second.

This book presents a series of articles on music and the role of music in a variety of cultures around the globe. The articles each begin with a description of a musical event or concert in a culture, then go on to give more details about characteristics of a wide range of musical styles in that culture. The featured description in each chapter is usually some sort of traditional or classical style for that culture, and popular music in the culture is treated briefly. I found a few of the musical terms hard to understand, never having studied musical theory myself. Perhaps some of these terms would have become more clear through listening to the oft-mentioned accompanying CD, which I unfortunately don't have. There is a glossary in the back of the book, but its definitions are not sufficient to make meanings clear to someone without a thorough grounding in world music. In a few places, the proofreader missed some details, as for example, p. 46 the map of the Middle East shows UAR where the UAE is supposed to be! In addition to the use of technical terms without explanations, the lack of an overall big picture of world music makes this book more of a resource to dip into for background readings than a systematic introduction to the subject. It would work well as readings for a course, but is not ideal for self-study.

I first came across this book when still a student taking an introductory course in asian music cultures. It was and is still is a great read especially for students who are non-musicology majors and have a tendency to get lsot in more technical books. The language, style, presentation and discussion is simple and interestingly handled. Not too scholarly as to be overwhelming. Great background on the socio-cultural context of the music.