Music in Mainland Southeast Asia: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

Gavin Douglas

Oxford University Press, 2010 - Music - 186 pages

** Music in Mainland Southeast Asia is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music
around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. **

Mainland Southeast Asia is a culturally diverse and musically intriguing area, yet the ethnomusicological record lacks coverage of many of its musical and cultural traditions. Placing the music of this region within a social, cultural, and historical context, Music in Mainland Southeast Asia is the
first brief, stand-alone volume to profile the under-represented musical traditions of Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It also contains the first introduction to Burmese music ever presented in a music textbook.

Drawing on his extensive fieldwork, author Gavin Douglas frames this survey of Southeast Asian music within three key themes: music and diversity, music and political turmoil, and music and globalization. Each theme lends itself to a discussion of the region's classical musical traditions, folk
traditions, and contemporary developments. Uniquely focusing on the people who practice these musical traditions--rather than the locales from which the traditions originate--the text also follows individuals out of their native lands and into diasporic communities throughout the world.

A vibrant, thorough introduction, Music in Mainland Southeast Asia is ideal for introductory undergraduate courses in world music or ethnomusicology and for upper-level courses in Southeast Asian music or Southeast Asian culture. Packaged with a 70-minute CD containing musical examples, the text
features numerous listening activities that actively engage students with the music and the themes. The companion website includes supplementary materials for instructors.

Contents

• Classical Traditions Court Traditions: 36
• Thailand and Cambodia: 53
• Vietnam: 64

About the author

Gavin Douglas is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has conducted research throughout mainland Southeast Asia with particular attention to Burma/Myanmar and has published his findings in numerous articles and encyclopedia entries. In addition to writing about music he plays guitar, Irish flute, and Burmese harp.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Music in Mainland Southeast Asia: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture; Experiencing music, expressing culture; Global music series
• Author: Gavin Douglas
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: May 12, 2010
• ISBN: 0195367839, 9780195367836
• Length: 186 pages