My Music: Explorations of Music in Daily Life (Music Culture)
This book could serve as a Rorschach test for the reader; many will applaud it as a celebration of diversity, while some may see it as further evidence of the decline of Western civilization. People of all ages from Buffalo, New York were asked, in essence, "What is music about for you?" The book offers 41 of their answers. While it is impossible to categorize the responses, a few generalizations can be drawn. "Classical" music is generally marginal to people's lives. Instead, people identify with different popular styles, depending on age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The Grateful Dead, New Age, Country and Western, and Rap music are all diverse, highly symbolic styles worn as badges by their devotees. This book makes an important, stimulating contribution to an exciting area of study: the sociobiology of music. Recommended for academic lib raries.- E. Gaub, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo,Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.