Informed by her in-depth ethnomusical knowledge, the result of detailed fieldwork, Mans¿s book is about musical worlds and how we as people inhabit them. The book asserts that an understanding of our musical worlds can be a transformative educational tool that could have a significant role to play in multicultural music and arts education. She explores the way in which musical expression, with its myriad cultural variations, reveals much about identity and cultural norms, and shows how particular musical sounds are aesthetically related to these norms. The author goes further to suggest that similar systems can be detected across cultures, while each world remains colored by a distinctive soundscape.Mans also looks at the way each cultural soundscape is a symbolic manifestation of a society¿s collective cognition, sorting musical behavior and sounds into clusters and patterns that fulfill each society¿s requirements. She probes the fact that in today¿s globalized and mobile world, as people move from one society to another, cross-cultural acts and hybrids result in a number of new aesthetics.Finally, in addition to three personal narratives by musicians from different continents, the author has invited scholars from diverse specializations and locations to comment on different sections of the book, opening up a critical dialogue with voices from different parts of the globe. Musical categorization, identity, values, aesthetic evaluation, creativity, curriculum, assessment and teacher education are some of the issues tackled in this manner.

Challenges current thinking on arts education with its emphasis on cultural aesthetics

Chapter 1 Why a musical world?1.1 Theoretical Background1.1.1 Cultural sensitivities1.1.2 Music emanates from communities of music practice drawn upon cultural landscapes1.2 Educational theory principlesChapter 2 Thinking music: Processes of musical cognition2.1 Socio-cultural processes of musical thinking2.1.1 Classifying musical sounds into categories2.1.2 Recognition, identification, selection, and anticipation2.1.3 Memory2.1.4 Development of templates2.1.5 Cultural immersion and creative thinking2.1.6 Understanding symbols and value systemsA Musician¿s Narrative by Koji MatsonobuChapter 3 A functioning musical world3.1 Social musical organization3.2 Musical Practice and Behavior3.3 Musical systems3.3.1 Macro-organization determined by society and its systemsCounterpoint and interlock by Magne Espeland3.3.2 Meso-organization into RepertoiresCounterpoint and interlock by Emmanuelle Olivier3.3.3 Micro-organizatioCounterpoint and interlock by Trevor Wiggins3.3.4 Framework with its parameters and rulesCounterpoint and Interlock by Rena UpitisA Musician¿s Narrative by Jackson KaujeuaChapter 4 Inhabiting a Musical World4.1 Identity4.1.1 Interpretations of cultural and musical identitiesCounterpoint and Interlock by Even Ruud4.2 Normative and aesthetic values invoked by musical worlds4.2.1 Values and music4.2.2 Aesthetic evaluations4.3 Meaning4.4 Perspectives on musical worlds located in complex cultural-political settings4.4.1 African metropolitan versus rural worlds by Meki Nzewi (South Africa and Nigeria)4.4.2 Multicultural Europe by Eva Fock (Denmark)4.4.3 Modern and traditional Asia by Koji Matsunobu(Japan)4.4.4 A South American melting pot by Alda Oliveira (Brazil)4.4.5 Socio-cultural contexts of music education: One North American perspective by Kari Veblen (Canada)Chapter 5 Educating in living musical worlds *5.1 The relation of arts education to cultural musical worlds.5.2 Musical development in classrooms?5.3 Cultural intersections or collisions?5.4 Creativity and issues of continuity and changeCounterpoint and interlock by Boh Wah Leung5.5 Music as social practice and normative education through music5.6 Suggestions for enhancing musical learning processes within musical worldsCounterpoint and interlock by Roger Avenstru5.7 Assessment issues in complex musical worldsCounterpoint and interlock by Regina Murphy5.8 Teacher educationA Musician¿s Narrative by Eva SætherChapter 6. Concluding thoughts - aluta continuaReferencesEndnotesAuthor biographiesIndex