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- The Christopher Small Reader
A rich representation of the transformative work of an influential scholar of music studies
The Christopher Small Reader is the fourth and final book in Christopher Small's legacy as a composer, pianist, teacher, friend, provocateur, and influential outsider in classical music studies. It is at once a compendium of, a complement to, and an important addition to Small's prior books: Musicking; Music, Society, Education; and Music of the Common Tongue. The Christopher Small Reader brings previously published work, some of it available in disparate locations, together with key excerpts from his three books, and other writings that remained unpublished at his passing in 2011, making available ideas that were not included in the earlier books and presenting an overview of his thought over the course of his life. The collection is a fitting capstone, providing rich insights into Small's understanding of musicking as a crucial way of relating to the world.
Hardcover is un-jacketed.
Editor's Introduction by Robert Walser
Autobiography (2004; rev. 2008)
Introduction to Music-Society-Education (1977)
A Different Drummer—American Music: From Music-Society-Education (1977)
Introduction to Music of the Common Tongue (1987)
Styles of Encounter III—Jazz: From Music of the Common Tongue (1987)
Whose Music Do We Teach, Anyway? (1990)
Introduction to Musicking: Prelude: Music and Musicking (1998)
A Solitary Flute Player: From Musicking (1977)
Interview by Robert Christgau (2000)
The Sardana and Its Meanings (2003)
Why Doesn't the Whole World Love Chamber Music? (2001)
Creative Reunderstandings (2005)
Rock Concert (2002)
Exploring, Affirming, Celebrating—and Teaching (2003)
Deep and Crisp and Even (2008)
Six Aphorisms and Five Commentaries (2007)
Afterword: On Music Education (2009)
Pelicans (2009)
Afterword by Susan McClary: Remembering Neville Braithwaite
Acknowledgments
Index
CHRISTOPHER SMALL (1927–2011) was a senior lecturer at Ealing College of Higher Education in London until 1986 and lived in Sitges, Spain, until his death. ROBERT WALSER is a professor of music at Case Western Reserve University, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, and editor of Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History.
"Here, you might think, are a few simple ideas, repeated many times. But they go deep, and seem simple only because we've gotten used to them. They can illuminate every corner of art, and our lives."
~Greg Sandow, The Juilliard School
"What puts Chris Small in a class by himself as the leading music & society thinker to date is his balanced, beautifully crafted and always clarifying prose. A necessary completion of Small's thinking-in-writing, this book may well be the most useful, allowing readers from every interest or field to consider his timely and radically egalitarian message."
~Charles Keil, coauthor of Music Grooves
"From book excerpts of Small's classic texts to delightful, informal pieces, The Reader represents the vitality and integrity of a unique voice in music scholarship."
~Marie McCarthy, professor of music education, University of Michigan
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