Music in the USA

A treasure for anyone who is fascinated by America and its many streams of music. The selections are fresh and varied. The items treated include (to mention some that involve the letter C) Colonial hymns, Civil War marches, nineteenth-century prima donna and opera-company manager Clara Kellogg, Copland's Rodeo, Chuck Berry, and salsa musician Willie Colon. The annotations provide crisp information and context but also are studded with subtle, sometimes sly provocations. An ideal compendium for classroom use to complement - or perhaps even replace - a standard textbook on music in America. * Ralph P. Locke, Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) *
The entire course of American music emerges from this judiciously selected and introduced collection of 159 examples. * Gramophone *
A truly awesome and significant volume. * Alan Rich *
Judith Tick has provided the field of American music studies with an eclectic body of source materials, a road map to our individual and collective pasts. This major contribution turns the volume up: it documents this country's unbridled obsession with her musical self. The experiences lived in America's hushed concert halls, smoky jam sessions, pious cathedrals, and rowdy theaters are embedded in the written cultures they inspired. Have readings ever sounded so good? * Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., Associate Professor of Music History and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania *
Everyone who has an interest or a passion for this nation's music will want to become immersed in Music in the USA. Judith Tick weaves this collection of source readings and other writings into an ecstatic quil?- a portrait that could only be made in America. * George Boziwick, Curator, American Music Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts *