Pathways to Music

Author(s): Kevin Salfen

Maybe you’ve noticed? Traditional music appreciation textbooks aren’t cutting it anymore. Conceived as streamlined, even “dumbed-down” chronological surveys of Euro-American music, they are increasingly distant from students whose literacy is more diverse. When these textbooks feature music from other cultures, it’s sidelined—often literally—a counterexample, a complement, reinforcing a hierarchy that today’s university students have every reason to challenge.