• Considers how we think about music, and the basic principles and processes that apply across all musical cultures
• Presents the Western classical tradition within the context of many other musical cultures across the world
• Explores the history of music
• Considers the nature of performance and how composers create music

New to this Edition:

• Engages with fundamental changes in the creation, production, and monetisation of music resulting from digital technology
• Considers the role of music in our increasingly globalized world
• Thoroughly restructured and rewritten throughout
• Incorporates discussion of gender issues in music throughout the book
• Offers a new emphasis on music as performance

The world teems with different kinds of music - traditional, folk, classical, jazz, rock, pop - and each type of music tends to come with its own way of thinking. Drawing on a wealth of accessible examples ranging from Beethoven to Chinese zither music, this Very Short Introduction considers the history of music and thinking about music, focussing on its social and cultural dimensions. Nicholas Cook balances the Western Classical traditions within the context of many other musical cultures in today's world, tracing the way in which their development since the eighteenth century has conditioned present-day thinking and practice both within and beyond the West. He also considers the nature of music as a real-time performance practice; the role of music in contexts of social and political action; and the nature of musical thinking, including the roles played in it by instruments, notations, and creative imagination.
      
In this new edition Cook explores the impact of digital technology on the production and consumption of music, including how it has transformed participatory music-making and the music business. He also discusses music's position in a globalized world, from the role it played in historical processes of colonisation and decolonisation to its present-day significance as a vehicle of cross-cultural communication.