Toward a Sound Ecology

Jeff Todd Titon is Professor of Music, Emeritus, at Brown University. He has been active professionally both in folklore and ethnomusicology for more than 45 years. He is known for developing and practicing collaborative ethnographic field research based in reciprocity and friendship, for pioneering an applied ethnomusicology based in social responsibility, for his 1984 proposal that musical cultures could be understood as ecosystems, and for developing an ecological approach to cultural and musical sustainability.

Toward a Sound Ecology places many of Titon's key writings that were foundational to the development of ethnomusicology, as well as the subfield of ecomusicology, and continue to influence the field in one location where they can be in dialogue with one another. The reader can trace the trajectory of Titon's intellectual contributions to the discipline and his work with his fieldwork communities through the volume's clear chronological organization and thematic groupings.- Kate Galloway, Wesleyan University Titon is unquestionably one of the more important ethnomusicologists of the 20th century, providing leadership and direction in the field as it navigates and develops along various axes of inquiry. . . . Toward a Sound Ecology is a welcome contribution to the field of ethnomusicology and a valuable resource.- David A. McDonald, Indiana University Toward a Sound Ecology offers not only a retrospective on shifting thought in ethnomusicology throughout the length of Titon's career but also suggestions about where it may go in the future. Titon's book is a fascinating character study that shows the evolution of his thinking, situated within real-world ethnographic and biographical specifics, and proposes future expansions for the field in its current state. Each of the essays can be excerpted and used out of context for a variety of purposes, but the book as a whole serves as an excellent refresher on the field as a whole, as well as a suggestion of what it may soon become.- Julianne Graper (Journal of Folklore Research)

• IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction I. Field Work: Folklore and Ethnomusicology 1. The Life Story 2. Ethnomusicology as the Study of People Making Music3. Text 4. Knowing Fieldwork 5. Applied Ethnomusicology: A Descriptive and Historical AccountII: Cultural and Musical Sustainability 6. 'The Real Thing': Tourism, Authenticity, and Pilgrimage among the Old Regular Baptists at the 1997 Smithsonian Folklife Festival7. Music and Sustainability: An Ecological Viewpoint8. Sustainability, Resilience, Adaptive Management, and Applied EthnomusicologyIII: Toward a Sound Ecology 9. A Sound Commons for All Living Creatures10. The Nature of Ecomusicology11. Thoreau's Ear12. The Sound of Climate Change13. Sustainability and a Sound EcologyNotes References Selected List of Publications by Jeff Todd Titon Index