Module 1

  (start at 11:38)

Title: India Blue

Artist: Ali Akbar Khan

Culture of Origin: India

Instrumentation: Sarod, Tamboura, and Tabla

This piece is the perfect example of how world music can bridge the gap between ethnomusicology and music pedagogy.  Ethnomusicologists help to inform a culture or society of people about another culture's musical tastes and practices.  In this piece, there are several instruments used that would be foreign sounding to the western music listener.  Ethnomusicologists help to inform members of western society of music types of other cultures through educating music teachers in their teacher preparation programs and charging them with the importance of educating their students in the matter.  As Nettl states in his book, "The world of music has changed incredibly since the 1980s, and ethnomusicologists are recognized as having contributed to these changes, and sought as interpreters of what has happened.  Their work has contributed greatly to what is now taught in public school music programs..." (2005, p. 9).  Through the study conducted by ethnomusicologists, music educators can learn how and what to authentically teach about music of other cultures to their students.

Nettl. (2005).  The musics of the world.