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The Relationship Between Music, Culture, and Society: Meaning in Music

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Book cover Music Learning and Teaching in Culturally and Socially Diverse Contexts

Abstract

Music is inextricably linked with the context in which it is produced, consumed and taught and the inter-relationship between music, society and culture has been researched for many decades. Seminal research in the field of ethnomusicology has explored how social and cultural customs influence music practices in macro and micro ways. Music, for example, can be a core feature of social celebrations such as weddings to a means of cultural expression and maintenance through ceremony. It is this meaning that can alter across contexts and therefore reflected in the ways music and sound is manipulated or constructed to form larger works with different purposes. Whether to entertain or play a crucial role in ceremonial rituals music practices cannot be separated from the environment in which it exists.

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Barton, G. (2018). The Relationship Between Music, Culture, and Society: Meaning in Music. In: Music Learning and Teaching in Culturally and Socially Diverse Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95408-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95408-0_2

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