This volume explores the underpinnings of various theoretical approaches to the study of world music. The text analyzes the approaches citing the differences and the procedures common to all orientations. It also explores how ethnomusicologists use these theories in ethnographic research.

Nettl offers the most comprehensive discussion of the field available anywhere. This book looks at the field of ethnomusicology - defined as the study of the world's musics from a comparative perspective, and the study of all music from an anthropological perspective - as a field of research.