Ubiquitous Musics: The Everyday Sounds That We Don't Always Notice (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series) - Hardcover

'The diverse chapters collected in this book address the ways in which our contexts of action are nearly always musicalized. Ubiquitous Musics tells us about "popular and folk music" in the broadest - and most powerful - manner possible and contributes richly to the study of organizations and everyday life.' Tia DeNora, University of Exeter, UK 'This volume accepts the world as a place that is full of sounds that come to us uninvited or that we utilize for a number of purposes other than pure listening pleasure ... This innovative book should get people to listen in new and enlightening ways to the continuous music that surrounds us all'. Rock Music Studies '... recommended for academic libraries serving departments of musicology, sociology, communication, and history'. Music Reference Services Quarterly 'In a sense, Ubiquitous Musics itself is a call to action. Although modest in size, this impressive collection is ambitious in its scope and goals, and by offering a sampling of the history of ubiquitous music and the technologies and spaces through which it is mediated, we are - in the best sense - left wanting more.' Technology and Culture 'This collection, and the idea of ubiquitous musics, provides music scholars with a conceptual and disciplinary space for addressing the vast amounts of non-structural musical consumption that occurs globally.' Music Research Forum '... readers from many academic disciplines will find something within these pages to which they will want to give nothing less than their full, undivided attention'. Popular Music

Ubiquitous Musics offers a multidisciplinary approach to the pervasive presence of music in everyday life. The essays address a variety of situations in which music is present alongside other activities and does not demand focused attention from (sometimes involuntary) listeners. The contributors present different theoretical perspectives on the increasing ubiquity of music and its implications for the experience of listening. The collection consists of nine essays divided into three sections: Histories, Technologies, and Spaces. The first section addresses the historical origins of functional music and the debates on how reproduced music, including a wide range of styles and genres, spread so quickly across so many environments. The second section focuses on more contemporary sound technologies, including mobile phones in India, the role of visible playback technology in film, and listening to portable digital players. The final section reflects on settings such as malls, stores, gyms, offices and cars in which ubiquitous musics are often present, but rarely thought about. This last section - and ultimately the whole collection - seeks to foster a wider understanding of listening practices by lending a fresh, critical ear.