Interpreting Music, Engaging Culture: An Introduction to Music Criticism offers a clear, hands-on guide for emerging music critics that brings together aesthetics, critical theory, and practical music criticism.

ContentsIntroduction A Critical Engagement with MusicCritical DiscourseFrom Critical to CriticismWhat’s Not Criticism?Why do Criticism?Chapter SummaryGuide QuestionsPART ONE: AESTHETIC FOUNDATIONS Chapter OneWhat is Art? The Musical Work ProblemThe Musical Work ConceptGetting to Know the Musical WorkHistorically Informed Performance (HIP) MovementGetting to Know Technical Aspects of the PerformanceGetting to Know Interpretive Aspects of the PerformanceThe Musical Work and ValueThe Case of Popular MusicChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter TwoAuthenticityDefining AuthenticityFolk AuthenticityAuthenticity in Hip HopChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter ThreeBeyond AuthenticityPostmodernismPostmodern Music and Its CriticismPostmodernism in a Post-Truth EraChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsPART TWO: CRITICIZING MUSIC Chapter FourDescribing MusicElements of MusicGenreStyle PeriodContexts for ConsumptionChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter FiveInterpreting MusicMusical InterpretationInterpretive StrategiesChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter SixEvaluating MusicSome Negative Criticism of Negative CriticismEvaluation and the Work’s PurposeThe Value of the PurposeThe Critic as EducatorChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsPART THREE: CRITICAL LENSES Chapter SevenFeminist Music CriticismFeminism and FeminismsWhy do we Need Feminism?History of FeminismsFeminism and MusicFeminist CriticismChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter EightQueer Music CriticismGender QueerQueering the PatriarchyMusic and Queer ExpressionCamp isn’t Always QueerQueer isn’t Always CampQueer Criticism as History and AllyshipChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter NinePostcolonialism and Critical Race TheoryOrientalismPostcolonialismPostcolonialism and Critical Race TheoryChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter TenMusic and Consumer CultureThe Case of Popular Music\Hybrid Advertising in Popular MusicMusic and Marketing in the Age of Social MediaChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsPART FOUR: CRITICAL CONTEXTS Chapter ElevenAlbum and Track-by-Track ReviewsAlbum Review in the Age of StreamingTrack By Track ReviewWriting for a Specific PublicationChapter SummaryGuide QuestionsChapter TwelveProgram Notes and the Live Concert ReviewProgram Notes as GuideLive ReviewChapter SummaryGuide Questions