Scott Eriksen: World of Music - Eastern Asia by Peter Gutierrez

World of Music - Eastern Asia by Peter Gutierrez explains the musical culture in Eastern Asia in a detailed yet simple enough way to be understood by younger students. The musical culture in eastern Asia is one that is very different from our "western classical" environment but the explanations provided are concise enough so that one doesn't need to be a master of music to understand this new environment. There are plenty of pictures to help depict what the author is talking about and the book covers a lot of things related to music. There are sections about dance and the differences in tuning systems, as well as history when it comes to what instruments were used when. Also, it covers ancient music in these cultures and compares it to new "pop" music, so there is a nice tie in to the present. This could be useful in class for broadening my students' musical understandings, and would be a good, easy way to explain how "eastern" music is different from our "western" music but should still be appreciated.