For as long as there has been work, humans have sung to celebrate it, distract themselves from it, to make it tolerable and to accomplish it more efficiently. ‘Ted Gioia enriches and makes real the powerful message that music is, and has always been, an integral part of the toolkit that ordinary humans have used to navigate life’ writes John Sloboda, author of Exploring the Musical Mind. ‘He shows that, far from being a pastime to fill idle moments or a distraction from everyday preoccupations, music addresses fundamental issues of human existence, survival, and liberation. Gioia’s work offers hope to those who fear that the corporate mass media may have suffocated the age-old impulse of ordinary people to make music their own.’

Duke University Press | Hardback 360 pp. |ISBN: 9780822337263