From Rice Paddies and Temple Yards

From the Back Cover: From Rice Paddies and Temple Yards: Traditional Music Of Vietnam presents an in-depth look at the music and culture of Vietnam, written by one of the foremost scholars and performers of traditional Vietnamese music in the world today. This is the first time an annotated collection of Vietnamese music has been prepared in English. The team of Phong Nguyen and Patricia Shehan Campbell, and ethnomusicologist and music educator, has produced a truly unique contribution to multicultural education, equally useful for Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese readers, music or social studies classes, courses in Southeast Asian culture and community outreach programs. An extremely varied collection, From Rice Paddies and Temple Yards: Traditional Music of Vietnam includes game songs, love songs, boating songs, recited and sung poetry and instrumental music. It offers a section on the history and culture of Vietnam, a general introduction to the music and instruments, and twelve vocal and instrumental pieces with study guides for group use. A fluid writing style, in-depth annotation, and personal notes by Phong Nguyen about every selection take this out of the realm of dry scholarship and place it firmly within reach of all those who want to remember and preserve their heritage, as well as those who are being introduced to these gently flowing rivers of Vietnamese music for the first time.