Part 1: The United States and Canada as a Musical Area

The United States and Canada are home to people and communities from virtually every nation in the world. The sheer variety and liveliness of the social and musical traditions in these two countries reflect over twelve thousand years of history and interaction that continue to help define them as musical cultures in today’s world. From centuries-old practices, such as performing mimetic dances at harvest time, to newer ones, such as the marketing of popular music; from the political performances...