<i>The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music</i> (review)

music was made in Hollywood. Likewise, Wierzbicki’s discussion of Dolby Stereo’s impact (pp. 206–07) emphasizes the important shifts in sound aesthetic ushered in by this technology, but leaves the reader wondering about the impact of subsequent sound technologies, such as THX, 5.1channel Dolby Digital, and Digital Theater System (DTS). However, the bulk of this section is not about historical developments, as the previous sections were. In stead, it is an examination of the scholarly discourse on film music from the 1970s through the early 2000s. The book’s summary seems to acknowledge this change in tone and approach, even if it doesn’t justify or explain the decision to treat the final section so differently: “One of the main themes of Film Music: A History has been the idea that for its first six decades, from its murky origins ca. 1895 up to the mid 1950s, the music that accompanied motion pictures at any given time was somehow ‘of a piece.’ . . . Always, during these first sixty or so years, film music followed a linear path” (pp. 233–34). Taken as a whole, Film Music: A History makes an important contribution to the textbook market for courses on film music. It will be of particular interest to those instructors whose courses are organized chronologically or that privilege Hollywood films over their European and Asian counterparts. The lack of case studies (except for The Birth of a Nation [pp. 58–61]) grants instructors a great deal of freedom in the selection of which films to include in their syllabi. As a textbook, it also demands supplementation (p. xiv). For instance, this book could be balanced with a number of classic articles on film music analysis and aesthetics, exposing students to a number of the most celebrated articles on film music and to widely varied approaches to studying a given film’s score. This book will also be of interest to those instructors whose courses focus primarily on films from the silent and “classic” eras. By situating the musical practices of these eras within the contexts of the industry, exhibition practices, and criticism, Wierzbicki’s book offers a rich historical narrative that complements the aesthetic and analytic focus of much of its competition on the market. Colin Roust Oberlin College The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music. Edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008. [xxv, 446 p. ISBN 9780754656999. $124.95.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, audio/videography, indexes, compact disc.