Exploring the ways that shared musical practices transmit social knowledge, this book offers an account of our own cultural moment in terms of two dominant traditions: tonality and blues. It tackles big issues concerning classical, popular, and postmodern repertoires and their relations to the broader musical worlds that create and enjoy them.
"Conventional Wisdom is a contribution to musicology of the first order. The field will have to reckon with it for years to come, for it will become the point of departure for discussions not only on the foundation of classical tonality and the American blues, but also for its deconstruction of the borderlands of 'the purely musical."-José David Saldívar, author of Border Matters
"In Conventional Wisdom Susan McClary once again brings her unique blend of audacity and judiciousness to the project of rethinking the basis of musical history. Ranging nimbly from Vivaldi to the blues and beyond, McClary reanimates the tired (not to say conventional) concept of musical convention. She shows not only that 'purely musical' conventions are tools for doing cultural work, but also that they act as a kind of barometer for the cultural work that particular eras feel the need of doing. She advances recent debates on the social import of music in a spirit of dialogue without sacrificing anything in the way of cutting-edge thought. This is a scintillating and challenging book that will be read eagerly by specialists and nonspecialists alike. No one who cares about music can afford to miss it."-Lawrence Kramer, author of After the Lovedeath
