SurroundSound: A New Approach to Music Appreciation is designed to engage college and high school students in meaningful listening and discussion to help students get an ""out of the box"" perspective on the world of music. In SurroundSound, Carrell approaches music appreciation from the point of view of the educator and musician that she is. Her primary objective is clear: to give all students the tools needed to enjoy, understand, and appreciate music of a wide variety. Developing higher-level thinking and writing skills is a further objective featured throughout. After preliminary discussions of music and musical elements in the opening chapters, each remaining chapter presents music of a specific setting or topic in chronological order, building an understanding of the style eras over the course of the text.
In order to dispel the trepidation with which many students face music appreciation courses, the authors aim to show students that they already have highly-developed listening skills, even if they do not know the terminology. Several methods are then used to reach more students:
- Music concepts are explained in various ways addressing multiple learning styles.
- Chapters focus on specific musical elements to further understanding of basic concepts.
- Music listening examples and assignments represent a wide variety of styles, including folk, world, jazz and popular music.
- Approachable music listening examples are chosen primarily to reflect art music that students are likely to encounter in concerts.
- Discussion questions are contained within each chapter to direct student listening and to facilitate class discussion.
- Study tools are included in each chapter to promote student reading, listening, study, and comprehension:
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- Vocabulary work page
- Chapter Study Guide
- Listening Study Chart
- Exercises
Music playlists for each chapter are streamed from Rhapsody, and each textbook includes a one-time use Rhapsody membership. Foreword materials include ideas to facilitate student listening, concert attendance, and the writing of concert reviews. The online component includes links to chapter playlists and materials for teachers such as PowerPoint presentations, activity ideas, related articles, author explanations, and more.
