One of the great joys of summer teaching is having guest speakers. Last week we welcomed my colleague, the eminent ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl. We discussed the chapter “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? Teaching and Learning” from his wonderful The Study of Ethnomusicology.

Although the book is a treasure, there’s nothing like enjoying Bruno’s humor, insights, stories and musical examples in person. As the chapter states, “A comprehensive understanding of the music of a culture includes the way it is learned and the materials that are used to teach it” (p. 389). He said, if anything, he would expand the chapter as the importance of teaching and learning are increasingly central to ethnomusicology.