* Dismisses traditional, chronological format designed around European western canon to meets needs of today's ethnically diverse students, who identify their heritage as Asian, African, or Central American rather than European
* Builds on a series of chapter-long theme-oriented narratives such as ethnicity, gender, spirituality, love, technology, that interweave the musical here and now
* Focuses on how music creates and reflects social meaning in a variety of cultures and time periods.
* Leads the student from music or ideas with which they are familiar to music that is unfamiliar, always through the connecting thread of the original social concept.