Music and Autism Speaking for Ourselves

In Music and Autism: Speaking for Ourselves, renowned ethnomusicologist Michael Bakan engages in deep conversations-some spanning the course of years-with ten unique and fascinating individuals who share two basic things in common: an autism spectrum diagnosis and a life in which music is central. The result is a profound yet accessible exploration of how people make and experience music, and of why it matters to them that they do, one whose rich tapestry of words, images, and musical sounds speaks to both the extraordinary diversity of autistic experience and the common humanity we all share.

Michael Bakan is Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida State University. His more than seventy publications include the books World Music: Traditions and Transformations and Music of Death and New Creation. Bakan serves as series editor for the Routledge Focus on World Music book series and has performed as a percussionist with John Cage, Tito Puente, Rudolf Serkin, and George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as with several leading gamelan groups in Bali, Indonesia.

Figures
Companion Website Contents
Acknowledgements

Prologue: Autumn, 2003
1. Introduction
2. Zena Hamelson
3. Mara Chasar
4. Donald Rindale
5. Elizabeth J. "Ibby" Grace
6. Dotan Nitzberg
7. Graeme Gibson
8. Maureen Pytlik
9. Gordon Peterson
10. Amy Sequenzia
11. Addison Silar
12. Conclusion: "Living with Autism Shouldn't Be Hard"

References Cited
Additional Reading