ABSTRACT
In Vietnam’s English language newsprint, the term “band” is used for any group of individuals performing popular music, including the usual loud rock bands, mellow pop-rock bands, vocal duos and trios, vocal ensembles of four and more, and boy and girl bands, which are often other words for vocal trios and quartets. Moreover, categories often merge and boundaries become blurred. The terms “professional” and “student” are also used as adjectives to distinguish bands of many types. I follow that tradition and use the term “band” in the context of this book to mean any Western-infl uenced popular music ensemble, but not traditional or neotraditional music ensembles, nor concert, dance, jazz, marching, or military bands.
