Re: ethnomusicology texts

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Musics of Many Cultures, Ellizabeth May, editor, has a chapter on Jewish
music by the late Abraham Schwadron, a music ed prof at UCLA, which has one
of the world's leading ethno programs.  I haven't read it in a while, but I
don't recall liking it much and it's very dated, unless there's a new
edition.  I recall reading it first in 1991 and writing a review of Rhythm
+ Jews for Ethnomusicology a year or so later.  The May book wasn't new at
the time and Schwadron's essay, as I recall, didn't even mention the
(forgive me if you have issues with this term) klezmer revival.

I think Bruno Nettl has a new book that might do better.   Jeff Tod Titon's
Worlds of Music has a chapter on Balkan music with a little on Jewish
music.

There's a trend these days toward folks making course packets, rather than
relying on single books.  If you can cobble together what you need from a
single publisher, they might put it together and print it for you.  If that
interests you, their regional sales rep will be more than happy to help.

All that being said, I find the offerings on Jewish music at a basic level
pretty slim pickings.  Given the number of outstanding Jewish
ethnomusicologists (and at least one Gentile ethnomusicologist who works on
Jewish music), I find that lamentable.



elliott_simon (at) dca(dot)net wrote:

> Hi...Is anyone aware of college level ethnomusicology textbooks for an
> intro survey course that include a chapter on Jewish Music....I was
> talking to Hankus Netsky at Klezkanada about this briefly and he was
> saying that Harry Sapoznik and Mark Slobin had done chapters for such
> textbooks but I never got the textbook titles or textbook authors....My
> experience, although pretty limited, is that Jewish Music is not
> usually covered in such courses.....The local Penn State branch campus
> near me, Prof Paul Greene, is now including a unit on Jewish music in
> their ethnomusicology course, that I am assisting with.....does anyone
> else have experience with this?...thanks...best to all, Elliott
>
> Elliott Simon
> Staff Writer AAJ-NY
>

--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music and Jewish Studies
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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