Perspectives on Jewish Music: Secular and Sacred

by Jonathan L. Friedmann, Mark S. Goodman, Jeff Janeczko, Vanessa Paloma, William Sharlin

Overview

Perspectives on Jewish Music presents five unique and engaging explorations of Jewish music. Areas covered include self-expression in contemporary Jewish secular music, the rise of popular music in the American synagogue, the theological requirements of the cantor, the role of women in Sephardic music and society, and the personal reflections of a leading figure in American synagogue music. Its wide-ranging topics and disciplinary approaches give evidence for the centrality of music in Jewish religious and secular life, and demonstrate that Jewish music is as diverse as the Jews themselves. From these studies, readers will gain an appreciation of both what Jewish music is and what it does. This book will be useful for students, practitioners, and scholars of Jewish secular and religious music and Jewish cultural studies, as well as ethnomusicologists specializing in Jewish or religious music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739141526
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	09/03/2009
Pages:	170
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jonathan L. Friedmann is cantor of Bet Knesset Bamidbar in Las Vegas, Nevada and editor of Jewish Sacred Music and Jewish Identity (2008), The Value of Sacred Music (2008), and Music in Jewish Thought (2009).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 1. A Tale of Four Diasporas: Case Studies on the Relevance of "Diaspora" in Contemporary American Jewish Music
Chapter 4 2. The Folk and Folk/Rock Movement of the Sixties and Its Influence on the Contemporary Jewish Worship Service
Chapter 5 3. Humility, Prayer, and the Cantorial Ideal
Chapter 6 4. Gender and Liturgy in Music: Masculine and Feminine Forms of Language and Ritual in Sephardic Secular and Sacred Music
Chapter 7 5. Trust the Process: My Life in Sacred Song

Editorial Reviews

The diversity of subjects addressed in the book's rich bibliography of mostly English-language sources on music in Jewish culture further emphasizes the difficulty of coming to a useful definition of 'Jewish music.'

Musica Judaica Online Reviews - Joshua Walden

Perspectives on Jewish Music gives voice to a diverse choir of intellectual, passionate, original and committed approaches in exploring what is Jewish and what exactly is musical about Jewish Music. Friedmann demonstrates that the Jewish mouth sings colorful tones on many coasts, in various guises and genres—always surprising and thoughtful while all the while broadening an already supple tradition.

Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe

The diversity of subjects addressed in the book's rich bibliography of mostly English-language sources on music in Jewish culture further emphasizes the difficulty of coming to a useful definition of 'Jewish music.'--Joshua Walden "Musica Judaica Online Reviews, February 2010 "

Perspectives on Jewish Music gives voice to a diverse choir of intellectual, passionate, original and committed approaches in exploring what is Jewish and what exactly is musical about Jewish Music. Friedmann demonstrates that the Jewish mouth sings colorful tones on many coasts, in various guises and genres--always surprising and thoughtful while all the while broadening an already supple tradition.--Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe, Congregation Agudas Achim

From the Publisher

The diversity of subjects addressed in the book's rich bibliography of mostly English-language sources on music in Jewish culture further emphasizes the difficulty of coming to a useful definition of 'Jewish music.'

Musica Judaica Online Reviews, February 2010 - Joshua Walden