Course Timeline

 

*             indicates a reading in American Klezmer, notin the course reader
@           indicates that the reading is available online
®            indicates a reading on reserve in the Music Library

 

Week One (3/31): Introduction/What Do Ethnomusicologists Do? Ethnomusicology is a vast field that employs many different research methodologies and analytical perspectives. This week we’ll learn about the general scope and methodology of the field, and also be introduced to two opposing views on musical recordings. As we begin our journey through this musical culture, it is important not only to think about what ethnomusicology can teach us about Radical Jewish Culture, but also about how Radical Jewish Culture can enhance our understanding of ethnomusicology. How does this course fit in with the field of ethnomusicology?

           
Readings: Nettl 2005 (3-15), Seeger 1992 (88-109), Adorno 2000 (288-317), @Benjamin 1968 (217-251)
            Listening: N/A

Week Two (4/07): The Klezmer Revival. What’s in a name? While the term “klezmer” literally means “vessel of song” and refers to the musicians who perform it, in popular contexts it has been used to refer to almost any type of Jewish music. This week we’ll learn about the “klezmer revival” and explore some of the issues surrounding the performance of the music and the use of the term. How does Radical Jewish Culture relate to this important musical revival that preceded it?

 

Readings: *Netsky 2002 (13-23), Slobin 2000 (11-35); *Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 2002 (129-173), Rubin 2003 (284-286)
            Listening: David Krakauer: Klezmer Madness!
Film Review: The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music, Kaufman 2001

Week Three (4/14): Jewish Music. Perhaps the most vexing question for scholars and performers of Jewish music is What is Jewish music? Is it the performance context that makes it Jewish? Or, is it something as simple as the types of scales used, or the identity of the performers making it. These readings take a look this topic from both contemporary and historical perspectives. Think not only about whether it’s possible to define Jewish music, but also why it’s important.

 

Readings: ® Bohlman 2002 (33-74), Brook (95-6), Cohen 2006 (95-118), Edelman (119-134)
Listening: Ben Perowsky: Camp Songs

 

Week Four (4/21): Current Themes in Jewish Studies. Terms like “diaspora,” “assimilation,” and “identity” abound in scholarly and lay discussions of American Jewish culture. And although scholarly writing usually purports to be “objective,” it usually supports a particular point of view. What do these terms mean and what is their significance for contemporary American Jews? What position do these authors take, either explicitly or implicitly, about contemporary American Jewish culture? How can these models inform the way we think about Radical Jewish Culture and vice versa?

Readings: Boyarin & Boyarin 2002 (1-33), Cohen 1997 (145-156), Fishman 2000 (1-13), Whitfield 1999 (1-31)
Listening: Anthony Coleman: Selfhaters

Week Five (4/28): John Zorn and the Genesis of Radical Jewish Culture. John Zorn has had a very diverse and varied musical career, one that has included winning a MacArthur “genius” grant, the William Schuman Composer’s Award, and running a successful record label. As the owner of Tzadik and the executive producer of the Radical Jewish Culture series, he is undoubtedly this movement’s most central figure. This week’s readings will give you an introduction to this man, his music and influence, and some of the controversy he has generated. What is John Zorn trying to accomplish through his music, Jewish or otherwise? What types of criticism are being lodged against him and what perspective are they coming from?

 

Readings: Blumenfeld 1999 (42-48, 80), @Zorn 2006, ® Cuthbert 2001 (1-31), Shatz 1999, McCutchan 1999 (161-171); Barzel 2003 (79-94)
Listening: John Zorn: Bar Kokbha
Film Review: Sabbath in Paradise; A Bookshelf on top of the Sky: 12 Stories about John Zorn

Week Six (5/05): Music, Culture, and Identity. Relationships between music, culture, and identity can be construed in many ways. Some hold that music reflects certain aspects of culture and identity, while others argue that it plays a role in shaping them. What are some ways we can think about the relationships between music, culture, and identity? What do these terms mean, and how can they help us understand Radical Jewish Culture? This week’s readings provide insightful theorizing on these terms both individually and in relation to one another.

 

Readings: Middleton (1-15), Abu-Lughod 1991 (137-47), Hall 1996 (1-17), Frith (108-117)
Listening: Charming Hostess: Sarajevo Blues

Week Seven (5/12): Hybridity and Appropriation in Music. Mixing different styles of music is an important part of both klezmer music and Radical Jewish Culture. This makes discussions of music in terms of genre and style problematic. How can these practices be interpreted? What governs the choices regarding which styles are incorporated, and what are the implications for the concept of Jewish music?

 

Readings: Born & Hesmondhalgh 2000 (21-37), Kun 2005 (48-85), *Jacobson 2002 (187-205), @ Gammel (1999)
Listening: Burt Bacharach/Various Artists: Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach

Week Eight (5/19): Sociological Views of Music and Culture. What is the relationship between music and society? How does music function sociologically? While only two of this weeks readings deal with music with any specificity, taken as a whole they present some interesting ideas about music’s sociological and communicative properties. How can these ideas help us understand Radical Jewish Culture and its position within Jewish culture more broadly? What are the implications of viewing music from a sociological perspective?

 

Readings: Bourdieu 1993 (29-52), Arendt 2007 (275-98), Bauman 1990 (143-169), Gilmore 1987 (209-227)
Listening: Rashanim: Shalosh

Draft of Final Research Paper Due

 

Week Nine (5/26): Memorial Day – No Class!

 

Week Ten (6/02) Insider Perspectives: Klezmer Revival and Radical Jewish Culture. As we gear up for final research papers and presentations, we turn to a series of “insider” perspectives. Each of these authors has an interesting perspective on music, klezmer, Radical Jewish Culture, and American Jewish culture in general. How do their perspectives augment and/or challenge the theoretical framework we’ve been developing?

 

Readings: *London 2002 (206-10), *Svigals 2002 (211-19), Ribot (1-25), Drache 2006 (14-27), @Kafrissen 2005, Schechter 2007 (8-14)
Listening: Marc Ribot: Yo! I Killed Your God

Rough Draft of Final Paper Due in Class

 

Finals Week

Final Presentations – Everyone Must Attend
Final Papers due Wednesday, June 11th by 5:00 P.M.

 

Readings             In the course reader unless…
*             indicates a reading in American Klezmer
®             indicates a reading on reserve in the Music Library
@             indicates that the reading is available online
                       

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1991. “Writing Against Culture.” In Recapturing Anthropology, edited by Richard Fox, 137-47. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.

Adorno, Theodor W. 2000. “On the Fetish Character of Music and the Regression of Listening.” In Essays on Music, edited by Richard Leppert, 288-317. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Arendt, Hannah. 2007. “The Jew as Pariah: A Hidden Tradition.” In The Jewish Writings, edited by Jerome Kohn and Ron H. Feldman, 275-98. New York: Grove Press.

Barzel, Tamar. 2003. “If Not Klezmer, Then What? Jewish Music and Modalities on New York City’s Downtown Music Scene.” Michigan Quarterly Review 42(1): 79-94.

Bauman, Zygmunt. 1990. “Modernity and Ambivalence.” Theory, Culture, and Society 7: 143-169

@ Benjamin, Walter. 1968. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt, 217-251. New York: Schocken Books.

Also available at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Blumenfeld, Larry. 1999. “John Zorn.” Jazziz 16(8): 42-48, 80.
® Bohlman, Philip V. 2002. “Inventing Jewish Music.” Yuval: Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre (7): 33-74. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press.

Born, Georgina and David Hesmondalgh, eds. 2000. “Introduction.” In Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music, 21-37. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1993. “The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed.” In The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, edited by Randal Johnson, 29-52. Columbia University Press.

Boyarin, Daniel and Jonathan Boyarin. 2002. “Introduction.” Powers of Diaspora: Two Essays on the Relevance of Jewish Culture, 1-33. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Brook, Vincent. 2006. “Music.” In You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture, edited by Vincent Brook, 95-6. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Cohen, Gerson. 1997. “The Blessings of Assimilation.” In Jewish History and Jewish Destiny, 145-56. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary.

Cohen, Judah. 2006. “Exploring the Postmodern Landscape of Jewish Music.” In You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture, edited by Vincent Brook, 97-118. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

® Cuthbert, Michael Scott. 2001. “Free improvisation: John Zorn and the construction of Jewish identity through music.” In Studies in Jewish musical traditions: insights from the Harvard collection of Judaica sound recordings, 1-31. Edited by Kay Kaufman Shelemay. Cambridge: Harvard College Library.

Drache, Mordecai. 2006. “Queerness and the New Jewish Cultures.” Zeek, Spring 2006: 14-27.

Edelman, Marsha Bryan. 2006. “Continuity, Creativity, and Conflict: The Ongoing Search for ‘Jewish’ Music.” In You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture, edited by Vincent Brook, 119-34. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Fishman, Sylvia Barack. 2000. “Introduction: Analyzing the Evidence.” In Jewish Life and American Culture, 1-13. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Frith, Simon. 1996. “Music and Identity.” In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, 108-17. London: Sage Publications.

@ Gammel, Marcus. 1999. “Migration and Identity Politics on New York’s Jewish Downtown Scene.” Unpublished paper. Available at: http://www2.hu-berlin.de/fpm/works/gammel.htm. Accessed 1 February 2007.

Gilmore, Samuel. 1987. “Coordination and Convention: The Organization of the Concert World.” Symbolic Interaction 10: 209-27.

Hall, Stuart. 1996. “Introduction: Who Needs Identity?” In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, 1-17. London: Sage Publications.

* Jacobson, Marion. 2002. “A Tale of Two Bands.” In American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, ed. Mark Slobin, 187-205. Berkeley: University of California Press.

@ Kafrissen, Rokhl. 2005. “A Jewish Cultural Manifesto: the Rootless Cosmopolitan.” Jewish Currents November-December.

Also available at: http://www.jewishcurrents.org/2005-nov-kafrissen.htm

* Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 2002. “Sounds of Sensibility.” In American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, edited by Mark Slobin, 129-173. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kun, Josh. 2005. “The Yiddish are Coming.” In Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, 48-87. Berkeley: University of California Press

* London, Frank. 2002. “An Insider’s View: How We Traveled from Obscurity to the Klezmer Establishment in Twenty Years.” In American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, edited by Mark Slobin, 206-10. Berkeley: University of California Press.

McCutchan, Ann. 1999. “John Zorn.” In The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak about the Creative Process, 161-71. New York: Oxford University Press.

Middleton, Richard. 2003. “Introduction: Music Studies and the Idea of Culture.” In The Cultural Study of Music, edited by Martin Clayton, Trevor Herbert, and Richard Middleton, 1-15. New York: Routledge.

* Netsky, Hankus. 2002. “American Klezmer: A Brief History.” In American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, edited by Mark Slobin, 11-23. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Nettl, Bruno. 2005. “The Harmless Drudge: Defining Ethnomusicology.” In The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-One Issues and Concepts, 3-15. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Ribot, Marc. 2002. “The Representation of Jewish Identity in Downtown Music. Unpublished paper.

Rubin, Joel. 2003. Review of The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music. Ethnomusicology 47(2): 284-6.

Schechter, Basya. 2007. “The Music of Sacred and Profane.” Zeek Fall/Winter: 8-14.

Seeger, Anthony. 1992. “Ethnography of Music.” In Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, ed. Helen Meyers, 88-109. London: Macmillan Press.

Shatz, Adam. 1999. “Music: Crossing Music’s Borders in Search of Identity; Downtown, a Reach for Ethnicity.” New York Times, 3 October.

Slobin, Mark. 2000. “Klezmer as Heritage Music.” In Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World, 11-35. New York: Oxford University Press.

* Svigals, Alicia. 2002. “Why We Do This Anyway: Klezmer as Jewish Youth Subculture.” In American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, edited by Mark Slobin, 211-19. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Whitfield, Stephen J. 1999. “Music.” In In Search of American Jewish Culture, 1-31. Hanover: Brandeis University Press.

@ Zorn, John. 2006. “Radical Jewish Culture.” Available at www.tzadik.com.

Go to www.tzadik.com, click on “Radical Jewish Culture,” then click “more” in the middle of the page.

Audio Resources

The entire Radical Jewish Culture series is available in the Music Library.

Video Resources (on reserve in the Ethnomusicology Archive)

Heuermann, Claudia. 2004. A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn. Tzadik. Digital Video Disc.

Heuermann, Claudia. 1998. Sabbath in Paradise. Tzadik. Digital Video Disc.

Kaufman, David. 2001. The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music. Ergo Media Inc., Sun-Street Productions. Video Recording.

Lucas, Gary. n. d. The Golem. Directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese. Music by Gary Lucas and Walter Horn. Digital Video Disc.