How do the melodies associated with ethnic groups go from familiar tunes to musical stereotypes? The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities will host a talk by Daniel Goldmark, professor in the Department of Music, to look at how concerns over assimilation and identity politics often had a musical manifestation.
Goldmark will present “The Sounds of Jewry in Early 20th Century American Popular Music,” a Faculty Work-in-Progress event, Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 4:30 p.m.
Goldmark will discuss how the music associated with turn of the century American Jewry was cultivated and shaped largely by the evolving mass-media/entertainment industry: vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, theatre, Broadway, and film, both live-action and animated. By 1927, which marked the appearance of the most famous Jewish-themed film to date, The Jazz Singer, the sound of American Jewry was not only cliché, it was a stereotype.
Due to social distancing requirements, this lecture will be presented virtually. It will be hosted at case.edu/livestream/s1.