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An important, richly detailed work, the first comprehensive study of the training and professional enculturation of this central liturgical/musical leader... As Cohen examines how individuals and institutions negotiate the balance between tradition and modernity, he makes a significant contribution to our understanding of contemporary religious life, professional development, and the construction and negotiation of cultural/religious identity. Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, Tufts University A unique study focusing on the training and transformation of Reform cantorial students into invested cantors... Informative and interesting. Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College

An important, richly detailed work, the first comprehensive study of the training and professional enculturation of this central liturgical/musical leader... As Cohen examines how individuals and institutions negotiate the balance between tradition and modernity, he makes a significant contribution to our understanding of contemporary religious life, professional development, and the construction and negotiation of cultural/religious identity. -Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, Tufts University A unique study focusing on the training and transformation of Reform cantorial students into invested cantors... Informative and interesting. - Cohen successfully navigates a complex waterway, melding history, ethnography and Jewish professional studies with a musicological account of cantorial education in the 21st century. Cohen's perspective is at once narrow and layered... In realizing his goal, Cohen has provided us with a rich and unique work that will no doubt hold the interest of Jewish historians, musicians, and of course cantors, themselves. -Musica Judaica Online Reviews, March 20, 2010 Cohen brought to the task he set for himself-understanding the education of cantors-special knowledge about music and about being a participant-observer. The result is a sterling presentation that will be of interest not only to cantors and their teachers but also to rabbis, congregations and everyone concerned about the future of the Jewish community. -Buffalo Jewish Review, April 16, 2010 Cohen's work offers a nuanced view of cantorial students and faculty as individuals, and a sympathetic commentary on the School as an institution in the context of Reform Judaism. It is also a valuable account of structure and agency in the formation of musical authority, and an examination of the mediating roles of an insider scholarly institution. -Jonathan Dueck, Duke University, Journal of Folklore Research, May 5, 2010 [This book] will be of interest not only to cantors and their teachers but also to rabbis, congregations and everyone concerned about the future of the Jewish community. -Morton Teicher, Florida Jewish Journal, 4/7/10 [Cohen] is not merely tapping the knowledge base of musical authorities as a means to gather data; his goal is to understand the creation of musical authority itself, specifically that of the Reform cantor in the 21st Century...Cohen has provided us with a rich and unique work that will no doubt hold the interest of Jewish historians, musicians, and of course cantors, themselves. -Scott M. Sokol, Hebrew College, Newton Centre, Massachusetts, Musica Judaica Online Reviews, 3/20/2010 [The author] has produced a vibrant, descriptive analysis of cantorial education from the time of admission to...to graduation... -NATIONAL JEWISH POST & OPINION, 5/19/10 Opening a window on the practical, social, and cultural aspects of aspiring to musical authority, this book provides unusual insights into issues of musical tradition, identity, gender, community, and high and low musical culture. -menorahreview.org, May 6, 2010 Cohen's work offers a nuanced view of cantorial students and faculty as individuals, and a sympathetic commentary on the School [Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music] as an institution in the context of Reform Judaism. It is also a valuable account of structure and agency in the formation of musical authority, and an examination of the mediating roles of an insider scholarly institution. -Jonathan Dueck, Duke University, Journal of Folklore Research, May 5, 2010 Opening a window on the practical, social, and cultural aspects of aspiring to musical authority, this book provides unusual insights into issues of musical tradition, identity, gender, community, and high and low musical culture. -Shofar, Vol. 28, No. 4, Summer 2010 [T]his volume is a useful addition to the scholarly bookshelf... The accessible and readable style of Cohen's account coupled with relevant CD illustrations will make this a useful case study for a course on music in contemporary religious practice, while his theoretical observations will provide a springboard for much wider discussion of musical texts and processes. -Music and Letters [The author's] research impressively combines ethnographic and historical approaches to the question of how sound enriches modern Jewish life and culture. -MyJewishLearning.com

Author Information

Judah M. Cohen is the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture and Assistant Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington. He is author of Through the Sands of Time: A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

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