Panel of the Jewish Studies and Music Study Group
AMS/SMT 2025 Annual Meeting—Minneapolis, MN
The board of the Jewish Studies and Music Study Group (JSMSG) of the American Musicological Society invites proposals for the panel that it will present at the 2025 annual meeting of the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory (AMS-SMT), November 6-9, 2025. The board welcomes proposals on any topic at the intersection of Jewish studies and music, including historical, ethnomusicological, theoretical, and interdisciplinary approaches in any geographical, cultural, or historical context.
Proposals for both full panels (including 3-5 papers) and single papers are encouraged. Full panel submissions should include a unifying theme and a brief description of the panel’s overarching focus, alongside individual paper abstracts. Single paper submissions may be grouped into thematic sessions by the organizing committee. Proposals accepted to JSMSG session should not also be submitted through the regular AMS proposal process; the JSMSG board will notify participants in enough time that those whose proposals are not accepted to the JSMSG session can submit instead to the AMS portal.
We are especially interested in innovative and diverse approaches to Jewish music. Examples of potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Historical Studies, including the development of sacred, classical, or popular traditions, as well as exchange, influence, and cross-pollination of Jewish and non-Jewish traditions in any time period.
- Ethnomusicology and Cultural Studies, including music and ritual, Jewish influences on global music genres, and traditional and contemporary Jewish music in cultural context.
- Music Theory and Analysis, such as analytical approaches to Jewish liturgical music, modal systems in Jewish musical traditions, and theoretical perspectives on work by Jewish composers and performers.
- Interdisciplinary Approaches to topics such as music and identity, Jewish music in visual media, and music and memory.
- Contemporary and Popular Music, including Jewish representation in contemporary popular music, the role of music in contemporary Jewish festivals and celebrations, and the Jewish presence in Broadway, jazz, hip-hop, and beyond.
- Music, Religion, and Ritual, such as liturgical innovation in 21st-century Jewish communities, music in interfaith dialogues and shared rituals, and the role of cantors and the evolution of their music.
- Geographical Perspectives, including Middle Eastern and Sephardic Jewish music traditions, Ashkenazic music in Europe and North America, and music of Jewish communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
- Politics and Social Movements, such as music in Jewish resistance movements; Zionism, antizionism, and their musical expressions; and music in Jewish social justice activism.
- Antisemitism in music or musical cultures, as well as responses to antisemitism.
- Holocaust Studies and Trauma, including music in Holocaust testimonies and memorials, music created in ghettos and concentration camps, and post-Holocaust musical responses and commemorations-particularly those related to the current “digital turn.”
- Diasporic and Transnational Perspectives, including Jewish diasporic music across cultural boundaries, the fusion of Jewish music with other traditions in transnational contexts, and Technology, globalization, and Jewish musical innovations.
- Technology and Jewish Music, including digital preservation of Jewish music traditions, new technologies in Jewish music education and performance, and artificial intelligence and computational approaches to Jewish musicology.
Submission Guidelines:
- Individual paper proposals should include:
- Title of the paper
- Abstract (250 words maximum)
- Name, institutional affiliation, and contact information of the presenter
- Full panel proposals should include:
- Title of the panel
- A brief summary of the panel’s theme (300 words maximum)
- Titles and abstracts (250 words maximum each) for all included papers
- Names, institutional affiliations, and contact information for each presenter
Deadline for Submission: Friday, January 24, 2025, at midnight EST.
Notification of Acceptance: Submitters will be notified by Monday, February 10, 2025. Those whose proposals are not accepted may still submit to the broader AMS-SMT portal, with the final deadline of February 14, 2025.
Proposals should be submitted as PDFs via this Google Form.
We look forward to your contributions, which will deepen the dialogue at the intersections of Jewish music, Jewish studies, and musicology.