Music Educator to Examine the Role of Jewish Women in Music Throughout the Millennia

Marsha Bryan Edelman, professor of music and education at Gratz College in Philadelphia, will discuss the role Jewish women have played in the creation of Jewish music during a Kol Isha gathering Dec. 9.

Kol Isha, or "a woman's voice," is spending the year studying Jewish women's influence on society. Other talks explore the role of Jewish women in the worlds of literary prose and poetry, social action, prayer, the sciences and art.

In addition to teaching, Edelman is active in Jewish choral music. She conducts the Gratz College Chorale and serves both as national director of Hazamir: The National Jewish High School Choir and as president of the Zamir Choral Foundation. She has written numerous articles on Jewish music and Jewish education. Her book, Discovering Jewish Music, tracks the evolution of Jewish music during the past 3,000 years.

Edelman will discuss Jewish women's voice in music through the centuries. She will explore the intellectual quality, the emotional quotient and the historic continuity that has helped sustain musical tastes across generations and denominations.

Edelman will speak from 1-3:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.
[from December 2007 Vine]