THE ROLE OF

MUSIC IN
LANGUAGE REVIVAL
an Honors research project in THE FOXFILES:

part of Reba's Eclectic Collection

of Musings, Images and
Annotated Webliographies
What does it mean to communicate? How do we acquire language capacity? Why do some languages
die? And just what does that mean -- is a language "dead" when it has no more speakers? What if a
body of literature is left after no one speaks a particular language any longer? And what inspires some
people to work to revive a language that has ceased being spoken?

Questions like these have long fascinated me. It is not that I am especially gifted in the learning of
anguages other than the one I happened to acquire as a child, which was English. I have tried with a
number of other languages, and had only moderate success. Rather, it is something about the
communication process itself, about how words are powerful and meanings can be elusive. About how
when G-d spoke He created a universe and Babel scattered humanity and now there are all these
hundreds of systems through which humanity expresses itself. And about how now, somehow, the
ways in which we express ourselves reflect who we are, how we think, and just what aspects of the
Divine get highlighted in us in our particular corner of the world. Or something like that. It is hard to
explain.

But I do know when it began: I was (to my mind) a typical fifth grader attending the local public
school in New York City's most isolated neighborhood, Far Rockaway. One day, the Assistant Principal
came to our room and had with him a tall, thin, and obviously very shy girl who did not look like any
other member of our class. Her family had just immigrated from Hong Kong and for some reason I
have never fully understood, my teacher sat her next to me. She did not speak a single word of
English, and goodness knows, I didn't know any Cantonese! Years later, I had the opportunity to ask
hat teacher why she had done that, and all she said was: "I knew you would find a way to
communicate with her."

came from a family where the issue of foreign language had (to my mind) a strange place. My
Mother had grown up speaking Yiddish and my Dad was not Jewish. For reasons that were never quite
clear to me they had determined to raise us in the Jewish faith, but not in the Jewish language. I
always felt a bit cheated by their decision, thinking youthful bilingualism was just about the best gift
parents could give a kid. Perhaps I learned that from watching the siblings in my new classmate's
amily each go through their very personal experiences of language acquisition over the months
ollowing their arrival in New York.

The youngest sister quickly and easily learned English, as the eldest struggled. In an odd way they
went through a role-reversal as the eldest yielded some of her birthright authority to her need for a
ranslator. My friend was the middle sister, and they had a brother just younger than her. He was
extremely bright and very energetic: feisty, you might say. His command of English soon exceeded
even the youngest daughter's, and he became the "little king" in the family. In this role, he usually
was the one who got to decide what TV programs they would watch. One day, after he had asserted
his new found authority, he turned the TV to the animated show "Speed Racer," which had a catchy
opening theme song. He sang along. Some weeks later, when it was no longer a debate but a given
hat when it was time for "Speed Racer," that it would be turned on, all four children were singing the
opening song! I was amazed. Music was doing for all of these children what no other training in
English could accomplish: it was giving them a new, shared experience in communication.

Over the next few years I spend a lot of my free time with this family. Then, they moved away. I
visited them a few times, but it wasn't too long before we fell out of each other's lives, as teen
experiences brought shifting priorities. Looking back, I sometimes regret having allowed that to
happen, as I would like to know what became of them. Nonetheless, the impact they had upon my life
has remained significant. I went on to choose a High School where I could study Chinese, although it
was Mandarin, not Cantonese. That is when I began learning about the diversity within a given
anguage. I chose a college where I could major in Asian Studies, and that is where I came to
understand something which had always puzzled me about my relationship with these kids -- that
although they had all learned to speak English pretty well by the time they moved, I had often felt
hat I had not really understood them, nor they me. I came, in my studies of other cultures of the
world, to recognize that what we say is often a reflection of how we think, and what we think is deeply
mbedded in our language. The impact these children had on me is apparent in many other aspects of
my life, but those are outside the limits of this paper. However, I think it is not without exaggeration
hat I can say the choice my teacher made on that day in my fifth grade class has been a force in
shaping my destiny as great as any other choice made by or for me, and greater than most.

noticed another thing as a child in Far Rockaway: perhaps because of its relative isolation, and that,
combined with its legacy of having been the summer vacation spot for so many tenement dwellers of
my Mother's generation, that by the time I was growing up there it had become a haven for many
Hasidic Jews. These were people quite different from me, almost as different as my Chinese friends.
But they shared something with my Mother that I did not: they spoke Yiddish, and I was more than a
bit envious of them. It was at about this time that I asked her why she had not taught her children
her first language -- another of those questions that I never got a really satisfying answer to, but that
was how it was and she was unwilling even then, to teach me. Her sister, however, worked for an
organization that my family has deep ties to; my grandfather having been a founding member: The
Workmen's Circle / Arbeter Ring, Inc. The Workmen's Circle is a Jewish fraternal organization which
provides educational and cultural programming, is politically leftist, facilitates Jewish burial, owns
several cemeteries, and cares for the elderly in its nursing home. This is where my aunt worked, at
he "Jewish Home for the Aged." Yiddish was part of her everyday existence, and when I asked her,
she supplied me with a little Yiddish primer, which I still own.¹ Thus, with no one right around me to
practice with; I began my first feeble attempts at studying the language of my Mother's family. I
have, as I said, never been especially gifted in second language acquisition, so that first attempt was
not tremendously successful. Nevertheless, I have maintained a certain fascination with Yiddish that is
as strong now as ever.

t was also during this time that a third element of my curiosity was emerging, but only many years
ater would I see its connection to these other things, in respect to language. My Dad had passed
away when I was a small child and I knew little about him or his family, but one of the things I did
know was that he was, in part, American Indian: a descendent of the Wyandotte of Sandusky, Ohio.²
Being the precocious adolescent that I was, I began searching out information about this "tribe" at the
public library. Here and there, in the index of general works on American Indians, I'd find reference to
a few lines, or sometimes even a page or two, about these people who were often said to have
become extinct. I was mightily confused. How could they be extinct if I was here? Then, one day the
ibrarian saw me and handed me a book she said she had bought especially with me in mind: First
Among the Hurons by Max Gros-Louis³. He was the Chief of the remnant of our Nation that had
migrated to the area north of Quebec City when we were scattered from our original homeland north
of Toronto & south of the Georgian Bay, in 1649. Here he was, alive, and leader of a small, but
hriving community. That was the 1970's and things about Indians were much in the news.
nformation was becoming more readily available and perspectives on the Indian history of North
America were starting to change. In 1979 the Wyandotte of Oklahoma won a financial settlement from
he U.S. government, and that "terminated" community was recognized as existing again. Here and
here, over the course of many years, I was piecing together bits of information about my Dad's
ancestors and the four (4) small, but extant, communities that had evolved from the once formidable
ive-nation Wendat Confederacy. Not until the late 1990's, however, did I make personal connections
n these communities. When I did I discovered that efforts at reviving the Wendat language, said to be
he most well documented of all American Indian languages,⁴ were underway, inspired, in fact, by the
discovery of several wax cylinder recordings of traditional songs and their conversion into
contemporary recording technologies.

Music again! By this time the phenomenon of "World Music" was well under way -- bringing Klezmer
nto the popular culture, the sounds of Soweto into the tunes of Paul Simon, Reggae to Hawai'i,
eviews of contemporary music from Uzbekistan to National Public Radio and now, the final production
after many years of success, of Riverdance to the Onondaga Community College Campus this Spring.
hink of "Speed Racer" and smile...

What is the role of music in language learning? Or perhaps more to the point, does music have a role
n the revival of languages that are said to be dying or have gone "extinct?" A recent search of
scholarly periodical literature proved to have limited success, be somewhat frustrating, and of no clear
opinion on the matter. A questionnaire I prepared and sent to a few folks I thought might lend some
nsight was also inconclusive. In undertaking this exploration I primarily focused upon Yiddish,
however, as my curiosity is expansive, I took note of developments in other languages of interest to
me. What follows are some of my findings. Clearly, this could easily be the query for a thesis inquiry,
as much ground remains to be broken and case study would be a wide open field. Based on little more
han my own feelings about the issue, I however, would venture to say that yes, music can and does
play an important role. If not in the actual process of language acquisition, then in creating a climate
where language revival is inspired and cultivated.

THE ROLE OF MUSIC IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

n their extensive review of the literature: "The Intersection Between Vocal Music and Language Arts
nstruction" O'Herron and Siebenaler conclude:
To ensure student success in language arts, the importance of teacher preparation and collaboration cannot be
overstated. In-service training for classroom teachers in vocal pedagogy and developmentally appropriate music-
modeling skills is essential to making kindergarten and grade one language arts curricula effective. With the
guidance and mentoring of a music specialist, the classroom teacher can become aware of keeping a steady beat,
emphasis and fluency in poems and chants, consistently articulated diction, and appropriate singing ranges and
tone quality for children. Regardless of level of training and performance quality, the classroom teacher functions as
the model for students in PA [phonemic awareness] and fluency activities.5

Chrisantha Fernando, et.al. state in their article: "A Model of the Mechanisms of Language Extinction
and Revitalization Strategies to Save Endangered Languages"
Because our goal is to show the effects of language revitalization efforts on a low-status endangered language, we
have included three different types of intervention measures in our model. The three strategies are (1) increasing
the perceived status of the low-status language so that bilingual families will choose to teach the low-status
language to their children and children will be more motivated to use it; (2) increasing the amount of the low-status
language heard in society, thus increasing exposure to the language and facilitating the learning of the language as
well as raising its status; and (3) formal language teaching of the low-status language to children who would
otherwise speak only the high-status language.6

Of the second of these interventions they further explain:

Increasing the amount of the low-status language heard in society targets the public sphere, that is, the higher
domains. This type of intervention can include radio and television broadcasts, newspapers and other publications
being printed in the low-status language, development of specialized terminologies in fields such as technology or
commerce for that language, standardization, and orthography and literacy development. 7

With "radio and television broadcasts" included in this type of intervention, it seems reasonable to
assume music is included, although it is not specifically mentioned.

Further evidence that there is a role for music in the learning of languages is this advertisement found
n this 2004 Teaching Music for the 4th volume of Tune Up to Literacy: the Song Way to Learning
Language:
Volume 4 is now available in Al Balkin's Tune Up to Literacy: The Song Way to Learning Language series (2004,
spiral-bound paperback with 2 CDs, 106 pp.). Created for students in grades K-6, volume 4 contains more than 50
songs designed to teach language concepts such as the alphabet, vowels, consonants, nouns, verbs, and sentence
structure. The songs highlight the value of reading, writing, listening, talking, and creating and mix elements of
jazz, pop, rock, blues, gospel, Latin, Broadway, country and rap styles. The entire four-volume Tune Up to Literacy
package, which includes lead sheets for songs, teacher guides, 2 CDs, and 3 audiocassettes, is available for
$125.00. Contact Now View Music, PO Box 22686, Hilton Head, SC 29925; 888414-8863;
www.tuneuptoliteracy.com.

MAINTAINING, REVIVING AND TRANSFORMING TRADITION

 n two articles by John DeMont the connection between renewed interest in traditional music and the
use of the Gaelic language on the Cape Breton's west side are made very clear.
n 1993 he wrote:
[T]he fiddlers and dancers of Inverness County stand as living examples of a style of music and dance that was lost
centuries ago in the old country....The freedom and relative isolation of Cape Breton allowed the old-country
musical heritage to thrive until the mid-20th century....Eventually, the 20th century began to intrude. Chisholm and
other traditionalists watched in alarm as mass culture--particularly television and rock 'n' roll music--began to
drown out the sounds of Celtic music. After decades of indifference, the turning point, according to many Cape
Bretoners, was a 1973 television documentary called The Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler, which focused on the
legendary fiddler and composer Dan R. MacDonald. The film acted as a call to arms: join forces to nurture Cape
Breton's unique culture, or risk losing it altogether. Within a year, community elders had banded together to launch
the Glendale Festival, which brought together fiddlers from on and off the island. The August festival, which gave
many young people their first real exposure to the music, continues to this day as the Cape Breton Fiddlers Festival
The same could be said of the language of [MacDonald’s] forebears, which is making a surprising comeback. Just
150 years ago, Cape Breton's 30,000 Gaelic speakers outnumbered those found in the Hebrides Islands, off the
coast of Scotland. But most Cape Breton adults did not inherit "the Gaelic'' from their aging parents. ”Those people
in their 40s to 60s were forbidden to speak the language," explains Margie Beaton, a Mabou schoolteacher who has
taught the ancient language since 1975. "It was looked down upon and condemned as something which would keep
you back."
Now, that stigma is gone. And Beaton, who was born on the Hebredean Island of Eriskay and spoke Gaelic as her
first language, notices a resurgence of her mother tongue. When the class she taught at the local high school was
cancelled in 1990 due to budgetary restrictions, she still found enough teenage students to continue the Gaelic
class after school hours. And language courses are fully booked at St. Anne's Gaelic College in Baddeck. Another
sign of the times: Am Braighe, a quarterly Mabou newspaper about Gaelic language and tradition, began publishing
earlier this year and is just one of a number of enterprises hoping to capitalize on the Celtic craze. 9
And in 1999:
No wonder, then, that alarm bells went off in the 1980s with the realization that the 75,000 Cape Bretoners who
claimed Gaelic as their first language at the turn of the century had shrunk to fewer than 1,000. It helps explain
why a recent revival of interest in the language is such a welcome harbinger for an island where roots and tradition
matter. "If the Gaelic goes, it is like a people dying," stresses Frances MacEachen, the managing editor of Am
Braigbe, the island's Gaelic cultural newspaper, which she runs from her home on the outskirts of Mabou. "You are
not just losing a language. You are losing a piece of your memory."¹º
This sentiment is shared by the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (whose rendition of “Somewhere Over the
Rainbow” was the theme song for the movie Finding Forrester starring Sean Connery), regarding the
heritage of Hawai'i which is the only state with a unique native language and an equally unique native
musical tradition, when he wrote the following poem in the liner notes for his album IZ: Facing Future.

Facing Backwards I see the past

Our Nation gained, our Nation lost

Our sovereignty gone

Our lands gone

All traded for the promise of progress

What would they say....

What can we say?

Facing future I see hope

Hope that we will survive

Hope that we will prosper

Hope that once again we will reap the blessing of this magical land

For without hope I cannot live

Remember the past but do not dwell there

Face the future where all our hopes stand ¹¹

The music on Facing Future is a of a variety of types, including several songs in the Hawaiian
anguage, the covers of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Take Me Home Country Road”, and the
story-song about Hawai’i’s mythical hero, in “Maui Hawaiian Sup’pa Man.” I have no special expertise
n Hawaiian music, but I greatly moved by the sounds of the Islands both times I visited in the early
1990’s. While there I was astonished to learn of the unique amalgam of sounds being incorporated
nto traditional local forms. This first came to my attention in the songs of Bruddah Waltah Aipolani &
sland Afternoon, a group now famous for their contribution to what has come to be known as
Jahwaiian.” It was only after Finding Forrester came out 2001 that I discovered Iz, but I am inclined
o think that a singer such as he could only have emerge in an environment of musical transformation

n an article about the influence of contemporary African diaspora music in Hawaii Ku’ualoha
Ho’omanawanui explains:
Reggae music gained popularity in Hawai’i starting in the 1970s, which led to Hawaiian musicians exploring and
incorporating reggae’s instruments, musical styles, and beats. As a result, Jawaiian music created a contemporary
form of danceable Hawaiian music that is “noticeably disassociated from the Hawaiian hula”… From a Native
perspective, Jawaiian music is important because it works against the colonization and stereotyping of music and
musicians in Hawaii by the mainland, white majority of the United States. Thus, Jawaiian music resists haole (often
understood as white) standard musical conventions, such as the 32-bar form often associated with pop music, and
the use of rock-and-roll instruments. Instead, Jawaiian music often features “instruments associated with reggae
music such as keyboards, trumpets, and timpani drums, yet they also feature Hawaiian instruments like the
‘ukulele.” In addition, lyrics are often sung and written in the Hawaiian indigenous language, and feature themes
important to Hawaiian people such as the ocean, surfing, and land rights.¹²

Not unlike the Hawaiians, the Wendat know the future is “where all our hopes stand.” And it is in light
of that hope that the Yawenda Project is now coming to the close of its five-year, $1 million dollar
 Canadian) grant funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The goal
of the Yawenda (which translates as “vision”) Project is to reconstruct the language so that it can
become the Wendake community’s second language.
A collaboration of university specialists from Laval University, Quebec University in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and
various linguists, the village of Wendake, the First Nations Education Council, and the First Peoples’ Heritage and
Language Council. The goal of the grant has been to train teachers and create curriculum for pre-school,
elementary school and adult education classes.... [Also involved is the] Linguistic Committee, originally begun in
1995 and revitalized in 2006, the Committee works on standardizing aspects of the written language. Its handful of
members has been trying to achieve a consensus on how to reconstruct the language based on the expert
knowledge of scholars who also have studied the language. “Language is an integral part of culture; it is the
essence of culture,” said Linda Siouï, a member of the Linguistic Committee and Yawenda’s organizer. She has
worked for many years on the cause, speaking out in her 1992 article “Is there a future for the Huron Language?”
At that time she was already asking the question “Is the revival of the language a possibility or a utopia?”
Seventeen years later, the Yawenda Project is dedicated to making it possible. ¹³

At Wendake, Huron ceased to be spoken toward the end of the 19th century, however, in Oklahoma,
Wyandot continued in use well into the 20th century. In 1999 the four extant groups of Huron /
Wyandotte / Wyandot from Wendake, Oklahoma, Kansas and Michigan gathered at Ossosane in
Ontario for the internment of remains that had been removed in the mid-20th century by
archeologists. At that historic gathering they also reestablished the Wendat Confederacy which had
been scattered for 350 years. “It was then that we began to realize the value of reclaiming our
anguage,” said Jan English, Chief of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas.14 As proof of these new
connections and shared vision, Richard Zane-Smith from Oklahoma was present at the September
2009 Yawenda Conference where he sang songs from the 1912 wax cylinders recorded by Marius
Barbeau as well as children’s songs in Wyandot recently written by Zane-Smith.15

The work of Yawenda continues as they plan a first ever Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference to
be held at Wendake June 13 – 16, 2012. The theme of the congress will be: “Wendat and Wyandot
Continuities.” The conference aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners, from both
native communities and academia, who are interested in the Wendat and Wyandot(te) peoples from
Quebec, Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, and elsewhere. Special focus will be given to expressions of
hese nations’ history, culture, language, society, as well as the assertion of their rights. Presentations
will attempt to illustrate how continuity has been maintained between the Wendat and Wyandot of
oday and their ancestors, without preventing the former from being fully integrated into the
contemporary world.16

Because the contemporary Wendat Confederacy is now separated by both a national and a linguistic
boundary, with French being the primary language in Wendake and English used by all three (3) of the
geographically distinct communities in the United States, the idea of a full blown revival of the Wendat
anguage has far reaching cultural and political implications.

YIDDISH

Unlike the Gaelic of Cape Breton, the Hawaiian of the 50th state, or even the Huron-Wyandot of
Wendake, Quebec and Wyandotte, Oklahoma (or any of many other example I could have chosen to
explore: Israeli Hebrew and Amish German, for example) Yiddish has a unique quality that none of
 hese other languages possesses. It is a language which was once spoken over much of the planet by
iterally millions of people; it is not now and never has been confined by geography. As early as the
sixteenth century the spread of Yiddish across Europe was at its maximum, from Alsace and Italy in
he southwest to Holland in the northwest to Ukraine in the southeast and Belorussia in the northeast.
t became one of the most extensive contiguous linguistic empires in the history of Europe. Ashkenaz
ost its strict geographic definition as signifying a territory of German speaking lands and came to
designate the culture of the Jews who had originated from there.”17 “In 1906 South Africa placed
Yiddish on the list of languages that immigrants could use to fulfill literacy requirements. America did
ikewise in 1917.18 Even today, with its (seemingly) dwindling numbers of vernacular speakers, it is
still widely used as a spoken language in many places of the world: from Calgary to New York to
Buenos Aries and wherever there are populations of Ashkenaz who arrived either before or after the
mid-2019century Holocaust. And in some of those places, the numbers of native, first language
speakers are growing. By and large, however, those numbers are within communities that are by their
own choice, self-isolating. It is in this fashion that Yiddish is similar to the other languages already
examined in this paper. In the early 21st century the majority of first language, literate Yiddish users
are Jewish and belong to any one of a variety of Orthodox, Chassidic or Haredim communities.18 That
Yiddish is not the Yiddish I am focusing upon in this study. Rather, it is what I have seen written abou
n a number of sources as "post-vernacular Yiddish,"20 that I am interested in. As defined by most of
hese authors it is that descendent of the Yiddish of early twentieth century fluent speakers, outside o
Eastern Europe, who wished to assimilate in their new homelands, and who sent their children to
majority language schools. While Yiddish may have been the language most used in the home, most
of these children did not achieve literacy in Yiddish. As they grew and had children of their own, the
majority language became the language used in the home. My family is a perfect example.

n his through and very wonderful examination of “Yiddish on the Internet,” 21Tsvi Sadan summarizes
Shandler's main features of post-vernacular Yiddish in the following seven points:
 Existence of “many who profess a profound, genuine attachment to Yiddish who also admit that they don’t really
know the language” and “don’t see their lack of fluency as interfering with their devotion” (p. 4).
 Privileging of the secondary level of signification of Yiddish (“the symbolic value invested in the language apart from
the semantic value of any given utterance in it”) over its primary level (“its instrumental value as a vehicle for
communicating information, opinions, feelings, ideas”) (p. 4).
 “[T]he very fact that something is said (or written or sung) in Yiddish is at least as meaningful as the meaning of the
words being uttered – if not more so.” (p. 22).
 Motivated use of Yiddish by desire/increasing use of Yiddish as an elective act (p. 24).
 “[D]istinctively performative nature” of language use/“heightened awareness of using Yiddish as a language of
conversation, both on the part of the speakers who have made a deliberate, if impromptu, choice to exchange
greetings in the language - and on the part of observers, who find the exchange something to take note of and
evaluate” (p. 127).
 “Yiddish is embedded rather than uttered.” (p. 141).
 “Yiddish speech has been professionalized, aestheticized, academized, and ritualized.” (p. 153)

To return to the question of the role of music in all of this, let us look for a moment at David
Krakauer, clarinetist for the Klezmatics. Said to be "one of the most popular and creative klezmer
bands in the United States," founded in 1986, they [the Klezmatics] have "introduced people to the
oy of Yiddish music while helping spearhead a revival of interest and support for klezmer among the
contemporary Jewish community. Rather than following a pure, preservationist tact, their eclectic and
avant-garde style has helped maintain the vitality of the music by taking it in entirely new and often
unexpected directions."22
Krakauer trained as both a classical and jazz musician and is also a renowned performer of klezmer music. But this
was not self-evident, despite his own Jewish roots. When his forebears left Eastern Europe for New York, they
wanted to leave the Yiddish language and culture behind and assimilate as much as possible into the local
community.
For Krakauer, tracing his roots has been a long journey, which finally led him to klezmer music. "Really, the
aesthetic sense of why I embraced klezmer music had nothing to do with nostalgia," explained Krakauer. "It was
more out of a sense of my own cultural pride and being curious about it, because it had been thrown away by my
family. So there was this thing that I knew was part of myself."23
Today, there are two (2) organizations in the United States which stand above all others in their
contributions to maintaining the longevity of the Yiddish language: the YIVO Institute 24 and the
Yiddish Book Center.25 In what might be called a “marriage” of these two organizations, Dr. Adrienne
Cooper, world-renowned Yiddish singer and educator, was interviewed on December 28, 2010 at
KlezKamp, located in the Catskill Mountains of New York, by Pauline Katz for the Wexler Oral History
Project of the Yiddish Book Center. And what a blessing to lovers of Yiddish that she was, because not
ong after, Dr. Cooper suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. In this 68 minute video recording 26
much ground is covered, of note for this paper are her comments on the formation of KlezKamp
almost 30 years ago. As Assistant Director of YIVO’s Max Weinreich Center for Advanced Jewish
Studies she directed the YIVO Institute Intensive Summer Yiddish Program, an annual six-week
program comprised of three hours of language learning each morning and Yiddish cultural activities
each afternoon, five days a week. Dr. Cooper observed that many people couldn’t devote so much
ime to learning a language and wondered if the structure could be changed to emphasize cultural
mmersion, with a smaller language component. In 1985, along with Henry Sapoznik, she co-founded
KlezKamp, an annual, week-long immersion in Klezmer music and Yiddish culture. In the interview she
says that that KlezKamp emerged from a desire to make Yiddish accessible to a larger and more
diverse group of people. She goes on to recall one summer at KlezKamp when she taught Yiddish
songs to Lorin Sklamberg and Alisha Suigals, early members of the Klezmatics. In Dr. Cooper’s
opinion KlezKamp was a place where “chains of relationships were formed” that “opened up another
world.”
Perhaps then, it is no coincidence that one family Dr. Cooper knew both through YIVO and KlezKamp,
and whom I have also been fortunate to become acquainted with, are the Schaechters. As part of my
esearch for this project I have prepared a brief questionnaire. Although I sent it to several people and
organizations, I only received responses from the two individuals I had originally considered asking at
he time I made my proposal, and that is satisfactory to me. One of those respondents is Binyumen
Schaechter, a professional musician whose mother was also a musician and whose father was a
inguist. In fact, his father’s role at the YIVO Institute has left so lasting an impression that the
Mordkhe Schaechter Commemoration is an annual event.
first became acquainted with Binyumen while organizing a series of public performance events in
2005. I was the director of the Fulton (NY) Public Library and with funding provided by the New York
State Council on the Arts, produced a series entitled “Freedom Song.” Rayna, Binyumen’s then 13
year old daughter, accompanied by her father, did solo music performances in Yiddish at the Vayner
Branch Library in Fulton and the Safe Haven Museum and Educational Center in Oswego. Since then
she has gone on to perform in Australia, Montreal, and Paris, as well as a return visit to Central New
York at Syracuse’s annual Jewish Musical and Cultural Festival.
The other respondent to my questionnaire is, Rukhelle Veevik, a Yiddish language instructor with
whom I studied while living in New York's Capital Region, 10 - 12 years ago. I know less about her or
her family, although I recall her mentioning her parents were from Eastern Europe, Hungary, if I
emember correctly. She was born in Israel and considers Hebrew her first language. Beyond my
elationship with her in her Yiddish class, then held at a Temple in Albany, I know she has been active
with the Schenectady, NY Jewish Community Center and their ongoing Yiddish cultural programming.
Neither respondent is Orthodox, although both have deep ties to the Jewish faith. Both of them are
deeply engaged in the continuation of Jewish culture and the Yiddish language. In their responses a
strong difference of opinion on the role of music in language revitalization is expressed.
Binyumen writes: ”I’ve encountered, for example, quite a few singers who've said that they can sing
n Yiddish, and when they demonstrated it, it was fairly a mangled, barely recognizable [version] of
he language I know and love.” On the other hand, Rukhelle says: “I think music is an important tool
o learn a language as it enhances its retention and it’s a fun to use and often the melody helps to
emember the vocabulary. The nostalgia which some people have for Yiddish is many times reflected
hrough the music which often leads people to pursue further learning of the language.”
Perhaps Rukhelle has more tolerance for a postvernacular form of Yiddish, but I do find Binyumen’s
opinion a bit – what shall I say – odd… especially coming from a classically trained musician. My
houghts go to a beautiful performance I once heard by a young woman who was studying at Julliard.
She was home for a school break and gave a solo performance of Ave Maria in her family’s local
church. Her clear soprano voice rang out, each word well enunciated and her timing impeccable. The
sound of her voice filled the church, rising layer upon layer, filling the vaulted space, like rising smoke
would venture to say she had not studied Latin. Or on an even more basic level: what of the many
classrooms of American kindergarteners, most having their first exposure to a language other than
English in the lively French tune where they learn to question if “Brother John” is sleeping?
As for myself, in the course of this study I have come to two conclusions: First, that postvernacular
may be all that can realistically be expected in the 21st century for languages like Yiddish, Wendat,
Hawaiian, and Gaelic. If so, that seems better to me than the alternative – the death of these minority
anguages. And second, while music, by itself, may not be the key to language arts education, it has a
ole it can play. In situations where minority language revival or reinvigoration is concerned, music
can be both a magnet to attract attention and a tool in aiding learning and retention. It is therefore
my opinion that music’s influence in this context is not to be underestimated.

CONCLUSION

There is so much about Yiddish (and other languages discussed herein) that is fascinating and worthy
of examination, but is beyond the confines of this study. For that reason my

Bibliography extends beyond cited works and print materials, so that readers may continue their own
explorations.

especially recommend works by Dovid Katz, Jeffrey Shandler, Bernard Katz, and Tsvi Sadan (if only
 or his extensive list of resources on the Internet). For those interested in Yiddish language learning,
courses are offered in New York City by the Workmen's Circle and online by the Florida International
University. Yiddish theater continues in an unbroken tradition at the Folksbiene, films can be seen
egularly at the Schenectady Jewish Community Center near Albany, NY. There are a number of online
Yiddish radio stations and for a calendar of live Yiddish music events, consult klezmershack.com.
Rayna Schaechter can be seen as a child, singing with other youngsters, in Pripetshik Sings Yiddish
and in the recent DVD release Di Shekhter-tekhter, with her younger sister, Temma. The largest
collection of books in Yiddish for sale in the United States has been collected by the Yiddish Book
Center in Springfield, MA. And finally, the work of the YIVO Institute, the only still operating pre-
Holocaust organization in the world devoted to the Yiddish language and Ashkenazi culture, is rich,
varied, and available to anyone who wishes it over the Internet, or through visits to their library in
New York City, or by attending events they sponsor – from a brief lecture to KlezKamp to the several
weeks long Summer Yiddish Intensive. Those interested in Wendat can join a Yahoo! based discussion
group, and for Hawaiian and Gaelic, I am certain readers can also find ways to expand their language
skills via the Internet and elsewise – such a comprehensive list of resources goes far beyond the
proposed purposes of this document.

QUESTIONAIRRE WITH RESPONSES

Rebekah Tanner Instructor: Arnaud F. Lambert

Spring 2012 Honors Contract Project Anthropology 155-001: Language & Culture

Onondaga Community College Syracuse, New York

Music in Contemporary Language Revival

This project will explore the role of music in contemporary language revival. In particular it will focus
upon Yiddish and Klezmer. However other genres related to the Jewish languages, as well as
comparisons to other languages such as Gaelic and Celtic music; Hawaiian and the islands' unique
contemporary musical forms including the Reggae style known as "Jahwaiian"; and a number of
musical styles within the Native American communities of North and South American may be explored
o highlight certain points. This author hopes to interview several Yiddishists for their perspectives on
his topic. As much as is possible, scholarly journals will be referenced, but because the Internet will
undoubtedly be a major source of information for this research, the final document will be presented
both as a research paper and as a Web site, made available in early May, 2012 on the author's Web
site at http: foxgull.com.

f you are interested in participating in a brief questionnaire please complete the following questions
and return your responses by e-mail to r.tanner@clasnet.sunyocc.edu by March 9, 2012. Thank you in
advance for your generosity and time.
Your name: Binyumen Schaechter

Occupation: Composer/Conductor/Pianist

1) What do you consider to be your primary language?

Yiddish

2) If a language other than English is your primary language, was this the language spoken to you
by your primary caregiver when you were ages birth - 5 years?

Yes.

3) Do you consider yourself fluent in any other languages? If so, which?

English.

4) By fluent do you mean you can:

a) Speak and be understood by other speakers of the language? Yes.

b) Easily understand other speakers of the language? Yes.

c) Read a newspaper or popular novel in the language? Yes.

[Please respond yes / no to #4 a-c for each language listed in #2]

and feel free to add any additional comments you feel would be helpful.

5) What is the country of your birth?

USA

6) In what decade were you born?

1960s

7) How long have you lived in the United States (if born elsewhere)?

N/A

8) Have you lived anywhere else (in addition to the country of your birth and the U.S.),

and for how long?

 N/A

9) Was music an important aspect of your home or school life as a child?

Yes.

10 -- If yes, what type of music (for example lullabies, singing with family members, listening to radio
or recordings, taking music lessons, etc.)?

Classical piano lessons with my mom from age 3, with another piano teacher from age 6 (at the then
Hebrew Arts School for Music and Dance), Classical composing from age 6 (with my mom
ranscribing/ taking dictation the first few years) and with a composition teacher from age eleven.
Also sang Yiddish songs and listened to Yiddish and Classical records at home, sang Yiddish and a few
Hebrew songs in our afterschool Yiddish school (till I was 7 or 8, when the classes discontinued), and
n our Yiddish Socialist summer camp, Camp Hemshekh. Played trombone in school bands from 7th-
10h grades, took private saxophone lessons from 9th-12th grades and then also played it in school
azz band, was pianist in school jazz band in 12th grade (age 15-16). Studied organ for one year
when I was 18 or 19, and viola for one year around the same time.

11) Do you still listen to or participate in musical activities (study, perform, record) in your primary
anguage?

Yes.

12) In any other language?

Yes.

13) Do you participate in any other types of activities (view movies/ videos, see plays, teach, etc.)
n any of these languages?

Both.

And finally: Please take a few moments to jot down any thoughts you have on the role of music in
anguage learning, retention or revival. These can be informal thoughts, written in bulleted form or
more cohesively written in a few brief paragraphs. Any input is much appreciated and any format that
you are comfortable with communicating these ideas will be of great benefit to my project.

only see it as being of assistance if the learner has a teacher/tutor/guide who is fluent in the
anguage being taught / learned and is assiduous in correcting mispronunciations and grammatical
errors. I've encountered, for example, quite a few singers who've said that they can sing in Yiddish,
and when they demonstrated it, it was fairly a mangled, barely recognizable of the language I know
and love. I personally would not venture to speak or sing in a non-native language unless I have
earned from or consulted with someone, be it in school or privately, who has really known that which
hey taught me, and was not lax in correcting me.

Please indicate if you are willing to be named / quoted or would prefer the use of non-identifying
generalized statements to be used in this project. Thanks again for your time and participation.

Quoting ok ______fine______ Prefer anonymous __________________

Your name: RUKHELLEH

Occupation: Teacher and office manager

1) What do you consider to be your primary language?

Hebrew

2) If a language other than English is your primary language, was this the language spoken to you
by your primary caregiver when you were ages birth - 5 years?

My parents spoke mostly Yiddish to me and a broken Hebrew : )

3) Do you consider yourself fluent in any other languages? If so, which?

Yiddish, English

4) By fluent do you mean you can:

a) Speak and be understood by other speakers of the language?

b) Easily understand other speakers of the language?

c) Read a newspaper or popular novel in the language?

[Please respond yes / no to #4 a-c for each language listed in #2]

and feel free to add any additional comments you feel would be helpful.

Mostly yes

5) What is the country of your birth?

Israel

6) In what decade were you born?

 1950's

7) How long have you lived in the United States (if born elsewhere)?

More than 25 years

8) Have you lived anywhere else (in addition to the country of your birth and the U.S.),

and for how long?

No

9) Was music an important aspect of your home or school life as a child?

Normal

10) If yes, what type of music (for example lullabies, singing with family members, listening to
adio or recordings, taking music lessons, etc.)?

t was not so important but my parents loved music sing and just enjoy it. I have some piano lessons
but didn't pursue it beyond high school.

11) Do you still listen to or participate in musical activities (study, perform, record) in your primary
anguage?

No

12) In any other language?

No

13) Do you participate in any other types of activities (view movies/ videos, see plays, teach, etc.)
n any of these languages?

Yes

And finally: Please take a few moments to jot down any thoughts you have on the role of music in
anguage learning, retention or revival. These can be informal thoughts, written in bulleted form or
more cohesively written in a few brief paragraphs. Any input is much appreciated and any format that
you are comfortable with communicating these ideas will be of great benefit to my project.

think music is an important tool to learn a language as it enhances its retention and it’s a fun to use
and often the melody helps to remember the vocabulary. The nostalgia which some people have for
Yiddish is many times reflected through the music which often leads people to pursue further learning
of the language.

Please indicate if you are willing to be named / quoted or would prefer the use of non-identifying
generalized statements to be used in this project. Thanks again for your time and participation.

Quoting ok ____ok ____________ Prefer anonymous ___________________

NOTES

1. J. Mlotek, Yiddish Kinder / Jewish Children. Educational Department of the Workmen’s Circle, NY:
1959. It is interesting to note that this is a monolingual primer; the only English included in this
volume is in the glossary. At the time my aunt, Miriam Mahler, gave it to me I already knew the
Hebrew alphabet and she assumed I’d figure the rest out, myself.

2. The Wyandotte of Sandusky, Ohio were one of the remnant Bands of the Huron Confederacy that
survived and scattered in 1649 following the devastating impacts of European infectious diseases and
warfare with the Iroquois of New York. The pre-contact formalism of Native warfare intensified to a
evel of uncommon brutality (on all sides) as a result of the competition for resources and influence in
North America that resulted from contact with the Europeans. Ancestrally, culturally and linguistically
connected to the prehistoric Laurentians whose territory stretched from the mouth of the St. Lawrence
west as far as Toronto, north to Midland and back again across Lake Simcoe. By the time the Jesuits
were active in New France; four confederated groups radiated from the region of Barrie, Ontario and
were called “Huron” by the French. Later known as “Wyandotte” and “Wyandot” within the United
States, their own name for themselves was and remains “Wendat” which translates as “island
dwellers,” a reference to the belief that the world is an island, resting on the back of a turtle. See
works by Barbara Alice Mann, Georges Siouï and Bruce Trigger for additional historical and cultural
nformation on the Wendat.

3. Max Gros-Louis, First Among the Hurons. Montreal, Harvest House, 1974.

4. Beginning with Jacques Cartier's 1534 explorations of the St. Lawrence River and the small
Vocabulary of Stadaconan, most recently reprinted by Evolution Publishing in 1999; continuing with
he work of the French Jesuit missionaries of the seventeenth century available in Reuben G.
Thwaites: The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 1959 and coming into the twentieth century with
he work of Charles Marius Barbeau: "Huron-Wyandot Traditional Narratives in Translation and Native
Texts" published in the National Museum of Canada Bulletin in 1960. In 2007 Edwin Mellen Press
published John Steckley's A Huron-English / English-Huron Dictionary, the "first comprehensive
dictionary of the Huron or Wendat language written in over 250 years" (p.1). Readers are referred to
Steckley's "References Cited" (p. 391-392) for a comprehensive list of published and unpublished
works on this topic.

5. Patricia O’Herron and Dennis Siebenaler, “The Intersection Between Vocal Music and Language Arts
nstruction: A Review of the Literature.” Update: Applications of Research in Music Education: Vol. 25,
No. 2 (Spring-Summer 2007), p. 9 (of 13). Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA167775440&v=2.1&u=onondaga&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w

6. Chrisantha Fernando, et.al, “A Model of the Mechanisms of Language Extinction and Revitalization
Strategies to Save Endangered Languages.” Human Biology: Vol. 82, No. 1 (February 2010), pp. 53-
54.

7. ibid., p. 54

8. Advertisement for “Tune Up to Literacy: the Song Way to Learning Language” in Teaching Music:
Vol. 12, No. 3 (December, 2004), p. 75.

9. John DeMont, “The Gaelic Revival.” Maclean's: Vol. 106, Issue 49 (December 6, 1993), n.p.

10. John DeMont, “Bringing Back ‘The Gaelic.'” Maclean's: Vol. 112, Issue 37

September 13, 1999), n.p.

11. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, IZ: Facing Future, Honolulu, Hawai’i: Big Boy Record Company,
distributed by Mountain Apple Co., 1993.

12. Ku’ualoha Ho’omanawanui, Ku’ualoha. “From Ocean to O-shen: Reggae, Rap, and Hip Hop in
Hawai’i.” Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds: The African Diaspora in Indian Country, edited by Tiya
Miles and Sharon Patricia Holland. Durham, SC: Duke University Press, 2006, Excerpts from pp. 276-
278. 276-278, as written about on: http://breakingprecedent.wetpaint.com/page/Jawaiian+Music

13. Marie White, “The Yawenda Project: Can the Huron-Wendat language be revived in Wendake?”
Windspeaker: January 2010, p. 26.

14. ibid.

15. Richard Zane-Smith. Gift to the author: an unpublished manuscript and homemade recordings of
music from the 1912 Barbeau wax cylinders, original contemporary, prayer, dance and children's
songs with translations, transliterations and pronunciation guide, 2006.

16. Programme préliminaire / Preliminary Program: Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference:

http://www.ciera.ulaval.ca/PDF/Programme-prel-wendat.pdf

17. Bernard Katz, “Yiddish Civilization: The Story of Yiddish and the People Who Spoke It.” Jewish
Affairs: Rosh Hashanah 2010, p. 21.

18. ibid., p. 23.

19. “An astonishing survey [reported upon in: Katz, Dovid, Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of
Yiddish, Basic Books, 2004, p. 375 - 375] conducted in the mid-1990s into the future of American
ewry found the following: that whereas 100 Chassidim and Haredim will have produced 2578 Jews by
he fourth generation, the same number of Neo-orthodox Jews will have produced 346, Conservative
ews 24, Reform Jews 13 and secular Jews five. It is difficult to estimate the number of Yiddish
speakers in the world today, but a figure of around one million is probable." As quoted by Bernard
Katz in “Yiddish Civilization: The Story of Yiddish and the People Who Spoke It.” Jewish Affairs: Rosh
Hashanah 2010, p. 24.

20. Jeffrey Shandler, Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language &

Culture, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.

21. Tsvi Sadan, “Yiddish on the Internet” (Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet). Language &
Communication: Volume 31, Issue 2 (May, 2001), pp. 99-101.

22. From the liner notes on the CD A Jewish Odyssey: Putumayo World Music, 2000.

23. Monika Hebbinghaus, Review: “Radical Jewish Culture Movement Helped Musicians Uncover
dentity: DW / Culture (Germany), April 20, 2011.

24. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is now located at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16
Street, New York, NY. It was founded in Vilna, Poland, in 1925 by key European intellectuals, including
Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, to record the history and pioneer in the critical study of the
anguage, literature and culture of the Jews of Eastern Europe, Germany and Russia. From its
nception, YIVO was deeply concerned that the language and culture of East European Jewry were
undergoing radical change in a rapidly modernizing world. YIVO's founders were tireless in collecting
he documents and archival records of Jewish communities across Eastern Europe, years before
anyone could have predicted the devastation that would befall them. In 1940, YIVO moved its
permanent headquarters to New York City, becoming the only pre-Holocaust institution to transfer its
mission to the United States from Europe. Today the Institute’s educational and public outreach
programs concentrate on all aspects of this 1000-year history and its continuing influence in America.
YIVO’s archival collections and library constitute the single greatest resource for such study in the
world, including approximately 24 million letters, manuscripts, photographs, films, sound recordings,
art works, and artifacts; as well as the largest collection of Yiddish-language materials in the world.
http://www.yivoinstitute,org

25. Bernard Katz writes of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts on p. 25 of “Yiddish
Civilization: The Story of Yiddish and the People Who Spoke It” in this way: “There has been a
massive resurgence of interest in Yiddish, particularly in academic circles. In 1980, Aaron Lansky
embarked on a campaign to save the world’s Yiddish books, and over one and a half million of these
have been collected by himself and his colleagues to date. The National Yiddish Book Centre, which he
 ounded, has a customer list which includes 4,000 individuals and more than 5,000 national and
university libraries in 26 countries. It would seem that the Jewish immigrants were much more avid
Yiddish readers than was previously thought.” In a short documentary by Sam Ball: A Bridge of Books
Aaron Lansky recounts the story of the Book Center's founding. As a 23-year-old graduate student,
Lansky stumbled upon an alarming fact: thousands of priceless Yiddish books – books that had
survived Hitler and Stalin – were being discarded and destroyed. As an older generation passed on,
heir Jewish volumes were often thrown in the trash by children and grandchildren unable to read the
anguage. An entire literature was on the verge of extinction. Originally, scholars estimated there were
70,000 Yiddish books extant and recoverable. The Center saved that number in six months. Lansky’s
achievement has been hailed as the "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history." The Book
Center has helped establish Yiddish collections at more than 600 great libraries, including Harvard,
Yale, Library of Congress, the British Library, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and national libraries in
countries as distant as Australia, China and Japan. In 1998, the Center's Steven Spielberg Digital
Yiddish Library made high-quality reprints available on demand. The Center then placed the full texts
of 11,000 Yiddish titles online their Digital Yiddish Library, where they are easily downloaded, free of
charge. Yiddish, once the most endangered of literatures, is now one of the safest and most
accessible. http://yiddishbookcenter.org

26. Wexler Oral History Project of the Yiddish Book Center:

Full interview of Dr. Adrienne Cooper by Paula Katz:

http://archive.org/details/AdrienneCooper28dec2010YiddishBookCenter_821

Clip with Cooper discussing her encounter with members of the Klezmatics:

http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/video/teaching-klezmatics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Balkin, Al. Tune Up to Literacy (The Song Way to Learning Language Series, Vol. 4) Hilton Head, SC:
Contact Now View Music, 2004. http://www.tuneuptoliteracy.com

Barbeau, Marius. “Huron-Wyandot Traditional Narratives: In Translation and Native Texts.” Bulletin
165, (Anthropological Series No. 47), National Museum of Canada, 1969.

Calendar of Yiddish Music Events: http://www.klezmershack.com/calendar/

Carlson, Scott. “Florida International University Uses Internet to Teach Yiddish.” The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Vol. 47, No. 48, (August 10, 2001).
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA146912760&v=2.1&u=onondaga&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w

Cartier, Jacques. A Vocabulary of Stadaconan: From the First and Second Relations of Jacques Cartier:
ncluding a word-list from Holchelaga. Reprint of the 1924 edition edited by Henry P. Biggar.
American Language Reprints, Vol. 11). Southampton, PA: Evolution Publishing, 1999.
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___________. “Bringing Back ‘The Gaelic.'” Maclean's, September 13, 1999, Vol. 112, Issue 37.
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Di Shekhter-tekhter on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShekhterTekhter?feature=watch

Dora Teitelboim Center for Yiddish Culture, Online Yiddish Lessons (in conjunction with Florida
nternational University): http://www.yiddishculture.org/basiclesson/index.html

Fernando, Chrisantha, Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, and Richard A. Goldstein. “A Model of the Mechanisms of
Language Extinction and Revitalization Strategies to Save Endangered Languages.” Human Biology,
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Folksbiene Theater: http://www.folksbiene.org/yung.html

Gros-Louis, Max. First Among the Hurons. Montreal: Harvest House, 1974

Hebbinghaus, Monika. “Radical Jewish Culture Movement Helped Musicians Uncover Identity: DW /
Culture (Germany), April 20, 2011, n. p. http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15005319,00.html

Kamakawiwo'ole, Israel, IZ: Facing Future (CD). Honolulu, Hawai’i: Big Boy Record Company,
distributed by Mountain Apple Co., 1993.

Kaston, Nomi. “Jewish Languages, Jewish Song.” Canadian Folk Music, December 1993, Vol. 27 Issue
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Katz, Dovid. Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish. New York: Basic Books, 2004.

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KlezKamp: http://www.livingtraditions.org/docs/index_kk.htm

Labelle, Rene Sioui. Finding our talk (Episode 10) Huron-Wendat : A Silent Language. Montreal,
Quebec: Mushkeg Media Inc., 2001. (VHS)
Laval University: http://www2.ulaval.ca/accueil.html

Miles, Tiya and Sharon Patricia, Editors, Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds: The African Diaspora in
ndian Country. Ho’omanawanui, Ku’ualoha. “From Ocean to O-shen: Reggae, Rap, and Hip Hop in
Hawai’i.” Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006, pp. 273-308.

Mann, Barbara Alice, with a foreword by Paula Gunn Allen. Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas
American Indian Studies, Vol. 4). New York: Peter Lang, 2000.

Mlotek, J. Yiddish Kinder / Jewish Children. New York: Educational Department of the Workmen’s
Circle, NY, 1959.

O’Herron, Patricia and Dennis Siebenaler, “The Intersection Between Vocal Music and Language Arts
nstruction: A Review of the Literature.” Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Spring-
Summer 2002, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 16+. Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA167775440&v=2.1&u=onondaga&it=r&p=PPFA&sw=w

Putumayo Presents: A Jewish Odyssey (CD). Putumayo World Music, 2000.

http://www.putumayo.com

Robert & Dortothy Ludwig Jewish Community Center, Schenectady, NY:

http://www.schenectadyjcc.org/

Sadan, Tsvi. “Yiddish on the Internet” (Issue Title: Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2010.08.002

Schaechter, Binyumen, Josh Waletzky and the Pripetshik Singers.

Pripetshik Sings Yiddish! = Pripetshiḳ Zingṭ! Teaneck, NJ : Ergo Media Inc. / Jewish Television Network, 2004.
DVD)

Schaechṭer, Binyumen, Josh Waletzky, Reyna Schaechter and Temma Schaechter. When our bubbas
and zeydas were young : the Schaechter sisters on stage = Ven di bobes un zeydes zenen geven yung
Di Shekhter-tekhter af der bine