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Hunter Professor Victor Bobetsky to Deliver Talk on "We Shall Overcome: Essays on a Great American Song"

On Tuesday, November 7 at 4:30 p.m, Victor Bobetsky, Professor of Music and Director of the Teacher Education Program in Music at Hunter College and six of his students from the music education program will present a book talk at NYU. Professor Bobetsky will discuss the research and academic activities that led to the creation and publication of his book, We Shall Overcome: Essays on a Great American Song (2015). The students joining him in this presentation will perform excerpts of several antecedent songs, discussed in the book, that may have influenced the music and/or text of the current version of “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem we know and sing today.

The book was inspired by a symposium on the origins and history of "We Shall Overcome" which Professor Bobetsky hosted at Hunter College in 2013. The symposium celebrated the song's origins and history featuring guest speakers from academia and choirs from the New York City Schools who performed the antecedent songs.

The book, which contains eight essays, two of which were written by Bobetsky, has been purchased by over 196 college, university and public libraries and is a useful tool for music teachers. The collection was described by Music Educators Journal as “a valuable resource to be used not just in the music appreciation or general music classroom but in any class that seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the African-American civil rights movement.” Professor Bobetsky commented, " I am thrilled to be able to involve Hunter music education students in this upcoming event and I want to thank Hunter President Jennifer J. Raab for her generous support which helped to make the research, the symposium, and the creation of this book a reality."

Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Taminent Library at New York Unviersity, 70 Washington Square South, NY, 10012
RSVP: Please email taminent.events@nyu.edu with guest name(s) and the title of the event: Book Talk: Victor Bobetsky on We Shall Overcome: Essays on a Great American Song

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