leaf leaf

Publications

Most of my writing has focused on the intersection of music, the arts and community. Over the years, I have dedicated myself to developing a style that is clear, coherent and, above all, understandable to the non-specialist.

I have published two award winning books and dozens of articles that run the musical gamut from Italian American doowop to bossa nova, from Andean religious festivals to the evolution of vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley. At the heart of it all is the idea that music and the arts form the basis of community.

Robert working on his thesis

The Technologizing of the Song

The Technologizing of the Song is the study I conducted for my doctoral dissertation while a student at NYU. During a seventeen-month period in 1988-1990, I compiled an ethnographic field study in a small town called Abadiania in the interior of Brazil. At the time of the study, only 30 percent of the rural homes in Abadiania had access to electrical current while older participants clearly remembered a time before any electricity existed at all. The study contrasts the observations I recorded of the musical life in Abadiania as it was currently experienced with the oral history reports of 40 individuals I collected in the town.

Abadiania catira

Mediating the Muse

In surveying the history of Western music, Mediating the Muse seeks to uncover the essential nature of music as a form of communication dependent upon technological mediation. The book argues that all music, whether it be the rhythmic tapping of stones or the sophisticated coordination of a symphonic orchestra, is the result of applied technique and technological innovation that effects how we experience and conceptualize music.

This book is available from Amazon and also from the publisher, Hampton Press.

mediating the muse

The Arts and Play as Educational Media in the Digital Age.

Co-written with Carmine Tabone and based upon 40 plus years of experience working with children in Jersey City, The Arts and Play as Educational Media in the Digital Age outlines the ways in which hands-on experience in the arts and face-to-face interpersonal forms of play help to re-establish a balance in the education and socialization of children as we enter more deeply into the Digital Age. Winner of the Susanne Langer Award for “Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Symbolic Form”.

This book is available from Amazon and also from the publisher, Peter Lang Publishing.

girl on swing bookcover

Doowop Italiano

First prepared as a presentation at an academic convention in Italy, this article maintains that Italian American doowop groups in their adaptation of an African American form added something of their own cultural heritage to the mix. As descendants of recent immigrants from southern Italy, the singers of Italian American doowop were exposed to a rich musical tradition that included opera, bel canto singers, and a very vibrant tradition of popular song and public singing. All of this became integrated into their musical expression of doowop.

For those interested, here is a link to the article

italian doowop band

La Tirana

“The Virgin, The Princess and The Goddess: An Ethnographic Report of a Religious Festival in the Andean Region of Northern Chile,” The Atlantic Journal of Communication, Fall 2007.

Based on a field study I conducted with the assistance of the Chilean musicologist Professor Lina Barrientos Pacheco, this article examines the clash of pagan and Christian symbolism and practices within a ritual celebration known as “La Tirana” conducted every July in the Andean region of Northern Chile.

girl on swing bookcover

Publications

A. Books

  • The Arts and Play as Educational Media in the Digital Age. Co-authored with Carmine Tabone. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2020). Winner of the Susanne Langer Award.
  • Mediating the Muse: Music, Media and Cultural Change (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2004). Winner of the Dorothy Lee Award.
  • The Magic Circle of Drama (2008). Co-author of the Introduction and overall consultant to the project. (Jersey City: Educational Arts Team, 2008).

B. Articles

  • “My Grandfather’s Three Questions,” Etc.: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 78, no. 3-4).
  • “The 22nd Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association: July 8–11, 2021,” Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, September, 2021 (Volume 48, no. 3).
  • Editorial review of “A Media Ecological Approach to the History of Music Notation: The Neume, Staff and Mensural Rhythm” for Explorations in Media Ecology, Winter 2021.
  • “The Making of a Counter Environment,” Explorations in Media Ecology, 2021. Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 101-105.
  • “O princípio da gangorra: As artes e o brincar como contrapeso na era digital. Revista ALCEU, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Comunicação Social / Programa de Pós-graduação, October 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.46391/ALCEU.v20.ed41.2020.86
  • “Extending McLuhan” (with Liang Yi). Explorations in Media Ecology, 2018. Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 173-179.
  • “Doo-Wop Italiano: Towards an Appreciation and Understanding of Italian American Vocal Groups of the Late 1950s and Early 1960s.” Popular Music and Society. Volume 42 Issue 2, DOI: 10.1080/03007766.2017.1414663
  • “Roger Water and Pink Floyd: The Concept Albums” and “Radiohead and the Global Movement for Change” (Reviews of two books published by Phil Rose), Explorations in Media Ecology, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 99-102.
  • “A Question of Balance: Children, Pedagogy and Play in the Age of Digital Technology," Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica (Journal of Theories and Research in Education), Universitá di Bologna, Vol. 12, No.2, 2017.
  • “The Media Ecology of Play: A Preliminary Probe of Childhood Play in the Digital Age,” with Carmine Tabone. Explorations in Media Ecology. Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2017.
  • “On the Road to Find Out: One Jacket, Two Guitars, and a Handful of Songs.” The Academic Forum, 2017.
  • “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland: Revisiting S.I. Hayakawa’s ‘Popular Songs vs. The Facts of Life’”. Etc.: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 73, No. 3, January 2016.
  • ”In My Life.” In T. Gencarelli (Ed.), Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America's Most Powerful Generation. ABC/Clio/Praeger, 2015.
  • “Technopoly and the Education of Children: Media Ecology as a Form of Reflection, Praxis, and Resistance,” with Carmine Tabone. Explorations in Media Ecology, Volume 14, Numbers 3-4, 1 December 2015, pp. 317-331.
  • “Media Revolution on 14th Street: Immigration, Vaudeville and the Nascence of Electronic Media in New York City.” E-COMPOS: Revista da Associação Nacional dos Programas de Pós-Graduacão em Comunicação. Brasília, v. 15, n.2, maio/ago. 2012.
  • “Song of the Poet: Lost in Translation or Rediscovered in a New Form?” Etc.: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 67, No. 2, April 2010.
  • “Reporting the Right Thing: An Outline and Reflection on a Drama Workshop Exploring Media Bias in Reporting the News,” (with Carmine Tabone), Explorations in Media Ecology, Vol. 7, No. 1.
  • “Seventy-Five Years After: The Endurance of the Kong,” featured article, Black Maria Festival Program, 2008.
  • “What’s a Nice Guy Like You Doing In a Place Like This?: The Role of Ethnography in the Evolution of Media Ecology Theory,” Media Ecology Proceedings, 2008.
  • “The Virgin, The Princess and The Goddess: An Ethnographic Report of a Religious Festival in the Andean Region of Northern Chile,” The Atlantic Journal of Communication, Fall 2007.
  • “Teaching as a Creative Activity: Seven Ideas About Creativity and the Experience of Education,” Academic Forum, Vol. 13, Spring 2005.
  • ¿Shows About Nothing?, Women on Campus, Summer 2005.
  • “Oh What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me,” (Video Review), Explorations in Media Ecology, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2004.
  • “Mediating the Muse,” In Media Res. Fall 2003.
  • “Paulo, Marshall, and Me,” Academic Forum, Vol. 10, Spring 2002.
  • “Mars Invades the Classroom: A Workshop in Language Learning,” (with Carmine Tabone), The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning, Fall 2002.
  • “Preface to Homer: The Role of Music in the Origin and Evolution of Speech.” In Speech Communication Annual, Vol. XIV, 2000.
  • “The Technologizing of the Song,” New Dimensions in Communication, XIII, Spring 2001.
  • “Abadiânia Revisited,” Academic Forum, Fall 2000.
  • “The World Languages and Cultures Grant: A Challenge and Opportunity,” contributing author, Academic Forum, Fall 2000.
  • “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: A Drama Workshop for Junior High School Students,” (with Carmine Tabone), Stage of the Art, Spring 2000.
  • “A Review of In Search of a Voice: Karaoke and the Construction of Identity in Chinese America by Casey Man Kong Lum,” The New Jersey Journal of Communication, Spring 1997.
  • “Electric Children: Orality and Literacy in the Age of Technological Change,” New York State Speech Communication Association Proceedings, Spring, 1995.
  • “Children of the World: Multi-Cultural Education in a Multi-Cultural Environment,” (with Carmine Tabone) Youth Theatre Journal, Summer, 1991.
  • “Violeta Parra & La Nueva Canción Chilena,” Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 1986.
  • “Bossa Nova::Novo Brasil,” Latin American Research Review, Summer 1982.
  • “A Look Inside the World of Art,” Etc.: A Review of General Semantics, Winter 1983.
  • “A Look Inside the World of Art,” (reprint) Utne Reader, April 1984.
  • “Who Knows What The Future Brings?,” State of the Arts, 1982.
  • “Our Lady of 3 A.M.,” State of the Arts, 1982.
  • “Dominant Themes in Italian Cinema,” Cityside, Nov. 6, 1978.
  • “Brazil and Its Carnaval,” Bugle American, March 25, 1977.
  • “Waiting,” Pavan, Spring 1972.