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In this brief essay, I will describe the compatibility of a postmodern turn in sociology and the symbolic interactionist approach to the study of music in everyday life. This compatibility is reflected in the work and career of musical artist Matisyahu, as illustrated by the concept of pastiche. The interaction among the three dimensions of image, music, and religious ideology in Matisyahu’s work operationalizes this concept. The primary resources for this analysis include Matisyahu’s recorded music; an interview conducted with him by The Times of Israel in which he explains his personal transition from the Labuvitch movement to the Modern Orthodox Movement and how this transition affected his music; and my attendance at four of his concerts in Central Texas. Pastiche refers to “a free-floating, crazy quilt, collage, hodgepodge patchwork of ideas or views. It includes elements of opposites such as the old and new. It denies regularity, logic or symmetry; it glories in contradiction and confusion” (Rosenau, 1991, xiii). I conclude with a brief pedagogical argument on how to expand the use of music to explain complex sociological theory and social phenomena. By highlighting theoretical concepts through music, we can ground new and complex ideas in lived experiences and engage students with a topic that is grounded in their daily life experience.

Norman Denzin's career as a symbolic interactionist spans many years and has produced an incredible amount of high-quality scholarship. His work as editor of Studies in Symbolic Interaction has served as a platform for disseminating a wide range of innovative ideas, research, and reviews in our discipline. In this chapter, I will discuss two features of Studies that point to the great value of its work to symbolic interaction in general and to the areas of music studies in particular. Those two features are planting the seed of interactionist scholarship in an initial paper, and growing collective interactionist projects through special issues. My examples will be drawn from my own experiences with Studies over the years, and my approach to research and writing on music phenomena.