Jewish Songwriters: Tin Pan Alley

“Tin Pan Alley” originally referred to a specific part of New York City where most music publishers were located. The term was coined to describe the sound of dozens of pianos being pounded at once in publisher’s demo rooms– it was like hundreds of people pounding on tin pans. From the 1880’s to the time of the Great Depression, the explosion in popular music including recordings, sheet music, and vaudeville created an enormous market for new compositions. Individuals of all backgrounds or training were welcome to submit material. This created unique openings for Jewish immigrants and their children who would become the vast majority of successful songwriters during this era.

Lauren Mayer is a prolific songwriter, performer, political humorist and teaching artist whose work is both informative and entertaining. Her weekly topical comedy song videos have attracted millions of views, (and almost as many trolls), her work can be heard regularly on Sirius XM’s Comedy Channel.

She is the recipient of five San Francisco Cabaret Gold Awards and has performed throughout the Bay Area, including Feinstein’s at the Nikko, The Marsh, Society Cabaret and the San Leandro Performing Arts Center, as well as releasing over 20 albums of original comedy songs and educational music. Lauren created and performed custom-written musical comedy shows for corporate clients ranging from Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America to the California Funeral Directors Association. She has performed at fundraisers for groups such as March of Dimes and the Peninsula JCC, and she has created and facilitated theater-based training programs for Stanford, Electronic Arts, and others.

Lauren graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where she studied songwriting with Tony-award-winner Maury Yeston, and she is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In addition to writing several published children’s musicals, she is the co-writer of “Unsung: The Marie Dressler Musical”, which had recent productions at Potrero Stage and the SF Conservatory. In her spare time, she teaches tap dancing at ODC and occasionally sleeps.