[HANASHIR:4829] Re: [4824] HANASHIR digest 763

[BZcantor <BZcantor...>]

Folks, 

The issue is not one of elitism, but rather one of the huge amount of 
technical
knowledge that someone needs to carry on the ancient traditions of Nusach.
Now, I will be the first to say that 90% of what I do on a weekly basis barely
scratches the surface of what I was taught at JTS.  However, every now and 
then 
I dust off an arcane music book or open a scholarly text, and feel thankful 
that
I payed attention in Ethnomusicology or some other academic course, because
some situation arises where I need that technical knowledge.  

During my recent job search, I auditioned at a shul where I was asked to daven
something I literally had not looked at since I graduated, because most shuls 
don't do that text.  It was there in my head when I needed it, even if I 
never daven 
it again during the rest of my career.  Would I be a good Cantor If I never 
learned 
that neglected piece of liturgy?  Sure, but it was nice to know that I could 
do it 
in the right (i.e. traditional) Nusach when asked with no warning.  

Another example:  in my student days, we had to learn some 23 Kaddish 
melodies to graduate.  Listening to what goes on in some shuls, one could get 
the impression that all Hatzi Kaddish texts are sung like Friday night, and 
all Full Kaddish texts are
sung in Major.  Well, what about the other 21 or so?  I have always worked in 
shuls which are "middle-of-the-road" liturgically, not too traditional but 
not too liberal when
it comes to the texts available to daven.  Yet, each year, I use literally 18 
of those Kaddish melodies on various occasions!  When someone asks why I use 
so many different melodies on different liturgical occasions, I compare it to 
the fact that we use different trope melodies for Torah - Haftatah - Esther - 
Lamentations - Ruth.  It
helps show the different mood of each holiday, and it's like wearing 
different clothes depending on the formality (or lack thereof) of the social 
setting.  My compromise with reality is to forego the 5 really odd Kaddish 
melodies which are only done once a year.  It seems to me that Jewish worship 
would be a lot more boring if everything were sung in just a few musical 
modes, rather than the rich variety of our tradition.
It would like coloring with only the 8 colors in the small Crayola box, 
rather than the
64 or 96 colors in the big boxes.

Does one have to attend a school to learn all this?  Obviously there were 
very knowledgeable Cantors before there were schools, since the oldest 
schools are 
barely 50 years old.  However, a lot of oral tradition was lost in the 
Holocaust, and 
with the strong influence of popular music in this country it is hard to pass 
on the
oral tradition in a non-supportive environment (like the expectations of most 
shuls).
I see the schools as the repository of those traditions, doing their best to 
pass on
to future professionals a body of knowledge which is far larger than they 
will ever
need or use in real life.  It's like a good lesson plan in a school - we are 
told to always have more ready than we will probably use in class that day.  

When I am in a pessimistic mood, I say to myself "Why bother?  No one cares 
about this music anyway; why not just take the easy way out and do everything 
in easy sing-along tunes and forget about all those arcane traditions?  In 50 
years 
there won't be any Cantors anyway, and few Rabbis too if the Havurot are any
indication of where we are headed."  Do-it-yourself Judaism doesn't worry 
about 
which melody should be used for Sukkot versus Tisha B'Av, because who observes
those odd holidays anyway?  Certainly most shuls are not full on either 
occasion!

When I am in a hopeful mood, I take the other view:  "This is really neat 
stuff!  When
I find someone who is interested (like at a CAJE Conference), I'll teach them 
as much of this tradition as they want to learn, so someone else can help 
keep it alive
a few more years.  Meanwhile, I'll keep up these traditions in my little 
corner of the Jewish world and hope that some of my congregants get something 
out of it."

Therein lies the role of the non-school method for learning these musical 
traditions;
passing on the oral tradition complete with an attitude which says "it 
matters".  If 
the student only learns 12 of the 23 Kaddish melodies, that is probably 10 
more 
than most people know!  If the student agrees with the concept that there is 
value 
in matching the occasion with the appropriate Nusach, then the details will 
follow
(as long as the teacher is hooked into these traditions in the first place).  
In any case, there is probably room for both schools and non-school learning 
for as long
as shuls still want to hire Cantors; my hope is that we all keep the 
traditions alive
for as long as we can. 

My apologies if all this offends anyone.  OK:  ready, aim, fire!

                                              Cantor Neil Schwartz     
 

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