[HANASHIR:9087] Re: wedding music & the organ

[SHARON PLIER <CantorShar...>]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Whether Jewish or not, a great place for organists to network, find out
about Jewish music and learn to play the organ and the keyboard "Jewishly"
is the Guild of Temple Musicians (GTM).  There will be several wonderful
workshops for organists at the upcoming ACC/GTM conference in Washington DC.
Also, as membership vice-president of the guild, I am in the process of
putting together pilot regional conferences designed to be affordable and
convenient -- these conferences will always include workshops for our
keyboard and organ members.  For further information please contact me
privately.

Sharon Steinberg
Vice-President of Membership
Guild of Temple Musicians
----- Original Message -----
From: Erik L. F. Contzius <contzius (at) home(dot)com>
To: Adrian Durlester <durleste (at) home(dot)com>; <hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 7:05 AM
Subject: [HANASHIR:9083] Re: wedding music & the organ


> >I know I'm gonna get clobbered for saying this, but say it I must:
> >
> >I think it can make a difference whether the person playing the organ (or
> >the piano or digital keyboard, or guitar, or human voice, for that
matter)
> >is Jewish, has a Jewish soul, and understands the Hebrew in the original.
>
> Adrian--
>
> thanks for the posting! i agree with you very much, however,
> unfortunately, and especially given the present trends and influences
> going on in the reform movement today, very few jews are seeking
> occupations as synagogue musicians, let alone players of organs
> (unfortunately, imho).
>
> you should know that my CD, How Excellent is Thy Name, was
> spearheaded by Kimberly Marshall, a very big wig in the AGO, AND, A
> JEW! She converted to judaism and the reason i met her was she was in
> my congregation during yom kippur one year & invited me to record. in
> her liner notes, she talks extensively about the jewish use of the
> pipe organ, and that's why we made the recording.
>
> i don't feel overly frustrated, however. the church is suffering from
> the same problem: fewer and fewer people are studying the organ, and
> less people are taking jobs as church musicians. the problem is
> pandemic.
>
> in the ideal world, the GTM would be filled to the brim with jewish
> accompanists, the likes of which had not been seen since Freed,
> Janowski, and Helfman. I pray for a renaissance, but...
>
> and regarding your comment about experiences with non-jewish
> musicians/accompanists, i think the key to making a good meld between
> cantor, choir and accompanist is a cantor or music director who can
> educate. if one considers opera as an example, the actors on stage
> have to inhabit a character and make it real, without being the
> character in real life. the synagogue musician has that
> responsability when they are not jewish. i think of myself as an
> "acting" coach for the spirituality of my organist and paid choir.
> ok... "spirituality" coach. and my musicians have responded
> wonderfully. i teach them the meanings of songs, what kavanah is, the
> function of the prayer modes, etc., much of which our own congregants
> do not get, explore, or understand. as well, despite our best of
> intentions on the pulpit, many are not ready to pray when before the
> kahal. there is many a time i stand before my congregation and
> inside, i am bereft of kavanah. however, through prayer i can, over
> the course of that hour, raise my own spirit and eventually "get it."
> so to, can the non-jewish musician, if for nothing else, but out of
> necessity.
>
> i relate this to the jew who sings the St. Matthew Passion (Bach), O
> Sacrum Con Vivium! (Messiaen), Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart) and the
> like. I have found that, although i take issue with the theology of
> works such as these, that i can still relate to the spiritual sense
> of such works. it is a universality found within great works of art.
> even the hassids could find the jewish in the secular wrt music. thus
> i believe that the non-jew in our midst within prayer can find the
> spiritual and transcend the particularistic nature of some of our
> prayers and find the universal. it will be through that window that
> such musicians and such congregations will then be praying rather
> than singing.
>
> in the end, Adrian, i'm not hurling any tomatoes your way. i agree.
> and if i could hire someone like Kimberly marshall to be my organist,
> i gladly would in a heartbeat. we just have to breed them!
> --
> Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
> Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
> Elkins Park, PA
> contzius (at) home(dot)com
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Our new baby! (Photos to be updated regularly):
> http://community.webshots.com/album/10711779joADGhzEao
>
> http://www.kenesethisrael.org/
> http://loftrecordings.com/artists/contzius1.htm
> http://soundswrite.com/swstore1.html#howexcellent
> http://loftrecordings.com/CDs/lrcd1011.htm
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+