[HANASHIR:12134] Re: What is "Great Music"?

[AnnaRuach <AnnaRuach...>]

Dear Chuck and my other friends and colleagues here,

Shanah Tovah to one and all.  I hope you all enjoyed sharing the music you 
love at your services.  Chuck, your agitation is understandable.  Dr. Adler's 
article made it look like only one kind of music is worthy of being called 
"great."  So please allow me the liberty of re-interpreting his remarks.  
First of all, the music that he refers to as "great" I would prefer to call 
"classical" or "presentational."  The popular style music which Debbie et. 
al. have brought to us I would call "participatory."  (If anyone can think of 
better labels, please let me know.)

I don't think either category should be allowed to overwhelmingly prevail in 
any synagogue.  Each is appropriate at different times.  I think we should 
all rejoice in the fact that the spectrum of Jewish music is so wide and 
multi-colored.  Personally, I love both.  As a cantor in a Reform synagogue, 
I feel extremely fortunate to have this array from which to choose.  The High 
Holidays have an aura of solemnity and grandeur which are expressed by our 
Adult Choir singing the grand compositions (which helped to define the music 
of early Reform) of Lewandowski, Sulzer, and Jassinowsky, as well as the 
"new" classics of Janowski, Piket, and Michael Isaacson.  Our pipe organ gets 
a good workout and my soprano pipes let fly.  The music is beautiful and 
provokes thought and meditation.  

During the rest of the year, we mix it up.  We have a monthly Family Service 
where the "participatory" oeuvre takes over.  Folk, pop, whatever you want to 
call it.  I've come to call it "Jewish American Pop."  It includes tunes by 
Shlomo Carlebach, niggunim, the so-called NFTY repertoire, and we even go 
across denominational lines to include tunes by D'veykus and other so-called 
"frum bands."  A great tune is a great tune!  I crank up my rock chick singer 
voice and my high school band and I sling our guitars and have a great time.  
There is no doubt that the kids love this stuff and it whets their appetites 
for more.  Once they are old enough for my High School Choir, they are 
actually curious about and ready to learn the classic Jewish choral 
repertoire.  They attend the Hazamir Winter Festival and totally dig the 
variety, from Dan Henkin's a cappella masterpieces to Stephen Glass' s 
exuberant contemporary adult style to stunning arrangements of contemporary 
Israeli pop, as well as the occasional "classical" piece.

Of course, I am extremely fortunate to be in a congregation that welcomes and 
celebrates this variety.  I think Dr. Adler's lament echoes those of my 
parents and their contemporaries, and probably every generation of parents 
who can't understand the music of their children.  Much of the music of great 
classical composers such as Beethoven and Brahms was borrowed from folk tunes 
of their time and place.  Their music was the "pop" of its day, and every 
generation has its own musical voice.  I look at the performing lineup at 
CAJE and say "Thank God for new songwriters and new music to express our love 
for our Yiddishkeit!"  And then I go to the North American Jewish Choral 
Festival and rejoice in the new compositions for choirs.  It's all great 
stuff and there is room for all of it.

I think the point is that if your congregation loves what you're doing, keep 
on doing it!  But as the music professionals, we should all be open-minded 
and have our ears open for whatever is out there.  Buy CD's, go to concerts, 
subscribe to Transcontinental Music's twice-yearly shipment of new 
publications, listen to "JM in the AM."  Whatever floats your boat.  There is 
so much wonderful Jewish music, of so many genres, to be shared! 

Cantor Anna Ott
Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple
New Brunswick, NJ