[HANASHIR:12158] Re: What is "Great Music"?

[Marsha Fensin <mfsings...>]

Hi all,
    I have read, with great interest, many of the posts to this thread.  I
also try to have a mix of "great" music in my congregation.  I loved those who
shared that this is what they tried to do as well. ( Thanks you Adrian and
Anna Ott, etc.) I do have one thing that I disagree with.  I think that
Lewandowski Sulzer and Naumberg, etc. can be just as accessible and singable
as Isaacson, Friedman, etc.  We opened Rosh Hashanah shachrit services with
Lewandowski's Mah Tovu and I had congregants walking out humming it and I had
kids humming the shofar sounds from Janowski's Un'tane Tokeif. I think part of
the problem might be attitude.  If we, as Shlichei Tsibur, are excited and
open about what we are presenting, that excitment will spill over to our
congregation.  If we think that the classics are outmoded, museum pieces, then
our congregation will feel that way too.  If we feel that Debbie Friedman,
Jeff Klepper, Michael Isaacson, Steve Sher, etc. are too pop oriented, that
attitude will find it's way into our listeners' hearts as well.
    Try some of the "classics" with guitar.  It will open up a whole new world
for you and give you some respect for that venerable instrument.  Mine, by the
way, is a 1964 Gibson concert classic and is a "classic" all by itself.
    Shanah Tovah u'mtukah and gamar chatima tova,
Marsha

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