[HANASHIR:12170] V'ahavtah and trope

[Sholom Simon <sholom...>]

Taking the thread on a tangent:

>In Reform services I find the chanting of "V'ahavtah" a problem because it 
>uses trope, but the Hebrew in the Prayer Book has no trope symbols.  Are 
>we to therefore learn something only by rote procedures?

Most people learn _most_ melodies by rote!  (If you listen to music radio 
-- do you ever sing along?  And yet: have you ever seen the music)!

In fact, there's a great benefit to learning V'ahavtah by rote (if it is 
correctly done according to the trope) and that is: teaching trope to 
someone _after_ they have learned the V'ahavta can be much easier -- 
because they already know some of the notes, the modality, etc etc.

My two agarot!

-- Sholom


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