[HANASHIR:15208] Re: High Holy Day choices

[WINSTON WEILHEIMER <nusach...>]

while new melodies are nice, there is NOTHING LIKE NUSACH.  I find "older" 
generation singing along and younger generation picks up on it.  at the 
begining of the service I explain what Nusach is, and sing the basic 
nusach....teach it to the congregants, and tell them if they don't know the 
words, to hum or la la la when they hear it.  it keeps them envolved with 
the service.  its like the smell of matzo ball soup on Pesach...it is 
something one never forgets and gives the flavor of the holiday.

I encourage people to sing along....this is not a concert its a worship 
service.  Worship is an active practice, not a spectator sport.

my 2 cents!



Rabbi Winston Weilheimer
Host/OWNER
NUSACH INTERNET RADIO NETWORK
Nusach, THE ORIGINAL SOUL MUSIC!
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/nusach/





>From: Laura Ferguson <allenderl (at) acm(dot)org>
>Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
>Subject: [HANASHIR:15206] Re: High Holy Day choices
>Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 16:51:59 -0400
>
>At 09:17 AM 9/1/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>The only reason I find somewhat of a pull away from, as I like to call 
>>them,
>>Cantorial Gems, is that people in the congregation want to sing along.  
>>Time
>>and being in a hurry does not seem to be a factor where I sing.  They want
>>to be touched, they want to pray and they want to be a part of the 
>>process.
>>However, I hope the day will never come when I will have to give up 
>>singing
>>Janowski's Avinu Malkeynu or have an entire congregation singing along 
>>with
>>me during Kol Nidre.
>
>Actually, in Max's congregation in Chicago (KAM Isaiah Israel), where I 
>grew up, we all sang along with the choir when they sang his Avinu 
>Malkeinu. The soloists were amazing, and the sound carried well from the 
>choir loft, and so we were mostly quiet during the solo parts, but when the 
>choir was singing we would always join in as a congregation.  (The same was 
>true for his L'cha Dodi, which was done as a soloist + choir + congregation 
>+ Max's amazing improvisation on the organ.)
>
>If I had to explain it, I would say that Max's congregation was a singing 
>congregation probably because he taught us new melodies and songs every 
>week.  The weeks before the high holidays he would teach us the music that 
>we were going to hear on the holidays.  On Friday's we almost never sang 
>Adon Olam, instead, sometime around the sermon he would teach us a  song 
>and then we would sing it at the end of the services in place of A.O. or 
>Ein Keloheinu.  I have always preferred this style because I think it 
>promotes a musical intelligence in the congregation.  And because of his 
>efforts, we were a singing congregation, despite the fact that we RARELY 
>sang any of the folk style melodies -- which he objected to. (Other 
>influence meant that I grew up loving both his classical and the folk 
>styles of Jewish music.)
>
>It would be hard to reproduce this exactly, but I think the idea of 
>teaching a new song every week is the most important concept.  I think 
>people need to be taught to expect change -- but just a little at a time.  
>This leads me to the strong conviction, that in a service congregational 
>singing should always be encouraged -- no matter what type of music you are 
>doing.
>
>Lastly, while services may need to change occasionally, it seems to me that 
>succumbing to pressure to shorten services or dumb them down is a mistake.  
>Wouldn't it be better to bring the congregation to a new level?  If we 
>respect ourselves and the service than others will respect it too.
>
>For example, I lead a long Passover seder, but people don't complain -- in 
>fact they love it -- why?  Because I took the Haggadah, restructured it 
>(with in the order) and added meaning back into our homebrew Haggadah.    
>It's longer, but they love it more....  One thing I figured out in doing 
>this, things don't seem long if they "accelerate".  That is, if the content 
>is front loaded and the end of the service is faster, there is a sensation 
>of speed or maybe even "flow".  So for Passover, I put lots of content 
>before the first glass of wine & before the second.  But the 2nd and third 
>glasses occur close together.  The third and the fourth are one page apart. 
>  And yet we still tell the Passover story 4 times!
>
>Laura Ferguson
>
>
>
>

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