[HANASHIR:15447] learning birkat hamazon

[erik contzius <contzius...>]

Neil Levin has an excellent music book called, "The
Zmirot Anthology," available through Tara Music
(www.jewishmusic.com). The full bensching is notated
at the back of the book. For full recordings, I
believe the two-tape set from the conservative
Benscher (B'kol Echad, edited by Hazzan Jeffrey
Shiovitz) has it recorded. But be mindful--each
communitiy has its own variations of the tunes. The
first tune (for hazan et hakol) is by Moshe Nathanson
(not "Trad." or "folk") and is notated in his
songbook, "Manginot Shireinu." The remaining melodies
are mostly from middle German folktunes (see Eric
Werner's research on this matter). Prior to
nathanson's popular melody, the bensching was chanted
in a mode called Ukranian Dorian, which is neither
Ukranian, nor Dorian [discuss!]. To hear a sampling of
that, get the Moishe Oysher Family Seder (available on
a recently re-issued CD)... the annoying narration
occludes the bensching, but you can hear the mode
pretty well.

more information than you can shake a stick at (or
probably wanted).



=====
Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
New Rochelle, New York

COME TO THE ROZHINKE RETREAT: http://rozhinke.org/
http://community.webshots.com/user/eriklfc
http://soundswrite.com/swstore1.html#howexcellent
http://tinr.org/

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network  http://shamash.org  
A service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an
online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/ 

* * FREE JEWISH LEARNING * *
Shamash invites you to join MyJewishLearning.com, a comprehensive,
objective, authoritative and interactive learning resource in all areas
of Judaism.  Free membership via http://www.myjewishlearning.com/shamash
------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------=