RE: New member

[Adrian A. Durlester <durleste...>]

Michael:

Welcome to the list!

Good luck in your campaign to incorporate more contemporary music into 
services. Oddly, I am fighting the reverse trend. Our congregation has been 
without a full-time rabbi for 10 years or so (we used lay leaders and HUC 
students.) In the absence of a full-time rabbi, the congregants who were 
regular attendees at services largely dictated the musical style and content. 
The preference was for a lot of music, a lot of Hebrew, and singing along. The 
two cantorial soloists I have worked with over the years and I worked 
diligently to maintain a fair balance of new American nusach (Friedman, 
Klepper, Silver, Cotler, et al), the classic Reform music (Lewandowski, Sulzer, 
Adler, et al); the Israeli and Chassidic song festival tunes that became Reform 
standards (Hitman, Shemer, et al), Shlomo Carlebach's music (a class by 
itself,) the neo-classical Reform school (Isaacson, Steinberg, Richards, et al) 
and neo-Chasidic (Abie Rotenberg, Regesh, et al.) Now, we again have a 
full-time rabbi. It seems he has a preference for the classic Reform and 
doesn't much care for the new American nusach; and the quantity of  music in 
the service has been cut drastically back. It's his pulpit and I will gladly 
work with him- I actually like him a lot. But I am greatly concerned about the 
ultimate effect of the change in musical content and style. It seems to me that 
it is going against the current trends - at least based on what I hear from 
other people on this list and elsewhere working in Reform congregations. 
Throughout the ages, Judaism has adopted from the cultures in which it thrived. 
Melodies and musical influences from the host culture found their way into the 
musical liturgy of Judaism. Why should this be any different now? Some object 
because much of the contemporary music is not written in the musical modes and 
nusach that are the current standard in Judaism. Our own history shows that 
this is a moot objection. By the same token, I would like to see more 
contemporary composers writing in the "traditional" Jewish modes and basing 
melodies on the "traditional" nusach. There is room for both.

By the way, if you research it, you will discover that Lewandowski, Sulzer et 
al were writing music that was intended for participatory congregational 
singing. It was never meant to be just for the cantor. So do not be too quick 
to dismiss it. One does not need a huge choir or professional cantors. One can 
easily adapt the choral arrangements of the works of Lewandowski or Stephen 
Richards for small choirs or no choir at all.

My practical tip: change happens best when it happens slowly. Keep a balance of 
"old" and "new." Do not neglect those who come to services less often, and 
those who always want the same old, same old when they come to services. You 
must strive to meet the needs of all congregants. On the other side of the 
coin, there are people out there whose role in life is to simply be unhappy and 
complain no matter what. Do not spend a great deal of time trying to please 
these people as you can't.

Music is extremely versatile. Simple changes in tempo, accompaniment, amount of 
legato or staccato, etc. can radically alter a tune. You can make the "old 
standards" sound new and make the "new standards" sound old. Don't be afraid to 
experiment - but don't experiment in the service!

Adrian


Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) plains(dot)nodak(dot)edu
Production manager, Festival Concert Hall, North Dakota State University
Director of Music, Temple Beth El, Fargo ND
Alternate EmaiL: aad (at) iname(dot)com    durleste (at) compuserve(dot)com   
adriand (at) aol(dot)com