Where's the Ruach?

[Jeff Klepper <klepper...>]

Chevre,

I am cross-posting this overly-long query on the HUC Alumni and ACC lists
and Ha-nashir, the songleader list on Shamash.  My apologies if you receive
two (or three) of these, but I could use some feedback on the following
situation.

Many of us, cantors, rabbis, and songleaders, lead singing in religious
schools on Sunday mornings.  Over the past year, and especially recently, I
have sensed that the kids in grades 4-5-6 are talking more during class,
singing less, singing less loudly when they do sing, and in general seem to
care less about the music.  They might enjoy the songs we are teaching, but
the  volume level of their singing and the sense of excitement has
certainly dropped among the older grades.  In the 15 years I have sung with
the kids on Sunday mornings, it has usually been a spirited and fun time
for all.  I've tried lots of fixes: new songs, old songs, different space,
better songsheets, playing tof, passing out rhythm instruments. They all
help...a little.

Anyway, that's the good news.  On  weekday afternoons when we learn t'filot
during Hebrew school they barely open their mouths, much less sing with ruach.

Am I getting stale? Are my kids bored? Our repertoire is very eclectic,
though - always has been.  Are the kids, many of them, so marginally Jewish
that our songs have less meaning for them?   Or are they just more
rebellious at a younger age today? Are things any better in the Jewish day
schools?

I do sense that  American culture is changing and we Jews (especially our
kids) are being swept along.  I could point to a few possible reasons - I
don't know if these are on target or not:

* Less music and singing in public school

* Less singing at home with both parents working and spending less time
together

* The days of folk singing as a cultural benchmark are long gone.  For kids
today, "If I Had a Hammer" and "Turn Turn Turn" are merely golden oldies
from their parents' record collection - with nothing to replace them.

* It seems like music videos have fostered a sit-back-and-enjoy-it rather
than sing-along mentality.  How can a single guitar or piano compete with
the mega-rock sound of today's music?  

* Very few simple, singable songs come out of Israel these days.  Even the
American Nusach pop material has become more complicated and harder to
sing.  (I plead guilty for my part in that :-) And our kids have literally
grown up with the 70's 'camp' repertoire that was once so radical - now
it's become old hat...

* Over time, the above results in fewer top-notch songleaders in our camps
and synagogues

* Finally, I wonder if rap music (and music videos) haven't destroyed kids'
brain cells and their appreciation for a good melody

Perhaps there's a deeper generational thing going on than I'm willing to
admit.  My folk-song-generation baby-boomer peers are now in their 40s and
50s with kids of our own.  Have we been unable to buck the cultural trends
and pass down our legacy to our kids?  Even the mini folk boom of the 1980s
(Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman) has long passed.  I still believe in the
music and I always will - it just seems I'm connecting more seriously to
adults these days than to the younger set.  No surprise, I suppose.

Major caveat - the little ones, grades K through 3, are still as wonderful
and malleable as ever.  And the Youth Group and camp kids, our saving
remnant, are terrific.  I don't mean to paint a bleak picture - maybe I
just had a bad day.  But I do think this is something we need to talk about.

Final anecdote: this past Sunday morning my grade 4-5 class could barely
sit up in their chairs at 9:45 a.m.  I asked how many were up late the
night before - more than half of them were up past 10:30, most watching TV.
(In the Midwest we get SNL at 10:30). Is this part of the problem?  Or am I
just an over-40 curmudgeon with no sense of where kids are at today?  Any
thoughts? Thanks.

Shalom,
Jeff Klepper