Re: Teens and Jewish Music

[MHersher <MHersher...>]

I thought I'd weigh in with a slightly different perspective on the teaching
of Jewish music.  I spent my whole life singing and teaching peace and freedom
music and listening to rock and roll, until about three years ago.  At that
point, in my mid-forties, I suddenly began to crave Jewish music and Judaism.
When that change came, I started learning songs at a rapid pace and started
looking for opportunities to  sing and teach.

My point is that people, including children, learn when they are ready and
when the subject matter becomes important to them.  My sense is that one can
be too worried about the perpetuation of Judaism and high culture into the
next generation.  There will always be people who want to learn what we know.
They may not be teenagers.  Those teenagers may have to grow into their
Jewishness, as I did.  The best we can do is to continue to make the music
that we each love and the students will come.