Songleaders' stories wanted!

[Judah Cohen <jcohen...>]

My name is Judah Cohen.  I am a former counsellor at OSRUI (1991, Merkaz
Ivrit) and a songleader of several years, mainly in Stamford, CT and St.
Thomas, USVI.  At the moment, I am a graduate student in Ethnomusicology at
Harvard University.
This semester, as a project for one of my classes, I am looking at the
transmission of Jewish Folk Reform Liturgy, especially through the
songleader.

I am looking for people to tell me about their experiences with songleading
and Jewish reform folk liturgy.  If you are interested, you can take either
the private or the public route:

PRIVATE:  Send me an e-mail message answering as many questions in the
survey below as you would like to (they don't have to be direct answers).
My e-mail address is:

        jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu(dot)

I promise that all responses will remain confidential (that is, between
myself, my professor, and the five other music graduate students in my
seminar; we have a pact that anything mentioned in class will not leave the
room).  If I decide to make my results public, I will ask permission first.

PUBLIC:  Do the same thing, but send it to this listserv.  (I'll be able to
print it off the list.)  If you only want to send a part of your response
to the list, that's fine too--just send me the rest privately.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO ASK. IF YOU ARE NOT A SONGLEADER, I
AM STILL INTERESTED IN YOUR RESPONSE TO THE MUSIC AS A LISTENER/SERVICE
PARTICIPANT.  SIMPLY TELL ME ABOUT YOUR HISTORY WITH AND ATTITUDES TOWARD
THE MUSIC, PLUS WHATEVER YOU FEEL IS RELEVANT.

Here is the survey:

0. Name (OPTIONAL)
1. Sex (M/F)
2. Age.
3. Where do you live?
4. Why do you songlead?
5. Where have you done songleading?
6. How did you first get into songleading?  Why?
7. Which instruments do you play?
8. Where did/do you go to learn about songleading?
9. About how many songs do you know?/ About how many do you learn per year?
10. How do you learn new songs?
11. How do you lead a song?
12. What are your best and worst songleading experiences?
13. What makes a good songleader?
14. What makes a good service song?  How is it different from a song in a
"non-folk" service setting?
15. What do you think about when you songlead a service?
16. What are your favorite songs?  Why?
17. Please add anything--stories, philosophies, comments, anything--which
you think exemplifies your experience as a songleader.

18. Would you mind if I asked you a few follow-up questions later?

Thank you very much.  I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Judah Cohen.

Judah Cohen
Music Department
Harvard University
jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu
(617) 628-4783

"...I do not feel that my research suffered unduly from the fact that I
enjoyed it." -- Daniel Miller, "Modernity--an Ethnographic Approach" (p. 6)