Re: My Desert Island Songs

[Judy Git <hillel...>]

Having come in on whatever this refers to after the fact, I can only add
a couple of comments and hope that they are on track.  I take it we're
talking about camp songs.

I recently used Julie Silver's "I am all around" when I taught this particular passage of Chumash.  As luck would have it, my principal chose that particular lesson to sit in on.  Julie has my gratitude (as always - as do all those Jewish artists whose work I use).  He was very impressed with the song.

The all time favorite camp song - according to this - is Debbie Friedman's "Not by Might."  Great.  I love that song.  HOWEVER - I do NOT love what has been DONE to that song in a camp setting; I do NOT like the "camp version" of "Not by Might."  I strongly believe that a song ought to be taught and sung the way that the artist wrote it - and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong - nothing requiring adaptation for children - about the way Debbie wrote that song.  Okay - I guess I can live with "ru'ach!" even though it's an addition.  In a camp setting I guess I can also live with the hand motions (NOT, however, when you have a bunch of kids in a very close space; they wack each other.)  But why on earth change where and how you do the clapping?  And ABOVE ALL, why on EARTH would anyone want to trivialize the message of this song, not to mention break up the tempo and flow, by adding "La da di da" after "The children sing" and a along sigh after "The children dream."  This is a pet peeve of mine.  I belive in general that we owe artists the courtesy of doing music the way they wrote it. This particular song seems to be the most offended against, and I'd like to make a formal request that this practice stop.  Thanks.

Judy Git

Adrian Adam Durlester wrote:

This is a tough call.

The list narrowed down to:
Klepper and Freelander's "Lo Alecha"
Ezra Gabbai/Bill Sharlin's "Lo Yareiu"
Ma Tovu's "Hillel's Song" (B'makom sh'ein anashim)
SAFAM's "Piece by Piece"
The Regesh "Hallelu" (Psalm 150) as adapted by Debbie Friedman
Carlebach's...well, just about anything he wrote, but the "Od Yishama" (no 2)
is best for camp settings.
Josh Miller's Tu B'shevat song "Tree"
Baruch Chait's "Gesher Tzar M'od"
David Feingold's "Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem"
Craig Taubman's "Shir Hama'alot" or "Yad b'Yad"
Steve Dropkin's "Al Shlosha D'varim"
a personal favorite-though not the most singable camp type song-Julie Silver's
"I Am All Around" (for the "acheyn yesh Adonai bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo
yadati" which is very special to me.)

and the eventual winner, the quintessential camp song,

"Not By Might, Not By Power" by Debbie Friedman.

(which I recall Gerry Kaye once saying was possibly written on the floor of the
cheder ochel at OSRUI, but that may just be wishful thinking.)

Adrian