Re: Hava Nashira 1998

[Rich Glauber <rglauber...>]

Hi folks,

Since I had to leave on the first van to the airport, I didn't get the
chance to be part of the closing activity, and therefore didn't get a
chance to hear from many of you as to your thoughts and impressions of the
conference.  Even though there was quite a bit of conversation throughout
the week as to the strengths and weaknesses of the event, I (and I'm sure
many others) would be interested to see what people's perspectives were.

I was not one of those who felt it was "overwhelmingly positive".  I felt
that there were many positive elements to the proceedings, not the least of
which was the warmth, talent, and openness of the participants.  I feel
very fortunate to be colleagues with you all, and I am excited to be part
of an international community of like minded, musical friends.

Highlights:  The sounds we created were unbelievably beautiful.  I've never
had the chance to be around so many beautiful voices, beautiful
harmonizers, and beautiful music.  There were some powerful musical
vibrations in the air every day, and it was almost an embarassment of
riches.  What a sound!

A major highlight from my perspective was the after hours jamming the
brought many people together for some excellent sessions.  One open mic
night Adrian was on piano, I was on accordion, Josh was on mandolin, Andrew
was on percussion and we were like the "house band" for a beautiful series
of impromptu performances by folks like Karen Daniel, Jess Gold, David
Jaffe, Rick and I wish I could remember everyone's name...  It was
extremely fun and a great way to connect.

Other nights were more raucous, there was one evening in the Lodge where we
jammed into the late night, singin baby boomer hits with all ages... What a
trip!  Yeah that was especially nice to have musicians in their early
twenties and younger, jamming with some of us (shall we say) more
"chronilogically challenged" folks.  It's so important to bridge that gap,
and we really did it.

Many of the "prepared" classes were excellent, and it was very helpful to
receive the benefit of learning from such excellent teachers.

But before I bore you all with positives, let me share about the two areas
where I feel we missed the mark.  The first is an opinion that I know was
shared by many of the participants, and that is the over programming of the
conference and the resultant lack of time for informal, small group
learning and sharing.  This is a serious problem, because it reflects a
mind set that really must change.  What that type of programming implies is
that we participants are to be in "receptor mode" for the vast majority of
the time, and that we are to receive the insights from the "experts" in
order to further our education.  I strongly disagree with this model as the
dominant paradigm for what should happen at HN.  Personally I got much more
out of the smaller group sharings, scheduled and unscheduled, in which
people with common goals were able to share their various strategies,
tunes, activities and ideas with eachother.  This type of programming
happened in spite of the schedule, rather than because of it.

Secondly, I was amazed at the complete lack of physicality at this event.
I mean think about it.  Here we have close to a hundred Jewish musicians
coming together for five days of community in a beautiful lakeside setting
in rural Wisconsin, in early June no less.  Somehow we have been lulled
into a model of thinking that "spirituality" equates with a group of
stationary people sitting or occassionally standing around a guitarist
making beautiful soaring harmonies.  There was such an over abundance of
that type situation that it nearly crossed over into absurdity for me.
Don't get me wrong, I think some of the music was exceptionally uplifting,
but it's only one slice of the entire gamut of possibilities for group
davening and interacting.

How could we not dance, not be outdoors in the gorgeous weather, not find a
way to relate with more than just our voices and guitars?  I believe that
we have to find a way to bring something physical into the equation.  It
could be group dancing, it could be walking through the grass, it could be
Yoga, or morning exercise or something else, but it is needed.  People
often talk about the Shechina, the feminine aspect of God that has been
separated from us, and how we are searching to become whole again.  I
believe that the shechina is in our bodies, and the more we bring movement
and physicality into our worship and our communal life, the more whole we
become.

Thanks for listening,

Rich Glauber (the somewhat obnoxious guy with the red, white and blue
accordion)