[HANASHIR:1460] RE: Informal 'choir'/group review

[Adrian A. Durlester <durleste...>]

Rachel:

I fully agree that the informal approach is good and desirable.
Unfortunately, it is an uphill battle. The rubric of liberal Jewish worship
is quite structured, and congregational minhag is a powerful force.

I am working in a synagogue that, architecturally, meets many of the
suggestions proposed by the Synagogue 2000 project. Yet the worship service
still remains at a fairly formal level. The "informality" is forced,
rehearsed, performed.

Size does make a difference. In Fargo, it wasn't such a crime, if, during
the middle of a service, someone said or did something funny, for me to play
a short, humorous, musical response (i.e. on an occasion when we were
waiting for many children to come up to the bimah, I might play the "March
of the Siamese Children" from the King and I.) Personally, I think that
would go over just as well in Nashville (though some might argue it destroys
the sacredness of the worship, I disagree-G-d has a sense of humor too) but
the environment here isn't  as tolerant of an "interactive" worship. (It
might be that rabbis in large congregations are reluctant to share the
spotlight.)

Similarly, in Fargo, we might spontaneously (or on short notice) have
someone or someones join the cantorial soloist on the bimah to sing
something. We might decide, during the service, to change a song to
something more appropriate (in a manner, of course, that does not throw off
the service leader/) It was not at all unusual for the rabbi, when we
finally got one in Fargo, to end the service with "and now our closing song
is....[looks to me and Janeen for the answer or confirmation]...." If the
congregation was really into a song, we might decide to go on singing it for
a few more verses or choruses. Yeah, maybe it made the services run a little
longer, but when it's a positive experience, few seem to notice.

An orthodox service is a contradiction. It is at once very structured and at
the same time very informal. People pray at their own pace. People and
children come and go. And a Simchat Torah celebration is an absolute blowout
of singing, dancing, etc.

Strangely, it is the liberal Jewish service that is more formal. We abandon
a lot of the prayer structure that gives structure to an otherwise informal
orthodox service, but we replace it with other formalities. It makes no
sense to me. Where are the "liberal chasids" ? Why are we liberal Jews so
reluctant to pray with abandon, to dance with the Torah (as opposed to a
structured and orderly march around the sanctuary?) Where is the Jewish
"revival" we so badly need to give life to our otherwise dead liberal
worship experience? It may be great poetry in Gates of Prayer, but it's
lousy fodder for frenzied worship. Does intellectual always have to mean
boring?

Reform worship already is too much like Unitarian Universalism-a pure
intellectual exercise. Let's put some of the faith and frenzy back into it.
And music is one way to do that. Informal music.

Using a microphone is OK. It is a tool. If it helps to enhance the worship
experience, that's a good enough reason to use it. Reb Shlomo used them in
his shul in Eretz! (Of course, who really wanted Reb Shlomo's voice any
louder-it wasn't exactly a great voice. But the mics helped him achieve the
spiritual level of worship he sought for his congregation.

Also, being in a leadership role, even in an informal setting, is sometimes
a necessary evil. Even the most spontaneous things needs a spark and a
little guidance. The trick is to guide and still allow the group to chart
its own course. You just keep it from falling off a cliff or sinking into
the ocean, or bringing the heightened worship experience to a dead stop.

Sorry for the rant. I needed to get it off my chest.

Adrian



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of Rachel Gurevitz
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 6:44 AM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:1458] Informal 'choir'/group review


Dear all,

Following on from the discussions last week about having community members
in informal choir-type groups within the congregation, I thought I'd report
back on my experience of doing just that for Simchat Torah.

I've been running a very informal group (only about 8 regulars) once a
month - most have no music experience, little hebrew ability, and so we
spent plenty of time just working on standards (Hava Nagila, Hine Ma Tov -
that kind of thing), infused with some Debbie Friedman songs, chassidic
niggunim etc - they loved the mix.  Anyway, the Rabbi of the shule wanted
me to help change their Simchat Torah service.  They have a non-Jewish paid
3 member 'operatic'  choir with organ usually, and they were there on
Simchat Torah too to do their usual liturgical stuff, but the Rabbi wanted
to liven things up for the Torah parade.

Anyway, the group wasn't big and wasn't really anything like a choir - just
a group of people meeting to sing, but they were pleased (if rather
anxious) about being asked to help infuse the congregation with some
energy.  In the end we just had them in the congregation - many sitting
together near the front, but some with other members of their family
elsewhere (but they didn't stay in their seats for long, forming the long
line of dancers and flag-wavers etc.)  I went up on the bima and led from
the front with drums (very useful for getting a dance beat going and making
sure that we all sang together).  It went down really well, and I think the
group felt that they'd contributed to sparking off singing among a
congregation who barely sing usually (organ, choir too high etc. - you know
all about that).

 However, I didn't quite manage to leave the post of 'leader'.  I had kind
of hoped that I wouldn't have such a dominant position, but that was what
the congregation, and my singing group actually wanted - both to direct the
singing, but I think also to help 'give permission' to others to sing out
loud and dance when they could see a 'leader' doing the same thing (all
those British inhibitions to break down).  When I repeated the set the next
day we had fewer singing group members there so I ended up using a
microphone, which I had also had doubts about, but again it was really
necessary as the back of the shule couldn't hear me otherwise and pick up
the rhythm and the tune.

I know of one shule in London that had the formal choir and organ job, and
another that had guitars and a group of songleaders working together (Jess
to report?).  By all accounts the informal approach is really popular among
congregations - but why should we reserve such joyous worship for Simchat
Torah only?

Hope you all had a great Chag,
Rachel
____________________________

Rachel Gurevitz
Department of Geography
University College London
26 Bedford Way, London
W1CH 0AP.  UK
Tel: 0171 387 7050 x5526
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian A. Durlester  -  durleste (at) home(dot)com
http://members.home.net/durleste/
Student, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
Music Director, Congregation Micah, Nashville, TN
Home phone (615) 646-9788
Nextel cel-phone (615) 207-2661
You can page me from http://www.nextel.com
List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for L-Torah (at) 
shamash(dot)org
http://uahc.org/hanashir
Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions)
Evening Program Chair, CAJE 23 - San Antonio TX, Aug 9-13, 1998
http://www.caje.org
Alternate Email: aad (at) iname(dot)com  adriand (at) aol(dot)com