[HANASHIR:1715] Re: the words to rise & shine

[Janet . PAPE <Janet.PAPE...>]

I agree with you so much about changing the words to songs. 

This year our rabbi produced a new (tri-lingual) High Holy Day prayerbook
for our congregation.  In the course of inserting the Hebrew prayers, he
modified them, putting back in slight phrases that had been deleted a
century or two ago or changing the genders.  This drove me up a wall, as I
had to be extremelty careful to check every word of every musical setting I
used to insure that I had added the words in the right place, etc.  It
really tripped me up several times in the services, especially since he
wasn't consistent, so some of the Rosh Hashanah prayers didn't match the YK
ones, meaning I had to pencil in 2 versions - the original, the RH, and YK,
making illegible music. The year before he stopped me on a high B, the
highest note of the service -- expressly written that way to add emphasis to
that part of the Amidah -- to correct me. (How many congregants really
cared?)

I think the overall original spirit of the prayer and the musical setting
can get lost in these trifles.  YET, on the other hand, sometimes one word
or gender ending can add so much meaning! To further confound the
controversy, there is also the historical argument that one should be
faithful to the composer and the composer's choice of words.  It gets back
to whether one feels all folk music (synagogue music? all written music?)
belongs in the public domain or is it an individual's creation?

P.S.  Did the P. Dinosaur happen to use the Alef Bet on a video?  I'd love
to know which one!


> I am one of those people who believes that the words should really NEVER
> be
> "played with" in our songs at all. Don't misunderstand, parodies or extra
> verses are fine(if done tastefully and harmlessly) if they don't take away
> from the original song. I have a BIG problem, for example, with the
> "Purple
> Dinosaur" of singing fame because he changes the words to all of his
> songs(except Debbie's Alef bet,...Did you know he actually sang that?) and
> that like changing nursury rhymes and the like. I want my kids to know "I
> Love
> You" as the song for "This Old Man" ? I don't think so!!! As a teacher I
> want
> to teach the way it was written. 
> 
>