[HANASHIR:2075] Re: Torah chant

[Janice Steirn <jsteirn...>]

In response to Susan's question (and for anyone else who is interested in
chanting Torah) -  it's not as hard as you may be thinking it is.  The
shortest readings are three pesukim (verses), not long at all.  First you
study it from a Tikkun, a book with the signed Torah on one side (this will
have vowels and trope signs) and the unsigned Torah (as it would appear in
a Torah scroll) on the other side.  You practice on the signed side to get
the text and trope and then you start practicing on the other side of the
page to be sure you can do it in the scroll.  I hope I'm making sense.

It's a great feeling to become a part of a traditional chain of Torah
transmission - to pass the Torah on through reading it to a congregation.
I hope you give it a try.  I'm about as lay as a person can get, so if I
can learn it, I'm sure you can.  After you learn the trope, work with the
person who gives out the readings in your congregation to be sure that
he/she gives you short readings to begin with.  

Good luck!

Janice




Dr. Janice N. Steirn
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 8041
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
(912) 681-5505
Internet:  JSteirn (at) GaSou(dot)edu