[HANASHIR:2139] Re: Sim Shalom canon

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

Judah raises an important point. Too often we want to have our chickens and
eat them too! It just can't be done.

We can't rail against the use of outside influences on Jewish liturgical
music and then in the next breath decry those who reject the "new American
nusach" (as Klepper calls it) because it's too "camp style." It's a
disturbing trend. We denounce the anti-pluralism of some orthodox segments
of Judaism, and in the next breath put those same Jews and their practices
down in a most offensive manner.

We have no idea what Miriam and the women sang at the shores of the sea. For
all we know, it could have been music that sounds like music by KISS, or
Jewel, or Jim Croce or Irving Berlin or Josef Haydn.

Now, some may disagree, but I believe that NO PIECE OF MUSIC is UNSUITABLE
for WORSHIP in some setting, in some persons heart. (There are admittedly
absurd choices, like Deutschland Uber Alles, or the KKK Hymn, whatever that
may be.)

If all of us were present at Sinai, then even Adam Sandler was, and
therefore his Hanukah Song was all part of G-d's plan.

Good music is good music. If it works for me in a worship setting so much
the better.

If 'bad' or mediocre music works really well in a worship setting, it
doesn't make the music less bad or mediocre. It just means it works for some
people in that setting. And so much the better.

Now, I do believe that a Jewish neshoma can express the Jewish faith
musically perhaps a little easier, maybe even better, than a non-Jewish one.
But how are we to know into which goyim G-d has placed a little kernel of a
Jewish neshoma?

So who care where the song comes from? It may be interesting to study, and a
fascinating discussion. But when the time comes to pray and sing G-d's
praises, for me, all that goes by the wayside. What works works. After all,
when you worship a G-d named "I will be what I will be" then saying "what
works works" seems to fit!

Shabbat Shalom,

Adrian


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of Judah Cohen
Sent: Friday, January 08, 1999 8:04 AM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:2122] Re: Sim Shalom canon


For whatever it's worth, the Dona Nobis Pacem round is also a mainstay at
the Boston Christmas Revels (a well-known winter solstice revue which also
exists in other cities across the nation), partially because of its
non-"overtly religious" nature (It is subtitled "Round for Peace").  The
whole audience sings it--and it sounds gorgeous.

As to feeling uncomfortable with music that comes from "other cultures,"
well--that will pretty much limit significantly anyone's repertoire.  Would
it be worth "revealing" that the round "Kol Haneshamah / T'Hallel Ya /
Halleluyah" is also "Jubilate Deo"?  Try it out.  (I first realized this
when sitting in on a rehearsal for Harvard's Christian a cappella group,
and they used this as a warmup--there are even rumors that Josef Haydn
"wrote" the music).  We also should not forget the "German drinking song"
which became Ma'oz Tsur and the "Czech folk song" which later became
Hatikvah.  (In this context, the attribution "traditional" may actually
save some songs from intense embarrassment were we to know their "real"
origins.) :)


Significantly, I think what Janet's talking about here seems more based on
the PERSON/COMPOSER/BACKGROUND than on the MUSIC itself.  That is, if
Debbie Friedman had written the Dona Nobis Pacem, chances are a lot of
people would have fewer reservations singing it in a synagogue.  There are
a surprising number of tunes borrowed from other places--folk songs,
childrens' songs, church hymns, arabic songs, drinking songs, etc.--that
have made it into the Jewish liturgical canon.  We don't seem to mind using
them until we are made aware that they have some sort of "unholy"
background which somehow goes against our "Jewish" values.  All of a
sudden, with this knowledge, the music becomes inappropriate for expressing
and praying the words.

This kind of "uncomfortableness" with "revealed" Jewish music can work on a
broader base, too:  the most common argument against songleading I hear,
for example, is that "The music just doesn't express the meaning of the
words," probably because those who dislike it associate it with an attempt
to bring "secular" folk music into a Jewish religious setting (with remarks
like "see, I have nothing against Peter Paul and Mary, but Jewish 'camp
songs' are just bad folk music.").  Likewise, "classical" Jewish music
(with choir and organ) was dismissed by opponents in the 19th century and
is dismissed by many songleaders today as too reminiscent of the high
church.  (Same remarks:  "I love Bach, but. . .") And for what it's worth,
these exact same arguments have been going on in other religions for
hundreds of years.  (I could provide examples, but this message is becoming
too long).

To me, then, a very important question to ask about these rounds (not to
mention the "French childrens' game 'Shehu Noteh Shamayim'") is less *what*
is sung, but rather how that thing which is sung gains an appropriate or
inappropriate MEANING, and how this meaning is turned into practice (or
non-practice) within a Jewish religious setting.

In other words, how do people here come to trust a song enough to introduce
it to a religious service (and what constitutes trust)?  What allows you to
feel that the "music fits the words"?  And how, if ever, has that trust
been broken for you?  I know this involves a lot of individual cases, and a
single person may differ in opinion from instance to instance.
Nonetheless, I'd find that such a discussion (with this kind of detail)
could be very instuctive to me, and perhaps to other people on the list.

Be well.
Judah.

>I have found a version of Sim Shalom done as a 3-part canon which I am
>considering doing with my adult choir.  They are a new choir, so canons are
>a great way to become comfortable with harmony.  I have noticed that the
>melody is identical to a song in Latin called Dona Nobis Pacem.  The
meaning
>of the Latin words bears similarity to Sim Shalom.  I am wondering if this
>melody with Latin words might be part of church liturgy.  I would like to
>know more about how it emerged as a Hebrew song before deciding whether to
>use it.  Anyone have any information?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Rachelle Shubert


Judah Cohen
Music Department
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu
(617) 628-4783

"...I do not feel that my research suffered unduly from the fact that I
enjoyed it." -- Daniel Miller, "Modernity--an Ethnographic Approach" (p. 6)