[HANASHIR:2364] The Evolution of the "La-la" Barchu

[Jeff Klepper <klepper...>]

In the late 1960s Cantor Benjamin Siegle of Great Neck, New York published
a service (Transcontinental) called L'chu N'ran'no: Sabbath Evening Service
in Chassidic Style.   A numbers of cantors and rabbis had already begun to
break away from the plodding choral music that was all too common in Reform
synagogues at the time.  It was thought, correctly, that Chassidic melodies
were both authentically Jewish and had the ability to inject some spirit
and joy into the service.  Many respected composers such as Charles
Davidson, Isadore Freed and Lazar Weiner had already published their
Chassidic Services in the 1950s and early 60s.  Remember that these were
experiments, though following the style of the day, ALL these services were
arranged for cantor and professional choir.   

Cantor Siegle had used the familiar rhythmic melody we know from this piece
for BOTH the cantor's solo and the (choral) response.  Whether he borrowed
the melody or composed it is not clear.  Within a very short time Cantor
William Sharlin, who taught rabbinic students at HUC-JIR, Los Angeles,
wrote a cantorial opening in minor key (keeping the congregational response
as Siegle wrote it) and incorporated the melody into services at HUC-JIR.
His opening melody, chanted freely, sounds like this (in MINOR key - do re
mi = 1 2 3):  "1 3 5 -- 5 4 3 7 6 5 6 5 ------  1 3 5 4 3 2 1 ---".  

Well, Cantor Sharlin's students all had to transfer to New York or
Cincinatti to complete their studies, so they took the melody with them,
not to mention to the UAHC camps where many of them worked each summer.  I
learned the melody from one of Sharlin's students in the early 70s.  The
problem was that camp kids couldn't sing the opening line - it was too
hard.  So, somebody changed the opening line to something like this: "1 3 5
-- 5 4 3 4 --- 1 1 3 4 2 1---".  And that's the way it has been passed down
since then.  

Personally I prefer Sharlin's melody, and that is what I use in my
congregation.  But I am often reminded of Cantor Steve Richard's answer to
the question of "how do you know who is singing the correct melody?"  The
answer is, "the one closest to the microphone."

Jeff Klepper

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