[HANASHIR:2885] Re: songleading without a guitar

[GurevitzR <GurevitzR...>]

Songleading without an instrument is something I recommend everyone try once 
in a while, whether for reasons of religious restrictions or not.

I do it often for several reasons.  Admittedly, the original reason was 
because I cannot play a guitar but, as I developed as a songleader I 
developed other strategies.  It is true that some songs really benefit from 
accompaniment - I often use keyboards on those occasions.  I also play drums 
- and I guess these have become part of my songleading identity in the UK.  
However, when I've been asked to songlead in a service setting, or am leading 
a workshop using a piece of music that doesn't suit a drum, I often do it 
completely unaccompanied.  For me, it has altered the kind of repertoire that 
I've specialised in - I have a wide range of chassidic niggunim that I use, I 
teach a lot of rounds (e.g. Linda Hirschhorn's music) and chants (e.g. Shefa 
Gold's music).  These particular forms of song don't really gain anything by 
being accompanied with guitar or piano.

That said, my experience and area of work is *not* at camps with children or 
teenagers (I work almost entirely with adults), and I guess that *some* of 
the above repertoire would not work so well with younger children.  But then, 
there are loads of simple tunes that primary school teachers use with young 
kids all the time, and many of these teachers don't/can't play instruments, 
so I'm sure it can work just as well with that repertoire too.

That's my two cents on the issue,

Rachel Gurevitz

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