[HANASHIR:3740] Re: Interpretation Blues

[Laura Berkson <braveann...>]

Adrian and all:
The general feeling in my congregation is that they love familiar texts set
to new melodies.  It is a small congregation, about 150 households,
considers itself Conservative, but is very liberal --- the rabbi asked me to
bring my guitar to services when I was first hired, three years ago, and my
job has expanded over the years there, from once a month family service to
three times a month and all holidays as music director, which means:
songleader / choir director / cantorial soloist / educator.  

I started my volunteer adult choir there last summer, also at the rabbi's
and congregation's request.  It is a 10-voice choir.  There are a few who
are more "trained" or experienced singers, but not many.  Some of them at
least play another instrument, but there are even a couple who don't read
music.  Some of them haven't sung in a choir since high school, while one
couple sang barbershop / sweet adelines for over 20 years and then got tired
of the rigidity of it.  

I tend to push them, to give them a continued awareness of how much they can
do and grow.  I've done a lot of unison singing with them (which, I explain,
is actually more difficult than it seems);  it gives them a sense of their
strength.  In some cases, I wait to add harmony until they all feel rooted
in the melody.  This is a practical matter, based on the fact that at times
during the year the group is small for a certain service, and then at least
all of them know the main part of a particular song.  However, I have also
worked a great deal on rounds, 2 and 3 parts, and occasionally a 4-part
piece (though I only have 1 man, who happens to be a bass/baritone, and I
have 2 women who will sing tenor when I need them.)   A measure of success
with this bunch is that, while they sing formally in a service about once a
month, they usually sit together every week, often adding their parts ---
and continuing to teach others --- from their seats in the congregation. 

I also remain aware that there are those in the congregation who prefer the
more "traditional" music.  We make an effort to have a balance.  This is
made possible in part by a part-time cantor who has been with the
congregation for several years, but who was gone (in the nat'l touring
company of Phantom of the Opera!) for the first 2 years I worked there.  He
is there once a month for Shabbat and also leads a good deal of the more
traditional HHDay davening.   This is interspersed with my singing (both
trad. and new) and by the choir, which has taught the congregation many new
tunes.  This mix seems to keep everyone happy, and I suspect it may be a bit
unusual.  

For many years, on the second day of Rosh Hashana, the rabbi has done a
"creative" service rather than a strict repetition of the first day's
service, and as of last year I am in charge of all of the music for this, as
well as leading the Torah service.  The choir's "bigger" day is 2nd day,
though I believe they will have a greater presence throughout HHDays this
year, having had a very positive 1st year, all around.  I also started a
youth choir in January, also went very well, about 10 voices there, too. 
They will also be involved, minimally, in HHDay services this fall.  I find
it's hard to get kids together for rehearsals at this time of year.  (My
adult choir will begin rehearsing twice a week starting on Monday, through
the HHDays.)

Personally, I happen to find a lot of the "traditional" music quite
inspiring, and sang for many years in a "classic" Conservative shul's
professional choir, an octet which spends the entirety of all HHDay services
on the bimah with the cantor.  However, I'm also aware of the setting I now
work in, and frankly I think many of the people who belong to Temple Shalom
in Middletown, RI, are there because they like the mix of traditional and
the new.

My bottom line:  know my congregation and what moves them.  If the music
does not provide them with access to a spritual experience,  many of them
are also pretty frank about letting me know! (and I can usually tell,
anyway.)  And when it does,  I can also tell just by the way they join in,
while again many are generous with their personal responses.  

Even more, especially now:  know my choir and what moves THEM.  They are the
conduits for this music, and, as I tell them, the doorway for the
congregation's active involvement in the service.  They are not performers,
they are leaders.  And I, as their director, have a responsibility to give
them the chance to be the best leaders by conveying  to them what it is that
they are singing, and what its purpose is in the service.  In that regard,
the actual music can be, in some cases, beside the point.  Their connection
with the meaning of the text and the essence of the song is evident when
they sing with their hearts, not just their voices.   It is the depth of
this connection, in themselves --- in ourselves --- that, for me, is the key
to spiritual inspiration.

B'shalom uv'zimrah,
Laura Berkson


Laura Berkson

Music Specialist, Alperin Schechter Day School, Providence, RI
Director of Music, Temple Shalom, Middletown, RI
Artist in Residence, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, RI

41 Potter Lane, Kingston, RI  02881
Tel.# (401) 782-8625  (also manual fax, but please call ahead)


------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Internet Consortium  http://shamash.org
------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------=