[HANASHIR:3912] Re: re re re spect (just a little bit)

[Steve Greenberg <SIG...>]

Nice stories -- and ways I've never thought of.

I rarely lead music for singing sessions, but do lead music during services.
The most difficult time is if I'm a cantorial soloist at a campus Hillel
house, because a university gathers people from diverse backgrounds, and it
is virtually impossible that all would know the same melodies as me.

I find a bit of "soft prodding" helps immensely.  Especially in this kind of
situation, people are a bit bashful.  To lighten things up, I'll sing in
between two verses (almost as part of the song) something like "just repeat
the same tune," or "that's all there is - try it", etc.  I've asked folks to
sing "la la" if they don't know the words.

To emphasize that prayer can be in many forms, for the people who simply
don't like or want to sing, I've sometimes "featured" one prayer during each
High Holiday service in which we'd all start simply by beating out a rhythm
on our chairs.  I explain that "we'll start singing once everyone has the
beat."  By the end of the service, I had a row of elderly people up front
pounding on their chairs!

For Maariv on the first evening of Rosh Hashanah this year, the group
started out quite tired, so after we got through the "la la la" part that
precedes the Barchu, instead of starting with "Barchu et...", I said, "Okay,
that was practice, now everyone join in."  And they did.

Thanks for your ideas and for asking.  I'm looking forward to a most raucous
Neilah!

Steve Greenberg

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rglauber (at) aol(dot)com [SMTP:Rglauber (at) aol(dot)com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 1999 5:09 PM
> To:   hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject:      [HANASHIR:3911] Re: re re re spect (just a little bit)
> 
> Say hey,
> 
> I'm working on a new theme for my performances and workshops this year,
> and I 
> wanted to put it out to the list and possibly get some feedback.   I am 
> fairly obsessed with the idea of "ruach", and see it as THE key to
> meaningful 
> Jewish interaction, celebration, and joy.  (Now obviously there are a
> great 
> many avenues into Jewish connection, and I don't want to debate which is
> more 
> valid than the other)   for the purposes of this discussion, I'd like to 
> consider the notion of Ruach.
> 
> I'm sure that nearly everyone on the list is aware of the dual meaning of
> the 
> word as both "spirit" and "wind" (breath, perhaps), and this double
> meaning 
> is crucial to where I'm coming from.   an exapmle....
> 
> Late night at the CAJE in Columbus.   People are sitting around on chairs,
> in 
> a circle, and it's a rather typical, low energy, sleepy kind of scene.  I
> get 
> up in the center to do a song or two.  I start in on Hu Ya'ase Shalom
> (one 
> of mine), and before I make it through the first chorus, I realize that it
> is 
> useless to continue given the vibe of the room.  I ask people to stand up,
> 
> and very reluctantly, they do, keeping their distance, basically touching 
> their chairs as if for security.   I invite them to come a little 
> closer...... it's like pulling teeth, they inch their way forward until we
> 
> get so that we can hear and feel eachother close by.   Then when I start
> the 
> song again, it's like magic, we are singing loudly, Chaim grabs a drum, 
> someone grabs some shakers, people break into dance, it is a completely 
> different energy, and a joyful one, to boot.    (logistics)
> 
> Another.....   This past Saturday morning (Rosh Hashana), I'm leading 
> children's services at Temple Beth Israel, Eugene OR, and we're about to 
> begin under a tent on the lawn, as the adult service is underway inside.  
> There are many adults outside as well, as many prefer the more informal 
> service.   So people are hanging in the back shmoozing, wanting to gab,
> while 
> the kids get their service.   
> 
> Before I begin, I ask everybody to get together under the tent.  There's a
> 
> little grumbling, many adults still hang back, wanting the "safety" of the
> 
> distance.   I ask again, call some friends by name, try to make it funny
> and 
> non-threatening, and keep trying to get us ALL together under the tent.
> Well 
> it starts to happen, here comes Jill, here comes Carole, now we are all 
> together in this place, at this time.   Eugene is a community that has 
> undergone a lot of upheavel in the Jewish Community over the past 7 or so 
> years, factions splitting off, political infighting etc, and it was 
> incredibly profound to ALL get together under the tent.  I'm sure that I 
> wasn't the only one to feel it.   
> 
> I did make mention of how wonderful it was, then taught Sing it In, Sing
> In 
> the New Year. (which I learned in Carole Rivel's workshop a year ago at
> CAJE) 
>  It was excellent, and only because we were close enough together to get
> that 
> SOUND that you need to really lift up the energy.  It was a case of the 
> service being "successful" from the instant that we got ourselves in the 
> right position, which is standing up, close together, under the tent.
> If 
> that hadn't happened, the service would have been on more service, no
> more, 
> no less.   As it was, it was a fantastic, meaningful, ruach event for our 
> community.
> 
> So to close, I want to offer the first example of how to experience ruach 
> among our people.....   get up, get close, get singing and moving.
> 
> Anyone else care to share another approach?
> 
> Rich Glauber
> Eugene, OR
> 

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