[HANASHIR:4128] Availability of Jewish Music

[Janice Steirn <jsteirn...>]

This was prompted by Steve Brodsky's message about the availability of
Jewish music.  First, I agree that the music IS available, if people know
where to look.  I grew up in a very small Jewish community, and I did not
know that that any Jewish music existed, outside of a few Israeli dance
tunes and liturgical music.  In many (certainly not all) small communities,
the state of awareness of contemporary Jewish music has not changed.
Because most of the members of this list are Jewish music leaders, the
communities in which you live, by definition, have been exposed to Jewish
music.  My concern is with the smaller communities.  What can we do to help
expose them to Jewish music?

CAJE might be a good answer (can't avoid the music there), but in
communities such as the one where I grew up, CAJE is an unknown (or in some
cases known but unattended) entity.  I have several ideas of how to
introduce these communities to the music, but they all involve me winning a
large lottery first.

There are a lot of little towns out there, with small congregations, often
unaffiliated.  And in those small congregations, there are children and
teens who have never heard contemporary Jewish music.  Is there a way to
spread the music?  Once they are aware of the music, then we can make them
aware of the availability.

Janice Steirn




Dr. Janice N. Steirn
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 8041
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
(912) 681-5505
Internet:  JSteirn (at) GaSou(dot)edu

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