[HANASHIR:4458] Re: Seudah shlishit, etc.

[Judy Git <hillel...>]

I don't want to continue discussing this on the list.  I just want you to
understand what I was saying and, just as importantly, what I WASN'T saying
here.  "Ru'ach" is not the problem with "Not By Might."  It becomes problematic
when people a) clap at the wrong time  b) say "la da dee da" after "The children
sing" and sigh and pretend to sleep after "The children sleep."  These actions
both trivialize the song and - more importantly - they totally break the rhythm.

I once spoke both to Debbie and to her sister Cheryl about this.  Debbie
hesitated and said, "You have no control over your music once it's out of your
hands.  As long as they're singing it."  But - the same night (or next night) 
she
cut "Not By Might" short at a kumzitz when people sang it like that, and shortly
afterwards said, "Let's just sing my music the way I wrote it."  Cheryl, less
diplomatic since it was her sister's music and not hers, was adamantly against
messing with the music.  As I said  "Ruach!" is the least of it all - no big
problem, as it doesn't interrupt the tempo of the song and is, frankly,
approriate to the lyrics.

BTW - vis a vis the age - I've heard this stuff done to "Not By Might" by 
ADULTS,
and had to argue with a colleague vis a vis teaching the song that way to fifth
and sixth graders, who are QUITE capable of understanding what it's about.

I hope you understand what my objections are.  I'm all in favor of creativity 
and
making things fun for kids, but not to the point where it becomes insulting to
the artists whose music this is.

Judy


Prezbimbam (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

> Sorry to offend anyone with "hand motions" and enjoying the celebration of
> Jewish music at an age that's too young to truly appreciate its religious
> value......I'm not re-creating any nonsense movements to trivialize the
> message - just keeping the tradition going of what we've grown up with out of
> our NFTY movement, which, using whatever means we can to make it fun for the
> appropriate age group - call me crazy - I got chills the first time I saw my
> own children singing the same songs I grew up with...and thrilled that they
> weren't as bored as I was in Religious School when the "music teacher" showed
> up  -
> So - apologies to those who don't approve the use of these methods, and
> applause to those who continue to be creative with youngsters and throw their
> hands up in a group and yell "Ruach." B'Shalom to all, Meredith
>

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