Re: Debbie Friendman in New Orleans (fwd)a question

[Adrian A. Durlester <durleste...>]

On Tue, 20 Dec 1994 HEBASS (at) jtsa(dot)edu wrote:

> is above that.  God is interested in feelings, in what my soul has to
> say.  In order to keep with the texts that my ancestors wrote, I cannot
> superimpose (always) my musical preferences into something completely
> unrelated.  If the text is different, go ahead, sing it to any melody
> that moves you.  If it is the same text, try to sing it to a melody that
> communicates the text's intentions to the listener.

> That is the job of the Chazan, in the service.

> Henrique

Ah, now the line becomes clearer. Some "authority" somewhere has been
given the divine inspiration to determine for each of us which melodies
truly convey the intention and essence of the text ? Rubbish! G-d is the
authority, and I've not seem G-d's imprimatur on any particular musical
compositions. G-d's insipiration, perhaps. What if we were able to travel
back in time-what if we discovered that some of David's compositions were
actually the same as some contemporary ones? Would that make them any
less or more "appropriate" to convey the meaning of the text? Maybe the
melody of the Shirat Hayam was identical to "Grandma Got Run Over By A
Reindeer" We don't really know, do we? G-d does have a sense of humor, of
that I am sure.

And now you annoint the Chazan as G-d's representative in liturgical
music? How soon it all falls back to self-preservation of the existing
hierarchy.

Adrian

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