Greetings from Texas

[Jennifer R. Goodman <jenifer...>]

Shalom!

It's lovely to see this list, and I much appreciate being
told about it. Let me introduce myself. My name's Jennifer
Goodman. I teach English at Texas A&M, and am now (to
my amazement) coordinating a Jewish Music Literacy Project
for the A&M Hillel. This program started with a faculty
study group that became interested in learning Yiddish and
Ladino songs. It is now moving towards the formation of a
pickup Klezmer band, though there's a lot of interest in
Israeli and liturgical music, too. This is going to be fun,
but we need all the good advice -- and contacts -- we can
get.  Ideas for places to start and practical suggestions
will be gladly received. Sources of sheet music for
brass instruments may be what we need most right now.

My own taste runs to klezmer, Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish
songs. My background is in folk and classical music. I
play guitar, mandolin, and keyboard. I'm getting back
into songwriting after a long silence, having fun
finding people to sing with, and looking forward to exploring
Jewish music -- to paraphrase a fifteenth-century writer,
it's "a world, or a thing incredible to believe."

Thanks for your help.

Jennifer Goodman
Associate Professor
Department of English
Texas A&M University
jenifer (at) tam2000(dot)tamu(dot)edu