Re: What Makes Music Jewish

[Cantor Neil & Katie Schwartz <schwartz...>]

>
>I am Jewish. I make music. That music is Jewish. Period. End of discussion.
>
>I am Jewish. Music others create touches my Jewish soul. That music is Jewish.
>>Period. End of discussion
>

Adrian,

I hope that you will pardon me for being a little more rigorous in my views;
I am going to respectfully disagree with the broadness of your definitions.

While I usually try to avoid the quagmire of such threads, this time I feel
duty-bound to express the following opinions.  This subject was argued quite
thoroughly at the Cantorial School during my years at the Jewish Theological
Seminary, and I remember two clear results of those discussions:

 "One way to define Jewish music is to say that it is music which uses some
  elements of Trope and/or traditional Nusah (musical prayer-modes)."

 "Another way to define Jewish music is to say that it has as its text or
  subject recognizable Jewish themes."

The first of these two helps account for the "Jewish feel" to some music
which someone mentioned in this thread.  Thus, when Bernstein quotes some
Haftarah trope in the "Jeremiah Symphony", that becomes a type of "Jewish
music" in a way which most of his other work does not.  The fact that he
is Jewish himself becomes less important than the content of his music; few
people consider "Rodeo" to be "Jewish" even though Copland was.  An even
better example:  is "White Christmas" Jewish because Irving Berlin was?

The second of these definitions accounts for the Jewish music of Salomone
Rossi, which doesn't "sound" Jewish to many people.  He used the music of
his time (late 1500's), but he applied it to Biblical and Hebrew liturgical
texts.  When modern popular Jewish composers use calypso or reggae on
Hebrew
or even English/Jewish texts, it may bother my sensibilities, but I have to
accept it within the broad folds of "Jewish music" according to the second
definition above, and it "works" to touch the "Jewish souls" of many
people.

Does this mean that "West Side Story" is as Jewish as "Fiddler", because
its themes of inter-cultural dating are similar and Bernstein is Jewish?
No, I feel that there is a difference between the two.  While one may dig
around in "West Side Story" to see if Trope or Nusach are hiding there,
it is clear that this is not what Bernstein was trying to do.  However,
one reason that the music of Fiddler is so popular is the skillful way in
which synagogue music was utilized without hitting us on the head.

I am taking Chaplaincy training at our local hospital, and one thing which
we constantly discuss is the issue of "boundries".  My problem with your
broad definition (quoted above) is that it leaves no subjective boundries
much less objective ones.  Whether or not one agrees with the definitions
I am presenting here, at least they clearly mark some possible boundries
of what may or may not be "Jewish music", so that we don't wind up calling
everything which we create/perform/enjoy "Jewish music" and thus wind up
with nothing at all in that important category.

                                               Respectfully submitted,

                                               Cantor Neil Schwartz
                                               Founder, CAJE Music Network
P.S.  No "spam" please;
      last I heard "Spam" is not kosher!



Cantor Neil Schwartz
or
Katie Schwartz, B.S.I.

schwartz (at) enter(dot)net