un-dismayed surveyee

[aloewenthal <aloewenthal...>]

Dear Gracious Ari and List Members,

I am the new user who queried about liturgical music and cantillation. To
say I was dismayed at the klezmer focus was perhaps putting it a little
strongly. But my main interest is in synagogue music- nusach and trop.
THanks for your kind response, Ari!

I am wanting to study more and looking for direction. Let me tell you a bit
about myself.

I am a B'nei Mitzvah teacher at an unaffiliated (Reconstructionist-leaning)
synagogue in Olympia, WA. I grew up without much Jewish background and
began to educate myself at the age of 30. Now almost 8 years later, I have
studied prayerbook and Biblical Hebrew, become Bat Mitzvah, learned our
synagogue's Friday pm and Saturday am services, learned Torah and Haftarah
trop. I occassionally lead lay services. (In my other life I am a math
teacher.)

Two years ago we decided to have lay cantors for High Holy Days, and we
brought in a cantorial soloist (Conservative) from Seattle who taught us
the service. These last two years, I have sung parts of Erev Rosh HaSHannah
and Kol Nidre service, including the Kol Nidre itself. These experiences
made me want to study more and pursue some form of cantorial training.

I am wondering where to go from here. For starters, I want to learn the
traditional melodies (standard Conservative tunes) for Shabbat prayers. We
use some of them but have an eclectic mix of other sources. Because of our
Reconstructionist bent, there are parts of the service that are left out or
altered (as compared to a Conservative service). I do occassionally attend
Conservative services in Seattle, but cannot get there on a regular basis.

How can I learn more Shabbat nusach? After becoming thoroughly conversant
with the traditional Shabbat nusach, what should I move on to next? High
Holy Days?

I want to buy recordings of cantors singing nusach but not in overly florid
arrangements. CAn someone suggest who would be good to listen to?

On the music side, I have always enjoyed singing, but didn't know I had "a
good voice" until I began this Jewish pursuit. I took some basic voice
lessons for a few months and learned about breathing, supporting your
singing, producing good tone, extending my range, etc. I am wondering if I
want to pursue cantorial singing, what kind of voice lessons should I take
next? There are no Jewish voice teachers in this area. There are quite a
few Classical Voice teachers here, though.

I played guitar a bit, and am now studying piano. I will be taking a music
theory class in the fall, maybe all year.

I have been looking for cantors to talk to, and had a nice meeting with one
this Sunday. He suggested that I join the Guild of Temple Musicians. Can
anyone tell me more about that group? Is there a website? I am not finding
one.

THanks for your reply.

P.S. I have not had a huge exposure to Jewish music, but I enjoy klezmer in
general.  I was introduced to the modern liturgical music of  Hannah
Tiferet Siegel and Debbie Friedman, which I enjoy. I was recently given
_Lavy's Dream_ by Davka, (kind of jazz-Middle East fusion) which I thought
was pretty exciting stuff !

Amy Loewenthal
aloewenthal (at) centralia(dot)ctc(dot)edu
     OR
ahuvah (at) olywa(dot)net



>I got a query a couple of days ago from someone new to the list
>who was dismayed that there were only posts regarding klezmer
>music and wasn't sure if there was anyone here on the list who
>was interesting/involved with Cantorial music.
>
>It occurred to me that it might be a nice idea to survey people
>on the group and get a sense of the diversity that is (hopefully)
>represented here, including both fans or musicians who are also
>fans.


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