how does tradition live?

[Alex Jacobowitz <Alex_Jacobowitz...>]

B"H Kiryas Arba

This was a thoughtful letter, and requires some thoughtful responses.
======================================================

On Fri, 6 Mar 1998 10:44:56 -0500, Ari Davidow replied to Alex Jacobowitz:
>Please, ladies and gentlemen of the musical jury, keep your hands off our
>traditions, even if you think you know where they came from. Because once
>you remove the boundaries, we'll no longer know what's ours anymore - and
>what isn't.
>Wanna sing "Adon Olam" to melodies from Carmen? Then sing it in the
shower,
>please.
>Except for the last line - the one that mentions His name. According to
>Halacha,>that's not allowed to be said (let alone sung) while naked.

Ari: I can understand this viewpoint, but to many of us it neither
       accords with reality as we experience it, nor does it hold
       when applied to something like the melody to Adon Olam.

        To me, your perspective sounds like "Judaism is a museum in
        which we live with sacred relics." If that was my experience
        of Judaism or Jewish music, I don't think I would be connected
        to either. There is a difference between a living tradition, and
fossilization.
________

Itzik-Leib: I don't know whether this accurately interprets Jacobowitz or
not,
>Alex: of course it doesn't. Rather, it's some kind of parody, Purim or
not,
            based on (or against) the culture that created the tradition in
the first place.

I-L:   but the advantage of the exchange is that it frames two extremes
that may direct
         our attention to something that needs to be better understood if
we are to
         make any progress in several of hte discussions that have been
swirling
         around this list lately. 
>Alex: my sentiments exactly - as musicians, we are struggling to define
our place
         in the sun, parallel to the religious struggle on how to
"redefine" Judaism vis-a-vis
         the "modern" world.

I-L: (Actually, I am sure Ari's real position is not extreme, but let's use
it as a 
        jumping-off point for the following dispute over the nature of
liturgical music and tradition:
>Alex: Jumping-off point is right. Without the bungee rope.

I-L: 1. Tradition means that melodies should not b e changed (tradition as
fossil).
>Alex: Hey, you never caught me saying that - there IS a range within which
      melodies can/should be changed, and the criteria for making that
decision seems
      too often to be in the hands of those who know much more about music
than Judaism,
      and more about music than Jewish music.

I-L: 2. Tradition means, whatever people want to do, that's the tradition
       (tradition as, whatever...)
>Alex: Hey, Ari, is THAT what you mean?

I-L: Seeing the debate in this way represents a "fallacy of the excluded
middle."
>Alex: Okay. Interesting phrase, and not particularly suitable to the
conversation,
    but I'll go with the flow for now. Continue...

I-L: In other words, this kind of arhument (sic) over tradition is
       inherently flawed (fallacious)  because it excludes, from the
outset,
       another position that is somewhere between the two. 
>Alex: Awright, that's enough of that - wrong! It INCLUDES ALL POSITIONS in
the middle;
        The debate is merely about where the middle should be.

I-L:     What is this "excluded middle"? Ari provides the clue to it by his
use of the term
"living tradition."

I-L: Another clue was provided on Fri, 6 Mar 1998 09:56:29 EST, when Marvin
3809, 
>Alex: Wasn't "Marvin" an android in a Star Trek episode? Or was that
"Norman"?

I-L: also responding to Jacobowitz, wrote:
     "Kashruth comes from the Torah, with specific rules in the Talmud. 
Are there
       rules about melodies for prayers in the Torah or the Talmud?"

    The point here being that these sorts of stylistic questions, which are
of
     such gereat (sic) importance for Jewish music -- as only confirmed by
the amount
     of discussion being devoted to them on this list -- are essentially
NOT
     questions of halakha. 
>Alex: hold on here, Doc. Generally, deeper questions of aesthetics are
always supposed 
     to transcend laws. Perhaps for the majority on this list, there is NO
connection between
     Jewish law and Jewish music; Jewish music may be their only connection
to Judaism. 
     If people don't keep the laws (halacha) for Shabbos and Kashrus, why
should they care 
     at all about Judaism's traditional aesthetics which are, after all,
far more difficult to clarify? 
     Saying they "are essentially NOT questions of halakha" is a "nechtiger
tog" - isn't it?

I-L: Yes, there are some general pronouncements that are
      relevant, like, we should differentiate ourselves from "the nations",
or
      that lively music should be played at weddings (though that certainly
does not
      exclude also playing sad or other kinds of music at weddings). But
basically
      the question bypasses halakha, and therefore it also bypasses the
whole 
      issue of the variability of halakhic interpretation.
>Alex: However, the aesthetic that is (more-or-less) codified in the
halacha should
     not be willfully ignored. Some people wouldn't recognize a pig's head
in the kosher 
     butcher's window - should it be ignored by those who do?

I-L: The question of melodies and performance style (manner of tone
production,
       ornaments, tempos, etc.) is a question of minhog (custom). This is
the
       part of tradition that is NOT halakha. 
>Alex: So what?

I-L: So if it's not based on adherence to laws, what is it based on?
>Alex: tradition?

I-L: In traditional Jewish communities, I don't think this question was
ever
       asked. 
>Alex: no need.

I-L: Everybody soaked up the melodies and the styles from the day they
      were born, and some people -- the chazonim, badkhonim,klezmorim --
      received special training.
>Alex: Nah, und?

I-L: This was very far from being a fossil -- it was a living tradition.
Did
       they always sing the same tunes? Of course not! The chazn, the
badkhn,
       the klezmer were expected to improvise new melodies as well as use
old
       familiar ones. 
>Alex: Huh? What do you base this statement on? "Expected?"

I-L: In their spare time they composed new tunes. 
>Alex: Funny, I thought at least 99% of them were more or less forcing a
living
        from their horns. Spare time?? Composed?? Most of them couldn't
read music, 
        let alone "compose" in the musicological sense. Why ignore the
majority?
        Sure, the badchans would improvise new lyrics, based on the
personalities
        at the wedding, but that doesn't mean they "composed" new tunes.
Does it?

I-L: Hasidic rebbes and others were continually creating new nigunim, as
well as 
       adapting certain tunes from co-territorial cultures. 
>Alex: Hassidic rebbes are another story altogether. Their niggunim had
little if
       anything to do with "Jewish music" or "klezmer music" per se. These
niggunim
       were for religious use, for meditation on Shabbos or Yom Tov, when
klezmerim
       can't play.

I-L: Nevertheless it was a tradition, with a great deal of consistency. Of
       course there were local variants. Traditional Jewish music in Vilna
       was not precisely the same as traditional Jewish music in Berdichev
--
       but it was not all that different either.

        So what was the principle of this kind of traditional "sound"? The
principle
        was... imitation.
>Alex: Partially.

I-L: Not only does a newborn baby respond to melody and
       rhythm (in the form of lullabies), scientists have now determined
that
       even before birth a baby responds to music, they are already
listening.
>Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nu?

I-L: As the child grew, it would constantly be hearing traditional
davening,
       nigunim from cheder, mother singing folk songs, etc., and imitating.

       They heard goyishe peasant music too. 
>Alex: With a feeling of, how shall I put it, something less than delight.

I-L:They also heard more general European music, etc., but it was more
peripheral.
>Alex: Maybe, but I tend to think that there was a definite relationship -
the more 
        religious the listener, the less likely they would go to listen to
goyishe music
        at all. "Concerts" per se were rare, and we can assume that the
rebbes who
        composed the niggunim hardly frequented goyishe weddings. Or
perhaps you
        have evidence of the contrary?

I-L: Today our situation in America and Europe is completely different. We
       are exposed to an unbelievable variety of musical styles. Even as
young
        children. The principle of imitation is a psycho-physiological
fact.
        So what happens to the part of the tradition that is soaked up?
>Alex: disappears totally or takes on a new, goyishe form.

I-L: Is it possible to keep the old "Jewish sound" going?
>Alex: Sure, at the "cost" of keeping the old "Jewish culture" alive.
           The Jewish music is an integral part of the Jewish culture. Save
            the culture and you save the music. Culture down, music down.

I-L: Is there really any point?
>Alex : ONLY for those who would preserve Jewish culture as a whole.

I-L:   If we do try to keep it going, does this mean it must be a "fossil"?

>Alex: the opposite. It means it must NOT become a fossil. It must be
            reinvigorated, but from the INSIDE, not the outside.

I-L: Even if we think we should make full use of the musical
          resources available, does that mean that just ANYTHING goes?
>Alex: See under Cole Porter. Or the Syrian Greeks.

I-L:  These are the sorts of questions we've been discussing. The problem
is that to
          a considerable extent the answers we provide are already
determined by
          our early experiences. 
>Alex: NO! A thousand times no! Is every classical performer raised on
Beethoven? NO!
          And almost every KLEZMER on this list came to it later, after
experimenting with other musics.

I-L:   To some extent, but not totally. There are
          people who never heard a note of traditional Jewish music as
children --
          they hear it and from then on, they can't get enough of it.
Others heard
          it but always preferred other kinds of music. But for many of us,
the
          answer's already decided. 
>Alex: NO! We're humans and we have choice - to listen to things we like
and to avoid things
          we don't like. 

I-L:  My own view is this. We can listen to any kind of music we want to. 
>Alex: GENAU!

I-L: We can even learn, or at least attempt to learn, to perform any kind
of music
       we want to. But looking at it from the standpoint of Jewish music --
is
        our sense of Jewish aesthetic so strong that whatever we bring into
        Jewish usage, we will "Judaize" it?
>Alex: if we CHOOSE to!

I-L: Or rather, is our sense of Jewish aesthetic so weak, that whatever we
bring into 
Jewish usage, it will help to "de-Judaize" us? 
>Alex - half-empty or half-full? It's a PROCESS, dammit! And filtering out
non-Jewish     
         music, or focusing on Jewish music, takes time and patience,
learning and choosing.

I-L: I think it's great for children to hear all kinds of music. But I
would
       like Jewish children to hear specifically Jewish music and to know
thats 
       what it is. 
>Alex: Not enough - they have to know that it's THEIR music, THEIR
religion, THEIR culture, 
       THEIR future.

I-L: There should be a place for this music in their lives, 
>Alex: darned tootin'

I-L: and that place should be in specifically Jewish usages, such as,
obviously,
       liturgy. 
>Alex: But why limit it? Doncha want your kids to listen to Shlock Rock? 

I-L: What i've never been able to understand is why, when myriad
       forms of non-Jewish music are available (indeed, inescapable) 
>Alex: Believe me, they're escapable.

I-L: everyehere else, why there is such a need to bring them into liturgy,
klezmer, etc.
       It must be because people already have a very weak identification
with
       the traditional Jewish sound. But this is only compounding the
problem!
       (Unless you don't see it as a problem.)  
>Alex: Ah, but I do.

I-L: On the other hand, the traditional Jewish sound strengthens our
identity as Jews -- well, it does for me,
anyway.
>Alex: YAY! Go!Go!Go! Ari?

Itzik-Leyb
Alex