What is Jewish Music?

[Meydele <Meydele...>]

Catching up on replying to/cleaning up my email, I can't help but respond to 
Reuben Radding's 
comments and the general discussion on synagogue music.  Amnon Shiloah in his 
interesting book 
"Jewish Musical Traditions" opens w/a chapter, Identity and Character of Jewish 
Music, in which 
he describes Jewish music as a musical Tower of Babel. The teens at Sholem 
School who are taking 
the "What is Jewish Music?" course I'm devising have identified various 
factors, from modes and 
instrumentation to language and subject matter that allow them to identify a 
piece as Jewish.   
It seems none of us (nor ethnomusicological scholars) can agree on a 
definition, but each of us 
"knows it" when we hear it.  Believing in the healthy pluralism and diversity 
of Judaism and 
Jewishness, this is not upsetting to me at all.

That said, I must admit that I agree w/the posters who argue for the 
preservation of the 
"traditional" nusakh (I am NOT going to take on what constitutes "traditional" 
- maybe we should 
say "currently familiar Ashkenaz" nusakh) and their incorporation into the 
currently evolving 
"American nusach".  Our culture, like so many others, has always been able to 
adopt and 
incorporate many musical modes and forms from surrounding cultures, yet doing 
so in a way that 
makes them our own [This is a good place for a plug for Brave Old World's 
upcoming concert in NY 
this week-end exploring cross-over between Jewish and Ukrainian musical styles 
- wish I could be 
there!].  I think the current so-called "klezmer revival" is the perfect 
example of 
understanding the musical building blocks of a past style and using them to 
make a most 
contemporary sound.  Perhaps some of that evolutionary process needs to be 
translated into 
synagogue music as well.  Might the Debbie Friedman style be the first step.  
She's got the 
Jewish devotional part of it down.  Now we need someone to tackle the music 
part of it.  There 
must be some candidates out there who just haven't achieved her degree of 
success...Not being 
part of the synagogue music world, I have no idea who they might be.

Shira Lerner 

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+