Re: synagogue music - niggun and nusakh

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Rochel Sara,

I'm familiar with the text-related use of the term nusakh.  We may
have even discussed on this list the different texts (siddurim) used
by the sephardim, ashkenazim, and hasidim.

I hope that your post doesn't mean that musical nusakh is being
replaced in shul by popular melodies (nigunim) in the Orthodox
communities of Brooklyn.  Is this happening there or elsewhere?

I would be interested in which liturgical (prayer service) melodies
(nigunim, not nusakh) you and others like best (and least).

Also, which zemiros do you like best?

What of sephardic zemiros - is that what they call them?

Do the non-Orthodox out there sing zemiros regularly - at
synagogue/temple or at home?  (Maybe you'd call them z'mirot.)

Bob

P.S.  What should we do with all the two cents we've collected?  The
pushka must be full.


-----Original Message-----
From: Rachel Heckert <heckertkrs (at) juno(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: synagogue music - niggun and nusakh


>As a semi-naturalized  member of the Brooklyn Orthodox community,
which
>branched off from the European refugee community in Williamsburg,
I've
>seen the following happening:
>
>"Nusakh" is actually used only to refer to the text used in prayer,
not
>the melodies and chants, which can sometimes be referred to as
nigunim.
>However, the melodies for prayer in any one synagogue seem to be
fixed
>and traditional, and a number of them are shared across a wide range
of
>geographical ancestries.
>
>"Nigun" actually comes into its own during the singing around the
Shabbos
>table, and is actually quite fluid.  Nigunim from different
traditions
>may be sung, "modern" nigunim from tapes by someone like Abish Brodt
or
>Shlomo Carlebach may be used, and I'm sure some gifted people make up
>their own.  The same melody may be used for more than one nigun, with
or
>without a good fit for the words.  Portions of the synagogue nusach
may
>also be sung, and the melodies may also be used for zemiros.  Of
course
>nigunim without words also appear.  Spontaneity, creativity and even
pure
>caprice come into play.  This is much different from the synagogue,
where
>precedent rules.
>
>For those who don't "do" a traditional "Shabbos table," perhaps a
>Saturday night "melave malkah," a Friday night dinner or some other
>gathering could serve as a venue for rediscovering this type of
Jewish
>music.  Just as Judaism as a religion has never been confined to the
>synagogue, so is the music involved in the world outside.  One
suggestion
>might be a communal meal or kiddush (even buffet style) after
services in
>which music would play a part.
>
>Just my two cents.
>
>Rochel Sara Heckert
>
>----------------------
jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>