Re: niggunim and non-traditional groups singing zimerot

[TorahRave <TorahRave...>]

Does anyone know the history of niggunim(wordless melodies). I thought they 
are a style of singing taught by the Ba'al Shem Tov and Hasidic Movement. 


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

I don't know first-hand, but in New York there are a lot of non-Orthodox
groups experimenting with various kinds of returning to more traditional
prayer services, and I'll bet they sing.  After all, music is the
language of the neshama.  Back in the late Sixties I went to a
Conservative synagogue in San Diego (before I became Orthodox) and they
sang a lot - mostly melodies that I hear  in Orthodox  shuls, so they
must have been keeping some of the tradition.
>>
There is always pseukey-d-z'imrot in every service I have ever been at, 
including Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Jewish Renewal and 
Jewish meditation experiemental .  It is a standard part of the service, so 
each community has there way of doing it, but always included.  It helps to 
get people into the space to pray.  Many different varieties of nusakh. Some 
even with dancing
Yehudit Steinberg

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