Re: Who is qualified to teach klezmer?

[AGREENBA <AGREENBA...>]

In a message dated 4/29/02 9:27:46 AM, lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu writes:

<< Of course, Josh is having a little fun with this, but I'm sure he knows 
he's
also making a very serious point, which is that in secular academia, being an
ethnic insider cannot, at least technically, be regarded as a qualification 
for
teaching for being involved in any way in an "ethnic" subject.  Were I to 
start
a klezmer band at the University of Minnesota, it would almost certainly have
no Jewish members.  A large part of making Jewish music for me is about
community.  I'm not suggesting that that's the same for everyone, nor my
suggesting that only Jews are qualified to teach people how to play klezmer,
but one of the things I always derived from the music when I was an active
performer was that sense that was contributing to the community, to its
identity and continuity. >>

This brings out a few points for me. I've been reading along on the sidelines 
here, having responded privately, not always agreeing with the points made to 
date, or simply feeling the subject was moving along just fine without me. 

Let me just interject a few points at this juncture. 
It is indeed common for even the best of academics to assume that either only 
Jews are qualified to teach a Jewish subject or that, worse yet, because the 
person is Jewish, they might be better able to teach a Jewish-related subject 
than a non-Jew. When I first arrived on the scene where I teach now (Mount 
Holyoke College) the music department knew I had focussed much of my training 
and expertise in baroque flute, performed on harpsichord as well, and knew 
much about performance practices of the period. They suggested, therefore, 
that I be the one to take over the Renaissance band that was losing ground at 
the time. Why not? I was the one suggested because, hey, I knew baroque 
performance practice and I was closer to knowing that period's performance 
practice than the knowledge base of the Brahms expert!   Being new on the 
scene I had to agree to it, I felt, so I did it. Of course this is not 
uncommon thinking in academia. You need something covered in a department. 
Choose a person who knows a smidge and have them teach it. Luckily, with 
regard to such areas as ensemble performance, one could say that we're not 
teaching students to operate on other humans or animals so what's the big 
woof? No REAL harm. 

With all of that said  I feel that, just as in SOME other areas, what SOME 
might be lacking in their approach to teaching a subject such as a klezmer 
band on campus, they're gaining community and an opportunity to share a 
culture. And, just as with other teachers of other subjects, you will have 
great ones and you'll have mediocre ones.   Sometimes the mediocre lack 
knowledge but have the ability to spark more critical thinking by the 
students. Not so bad in any academic arena, yes?

Basically our MHC band has had very few Jewish students in it. It only means 
for me that I need to be clearer in my explanations. Where might you have 
heard this mode or this portrayal of the cracking in the voice? Well, I don't 
think they would say "in my synagogue services...." So we relate in other 
ways and what we all gain from it is that community and the realization that 
all students are opening their minds and experience-base to a music they had 
no familiarity with before and can now appreciate some of the history and 
performance practice of another non-classical music. (And maybe in the future 
we won't experience what Klezical Tradition experienced a month ago: a 
committee whose chair wanted us but couldn't convince his colleagues on the 
committee that we should be part of their first festival in their area. Why? 
They had never heard OF klezmer and were afraid others would be in their same 
boat..). 
MHC band had something to offer at the first annual 5-college world music 
fest and also had great fun playing and listening to other bands at the 2 
klezmerpaloozas for college bands on the east coast.  And the bonus is that 
they've learned from an active performer in the field how to produce a 
different kind of music on their instruments and have acquainted themselves 
with another culture as well as another kind of music. Our campus overall 
feels we are a great addition to the college's offerings. We've been featured 
on the website and I've had one student apply and accept to come to MHC based 
primarily on the fact that we had this ensemble. Not such a terrible reason 
to select a college!!

Adrianne Greenbaum
Klezical Tradition
Assoc. Prof. Mount Holyoke College

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