Re: Scarborough Fair tune/simkhe dissonance

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

How about singing Adon Olam to "Stairway to Heaven"?  ;-)

Meanwhile, in order to respond to your serious question, I'd need some 
more information--what sort of cognitive dissonance to you refer to?  Do 
you mean that the musicians you refer to don't take the simkhes 
seriously?  If so, I will say that many of the b'nai mitzvah parties 
I've attended don't seem to be serious expressions of entry into 
adulthood, but rather more of a kids' party, with games and prizes, etc. 
 It's fun, but hard to take that kind of thing seriously, but musicians 
need to make a living and play what the client asks for.  Perhaps that 
attitude transfers over to all events of this ilk.

Perhaps the parties are structured in this way because they don't know 
what else to do at them, not to speak of peer pressure--the kids want a 
party just like everyone else's party--which brings us back to the dance 
question.  I have found that young people enjoy doing the traditional 
dances when they have a leader who shows them how.  If they were taught 
to dance the Honga or Sher instead of the Hip-Hop Cha-Cha (I'm sorry, I 
don't know the name of that omnipresent recording), I'll bet they'd do 
it and like it.

I'd like to know what others' thoughts and experiences are, too.
Lorele


Alex J. Lubet wrote:

>I've heard it claimed that there is no melody to which Adon Olam cannot be
>sung.  Surely, that's stretching a point, but there must be theological
>implications to that.
>
>Something else has been on my mind that I thought I'd put to the list, since
>matters relevant to jobbing musicians are a frequent concern.  I'm usually on
>the jobbing side myself, but not this time.  My son's bar mitzvah was last
>shabes and there was a bit of a mix-up with the music I engaged.  (I received 
>an
>apology and things are more or less patched up.)  This is not the first time
>I've seen tussles of this kind (I'll spare you the details, they don't matter),
>but the problem seems to be a major cognitive dissonance between those 
>musicians
>for whom simchas are the bottom of the food chain of what they do (concerts are
>usually at the top) and those who engage them, for whom b'nai mitzvot, 
>weddings,
>etc. are singular (one would hope), sacred moments where, G_d willing, all is
>perfect.  Needless to say, this is not a strictly Jewish issue, nor even an
>exclusively musical one (at least, it can apply to serious photographers, maybe
>others), but I wonder what could be done to get everyone on the same page.  
>Your
>thoughts?
>
>
>
>Eliezer Kaplan wrote:
>
>>Fine- but which came first?
>>(BTW friends of mine used to use 'Sloop John B' as the tune for D'ror Yikra-
>>but in that case we know which came first.)
>>                                 EK
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Judith Cohen" <judithc (at) yorku(dot)ca>
>>To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>>Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 5:16 AM
>>Subject: Scarborough Fair tune
>>
>>>Scraborough Fair S&G style appears as the melody for Lekha Dodi in
>>>
>>northern
>>
>>>Morocco, cheers, Judith
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>--
>Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
>Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
>Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
>Head, Division Of Composition and Music Theory
>University of Minnesota
>2106 4th St. S
>Minneapolis, MN 55455
>612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)
>
>
>
>

-- 
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