Re: mitzvot music (was Scarborough Fair tune)

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

The things it strikes me as apropos for me to add to this thread at this moment 
are:

1) I'm appalled at the whole DJ thing.  In our family, we had our shabes dinner 
and kiddush lunch at the shul and insisted on Jewish music.  Repertoire was not 
the problem at my son's bar mitzvah.

2) A lot of good advice people have posted to this thread is of varying degrees 
of utility, depending on where you live.  The options for Jewish music are 
pretty limited in the Twin Cities, so I shudder to think of what they're like 
in metropolitan areas of less than 3 million with Jewish populations of less 
than 40,000.  Add to that that I'm a musician myself, I know just about 
everyone, and unfortunately some of these
folks would never be allowed to set foot in my simcha.  By the way, I've heard 
that our rate of Synagogue affiliation is the highest in the country, about 80 
percent.

A number of people have written to me on and off list simply to send 
congratulations, for which we are all most grateful.  Despite the problems, it 
was a great weekend, and it lives on in that my in-laws from Hawaii has stayed 
on for awhile, having traveled so far to get here.  Actually, my niece went to 
a bar mitzvah in Honolulu not long ago.  It doesn't sound like it was very 
heymish, but if it had been, that would've
been quite a feat.  Ari does list two klezmer bands in Hawaii on his web site, 
one on Oahu and one on the Big Island.  Imagine chopped liver with chunks of 
pineapple.  Makes me cringe!



Susan Lerner wrote:

> No, Jordan, I don't think this is going off topic, particularly.
>
> We are constantly faced with the challenge that people have unrealistic 
> expectations about what they should pay for live, authentic, good quality 
> Jewish music, whether at simkhes or at concerts.  Most think nothing about 
> paying $35, $45, or even $75 up to $125 for good seats to a classical music 
> concert.  Try getting an audience to pay $75 for any kind of Jewish music.  
> It's what makes a musician's life hardscrbble.
>
> Shira Lerner
>
> At 12:14 PM 7/16/02 -0400, you wrote:
> >Well , this could go off topic very quickly, but as someone who makes a
> >living as a musician, I take very seriously the idea that a bunch of non
> >professionals would get together to undermine the viability of music as a
> >profession. And by the way, while what you say is true regarding the quality
> >of music, it is the exception, not the rule.
> >Futher, I have always been able to accomodate a wide variety of budgets,
> >while keeping within industry norms.
>

--
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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