Ropes before creativity

[Fred Blumenthal <xd2fabl...>]

The topic of learning the ropes before becoming creative caused Judith 
Cohen to recall that one of her teachers had once mentioned a specific 
apocryphal story about Ludwig van Beethoven.  As I recall, someone found 
an instance of parallel fifths in one of his string quartets, to which he 
replied something like 'When done thus, I may do that,' with a huge 
emphasis on the word "I."

But for much of Jewish music, learning the ropes before becoming creative 
would equate with learning prayer modes and Torah and haftorah trope.  I 
wonder what effect that would have on the output of the guitar-accompanied 
singer-songwriters.

Shabbat Shalom, everybody, and be nice to each other.

Fred Blumenthal
xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com