RE: Improvising nusach (was RE: Yismekhu or Yismechu)

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

At 5:24 AM -0500 4/3/03, Ben Bazian wrote:
>Just to chime in, I would go one step further.  A true bal tefilla/Chazzan
>must improvise otherwise the davening becomes to standard, monotonous.  Of
>course the improvising is within the bounds of nussach.  A great complement
>for any Chazzan is to be known as a "zoger."  This intonates that the
>Chazzan can improvise and beautify the davening.
>
>All too often I have been in congregations where the congregants know the
>"standard davening" modes used by the chazzan being that it is repeated the
>same way from week to week.  Gets old real fast.  Just my two cents.

A retired Chazzan I've been studying with told me a story though of 
another cantor who boasted that in thirty years he has chanted the 
prayers exactly the same way without changing anything.  When a 
congregant asked him when he would introduce a new melody, the cantor 
answered, "When the members of this congregation learn the melodies 
I've been singing for the past thirty years, I'll be happy to 
introduce some new melodies."

In contrast, my teacher says that he has always felt it his 
responsibility to provide a mixture of music for his congregations 
that include melodies (both songs and chazzanic solos) that people 
recognize and can sing along with, nusakh (which would of course be 
improvising with the bounds of the patterns for a particular time of 
day, week and year) and new melodies do keep the davening fresh.

I should also mention that there is a wonderful resource for learning 
nusakh produced by one of our list members, Jonathan Zimmet, in the 
form of a tape and supporting written articles and charts.  Jonathan, 
would you please post a fuller description of your Nusakh recognition 
kit and how to order it?


Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com

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