splitting the baby

[cellio]

I am not Solomon, so I have to work harder for an answer. :-)

When I started leading the morning minyan, I did the service exactly as it was taught to me -- Hebrew here, English there, this melody, and so on. I have made a very few changes, gradually; after noticing that different people do in fact do it a little differently, I figured I could get away with that if I didn't jolt people too much. I made changes in the things I most care about.

Over time, I've learned, everyone else who leads this service has drifted away from one particular melody. Some people have asked me to kill it too. The rabbi, who is mara d'atra so may insist but knows the minyan was there before he was so he won't, hates it and said he would be delighted if I chose to get rid of it. I, personally, do not care; it would be hard to find a part of the service that I'm more neutral about. So for the last couple weeks I dropped it, just chanting that passage instead.

Naturally, there is one long-time, regular member who loves singing it and thinks people went behind his back to lobby me. He begged me to put it back. I did this morning, making a slight change to address what I perceive to be the rabbi's main complaint. (I haven't talked with the rabbi yet, so I don't know if that was effective.) Sigh. I wish I actually cared about this particular issue; then I could assert a position and go.

I might look for a different melody and see how that goes. I don't know any that fit all the criteria right now, but I haven't done any real work on this yet. (So hey, if any of you want to make suggestions, I'm open. It's L'dor vador; we currently do this one (ignore cheesy accompaniment please), which the rabbi feels is insufficiently reverent (um, yeah) and too repetitive. I suggested this one to the rabbi; the mood is much better, but he thinks it's still too repetitive. Any suggestions?)

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Interesting. My reaction is probably going to be the least informed one you get, both musically and liturgically, but perhaps my perspective will have some value due to my situation: not particularly observant (and so rather unbiased), brought up fairly Conservative, now getting involved in a Reform congregation. So okay: given that, the first version strikes me as more "Reform-ish", by which I mean Sefardic/Oriental/folksy/major or "brighter" modal/happy. The second sounds more Conservative-ish, by which I mean Ashkenazic/European/classical/minor-modal/dour. Which do I like better? Hard to say. I'm still adjusting to all the zippy folksy tunes at my "new" schul, er, temple. OTOH, I'm used to straight-up cantorial chanting, so any actual, y'know, music is still a new concept to me %^). Anyway, if the various polarities I've mentioned (Reform/Conservative, major/minor, Ashkenazic/Sefardic, serious/zippy...) are relevant in your decision, here are at least one listener's data points.

[cellio]

Thanks. Your perceptions about the first one are interesting, as I think the only places I've heard that melody are Conservative congregations. :-) (The morning minyan is Conservative, BTW.) But you're right that the folksy style of music is more Reform-ish in general. The first one is designed for people to sing along; the second is more performative in nature (though people can sing along, unlike traditional chazzanut).