 JEFFREY A. SUMMIT |
|
Music 98/Judaic Studies 192
Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, Ph.D.
Spring Semester 2001
Tufts University, Medford, MA
Music and Prayer in the Jewish Tradition
This course will examine the role and function of music in Jewish worship. Following an introduction to the text, historical development and structure of Jewish liturgy, we will consider the ways that music is used strategically in prayer by men and women as they define, present and maintain their religious and cultural identity. The course will focus on the Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday evening) service and consider such topics as participation vs. performance in worship, music and historical authenticity in prayer, music and religious experience, the invention and preservation of tradition, technology and the transmission of oral tradition and how liturgical music is used to negotiate issues of dual culturalism in the American Jewish community.
- Week One: Prayer in the Jewish Tradition
- Week Two: The Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday Evening) Service
- Weeks Three -- Eight: Music and Religious Experience in the Jewish Tradition
- Week Ten: The Performance of Sacred Text in Jewish Worship
- Week Eleven: Music and the Concept of Identity
- Week Twelve and Thirteen: Integration of Concepts, Ethnomusicological Perspectives on Jewish Liturgical Music
- Week Fourteen: Conclusions
January 18 Introduction to Course
Week One: Prayer in the Jewish Tradition (Reading: Alan Mintz, "Prayer and the Prayerbook" in Back to the Sources; * Barry Holtz, "Prayer" in Finding Our Way; Also recommended: Hayim Donin, "Introduction" and "The Quest for Spirituality" in To Pray as a Jew)
January 23 Jewish Prayer: History and Structure (Mintz)
January 25 Jewish Prayer: Concepts and Terminology (Holtz)
Week Two: The Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday Evening) Service (Reading: Jeffrey Summit, "An Introduction to Jewish Worship" in The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship. Assignments: Using the Conservative Siddur (Sim Shalom), prepare an outline of the Friday evening service. Identify major themes and structural components of the service. Compare your outline with a Reform and an Orthodox Siddur. Attend a Friday Evening Service, any denomination, and keep a journal of your reactions to the service.
January 30 Themes and Development of the Kabbalat Shabbat Service (Summit)
February 1 Structure and Outline of the Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Weeks Three -- Eight: Music and Religious Experience in the Jewish Tradition (Reading: Mark Kligman, “Music in Judaism” in The Encyclopedia of Judaism; Lawrence Hoffman, "The Script of Prayer: Words Sung" in The Art of Public Prayer: Not For Clergy Only; Jeffrey Summit, “Introduction,” "The Meaning of a Tune: The Sabbath Hymn Lekhah dodi" in The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land; Amnon Shiloah, "Music and Religion" in Jewish Musical Traditions; Jeffrey Summit, "The Meaning of Nusach: Worshippers' Perspectives on Traditional Jewish Chant" in The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land; Jeffrey Summit, "The Role of the Shaliah Tzibur (leader in prayer)," Selections from A.Z. Idelsohn on Rossi, Sulzer and Lewandowski in Jewish Music; Ellen Koskoff, "Contemporary Nigun Composition in an American Hasidic Community" in Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology)
February 6 Music, Religion and Ritual (Kligman, Hoffman)
February 8 The Concept of Tune in Jewish Worship (Summit)
February 13 The Concept of Tune (Shiloah)
February 15 The Concept of Nusach (traditional prayer modes) (Summit)
February 20 Nusach (continued)
February 22 The Role of the Cantor/Shaliah Tzibur (prayer leader), (Summit)
The "Golden Age" of Cantorial Music
February 27 Harmony and Polyphony in Synagogue Music: Salomon Rossi,
Salomon Sulzer, Louis Lewandowski (Idelsohn)
March 1 The Niggun (Koskoff)
March 6 The Niggun (continued), Modern Compositions for the Synagogue:
Lazar Weiner, Hugo Chaim Adler, Isadore Freed and others
March 8 A Consideration of Contemporary Liturgical Composers:
Shlomo Carlebach, Debbie Friedman, Jeffrey Klepper, Danny Freelander,
Yehuda Gantz, Ben Sidron, and others
March 13 Midterm Examination
March 15 Contemporary Liturgical Composers (continued)
Week Ten: The Performance of Sacred Text in Jewish Worship (Students will be required to do a research exercise using various computer programs that teach the cantillation of biblical text. Students will also conduct a short research project where they will speak with cantors/educators at synagogues about the methods used to teach biblical cantillation.)
March 27 The Cantillation of the Hebrew Bible
March 29 Technology and the Transmission of Oral Tradition
Week Eleven: Music and the Concept of Identity (Reading: Philip Bohlman, "Musical Identities," * Amnon Shiloah, "Identity and Character of Jewish Music" in Jewish Musical Traditions; Selections from the following books: Anya Peterson Royce, Ethnic Identity: Strategies of Diversity, Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition, Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style.)
April 3 Music and Identity, The Use of Music to Negotiate Multiple Identities (Bohlman, Shiloah)
April 5 The Invention of Tradition, Imagined Communities,
Subculture and Style (Royce, Hobsbawn and Ranger, Anderson, Hebdige)
Week Twelve and Thirteen: Integration of Concepts, Ethnomusicological Perspectives on Jewish Liturgical Music (Reading: Selections from Mark Slobin, Chosen Voices; Jeffrey Summit, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy: Identity and Melody at an American Simhat Torah Celebration" in The Journal of Ethnomusicology; Selections from Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews; Jeffrey Summit, "Meaning and Melody Choice in Jewish Worship" and "American Jews and American Religious Experience" in The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land)
April 10 Ethnomusicology and Jewish Music (Slobin)
April 12 Ethnomusicology and Jewish Music (Summit, Simhat Torah)
April 17 Ethnomusicology and Jewish Music (Shelemay)
April 19 Code Switching and Melody Choice in Jewish Worship (Summit)
Week Fourteen: Conclusions
April 24 and April 26 Conclusions
Syllabus © Jeffrey A. Summit, 2001