Continuing Education with Joy Katzen-Guthrie:                                       WHAT’S IN A MODERN JEWISH WORSHIP MELODY? 

So many prayers, so many melodies! Why are there multiple melodies for each prayer?    Judaism thrives in every pocket of the globe. Thus, our music reflects the wealth of cultures and eras in which we have lived and composed as well as our varying Nusach - the name for our melodic prayer traditions based on Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Kabbalistic customs for    specific prayers. There is no way to know the ancient melodies our people composed       before the common practice of notating music, but much of today's synagogal music still comes from ancient musical modes. That is why we feel something “sounds” Jewish. But modern worship melodies also reflect contemporary musical traditions: American,            European, and Israeli classical, folk, pop, and rock. So the “sound” of Jewish music has changed dramatically in the last half-century. Join Joy each month in a  session of singing and learning contemporary settings of prayers from our Shabbat and festival worship services.

Thursdays, October 20, and November 17, 2016, and December 15, 2016

7-9 PM with 15-minute refreshment break