Jewish Life in Music: A Music Theory Series

Come and discover the musical language that underscores Jewish life, in all its soulful beauty and lyricism! In this class, we’ll explore the foundations of Jewish music, focusing on one of four musical scales (modes) in each class of the four sessions. Through group listening and singing, we’ll discover the elegant melodic patterns and expressive qualities associated with each scale. We’ll explore a wide range of musical traditions, including nusakh, nigunim, synagogal song, Klezmer, folksong, as well as non-Jewish music!

Whether you’re an amateur, an experienced musician, or a seasoned rabbi still looking to learn more, there will be something for everyone to discover. Each class stands on its own, and attendees may participate in one class or all four.

Some very basic music-reading ability is recommended, but no advanced knowledge is required. Even being able to recognize that pitches are going up or down is all you need to start having fun!

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Leybl Duvid (Derek David) is a composer, conductor, and music educator based in Boston, MA. He is the music director of A Besere Velt - אַ בעסערע װעלט, one of few choruses in the world dedicated to the preservation and commissioning of Yiddish choral repertoire. With A Besere Velt, Leybl has collaborated with such artists as Daniel Kahn, Lorin Sklamberg, Polina Sheppard, Anthony Russel, Frank London, Hankus Netzky and Judy Bressler. Having initially spoken Yiddish as a child with his grandmother, he studied Yiddish with the Boston and New York Workers Circle and the Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO) in their summer immersion program. Speaking frequently in academic and community settings, Leybl was recently a subject of the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, and had the distinct honor of delivering a lecture in Yiddish on his life as a Yiddishst and composer at the Sorbonne Université in the spring of 2024. He has studied Jewish Music with Hankus Netzkey and Yiddish Folk singing with Ethel Raim, where his ethnographic research of field recordings has led him to sing performances of the Yiddish folksong repertoire. Leybl has been on Faculty at Yiddish New York and will be a Teaching Fellow at KlezKandada this coming summer.

A classical composer by training, his music –much of which incorporates Yiddish folksongs, Klezmer, and Jewish themes– has been featured in settings as disparate as the LA Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight Festival and the Boston Festival for New Jewish Music. He has been commissioned by Juventas Ensemble, Verona Quartet, Del Sol String Quartet & clarinetist Nicholas Davies, violist Jesse Morrison, and SAKURA Cello Quintet. He is currently Lecturer in Music at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We've now introduced a new way to learn at Lehrhaus, our Learning+ membership. It's designed to make learning a regular part of your routine.

Lehrhaus Learning+ members join a community built around big ideas, great conversations, and delicious meals. For $36/month, you get:

• Two free class tickets every month

• Unlimited 1:1 learning sessions with our educators

• Member-only social events

• Pre-sale access to special events

• $25 Tavern gift card

Sign up here!