Mishnah was made to be sung. Well, if not sung, then certainly repeated (coming from the root shanah). How better to get our students to repeat—and through repetition, remember—the mishnayot of Pirkei Avot than by singing them? How better to get our students to sing sections of Pirkei Avot than by having them write the songs and the music? Can’t hear it in your mind’s ear? Point your web browser to www.hausner.com/avot for audio examples of what Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School has called our “Pirkei Avot to Pop Song Project.” (Note: Listen to these audio samples on a computer with good speakers for full effect.)
Three years ago Hausner was fortunate to bring on Rabbi Josh Zweiback (from Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, California) as a part-time faculty member. Josh, along with his prodigious talents as a teacher and pulpit rabbi, is a professional musician, a member of the well known Jewish music band Mah Tovu. Upon joining the faculty he shared with us his past experiences of writing modern Jewish songs based on traditional texts during summer camp sessions with older campers. With his help we designed a Pirkei Avot curriculum that culminates in student-written and -performed songs, professionally produced in-house and distributed through CD and web portals, dramatically demonstrating both the enduring understandings of our 7th grade students and the enchanting power of music to transform ancient texts to modern meaning-making hits.
Every Monday, during their scheduled Jewish Studies period, our 7th graders set aside their weekly work to focus on this project. With two teachers in the classroom, students begin the year with an introduction to the text based on a Pirkei Avot textbook by Rabbi Henry Schreibman; spend several sessions working in chevruta translating and analyzing selected mishnayot, with a focus on making text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections; listening to and discussing successful elements of classic American folk, R&B, and rock & roll songs; listening to and discussing successful elements of modern Jewish songs composed with traditional texts at their heart; and finally, in pairs, writing songs in English inspired by a mishnah of their choosing from Pirkei Avot. To receive full credit for their written lyrics, students must meet two criteria. (1) The song must be clearly related to the chosen mishnah text: there must be either an obvious or cleverly concealed text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connection between the lyrics and the mishnah; and (2) Hebrew from the Mishnah must be included in the song and must fit the rhyme scheme. We energetically discourage students from writing rap lyrics, a challenge that often stymies groups at the start but yields rich final products that stretch students beyond their ken of comfort.
Following the completion of several student drafts of each song, reviewed and edited by Rabbi Zweiback and a writing teacher, three to five (of the approximately eighteen) songs are chosen to be taken to stage two in which instrumentation is added. For some songs, students provide their own music and instrumentation; for others, Rabbi Zweiback provides music and instrumentation. For our three strongest pieces we employ the talents of Gordon Lustig, a professional musician in Los Angeles (and musical associate of Rabbi Zweiback). Sent the lyrics and digitally recorded tracks of students singing their songs, sans instruments, as they imagine it performed, Gordon works his magic for several weeks, returning to us digital files of multi-instrument orchestrations that require us only to lay down the vocal track to complete the piece.
With a few simple tools we purchased several years ago, Hausner has created the ability to set up a mobile recording studio in any classroom. We begin with a Mac laptop, an inexpensive but professional-grade microphone, headphones, Digidesign’s Mbox (to translate analog to digital sound), and software including Garage Band and Pro Tools. Setting up the recording station in a variety of rooms (depending on availability and proper acoustics), we first record individual students singing several lyrics, then small groups for sections of harmony, and finally entire classes for “We Are The World” big chorus effects.
Students think the work is done now, but teachers know the heart of success is in the editing process. We are fortunate to have Rabbi Zweiback spend many hours mixing, smoothing, remixing, and re-smoothing the tracks until we are left with three to five songs to be played with great fanfare before all our students and parents.
To facilitate sharing the work of our students with a broader community, we created a website with audio samples and explanations. We hope in the future to add a component of video production to the project as well. A song like “Action Every Day” (based on Pirkei Avot 1:15), with its call to conscience on the subject of Darfur, is ready-made for a video to be shared on YouTube.
With the success of this project and the audio recording equipment on hand, Hausner staff members have recently reached into the realm of podcast production as well. To hear some of our work in this area, point your browser to www.hausner.com/podcasts. Both the Pirkei Avot songs and student centered podcasts allow us to share the ongoing work of our students with our entire school community, with our local Jewish community, and hopefully soon with the wide world beyond our state and country. ♦
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