Spirituality
Shir Tikvah Live
Synagogue's music project turns into
congregation-wide performance recorded on CD.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter
n educational tape created by a rabbi for his con-
gregants has spawned a compact disk of songs,
including the voices of 350 of the synagogue
members.
"Shir Tikvah Live: A Music Shabbat" debuted at a Dec.
9 party at the synagogue. Guests were entertained by the
recorded music as well as a live performance by Shir
Tikvah's klezmer band, Schmaltz.
"Plans to make the CD started some time ago. Tim
Downey, a Shir Tikvah member, volunteered to make a
recording of me singing the blessings of the service," Rabbi
Sleutelberg says.
"It was actually meant as an internal tool to help mem-
bers participate in the service," says Downey, owner of
Fool's Gold Records in Huntington Woods, where the tape
was produced.
After the tape was distributed to b'nai mitzvah students,
they switched to CD to make it easier to go from track to
track to learn the blessings.
This spurred a new idea to make a live recording in the
sanctuary of the synagogue's popular Music Shabbat service.
Making Of The CD
Clockwise from above:
Schmaltz band members Rick May of Southfield and Gary Rimar
of Birmingham warm up before performance.
Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg, Lisa Soble Siegmann and Tim Downey
display the new CD.
Ben Purcell of Rochester Hills, Shel Belenson of Farmington Hills
and Rick May of Southfield perform.
Guests Art Bayer of Farmington Hills, Rich Spitzer of Troy and
Betty Appleton of Birmingham join in playing with the band.
Rabbi Sleutelberg joins in a dance.
So they set up microphones, assembled an orchestra,
including everything from five drums and a piano to a
mandolin, triangle and tambourine, and recorded the entire
musical program on Friday night, Sept. 21.
The CD includes music by the rabbi and synagogue
member Lisa Soble Siegmann, who helps lead the Music
Shabbat services.
Next came many hours in the studio, with Downey mix-
ing down, editing and mastering the music, while the rabbi
gave decision-making input.
"Listeners will feel like they are in the sanctuary," Rabbi
Sleutelberg says.
"They will hear a live recording with 350 people singing,
including the beautiful sounds of children — some in the
right places, some in the wrong places."
The CD is actually part of a two-disk set, partnered with
"Shiru LaShem: We Sing to God," created last year by
Rabbi Sleutelberg and Eli Cohen, a California-based stu-
dent of the Aleph Rabbinic Program of the Jewish Renewal
movement, who serves at Shir Tikvah's cantor.
This CD, produced by Big Productions Inc. in
Birmingham, includes Rabbi Sleutelberg and Cohen per-
forming niggunim (wordless, religious melodies) to Cohen's
guitar-music background. "About 15 of the 20 songs are
Carlebach melodies," Rabbi Sleutelberg says. "Many have
words, but we perform them as niggunim, so listeners can
meditate to them or walk in the woods."
In dedicating "Shir Tikvah Live" to the memory of those
lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America, Rabbi
Sleutelberg's hope is to "help bring healing to sorrowing
families and to a grieved nation through spirited prayer for
a more peaceful world."
Proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit Shir
Tikvah, with a portion donated to charity. E
To purchase the two-set CD, including "Shiru LaShem:
We Sing to God," and "Shir Tikvah Live," call
Congregation Shir Tikvah at (248) 649-4418, or Fool's
Gold Records at (248) 336-7000. Cost is $18. E