ROSH HASHANAH
A
lan Posner of Metro Detroit
says growing up it was always
a tradition in his family on
Rosh Hashanah to see who could do the
longest Tekiah Gedolah.
The Posner family tradition
continues, and now the director of bands
at Bloomfield Hills Public Schools is
sharing some of the lessons he’s learned
over the years on blowing a shofar.
“I can remember my grandfather, my
mom’s dad, blowing the shofar around
the house and teaching me to do it by
buzzing my lips, like an elephant sound,”
Posner explained.
With lessons from his grandfather
and professional training in trumpet
and trombone, Posner can hold a Tekiah
Gedolah note for just under a minute.
“My primary instrument is saxophone,
which creates sound a different way
through a reed vibrating. The shofar is a
buzz-lipped aerophone instrument.”
Posner says he didn’t go to shofar
school or take any shofar seminars,
but he uses what he knows from brass
instruments and translates it to blowing
a shofar.
So, the big question is, how does he
do it?
SHOFAR-BLOWING
TECHNIQUES
Posner says it all starts with
buzzing your lips, making
an elephant sound with your
mouth.
“What most people do
when they get a shofar, they
just try to blow into it, which
basically makes no sound,”
Posner says.
“When you buzz your lips
and then put your lips to the mouth
opening of the shofar, you will hear the
vibrating sound.”
While you buzz your lips, Posner says
you also have to pay attention to your
breathing.
“Get rid of your dead air first by
breathing out. Then take a deep breath
in without raising your shoulders,”
Posner says.
“When you’re breathing normally,
you’re using about 10% of your lungs.
When you blow a shofar, you’ll want to
use a lot more of your lungs.”
One way to know if you’re filling your
lungs with air is to put your hand on
your back, Posner explains.
“Then when you take a deep breath
and fill your lungs, you’ll feel
your back expand.”
If you want to change the
pitch of the shofar, Posner says
it may depend on the size of
the shofar you’re using.
“When using a larger shofar,
you can change the pitch and
use what’s called the overtone
series to isolate the different
sounds. There are basically
three pitches you can get, one
of those is a pedal tone, a low tone that’s
typically hard to get.”
When changing the pitch, Posner says
you’ll have to bring your lips further
apart, making more of a horse sound
with your mouth. Then, if you bring
your lips closer together and tighten
them up, you’ll get a typical sound.
“Then, if I bring my lips in further
and tighten up and put tension on my
stomach, I’ll get a higher pitch.”
While Posner doesn’t perform shofar
calls at Temple Beth El, you can some-
times find him and his wife, Michelle,
performing music during Shabbat.
Watch Alan Posner share his shofar skills at www.
youtube.com/watch?v=Ev1ETlZaoNM.
Director of
Bloomfield Hills
Public Schools
shares a few tips to
get the best sound.
Shofar
How to
Blow a
RACHEL SWEET
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
50 | SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022
Alan Posner
Alan Posner
demonstrates
how to blow
a shofar.
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