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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