Jewish Music & Instruments

Music and instruments have always been loved around the world. In the world of music there are many professional Jewish musicians, musical directors and musical writers, but that’s not all that this article is about. It is also about Jewish created instruments. These Jewish musicals stretch from the “Titanic” to “Pocahontas”.

Musicals are a big part of the Arts in VTT and so many of them were created by Jews! Have you heard of Annie? Annie was written by Martin Charnin and the music is by Charles Strouse. Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse are both Jews! The Sound of Music was written by Oscar Hammerstein and the music is by Richard Rodgers. The Greatest Showman was written by Benj Pasek, and he also wrote the music. If you want more famous musicals that were written by Jews, like Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, or Beauty and the Beast search up: Jewish composed musicals into your search bar, and then click the link “JINFO.org”. Musicals aren’t the only way to produce music. You can also sing, and that is a profession to many.

You’ve also probably heard of Matisyahu, Itzhak Perlman, or the Maccabeats and fun fact, they’re Jewish! They have all done great things in the Jewish Community, from performing at our own Schara Tzedeck shul, performing in front of over one thousand people for a rally, to meeting famous celebrities like Joe Biden. That’s impressive! Matisyahu is known for his famous song “One Day”, and for his transition from Ultra-Orthodox to Reconstructionist. Then we have Itzhak Perlman, who is a famous violinist. He was born in Tel-Aviv and is still alive today at 78 years old! He has lived through a sad life, as he struggled from Polio, which paralyzed his legs. This is why he always sits down when he plays, which is unlike how most violinists play. Finally, we have the Maccabeats, a famous acapella (non instrumental singer) group from Yeshiva University, which is in New York. They have written songs like Candlelight, The Latke Recipe, and An Encanto Purim. They are Yeshiva University graduates and each musician is different and very dedicated to music. Although some groups are acapella like Six13 and the Maccabeats, musical instruments are also a good tactic to enhance music.

Among the Jewish people, there are those who take a profession in the art of music and those who invent and build the instruments. Those inventors have invented some instruments that not only play beautiful music, but have some cool names. One of these interesting instruments is the Sambuca. It is very similar to the harp, but instead of having 47 strings, it has 7-9. Another instrument that has a name that is fun to say is the Ugab. The Ugab is defined as the “shepherd flute” by many.

Overall, music is a fantastic element of our lives. One of the best parts of that is that some songs, instruments, and musicals were written by Jews. From musicals like Annie, to artists like The Maccabeats, to instruments like the Ugab, music contains a lot of Jewish aspects. In conclusion, the fact that Jews have created musicals, songs, and instruments that we use today is incredible and I hope that this will continue in the future.

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