Abstract
Participation in community music ensembles is an important and popular form of music education—with members of ensembles that perform within religious services having the opportunity of experiencing a possible extra dimension of a spiritual experience. Thus the intent of this study was to survey adult choir and band members at Temple Emeth in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA in terms of connections between music performance, educational experiences and spirituality. Thoughts and reflections of the participants as well as those of the clergy and choir director were gained through qualitative, open-ended interviews. Overall, it was found that participating in a synagogue musical ensemble, in addition to music education, lent itself to spiritual connection as well as providing the congregation with enhancement and education of the worship service. The results of this study were presented at the Spirituality and Music Education Conference in Birmingham, England in June 2010.
Recommended Citation
Shansky, Carol
(2012)
"Spirituality and Synagogue Music: A Case Study of Two Synagogue Music Ensembles,"
Research & Issues in Music Education: Vol. 10:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/rime/vol10/iss1/6