Shofar Poem by gershon hepner

With ambiguity that’s rich
the shofar’s sound has got a pitch
that calls with an uncertain sigh
that is from depths of heart a cry
to God to listen to our prayer,
which echoes the ancestral air
produced by the unslaughtered ram
not sacrificed by Abraham,
so that the scales sung in the sentence
may resonate with our repentance.

Rahel Musleah, who blogs at www.rahels/jewishindia.com, reviews a new concerto for shofar and orchestra by Meira Warshauer (Forward, November 20,2009) :

Composer Meira Warshauer has taken the shofar out of the synagogue and into the concert hall. Though she is not the first to use the shofar in a concert setting, her concerto for shofar/trombone soloist and orchestra, called “Tekeeyah (a call) , ” highlights the shofar’s range as an instrument, beyond its traditional ritual role. The concerto, which premiered on October 24 with shofar/trombone soloist Haim Avitsur and the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra in Wilmington, N.C., opens with the surprisingly gentle, almost spooky whispering of air into the shofar. The quiet, sustained notes segue into pulsations and glissandos, then strengthen, rising and dropping until they resolve into an E, one of the two core notes of Avitsur’s shofar (each shofar has its own unique sound) . The trombone develops the theme with sweeping gestures, repeated notes and long melodic phrases, supported by the orchestra. When the shofar rejoins the instruments, the music builds to a crescendo. “The walls protecting ourselves from our own truths come down in that sound, ” said Warshauer, who envisions the concerto as reflective of the human journey. “We are energized to break our patterns, get back to our core goodness, and stand up for justice and healing in the world.” An ethereal, evocative section follows, meditative, lyrical, soulful and open. The concerto ends with heroic orchestral fanfare and a triumphant tekiyah gedolah on the shofar’s high C, a majestic celebration of life and love. “What is t’ka bashofar [call of the shofar]? ” Warshauer asked. “I take that concept deeper into the notion that the shofar calls us into being.” Warshauer pointed out that our only obligation on Rosh Hashanah is to hear the shofar: “Each of us has a calling in life. That term is not accidental. We’re called to be the best we can be — and we can do it by continuing to listen to the original call [of the shofar]… to care for and heal our suffering world.”
Warshauer,60, first heard the shofar’s breathy sound at a commemoration of Yom HaShoah in Columbia, S.C., where she lives. “There were six quiet sounds for the 6 million. They were mournful, like a sigh, ” she recalled. “So I knew shofar had a range of emotional capability, from the piercingly intense sound we know well, to a full and embracing sound when played quietly.” She has tried to balance the experimental and the traditional in this concerto, even going back to the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) for a review of laws pertaining to the shofar. Many of the rhythms are in threes, reflective of the three shofar calls: tekeeyah (one long tone) , shevarim (three shorter tones) and teruah (at least nine staccato notes) . Based on a Talmudic difference of opinion, Sephardim render the teruah as one long, trembling moan instead….
The Israeli-born Avitsur,37, was the ba’al tokeah (shofar blower) at the JCC in Manhattan for six years, has premiered more than 60 new pieces for trombone, and is a trombone professor at the West Chester University’s School of Music in Pennsylvania and at Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music. In a rehearsal at his Manhattan apartment prior to the concert, he acknowledged the difficulty of reproducing a range of pitches on the shofar. “Ouch, ” he said, pointing out how tiny the shofar’s mouth opening is in comparison with that of the trombone. “There’s no other word to describe it. I’m not blowing the shofar, I am playing it. It’s a completely new ball game.” Oo-wah-oo-wah-oo-wah, his shofar oscillated between the strong E and C sounds. The pulsations, accents and hairpins nudged open the heart. “The sound is meant to grab the heart and rally the person, ” he said. “There’s so much this instrument is capable of producing that we miss when we only hear it go ‘Tah! ’”

11/20/09