at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Alan Bern, Kurt Bjorling, Stuart Brotman, Zev Feldman, Steven Greenman, Michael Winograd + artists-in-residence.
Compared to klezmer music played for dancing, the non-dance genres are much less well known today. Many were connected to rituals and Yiddish cultural practices that did not survive the 20th century. read more 

at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Alan Bern, Kurt Bjorling, Stuart Brotman, Zev Feldman, Steven Greenman, Michael Winograd + artists-in-residence.
Compared to klezmer music played for dancing, the non-dance genres are much less well known today. Many were connected to rituals and Yiddish cultural practices that did not survive the 20th century. But they reflect a deeply Yiddish sensibility, and so in keeping with this summer's focus on Yidishkayt, we devote the Advanced Klezmer Workshop to the topic of non-dance genres, repertoires, and performance practice. The faculty includes scholars who are leading the research in this field and artists who are both performing old music and composing new music in this historically important style.

In addition to lectures on Yiddish music history and theory, the workshop includes instrumental classes, master classes, jam sessions, listening sessions, and more. An innovation in 2010; three ensembles will be formed and led by three groups of teachers. Participants and teachers will work together in one ensemble during the whole week and present the results in two concerts; on July 10 in Weimar, and on July 11 in Potsdam at an international conference in Jewish music. The bus ride alone from Weimar to Potsdam and back is going to be a very special event...

Participants in this workshop must have a high level of instrumental technique, command of "standard" klezmer repertoire and style, and the ability to learn and perform by ear as well as from written music. If you have any questions about participating, please contact alan.bern@othermusic.eu.
Dr. Alan Bern

Zev Feldman's introduction to the topic of non-dance klezmer music follows:

In Eastern Europe the music for the earlier part of the wedding day included non-dance metrical genres, used to announce the wedding and to greet the most honored guests. These were called gas-nign, dobriden, terkisher dobriden, and mazltov. Most of these tunes expressed a pre-nuptial mood of penitence and meditation, leading to the great catharsis of the kaleh-baveynen ceremony, conducted by the badkhn and the first violin. The kaleh baveynen was followed by the hierarchical ritual dances for the parents of the couple, and later by general dancing, usually having a joyous character.

Apart from the ritual melodies mentioned above, it was customary for the leading klezmorim to play for the parents of the bride and groom and the guests seated at their table. For poor and uneducated parents this might be a doyne and a few songs, or a cantorial item adapted for violin. But when the bride came from a wealthy or learned family with musical inclinations, the playing at the table might turn into a concert lasting an hour or more. The available sources contain only snippets of this music, as they were rarely recorded commercially, and were almost never published. While significant portions were improvised, those pieces that were composed were jealously guarded within the kapelye. This newly composed music often had an idiosyncratic character that renders it difficult to assign to a particular genre. The largest single source for the non-dance wedding music as a whole is the klezmer collection of Moyshe Beregovski from Ukraine. Individual items appear in various klezmer manuscripts, and early European archival and commercial recordings.

The entire non-dance klezmer repertoire was rapidly abandoned in the radically simplified Jewish weddings in America, even before World War I, so they seem exotic to audiences today. The American violinist Steven Greenman is perhaps the only musician of the current generation who has composed a substantial repertoire in the non-dance East European wedding genres.  Other younger American musicians, especially the clarinetist Michael Winograd, have also begun to compose in these genres.
Dr. Walter Zev Feldman

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at Other Music Academy (Ernst-Kohl-Str. 23)
Dance faculty: Walter Zev Feldman, Sue Foy.
Music faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Jake Shulman-Ment.
In 2010 we are offering a professional-level training seminar for Yiddish dance teachers and leaders and Yiddish dance musicians. Directed by one of the most eminent scholars, theorists and teachers of Yiddish dance... read more 

at Other Music Academy (Ernst-Kohl-Str. 23)
Dance faculty: Walter Zev Feldman, Sue Foy.
Music faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Jake Shulman-Ment.
In 2010 we are offering a professional-level training seminar for Yiddish dance teachers and leaders and Yiddish dance musicians. Directed by one of the most eminent scholars, theorists and teachers of Yiddish dance, as well as one of its finest practitioners, Dr. Walter Zev Feldman, the seminar will be a laboratory to explore how Yiddish expressive gestures underlie and connect dance and music performance practice. Communication and improvisation within a style is essential not only for solo dancers, but equally so in couple and group dances and between dancers and musicians. This workshop is for professional dance teachers, leaders and accomplished dancers, as well as for professional klezmer musicians who are already quite comfortable playing for Yiddish dance. We want to explore tempo, expression, communication and improvisation, and to develop a more nuanced Yiddish dance culture that can be disseminated by teachers and musicians in their own workshops elsewhere.
Dr. Alan Bern
 
Zev Feldman's description of the workshop subject follows:
The Ashkenazic dance tradition as a whole represents a confluence of two radically different choreographic concepts, one mainly of Central European origin, and the other apparently created within the Jewish community itself. These two concepts generate divergent definitions of what constitutes a “dance” or a repertoire item in general. As Lee Ellen Friedland had noted in her work from the 1980s, most of the dance figures of East European Jews were of pan-European, mainly Western origin. Cultural Jewishness was not defined by any sequence of steps or figures; rather it was the body carriage and ornamentation of the steps and the upper body motion that was regarded as Jewish. These motions expressed the feelings contained in the appropriate Jewish dance music in a manner that was connected with language-oriented gesture.
Under the influence of Hasidism, the expressive power of male dancing (and of separate female dance) was enhanced, allowing men to act out a melancholy or ecstatic individualism through dance. This type of dancing emphasized movements of the arms and hands as well as the legs. Among misnagdic (non-Hasidic) communities, somewhat similar hand and arm motions were employed in erotic and ludic contexts of mixed dancing, especially during the solo and couple formations of the freylekhs and (to a lesser extent) sher dances.
By the first decade of the 21st century, native bearers of this dance tradition are almost nonexistent and those who had learned from these primary culture-bearers are very few. Among the post World War II American-born generation, the Jewish dance tradition of the South (Ukraine and Bessarabia/Moldova)—like the accompanying klezmer repertoire—has survived somewhat better than that of Poland or Lithuania. The largely improvised, competitive or erotic style of East European Jewish dance cannot be apprehended by beginners, and hence has almost no presence in Jewish music festivals or workshops. The current workshop will focus on this style, with the aim of training dance teachers and leaders.
Walter Zev Feldman

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at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Georg Brinkman, Roswitha Dasch, Monika Feil, Dorothea Greve, Franka Lampe, Katharina Müther.
For many of us, our first contact and fascination with anything Yiddish happened in a concert of klezmer music or Yiddish song, or possibly at a Yiddish dance event. But these forms of cultural expression - song, instrumental music, dance... read more 

at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Georg Brinkman, Roswitha Dasch, Monika Feil, Dorothea Greve, Franka Lampe, Katharina Müther.
For many of us, our first contact and fascination with anything Yiddish happened in a concert of klezmer music or Yiddish song, or possibly at a Yiddish dance event. But these forms of cultural expression – song, instrumental music, dance – belong together as parts of a world that also includes the Yiddish language, literature, storytelling, humor, theater, cuisine and even a specifically Yiddish understanding of time and place. In short, klezmer music, Yiddish song and Yiddish dance belong to the world of Yidishkayt, and to really understand them, it's necessary to get the bigger picture, too.

This year, we've combined the introductory Yiddish song and klezmer music workshops and placed them in the larger context of Yidishkayt. Participants choose to focus either on Yiddish song, under the direction of Roswitha Dasch, Katharina Müther and Dorothea Greve, or on klezmer music, under the direction of Georg Brinkman, Monika Feil and Franka Lampe. About half of each day the two groups will meet separately. During the other half,  all the participants and teachers will be together for classes on Yiddish language, culture, music theory, dance and more. Our wonderful team of teachers has many years experience with hands-on, practical learning, so the whole workshop is about active participation, not listening to lectures.

And as an added bonus, participants in this workshop can join the evening outdoor café Yiddish dance sessions with live klezmer music, the public part of the Yiddish Dance Workshop that takes places during the same days as the Introduction to klezmer music & Yiddish song.

Although this is an introductory workshop in Yiddish music and culture, it is not intended for beginning instrumentalists or singers. Both singers and instrumentalists should already have an intermediate to advanced technical level so that the focus of the workshop can be on Yiddish content and style, not basic instrumental or vocal technique. It is not necessary to have any background already in Yiddish music or culture - that's what this workshop is for! So, if you are an intermediate to advanced instrumentalist or singer, and you are attracted to klezmer music or Yiddish song, this workshop is for you: after only four days you will be singing or playing Yiddish music and connecting to an incredibly rich and emotionally moving cultural tradition.

Please see the Philosophy link to learn more about Yiddish Summer Weimar workshops.
Dr. Alan Bern

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at Other Music Academy (Ernst-Kohl-Str. 23)
Workshop design: Andreas Schmitges; Dance faculty: Steven Weintraub, Andreas Schmitges; Music faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Sanne Möricke; Dance song faculty: Efim Chorny, Susan Ghergus, Andreas Schmitges + artists-in-residence.
Over the last years we have witnessed the worldwide development of a very lively new Yiddish dance culture. New sources are constantly being found in many different places. read more 

at Other Music Academy (Ernst-Kohl-Str. 23)
Workshop design: Andreas Schmitges; Dance faculty: Steven Weintraub, Andreas Schmitges; Music faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Sanne Möricke; Dance song faculty: Efim Chorny, Susan Ghergus, Andreas Schmitges + artists-in-residence.
Over the last years we have witnessed the worldwide development of a very lively new Yiddish dance culture. New sources are constantly being found in many different places. Historic dances are being reconstructed and new dances based on traditional forms are being created. Here and there a new piece of the puzzle is found which leads to new conclusions. All this research, new creation and reconstruction is based however, on the very roots of Yiddish dance, in “yidishkayt”, which is the topic of Yiddish Summer Weimar 2010.

In this four day workshop we want to put dance, dance music and dance songs in the context of Yiddish culture. Participants will learn the present stage of knowledge about the dances, their meaning, background and their regional, religious and social aspects. In short: It’s about getting as much „yidish un yidishkayt“ in your feet, ears and mouths as possible!

We want to reach this goal with three parallel workshops:
+ Dance workshop for dancers
+ Dance music workshop for instrumentalists
+ New! Dance workshop for singers/dancers.

We’ve changed the structure of the workshop a bit, to give space to “yidishkayt“ and at the same time to be able to concentrate fully on dance and music.

This workshop will aim towards:
giving dancers of all levels a complete as possible overview of the Yiddish dance repertoire, in dance sessions led by the best instructors in their field. This will be accompanied by a framework of complementary workshops which will provide additional information about dance forms, dance music and dance rhythms and their history and development.

helping advanced instrumentalists develop the art of playing for dancing. In addition to learning about melody, rhythm, tempo and form, students will work upon combining and applying these important skills all at the time. For example one might ask: “How do I pay attention to the dancers, lead the band and play my instrument in an inspiring way all at the same time?” Strong player will be especially encouraged to try it all out. For musicians who are there the first time, it’s fine to play along and make sure that the band sounds brilliant.  It has been planned for all musicians to receive scores some weeks before the beginning of the workshop. However, it might be possible that melodies are added spontaneously, that songs need accompaniment (in different keys) and that new melodies appear. It will certainly help if you are able to play by ear.

Singers/dancers: In the last years, Andreas Schmitges has done research on the topic of dance songs, mostly in the YIVO Institute and with the help of Chanah Mlotek and Lorin Sklamberg. One result of his research is that for many Yiddish and co-territorial dance forms, there are Yiddish dance songs to be sung to them, but they have somehow been neglected by the klezmer revival. We would like to change this in the workshop. Efim Chorny, in collaboration with Andreas, will work on the “tantslider“ with you and will also add songs from his own repertoire. This course for now is not full time yet. This means that you will have two 30 minute sessions with Efim Chorny and Susan Ghergus per day but that you are regular dancing participants in the rest of the workshop. Over the course of time “tantslider“ will be added to the repertoire and you will then have the choice to either dance, sing or do both!

A last request: Yiddish dance culture is very much nurtured by interaction between music and dance and contains an improvisatory element. In Weimar, we aim to educate musicians and dancers in listening to each other and communicating with each other. Therefore the 3 hour sessions for musicians and dancers will take place in the same room and will demand consideration from the participants. We expect some patience and some discipline from everybody. We are convinced that only by combining both workshops, lively dance and dance music can develop so that this workshop can be a next important step in your understanding of Yiddish dance culture.
Andreas Schmitges

Daily schedule:
09.00 – 09.30  30 minute workshops  – dancers, singers, instrumentalists
09.30 – 12.30  Dance session
12.30 – 14.30  Lunch break
14.30 – 15.00  Dancers, singers, instrumentalists
15.00 – 18.00  Dance session
20.00   Session in a Weimar Café or dance ball (on Sunday)

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at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Mark Kovnatsky, Fabian Schnedler, Janina Wurbs.
If you're reading this, you probably already have some years experience with klezmer music or Yiddish song or both. Maybe you've been to a Yiddish dance event, or you've taken an introductory workshop in Yiddish Summer Weimar or elsewhere. read more 

at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Mark Kovnatsky, Fabian Schnedler, Janina Wurbs.
If you're reading this, you probably already have some years experience with klezmer music or Yiddish song or both. Maybe you've been to a Yiddish dance event, or you've taken an introductory workshop in Yiddish Summer Weimar or elsewhere. Then you may also know that these these forms of cultural expression – song, instrumental music, dance - belong together as parts of a world that also includes the Yiddish language, literature, storytelling, humor, theater, cuisine and even a specifically Yiddish understanding of time and place. In short, klezmer music, Yiddish song and Yiddish dance belong to the world of Yidishkayt. To go deeper into the style and repertoire of Yiddish song or klezmer music, it's also necessary to understand their connection to each other and to other facets of Yiddish culture.

This year, we've designed an intermediate, combined Yiddish song and klezmer music workshop that explores both in the context of Yidishkayt. Participants choose to focus either on Yiddish song or klezmer music. About half of each day the two groups will meet separately. During the other half, all the participants and teachers will be together for classes on Yiddish language and culture, music theory, dance and more. The workshop will be conducted by a small team of very experienced teachers who are expert at involving students in direct, hands-on learning.

In addition to experience with Yiddish song or klezmer music, this workshop requires an intermediate to advanced level of technique. We want to be able to concentrate on questions of style and expression, not on basic instrumental or vocal technique.

Please see the Philosophy link to learn more about about Yiddish Summer Weimar Workshops.
Dr. Alan Bern

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at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Michael Alpert, Ethel Raim, Itzik Gottesman + artists-in-residence.
Unaccompanied Yiddish folksong is one of the deepest, most honest and direct expressions of Yidishkayt. But the last generation for whom this style and repertoire was a natural form of self-expression is almost gone... read more 

at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Michael Alpert, Ethel Raim, Itzik Gottesman + artists-in-residence.
Unaccompanied Yiddish folksong is one of the deepest, most honest and direct expressions of Yidishkayt. But the last generation for whom this style and repertoire was a natural form of self-expression is almost gone, and very few contemporary Yiddish singers carry their legacy. In the middle of so much activity today in Yiddish popular, theater, art and new songs, we are in danger of losing this most precious heritage.

Fortunately, there are a few artists and scholars who can transmit this legacy to a new generation of singers ready to receive it. Michael Alpert, Ethel Raim and Itzik Gottesman bring a treasure of repertoire, style, personal stories and knowledge about folklore and ethnography to this workshop, the first of its kind to focus on unaccompanied Yiddish folksong.

This workshop is for both professional and amateur singers who are musically and linguistically prepared to really dig into the unaccompanied Yiddish folksong repertoire and style. Participants should have extensive experience with standard Yiddish vocal repertoire, should be able to read Yiddish or at least be at home in its sounds, and should be ready to learn possibly unfamiliar vocal techniques. If you have questions whether this workshop is right for you, please write to alanbern@othermusic.eu.
Dr. Alan Bern

Ethel, Michael and Itzik continue in their own words:

Ethel Raim
My class will focus primarily on lyric love songs, the kind young girls often learned from their mothers, aunts and older sisters in pre-WW II Eastern Europe. I will also teach songs which I learned over the years from older singers I encountered and from ethnographic recordings. In addition to teaching the songs, I will work on assisting students to hone their singing style and authentic expression.

Michael Alpert
The Whole World Is In These Songs
"Every song has its subject and its words. And such words -- they're life itself, all of life! How it is, was, and will be. A song is the past, present, and future, because in a song, everything exists. The whole world is in these songs. And my songs are the future: they're your future. Your children will also sing these songs, and you'll tell them that once there was an Aunt Bronya, and she sang songs like these."
-- Bronya Sakina (b.1910, Olvanisk, Ukraine, d.1988, New York)

Singing Yiddishly, or Jewishly, is not only a matter of technique, but it is also a technical challenge. Our course focuses on the technical and performative aspects of singing in the old-time Yiddish folksong tradition – including vocal style and ornamentation, pronunciation, and cultural affect – with a vision that encourages each singer to find the place in themselves that most truly and authentically connects with Yiddish tradition. Our course material draws from the repertoire and style of traditional Soviet-Yiddish singer Bronya Sakina and other East European-born masters of Yiddish folksong, and includes songs from both women’s and men’s repertoire. We challenge common paradigms of traditional music, including the false dichotomy of traditionality and innovation. We do so by exploring our cultural and personal relationship to the songs, as a route to connecting with the intention of old-time folksingers as well as to developing contemporary modes of expression using the musical and expressive devices of Yiddish folksong.

Itzik Gottesman
I will begin by looking at bibliographic, discographic and archival resources on traditional Yiddish folksong, including a short history of the study of Yiddish folksong. Then look at "Life of the Yiddish Folksinger" based on Lifshe Widman's biography and compare it to song in the life of her daughter Beyle Gottesman (shtetl vs. urban, 19th century vs. 20th century). Then examine Yiddish folksongs according to genre, using mainly field recordings as examples. These genres would include: the ballad, 19th century Hasidic and anti-Hasidic songs, love songs etc.

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at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Dorothea Greve, Avishai Fisz.
It is very difficult to imagine the Weimar Yiddish program without the great Pesakh Fiszman, who last year passed away. But life goes on, and that attitude is nowhere more at home than in Yiddish culture. read more 

at Ottmar Gerster Musikschule (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1)
Faculty: Dorothea Greve, Avishai Fisz.
It is very difficult to imagine the Weimar Yiddish program without the great Pesakh Fiszman, who last year passed away. But life goes on, and that attitude is nowhere more at home than in Yiddish culture. We’re very pleased to announce that Avishai Fisz joins us this year to teach intermediate Yiddish language. Avishai is a native Yiddish speaker and a marvelous performer who sings and acts in Yiddish, and a very experienced teacher, including a faculty position Trier Yiddish program. Together with the wonderful teacher and singer Dorothea Greve, the Weimar Yiddish language program will continue its focus on the basics of spoken and written Yiddish using materials from literature and song, and will also integrate more closely with the Yiddish Song Workshop, which takes place at the same time. We are very confident that learning Yiddish during Yiddish Summer Weimar will continue to be rewarding for the heart, mind, and soul, and hope you will join us to welcome Avishai to our dorf.

Yiddish Language for Beginners: Dorothea Greve
The Hebrew alphabet ("square script") is the key to one of the world's richest and most fascinating cultures that originated 1000 years ago in the Rhineland, blossomed in East Europe, and can be found today on every continent - Yiddish culture.
In this intensive course, students quickly and playfully learn to read the Yiddish alphabet, opening the door to all sorts of original Yiddish texts, including songs, poems and short stories. You'll get important tips on pronunciation and start to "shmuesn" ("shmooze") in Yiddish in the very first hour to develop a feeling for this expressive and musical language. This course creates an ideal basis for anyone working with Yiddish on stage, especially for singers. Previous knowledge is not required, and success is guaranteed! In addition, the course will introduce you to the fascinating story of the origins of Yiddish and you'll experience first-hand the meaning of Yidishkayt!

Intermediate Yiddish Language: Avishai Fisz
The intermediate language course will offer an intensive dealing with the diverse language features of the Yiddish language. The texts studied in class will span from folklore to literal materials, thus glimpsing into the traditional east-european jewish being as it is being reflected in the various generes of the Yiddish folk song – especially the “shteyger-lid” (the all occasion song) -  as well as in the works of such writers that caught in their works the last moments of the jewish traditional life before the holocaust, such as Bashvis Zinger and Itzik Manger.

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