{"id":123691,"date":"2022-03-26T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=123691"},"modified":"2023-05-31T19:59:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T02:59:55","slug":"video-lesson-learn-a-klezmer-classic-arranged-for-solo-fingerstyle-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/video-lesson-learn-a-klezmer-classic-arranged-for-solo-fingerstyle-guitar\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Lesson: Learn a Klezmer Classic Arranged for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the late 19th century, Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Eastern Europe entered the United States, bringing with them rich cultural customs including a traditional form of music that came to be called klezmer. According to Joel E. Rubin\u2019s New York Klezmer in the Early Twentieth Century<\/a>, <\/em>by 1915, New York City \u201chosted the largest single concentration of Jews in history,\u201d which made it \u201cthe major center of Yiddish culture, including klezmer music.\u201d And while you could hear klezmorim<\/em>\u2014klezmer musicians\u2014playing at weddings and religious occasions all over the city, nary an acoustic guitar would be found, as the instrument would stand no chance of rising above the tremendous volume of clarinets, brass instruments, strings, and percussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970s, klezmer was set for the revival that found most groups using the instrumentation of their musical ancestors. As time went on, though, more musicians began experimenting with the form and bringing in outside influences that created some space for guitarists to work their way into the klezmer scene. By the \u201990s and 2000s, Marc Ribot, Tim Sparks, and Bill Frisell established new ways to approach Jewish music on the guitar with the release of Masada Guitars<\/a><\/em>, an album that featured each player performing solo arrangements of works from composer John Zorn\u2019s Masada songbook. (See Sparks\u2019 arrangement of Zorn\u2019s \u201cSippur\u201d<\/a> in the January 2017<\/a> issue.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the guitar still hasn\u2019t risen to any particular prominence in klezmer, players such as Jeff Warschauer and Yoshie Fruchter have made a strong case for the role of the instrument in more traditional settings while also experimenting with its place in klezmer ensembles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Hora in Name Only<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYiddishe Hora\u201d is a piece written in the early 20th century by composer, violinist, and bandleader Alexander Olshanetsky. Despite what the title suggests, this tune is not in fact a hora. A hora is a style of klezmer song that features a slow 3\/8 tempo, commonly leading into a freylekh<\/em> or bulgar<\/em>, which is a much faster piece you might know from seeing people do a circle dance (also called a hora, which confused me for the longest time) if you\u2019ve ever been to a Jewish wedding or seen one on TV. \u201cYiddishe Hora\u201d is actually a terkisher<\/em>, a type of midtempo 4\/4 tune that comes from Greek music and features a 3+3+2 rhythm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My close friend and longtime musical collaborator Dan Blacksberg is a klezmer trombonist, composer, teacher, and the host of the Radiant Others<\/em> podcast. When recording Dan\u2019s album of the same name, I learned his arrangement of \u201cYiddishe Hora,\u201d in which I was given a solo electric guitar intro. Inspired by what I learned, I consulted Olshanetsky\u2019s original, as well as a recording by the Bay Area trio Veretski Pass, to create the solo acoustic version here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this arrangement, I tune the fifth string down a whole step, from A to G, in order to easily sound a root note on the A section\u2019s G chord, while I play the melody in seventh position. As an introduction, I play the material from the A section one time through with a rubato feel (as seen in the accompanying video but not shown in notation), using bass notes mostly on the downbeat of each measure, while I play the melody with improvised embellishments using trills, slides, and harmonics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meant for Dancing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the first measure, bass notes on beat one, the and<\/em> of two, and four establish the rhythmic backbone of \u201cYiddishe Hora.\u201d The music is meant for dancing, so the rhythmic feel is important to the performance of any klezmer piece. I alternate between slightly swung and straight eighth notes in order to convey each phrase. While playing this, I think it\u2019s worth experimenting with rhythmic ideas that are both subtle and, like the best dance music, a little un-transcribable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The B section works its way well above the 12th fret. It gets a little trickier to play this as written on a 12-fret guitar, but it\u2019s possible and worth the effort. If it does feel forbidding, though, just move the double-stops from strings 2\u20133 to 1\u20132 and everything will still sound good. Note, too, that for a change of texture, I strum the 16th-note triplets in bars 17\u201318 and 21\u201322 with my middle finger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite part of this whole piece is when the tonality changes in measures 25\u201331 to E freygish<\/em>, which is the name commonly used in klezmer for the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, a.k.a. Phrygian dominant or hijaz<\/em>. You can also think of this note collection as the Phrygian mode, but with a raised third\u2014if the root note is E, it\u2019s spelled E F G# A B C D. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you work your way through this arrangement, you may find it easier in the beginning to avoid some of the embellishments. This is a good approach, and I\u2019d encourage you to not only add in what I\u2019ve arranged here when you\u2019re ready but, once you feel comfortable, consider adding some of your own embellishments to make it feel more personal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article originally appeared in the July\/August 2021<\/a> issue of <\/em>Acoustic Guitar magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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