Something I forgot to mention in my post about Shabbat

[theyellowhobbit]

In the kabbalat shabbat service, there is a song called "lecha dodi" which can be sung to many, many tunes, Jewish or not. Since it's kinda long (9 verses) many people will switch tunes in the middle, and usually the second tune is faster and more upbeat. I always make sure to do this, even when I'm in a place that normally only does one tune. We only get to sing it once a week, so I'm of the philosophy that we should maximize the amount of different tunes we use (this applies to many other prayers/songs as well).

Anyways, when I got to that point where you switch tunes, I was deciding between two different tunes. (The descriptions will only make sense to people who know them...) The first being the tune for David Melech that is often used for the second half of lecha dodi. The second being the oseh shalom tune that is in major and is awesome. I think I decided on David Melech. Except when I sang it, I somehow ended up doing my "long lost lecha dodi," a.k.a. hashmi'ini et kolech, the one with the pentatonic scale in the chorus. I.E. neither of the aforementioned tunes. I'm not sure how it happened. And I only realized it when we got to the chorus for the first time. And when I got there I was like "oh well, this tune is also awesome."

I'm trying to think if I've ever done this before. Probably not. Usually I start the tune that I intend to use.

Comments

[batshua]

I've done this with davening whenever I'm put on the spot. A melody will come out of my mouth, and it will be an appropriate melody, but it's not always what I have in mind -- hell, it's not even always a melody I like!

[boroparkpyro.livejournal.com]

my problem is whenever i have a tune i made up, it gets stuck in my head and i can't remember any of the real tunes, even if i'm worried that my tune is too weird and people won't get it.

and that's how i ended up leading all of Lekha Dodi (and confusing people by NOT switching tunes in the middle ;-) ) to my "Midwinter" (a.k.a. the "hey that sounds sorta Celtic") tune last Shabbos.

[arigi.livejournal.com]

I did kabbalat shabbat before purim this year. I started slow with Scarborough Fair and at the switch I had intended to change to Shoshanat Yaakov, but I think I got nervous/forgot how I was gonna start and I ended up going into Keitzad Merakdim. The funny thing is, I also didn't realize it until I was already into the first verse.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I often have the predecessor problem- when I am on the spot, I can't think of the tunes that I want, so I get stuck using something else, usually something I like less.

[taylweaver.livejournal.com]

Me too.

And there's this one tune that works for lecha dodi, shir hama'alot, and anim zmirot, that I love - but can NEVER remember!

I need to find a song that is ONLY sung to that tune. That is the only way...

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Good luck finding a song that is only sung to that tune. As far as I know, the tune doesn't have any original song.

What you need is a recording that you can listen to over and over until you can remember it. If I can find someone with the software to do it on, I could record it for you (since I know which one you're talking about).