The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor. Judah M. Cohen
“Personal Characteristics,” finally, served as a measure for determining readiness for a life of Jewish spiritual service (HUC-JIR SSM [1999]: Inside cover). Taken together, these abilities provided a clear basic format for the discussions that accompanied a student’s candidacy. Applicants and members of the admissions committee echoed these categories in one form or another while describing the admissions process, suggesting their significance as a common reference for mapping preparations and progress.
Students who made the decision to apply to the School of Sacred Music generally did so after much deliberation, and frequently with the assistance of other Reform cantors; they usually, as a result, had knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the program’s expectations. By the time they arranged preliminary interviews, therefore, many had already started seeking instruction in their weaker areas: usually voice, Hebrew, or music theory. Their first meeting with the School’s director consequently represented an official declaration of interest, and opened the opportunity for additional guidance about whether and how to prepare for the next parts of the evaluation.
Whenever possible, Cantor Israel Goldstein, the Director of the School of Sacred Music during the time of my fieldwork, conducted the preliminary interview in his office at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College. According to Goldstein, each interview took about forty minutes, and comprised three parts: a dialogue about the student’s religious affiliations and practices, a short vocal and musical evaluation, and a discussion of the student’s chances for admission. “After I’ve met with a student, if I feel that this student has a chance of being accepted by the admissions committee, I will then give them an application,” explained Goldstein (I. Goldstein. Dec. 27, 2000). For aspirants unable to come to New York for an interview, the School would either make arrangements for another cantor to interview the student locally, or accept the recommendation of the applicant’s cantorial mentor. A positive outlook in any of these cases would lead the School to send out the formal application.9
While the preliminary interview helped establish a meaningful dialogue between the student and the School, the paper application required a wide breadth of written information in order to gather a detailed portrait along the lines the School’s director had described informally. Its emphasis clearly fell on the side of character and life experience rather than musical achievement, and closely resembled the application for the College’s parallel rabbinical program.10 Applicants to the School of Sacred Music thus had to satisfy a profile as potential clergy as much as they had to showcase their musical abilities. Entering into a seminary in which they would learn and interact alongside the movement’s future rabbis and professional educators, potential students needed to express their commitment to a career that involved teamwork and a common spiritual language in addition to showing their growth as musicians.11
One part of the application aimed to document the applicant’s history, lifestyle, and upbringing. Aspirants needed to submit high school, college, and graduate school transcripts along with scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as proof of their academic achievement. To verify religious identity and upbringing, prospective students had to list the occupations, birthplaces, and religious affiliations of their parents and “spouse/fiancé(e)/partner”;12 they needed to provide information about their current rabbis, cantors, and “home congregations,” in addition to a “date of conversion [to Judaism]” for those not born Jewish. A page-long chart allowed students to enumerate their “Jewish Education” according to the types of religious schools they had attended and rites of passage completed. Elsewhere, the application asked for a list of the applicant’s “Cultural & Extra-Curricular Experience,” including “Plays seen, concerts heard and books read in the past year.” Six confidential recommendations from a mix of academic, Judaic, and personal acquaintances (one of whom had to be an alum of the School of Sacred Music) were configured to address the qualities desired in Reform religious leadership, as well as exhibit a level of community involvement expected of potential Reform clergy. Most importantly, applicants had to submit detailed narratives describing their paths to the cantorate and their reasons for applying to the School of Sacred Music. These materials, taken together, helped inform the admissions committee about each applicant’s sense of Jewish commitment, intellectual curiosity, and moral compass.
Applicants for all Hebrew Union College programs also needed to submit forms pertaining to their physical and psychological health—including a doctor-signed physical form and a release authorizing a “psychological examination consisting of an interview and various psychometric examinations.”
The School of Sacred Music’s applicants had to submit two additional forms. One required a detailed account of academic, extracurricular, and professional musical experience, with a special focus on “Jewish Music Education.” The other sheet required signatures confirming three statements. One of these statements confirmed the student’s official “intent of application,” and clarified the rest of the application process while providing an estimate of tuition costs. The other two statements, meanwhile, spoke deeply to the values and structures of the Reform cantorate, and provided clear glimpses into the School’s expectations for musical and academic integrity.
One statement, titled “Employment,” required matriculating students to maintain good academic standing in the program before taking on any public, paid cantorial responsibilities. Accepted candidates, moreover, had to make all arrangements for cantorial employment “either while a student or after graduation” through the School’s central Placement Office. Though perhaps obvious to students entering the program, the statement set the standards for adherence to the Reform cantorate’s professional norms: both representing the process through which students would receive future student pulpits, and hinting at the procedures involved in post-graduation placement as an invested cantor. The need to sign the statement even before holding a formal audition evinced the gravity with which the School (and the American Conference of Cantors) enforced these standards.
The final statement offered a strongly worded paragraph regarding students’ use of “cantorial curriculum material” (primarily sheet music) distributed over the course of the program. Successful applicants had to agree in advance to use this material for themselves only, distributing it to no one “save only students and graduates of aforesaid school,” under penalty of “immediate and automatic dismissal from [cantorial] school.” Though obliquely invoking intellectual property laws, this statement also projected an advanced portrait of the cantorate as a kind of confraternity. Those within the group had the authority to handle a certain repertoire of material, and exchange it freely; outside the group, for reasons the applicant would learn later, it was necessary to practice caution. By requiring applicants to sign this statement, the School clearly emphasized the boundaries of cantorial identity, as well as the responsibility of people looking to join the confraternity to maintain those boundaries.
Only about half the students who received applications actually completed and submitted them to the School, according to its registrar. Matriculating students described the intensity of the process: collecting and composing the necessary application materials proved lengthy, complicated, and time-consuming. Once they had submitted their paperwork, however, applicants could proceed to the final series of evaluations.
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While formally called the “audition” or “interview,” the last stage of application in fact encompassed several activities required for acceptance to the School, including Hebrew and music theory competency exams as well as a psychological evaluation. These all took place at and around the School of Sacred Music’s campus in New York City, usually in January and March—or whenever the School’s admissions committee could meet together for an extended period. Applicants needed to show satisfactory results in each category of testing to achieve admission. Of these various criteria, however, both applicants and evaluators placed particular emphasis on the relatively brief face- to-face meeting students had with the admissions committee to display vocal skills and hold a short, personal discussion. Thus, the rhetorical label of “audition” or “interview” given to the entire visit provided a telling perspective the committee’s own view of the process.
As opposed to the preliminary interview, applicants could audition only in New York, and had to make housing and travel arrangements