What is a nign? A catchy tune? A mystical formula? The source of klezmer music? What are nigunim? Songs without words - music without instruments - a subway system of the heart? We can ask these questions and more while learning to sing and play nigunim collected by folklorist Ruth Rubin in 1948. We will be working with the newly-released Ruth Rubin collection, now available through YIVO's online archive. Jeanette participated in digitizing these files and feels they represent some of the most beautiful Yiddish recordings she's ever heard.

We'll look at deceptively simple written transcriptions and consider elements like ornamentation, phrasing, and tone that are easy to hear but awkward to write. This class will combine music-reading & ear-training; singers and players; sacred song & circus music. We'll answer questions, question answers, and learn a spiritual drinking song, "In the next world, will there be vodka?"