Skotshne! with Ilana Cravitz

Listen to, play, and discuss the wide range of melodies entitled skotshne from various sources. We will cite some of the expertise of Dr Walter Zev Feldman, as well as the comments of Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski. We will also touch on the “Concert Freylekhs”, another more developed genre. Sheet music for C, Bb and Eb instruments will be provided for download in advance. This workshop is for all instruments, all levels — play along or listen.

Here are some relevant recordings:
Field recording of a Skotshne from 1912
Skotshne played by Cookie Segelstein and Josh Horowitz
Skotshne played by Francesca Ter-Berg
Concert Freylekhs played by London Klezmer Quart

Ilana Cravitz is a violinist and educator who has performed and taught klezmer music around the world. Her book, “Klezmer Fiddle – a how-to guide” (not just for violinists!) is published by Oxford University Press and her arrangement of klezmer melodies for four instruments are proving popular. She was recently commissioned by trumpeter Susan Watts to edit and publish a modern edition of the Hoffman family’s klezmer tunebooks, having recorded a Concert Freylekhs from that collection with the London Klezmer Quartet in 2014. The book is due out soon. As a founder member and manager of the London Klezmer Quartet, Ilana toured internationally and recorded four albums, and as a kleznetworker, Ilana convened a virtual lockdown project where the world’s klezmer fiddlers recorded more than 100 Tish Nigunim collected by Moyshe Beregovski. Ilana is currently working to bring the mid-century (1900s!) klezmer repertoire of Argentina back into people’s playbooks.

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