Standards for a Jewish Retirement Home Gig

One of the best parts of this writing this blog is the great questions I get in my inbox. Today's came (via Twitter) from a fellow who is going to be playing violin at a Jewish retirement home sometime soon. He was hoping to get an idea of what to play. This is a tough question because I don't know who the audience is or, besides being mostly of Ashkenazi descent, what their background is. But it's hard to go too wrong with the standards. I'll give my answer in a moment, but first I want to give credit to Joy Perrin "Music for Seniors," from Millvale California, who's set list gave me a jumping off point.

Here's my response:

"I think your best bet is picking up a copy of Velvel Pasternak's Jewish Fake Book. It's well respected with lots of the standard repetoire represented. I don't think it's in the right key for the violin, but transposing it should be pretty straightforward.

http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Fake-Book-Books/dp/0933676697

There's also a nice collection of standard klezmer repertoire in C that might be useful.

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?item=1735726&cart=34406573975855679&cm_re=289.1.4-_-Results+Item-_-Title

There are many wonderful violinists who have recorded Jewish music, but probably the best violin focused albums are Itzhak Perlman's "A Jewish Violin" and "Klezmer: In a Fiddler's House." Here's a video of Perlman playing with some other notable klezmer musicians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmFgQ9fM94

You can find Perlman's albums here:
http://www.israel-music.com/itzhak_perlman/jewish_violin/ and at amazon.com

Here's a list of songs (with videos) that would be reasonable starting points:

Oiffen Pripichik - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKpHhHA_oRM
Beltz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K2A4W99ejs
Grine Kuzinah - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4SbUpOkp2o
As Der Rebbe Tzingt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8MTSe6QdLY
My Yiddishe Mama - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWWc7vBnSP0
Sheyne Vi de Levone - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWbYjr3i-nU
Abi Gezunt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3iLIpKR0GE &
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZE6PH6tKQ
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe2UXccid40
Rozhinkes mit Mandlen -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b3hxYFB068&feature=related
Hava Nagilah - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dIafKIty2s
Hatikvah (Israeli National Anthem) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2v8kqjYwc
Tumbalalaika - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTnhxBENUAY
Papirosen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXxS4jLkVxY
Dona Dona - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySgIZCW1Uk
Rumania, Rumania - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeJGN9wUn5o
Shalom Aliechem - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mvy2TCx3QQ
If I Were a Rich Man - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc
Sunrise Sunset - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLLEBAQLZ3Q

The last two are from Fiddler on the Roof. Can't go wrong with Fiddler.

One thing to note is that you can have some fun with this material. You can play the songs as authentic Yiddish / klezmer as you like, or not. In the 30's and 40's this material was often played in the US with a "Yiddish swing" feel and in the 1950's much of it was played to Latin rhythms during America's Latin craze (think Ricki Ricardo). In the 1960's much of was reinterpreted through the lens of American Folk music. I've heard classical, rock, and jazz, flavoured versions of many of these. I'd also feel free to mix in other standard American repertoire pieces from the 30's, 40's and 50's."

If you've lived in a Jewish retirement home or played music in one and have any comments, I'd love to hear them and will pass them along.