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Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 20:11:45 -0400
From: rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu (Russell Hendel)
Subject: RE: "Song of Moshe"

Jim Wiseman (TF V3 # 100) raises some questions:
<  <  Why are the trup different for Song of Moshe>  >

Actually not only are the trup different but the WRITING  is different. The
writing of the song is in a "brick layer"format

It would appear to me (even though I haven't heard explicitly) that just as
the writing is differnt therefore the trup too must be different

<  <  Which verses are differently sung?>  >

Of the verses in the Song only 8 have the name of G-d--only those 8 have a
different melody

<  <  Can I sing it in ordinary trup?>  >

If there is a baal koray in the shule who knows the proper trup then he
should lain.  Otherwise --since we legally hold that blessings may be said
with incorrect trup--it is permissable to read with the ordinary trup
(since we then have CORRECT WORDS + CORRECT TRUP but not CORRECT MELODY)

It again would appear to me (without any source) that ALL that is needed is
SOME TYPE OF TRIUMPHAL MELODY...So a person who did not know the trup ...I
would advise them to sing in some TRIUMPHAL MELODY *until* such time that
they can learn the actual "handed down" melody

<  <  How can I learn the melody>  >

Of course...the simple answer is find someone who knows it.

However today there are many good books with musical notation and one can
rely on these in an emergency. They have notes for Torah, Haftorah and
Megilloth.

Russell Jay Hendel; phd asa rhendel @ mcs drexel edu