Davening Artistry
How to Lead Deeply Moving Communal Prayer
Do you want to become a prayer leader who can bring people together in beautiful song? In these 80+ videos, Joey explains his strategies and concepts for connecting through the medium of traditional Jewish prayer.
Course Outline
Why We Daven
Prayer is the outpouring of our deepest feelings and questions. Understanding the humble prayer leader role in communal contexts. (6 videos)
Prayer Leader Prerequisites
Preparing to become a ba'al tfilah (master of prayer) and everything you need to know to lead communal prayers for the first time. (20 videos)
Davening Artistry
Introduction to the ba'al tfilah's great responsibility. Zooming out to see the bigger picture of what's happening in a room of prayer. (1 video)
Cueing the Congregation
A guide to clearly communicating what's in your head so the prayer community can respond in real time. (6 videos)
Rhythm and Groove
When people are singing and there's a deep sense of groove and rhythm in the room, it's total heaven. (6 videos)
The Aesthetic Palate
Using the prayer leader's toolbox to stretch out and take full advantage of all the extremes of what's possible. (6 videos)
Humble Leadership
Learn how to take up just the right amount of space. Giving over your gifts without crowding out the community. (5 videos)
Choosing Melodies
Understand what makes a melody appropriate for a piece of liturgy and how to choose transcendent tunes. (7 videos)
Picking a Key
Warning: No key works for you and every member of your community. That's why God invented harmony. (4 videos)
External & Internal Challenges
Decide when to confront distractions for the sake of the community. Learn to be open and vulnerable. (12 videos)
Singing Survival
Practices to preserve your voice. When all else fails, cultivating faith to cope with not being at 100%. (7 videos)
Improvisational Davening
The most exciting part: Exploring unknown territory through spontaneous musical improvisation in community. (5 videos)
Access Everything for $18/Month
Jump into music, prayer, and artistry today! Explore all of the master classes in Jewish song and prayer with Joey Weisenberg, including 18 comprehensive courses (1000+ videos) in the Jewish spiritual soundscape, from communal song (nigun) and prayer-leading (nusach), to musical wisdom (Torah), composition, and playing of instruments, as well as virtual events for members and an extensive archive of live performance videos.
Questions? Contact: [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions
This course is designed for anyone who wants to become a prayer leader or who wants to expand and refine his or her skills as a ba'al tfilah.
Through working on the music and teachings in these videos - and, crucially, by trying them in real life! - you can become a prayer and song leader in your community.
You will learn how to lead deeply powerful communal prayer. Based on Joey's many years of experience bringing communities together in devotional song, through this series you will learn key musical concepts and dynamic strategies to become a master ba'al tfilah.
Note that while many musical examples are taught here, this series is more about concepts and techniques for being a prayer leader, and less about the actual prayer chants and melodies, which are systematically taught in the series on Nusach and Nigun for Shabbat and Festivals, and/or in the Nusach and Nigun for High Holidays...
There are more than 80 videos organized into 13 different major units. Videos are up to 15 minutes long, amounting to hours of instructional sessions with a master practitioner.
- Part 1: Humble Prayers: Why We Daven (6 videos)
- Part 2: Ba'al Tfilah Basics: Prayer Leader Prerequisites (20 videos)
- Part 3: Overview of Davening Artistry (1 video)
- Part 4: Cueing the Congregation (6 videos)
- Part 5: Rhythm and Groove (6 videos)
- Part 6: Expanding the Aesthetic Palate (6 videos)
- Part 7: Humble Leadership (5 videos)
- Part 8: How to Choose Melodies for Davening (7 videos)
- Part 9: Picking a Key (4 videos)
- Part 10: External Challenges Facing a Prayer Leader or Musical Facilitator (12 videos)
- Part 11: Internal Challenges Facing a Song-Prayer Leader (7 videos)
- Part 12: Singing Survival
- Part 13: Improvisation During Davening (5 videos)
Many people emerge from Joey's workshops eager for a systematized series that can help them to take their inspiration and bring it into the world. This series is for you!
If you have never attended a workshop with Joey, please come sometime! In the meanwhile, this series will help you make music in your community.
The structure of this series allows aspiring practitioners of every level to plot a path to prayer leading mastery at their own pace.
