With little to herald their arrival, a brand new a cappella group has appeared on Dartmouth's campus. Some students may greet this news with a shudder, but fear not. Kol Koreh Bamidbar (the Hebrew translation of Vox Clamantis in Deserto, Dartmouth's motto) is not an addition to the legion of pop-song-singing a cappella groups which flood our campus. Kol Koreh is Dartmouth's first Jewish a cappella group.
Formed Winter term, they specialize in songs which celebrate Hebrew tradition and the Jewish faith. Primarily composed of active Hillel members, Kol Koreh was founded so that the Hillel House could have a group to sing at key functions, such as the final services of last term where President Freedman spoke.
Kol Koreh was founded Winter term by Jesse Cook-Dubin '01 and Stephanie Feldman '98. Interestingly enough, Cook-Dubin and Feldman are among the few members who have any singing experience (Cook-Dubin with the Chamber Singers and Feldman with the Glee Club).
Cook-Dubin called molding a group of untrained singers one of the most challenging parts of getting the group off the ground. Feldman is the group's director and as such, the principal responsibility for this fell on her shoulders. "I grew up in a community where religious life revolved around singing," Feldman said. "For me, Kol Koreh is all about bringing people together through music."
Right now, Kol Koreh has 14 members. Currently all of them are Jewish, but Kol Koreh is open to anyone interested in exploring Judaism through music. "It's a chance for students who aren't necessarily religious or particularly involved in Jewish life at Dartmouth to express themselves this way as well," according to Feldman. Being in the group is "just a lot of fun," if you ask Hillel president, Justin Mandel '00.
Besides religion, Kol Koreh also brings musical experience to people who might never have had it otherwise. Surprisingly, the members arrange or compose every work they sing, a task even some experienced groups refuse to tackle. The result is work in which all the members take a great deal of pride. "This year has seen a real flowering of Jewish culture and Jewish life at Dartmouth and Kol Koreh is in some ways the culmination of this," Dave Levi '00 said, ex-president of Hillel.
The inspiration for Kol Koreh came primarily from last winter's well-received ski weekend. Hillel houses from all over the country came to ski up here at Dartmouth. Several schools' Hillel houses also incorporated Jewish a cappella groups which performed over the weekend. The Dartmouth students present were quite impressed with the groups' performances and decided that it was time for Dartmouth to have a group as well.
Cook-Dubin knew Feldman had extensive musical experience and was active in Hillel. He went to her to talk about his idea for a permanent standing a cappella group for Hillel.
"When Jesse approached me about starting the singing group, I realized that it was a chance for me to materialize a little of this [musical] experience at Dartmouth," Feldman said. With a little recruiting and some training, Kol Koreh had its first performance. Now they are rehearsing once a week and plan on performing two or three times per term.
