Dear Liza et al, Here's what my brother (who is a cantor) responded to this query when I forwarded it to him:
I appreciate your inquiring about chironomy (note that this is the correct way to spell the word) on behalf of your colleague in New York. This is a topic among cantors from time to time, and I recall that some cantors have drawn up chironomy charts, but I do not know if they have been published. If you like, I can certainly put out a new inquiry on Hazzanet or in the ACC Digest, although the cantor at Emanu-El should really do that outreach. I understand that chironomy was the forerunner of today's cantillation. In ancient times, the teacher, who had memorized the traditional Torah chant, would stand by as his student chanted from the Torah. The teacher would use hand signals to remind the student what melody to sing. Over several centuries, the Masoretes codified these hand signals and developed them into written neginot, which today are printed in humashim and are called "tropes" by many people. But the Masoretic neginot were intended as much for grammatical interpretation as for remembering melodies. In a kind of "retro" movement, some of our contemporaries have begun to use chironomy again, but I regard that as merely an occasional curiosity and not very practical. In my view, a student can learn to chant the Torah better using charts and CDs than by watching a teacher gesticulate under the pressure of the presence of a whole congregation. In any event, I believe that there is no reliable record of exactly what hand signal represented what specific melody in ancient times. Therefore, contemporary chironomy has by no means been standardized, and each person who practices it is probably using his or her own original ideas. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
