Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to digital data processing and, more particularly, systems and method for teaching oral expression. It has application in the remote and/or computer-assisted teaching of rhetoric, voice training (e.g., for acting), foreign languages, singing, religious chanting, including gregorian chanting and torah chanting.
In regard to the latter—by way of non-limiting example—the invention has application in teaching Jewish Ritual Song. Jewish Ritual Song includes but not limited to Torah Reading (ancient Hebrew Bible), Haftorah Reading (ancient Hebrew Bible), Jewish Prayers (Rabbinic Jewish Liturgy), Shabbat Songs (for example, Dror Y'Kra), Jewish Holiday Songs (for example, Maoz Tzur), Chanting Five Scrolls, Mishna (Rabbinic learning), Jewish Ritual Chant, Cantillation, Jewish National Song (for example, Hatikva, Jerusalem of Gold), Jewish Religious Song (for example, hamalch hagoel oti, shir ha'ma'lot—by Joseph Karduner), Jewish folk song, Israeli Dance Song (such as u'shavtem mayim), and Jewish popular song (such as Dor-Dor).
Background
Jewish Bar Mitzvah and Jewish Bat Mitzvah students learn to chant Hebrew Bible verses. On Shabbat, they read the Torah (Five Books of Moses from the Hebrew Bible—the old Testament) and read the Haftorah in the Jewish Synagogue, which could be for example a Reform Synagogue, an Orthodox Synagogue, or a Conservative Synagogue.
The Shabbat Torah reading and the Shabbat Haftorah reading are performed in a singing voice based on the ancient tradition in which Hebrew Bible cantillation symbols, known as Torah Trope and Haftorah Trope, guide the Bar Mitzvah or the Bat Mitzvah how to sing each word in the context of a verse, and a weekly Torah Reading. Yet during the Torah Reading in front of the Jewish Congregation in Synagogue, the Bar Mitzvah student, or Bat Mitzvah student, reads directly from a Torah Scroll written on parchment. The Torah Scroll has no vowel markers or cantillation symbols (Torah Trope) to indicate Hebrew Biblical Verse pronunciation and intonation, respectively.
Bar Mitzvah Teaching is an ancient Jewish tradition in which a Jewish father teaches his Jewish child his ancestral chant. Alternatively, a Jewish Rabbi or a Jewish community leader such as a Jewish Prayer Cantor may teach Bar Mitzvah children and may teach Bat Mitzvah children the Torah Trope (or Torah Cantillation) of their community.
Typically, a Jewish child will spend approximately one full year prior to the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, or the Bat Mitzvah ceremony, learning the ancestral chant of the Bar Mitzvah student's family and/or of the Bar Mitzvah student's community.
As modern American Jewish families and modern American Jewish communities have evolved, Jewish Fathers (known in Hebrew as Abba) are frequently unavailable to teach their Jewish Bar Mitzvah children, and Jewish Cantors, both lay Jewish cantors and professional Jewish cantors, face an increasing role in teaching Bar Mitzvah students and Bat Mitzvah students.
Yet, while many Jewish American communities have Jewish Cantors, many other Jewish American communities do not have a Jewish Cantor within their community.
The emphasis on silent and solitary reading, in contrast to oral reading with a teacher or in a peer-group, continues to dominate the educational systems in North America. Existing competitors aligned their approach to fit into a system of reading, and learning, that is silent and solitary.