in addition to a “date of conversion [to Judaism]” for those not born Jewish. A page-long chart allowed students to enumerate their “Jewish Education” according to the types of religious schools they had attended and rites of passage completed. Elsewhere, the application asked for a list of the applicant’s “Cultural & Extra-Curricular Experience,” including “Plays seen, concerts heard and books read in the past year.” Six confidential recommendations from a mix of academic, Judaic, and personal acquaintances (one of whom had to be an alum of the School of Sacred Music) were configured to address the qualities desired in Reform religious leadership, as well as exhibit a level of community involvement expected of potential Reform clergy. Most importantly, applicants had to submit detailed narratives describing their paths to the cantorate and their reasons for applying to the School of Sacred Music. These materials, taken together, helped inform the admissions committee about each applicant’s sense of Jewish commitment, intellectual curiosity, and moral compass.
Applicants for all Hebrew Union College programs also needed to submit forms pertaining to their physical and psychological health—including a doctor-signed physical form and a release authorizing a “psychological examination consisting of an interview and various psychometric examinations.”
The School of Sacred Music’s applicants had to submit two additional forms. One required a detailed account of academic, extracurricular, and professional musical experience, with a special focus on “Jewish Music Education.” The other sheet required signatures confirming three statements. One of these statements confirmed the student’s official “intent of application,” and clarified the rest of the application process while providing an estimate of tuition costs. The other two statements, meanwhile, spoke deeply to the values and structures of the Reform cantorate, and provided clear glimpses into the School’s expectations for musical and academic integrity.
One statement, titled “Employment,” required matriculating students to maintain good academic standing in the program before taking on any public, paid cantorial responsibilities. Accepted candidates, moreover, had to make all arrangements for cantorial employment “either while a student or after graduation” through the School’s central Placement Office. Though perhaps obvious to students entering the program, the statement set the standards for adherence to the Reform cantorate’s professional norms: both representing the process through which students would receive future student pulpits, and hinting at the procedures involved in post-graduation placement as an invested cantor. The need to sign the statement even before holding a formal audition evinced the gravity with which the School (and the American Conference of Cantors) enforced these standards.
The final statement offered a strongly worded paragraph regarding students’ use of “cantorial curriculum material” (primarily sheet music) distributed over the course of the program. Successful applicants had to agree in advance to use this material for themselves only, distributing it to no one “save only students and graduates of aforesaid school,” under penalty of “immediate and automatic dismissal from [cantorial] school.” Though obliquely invoking intellectual property laws, this statement also projected an advanced portrait of the cantorate as a kind of confraternity. Those within the group had the authority to handle a certain repertoire of material, and exchange it freely; outside the group, for reasons the applicant would learn later, it was necessary to practice caution. By requiring applicants to sign this statement, the School clearly emphasized the boundaries of cantorial identity, as well as the responsibility of people looking to join the confraternity to maintain those boundaries.
Only about half the students who received applications actually completed and submitted them to the School, according to its registrar. Matriculating students described the intensity of the process: collecting and composing the necessary application materials proved lengthy, complicated, and time-consuming. Once they had submitted their paperwork, however, applicants could proceed to the final series of evaluations.
* * *
While formally called the “audition” or “interview,” the last stage of application in fact encompassed several activities required for acceptance to the School, including Hebrew and music theory competency exams as well as a psychological evaluation. These all took place at and around the School of Sacred Music’s campus in New York City, usually in January and March—or whenever the School’s admissions committee could meet together for an extended period. Applicants needed to show satisfactory results in each category of testing to achieve admission. Of these various criteria, however, both applicants and evaluators placed particular emphasis on the relatively brief face- to-face meeting students had with the admissions committee to display vocal skills and hold a short, personal discussion. Thus, the rhetorical label of “audition” or “interview” given to the entire visit provided a telling perspective the committee’s own view of the process.
As opposed to the preliminary interview, applicants could audition only in New York, and had to make housing and travel arrangements at their own expense. Students usually described this time as an anxious one, spurred both by insecurity over whether their various preparations (Hebrew, music theory, vocal training) had been sufficient, and by the perceived formality of the proceedings. A number of students had checked with Cantor Goldstein several times in the period leading up to the interview to report on their progress and ask for feedback. Such behavior suggested the heightened level of commitment required for application to the program, especially regarding aspects outside the musical realm such as Hebrew knowledge. At the same time, the stated emphasis on the personal audition during this time underlined the extent to which the process mirrored that of a conservatory (or opera company) audition, with which many students had some familiarity.
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