Binder - Esther (JTS with Jacobson Extras) Cantillation Voicing
"Binder - JTS with Jacobson extras" is a TropeTrainer cantillation voicing for chanting Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther, read on Purim). It uses the Esther melody notated by American composer-educator A.W. Binder as its base, supplemented with the Esther practice associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and Joshua R. Jacobson's standard reference "Chanting the Hebrew Bible."
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Megillat Esther
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Origin
The base melody comes from Abraham Wolf Binder (A.W. Binder, 1895-1966), an American composer, conductor, and educator born in New York City into a multi-generational cantorial family. Binder was among the early Reform synagogue musicians to reintroduce traditional nusach and biblical cantillation into Reform worship during the 1920s, after biblical chant had largely fallen out of Reform practice. He served as Professor of Jewish Liturgical Music at the Jewish Institute of Religion (from 1931) and continued teaching after its 1947 merger with Hebrew Union College, including at HUC's School of Sacred Music. In 1959 he published "Biblical Chant," a foundational notated manual that laid out six distinct Ashkenazi cantillation systems, one of them specifically for Megillat Esther. The TropeTrainer label adds "JTS with Jacobson extras," signaling that Binder's notated Esther melody serves as the base while the supplementary Esther tradition associated with JTS and Joshua R. Jacobson's "Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation" (2002; expanded edition 2017) fills in additional practice. Importantly, Binder himself was a Reform (JIR/HUC) figure with no JTS affiliation; the "JTS" in the label refers to the supplementary Esther tradition layered on top, not to Binder's own institutional home.
What makes it distinctive
The signature feature of the Binder Esther tradition is its use of musical "detours." For most of the reading the chant follows the festive, celebratory Esther melody appropriate to Purim, but at darker moments in the narrative the reader temporarily departs into the somber Eichah (Lamentations) mode to underscore foreboding or tragedy, then returns to the joyous melody. Verses commonly cited for these Eichah-mode detours include Esther 2:6, 3:15, 4:1, 4:16, and 7:3 (the verse 1:7 is also frequently listed, and different sources name slightly different additional verses). By contrast, the moment of Haman's downfall at 7:10 is sung in a joyous, exalted style. This "with detours" approach is what sets the JTS-with-Jacobson-extras voicing apart from TropeTrainer's companion "Binder - No Detours" voicing, which applies the same Esther melody uniformly throughout without the mode-shifting excursions. (The detour meanings of the TropeTrainer label strings are inferred from the paired "with detours" / "No Detours" naming rather than published TropeTrainer prose.) In TropeTrainer, you can hear this voicing read aloud and practice it at adjustable speed and word-by-word granularity, so you can drill the detour transitions and the return to the festive melody.
Across the readings
Esther
Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther) is chanted on Purim, and this voicing covers the full scroll. The melody is predominantly festive to match the holiday, with characteristic detours into the somber Eichah (Lamentations) mode at darker verses (commonly cited examples include 2:6, 3:15, 4:1, 4:16, and 7:3) before returning to the joyous melody. The downfall of Haman at 7:10 is rendered in a triumphant, exalted style. TropeTrainer lets you hear and practice the entire scroll at adjustable speed and granularity.
Frequently asked questions
Who was A.W. Binder?
Abraham Wolf Binder (1895-1966) was an American composer, conductor, and educator born in New York City into a cantorial family. He helped reintroduce traditional cantillation into Reform worship in the 1920s, taught Jewish liturgical music at the Jewish Institute of Religion and later Hebrew Union College, and authored the 1959 manual 'Biblical Chant,' which notated six cantillation systems including one for Megillat Esther.
What does 'JTS with Jacobson extras' mean in this voicing?
It means Binder's notated Esther melody is used as the base, supplemented with the Esther practice associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary and Joshua R. Jacobson's standard reference 'Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation.' Note that Binder himself was a Reform figure with no JTS affiliation, so 'JTS' here refers to the supplementary tradition, not to Binder.
What are the 'detours' in Esther cantillation?
Detours are temporary shifts from the festive Esther melody into the somber Eichah (Lamentations) mode at darker moments in the story, after which the reader returns to the joyous melody. Verses commonly cited for these detours include Esther 2:6, 3:15, 4:1, 4:16, and 7:3 (1:7 is also frequently listed), while Haman's downfall at 7:10 is sung in a triumphant, exalted style.
How is this different from 'Binder - No Detours'?
The 'JTS with Jacobson extras' voicing includes the Eichah-mode detours at the somber verses, while 'Binder - No Detours' applies the same festive Esther melody uniformly throughout, omitting those mode-shifting excursions. Both let you hear and practice the reading in TropeTrainer at adjustable speed and granularity.
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