Last updated:
September 2023

I was born in Prestwich, Manchester in 1948 and went to school locally. There is a large Jewish community in Prestwich. This must have had more influence on me than I had realised, though it did not show itself until much later. I returned to Manchester 20 years after getting married, graduating from Manchester Polytechnic with an Electronic Engineering degree and moving to Basingstoke, Hampshire.

I had chosen engineering after having tried to learn to play the piano as a boy and realising I did not have the ear or the talent. My return to Manchester was the result of being 'head hunted' by a large multi-national company. On our return to Manchester we had two sons, Mark and Nathan 7years and 14 years.

Jane's father was Jewish and had married out. Her grandfather, who was Ashkenazi, had been ostracised by the Manchester community for marrying his Sephardi wife. Jane told me stories of her happy early childhood spent in the synagogue with her father. Prior to Nathan's thirteenth birthday, Jane had been experiencing what I thought was anti-semitic discrimination at work, but that is another story. I told here that I wanted to convert to Judaism. The next two days after speaking those words were the most ecstatic and awe inspiring days I have ever experienced. Jane described how her father's barmitzvah siddur had fallen on her head the day before for no apparent reason. To cut a very long story short I went through conversion at Jacksons Row Reform Synagogue, Manchester and became interested in Jewish history, music and poetry.

I came across the shulmusic.org website with the Bluebook and started to convert the images of the scores to Capella scores and midi files so that I could listen to the music. Though no musician, I could employ my engineering expertise to find a combination of techniques to accomplish the task. I then noticed a line on the website requesting help to convert all the scores, as the webmaster was having difficulty finding a suitable method, so I made the offer to help. Having started producing the scores and midi files, the music somehow takes hold and won't let go. The more you hear the more you want to hear. I hope when you listen to them they give you as much pleasure as they have given me.

                                  Malcolm Parker-Lisberg

Born in 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland, I became Bar Mitzvah at the Beth Tfiloh Synagogue. The rabbi was Samuel Rosenblatt, the son of Yoselle Rosenblatt. This has absolutely nothing to do with my interest in shul music; simply a brush with greatness.

I sang in school choirs in high school, and did the obligatory 1960s folk music scene. My involvement with music was rekindled in the mid-1980s, when my high school choir decided to have a reunion. It was such fun for all of us that we continued to meet for over a decade. Four of us from this group formed a barbershop quartet, The Alumnotes. I also started singing with a local college/community choir, again under the direction of Dr. Richard Disharoon, my high school choir director, to whom I owe an unrepayable debt. Thanks, Dick! 

In about 1990, I found myself self-employed, which gave me the freedom to start attending services at Chizuk Amuno Congregation more regularly. Their magic of their choir, under the exacting direction of Saul Lilienstein, drew me in. In addition to having a lot of music to learn, many of the scores were multi-generation copies of handwritten originals; that is, mostly illegible. Consequently, I started working with notation programs. Since leaving Baltimore for Phoenix, Arizona in 1998, and then moving to Seattle, Washington in 2005, I have honed my vocal and notation skills singing with the Beth El, Temple Chai, and Temple Beth Am congregations, Cactus Chordsmen, and Seattle Seachordsmen.

I found shulmusic.org by accident, and offered to help on this wonderful project. I hope you enjoy listening to these great pieces as much as I do!

I am a cabinetmaker in the real world.