From the mailbag... (Rabbi Wolfson Content)

Shalom writes:

I suppose Rabbi Wolfson has never seen a harpsichord... don't they have the opposite pattern of black and white keys to a piano? And they pre-date pianos by two centuries at least.

Do you remember a song called "Computer Game", by the Yellow Magic Orchestra from about 1979? Took me a few listens to realise that with the exception of the second part of the bridge, it's entirely played on the black keys -- and it's far from being a "mournful" tune. (Not to mention Chopin's Etude, Opus 10, number 5, which can't conceivably be called mournful either.)

I suppose that if he's talking to an audience that's even more musically uninformed than he is, he might sound plausible.

As I said, the factual errors in the rabbi's essay make a compelling argument for establishing music education in frum schools,if for no other reason than preventing rabbis for embarrassing themselves.