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Dr. Norma Brooks composed her first melody for a Jewish liturgical text in 1984 and continues to compose songs as musical gifts to friends and family in honor of key events in their lives. After the melodies spread to congregations across the United States, 14 of the songs were recorded on a CD, Your Bountiful Light, and collected in a companion book.

Norma grew up in Borough Park, Brooklyn, in a Yiddish- and English-speaking family. Her earliest musical influences were her mother's singing, classical piano playing, and a love for diverse styles of music, including the Hassidic music of the small Orthodox synagogue attended by her grandfather.

As a child, Norma began playing the accordion, learning Israeli and Yiddish folk songs. She studied classical accordion as a teenager, performing as a soloist in chamber groups and winning a New York State Championship. Norma received her music degree from Hunter College in New York City, where she studied with composer Louise Talma, a protégé of Nadia Boulanger.

She later studied blues guitar with Danny Kalb, founder of the legendary Blues Project, and sang blues with local musicians in New York. With colleagues, she formed Voices of the Lower East Side, a trilingual troupe of 60 children who performed Chinese, Spanish, and English popular music in New York City schools.

In Washington, DC, Norma joined the havurah community of Fabrangen, where all of her liturgical compositions have been introduced. She also sang and played accordion with Itzqueye, a DC-based nueva canción band. With musical colleagues, she composed Las Tres Americas, a show of original music and dramatization about the cultures of North, Central and South America, performed for schools throughout Montgomery County, Maryland.

A Harvard-trained clinical psychologist, Norma lives in the Washington, DC, area, where she divides her time between clinical practice and her music. In 2001, Norma released her first CD and Companion Book Your Bountiful Light. In March 2003 she unveiled her web site, www.BountifulLightMusic.com.

She performs and teaches her music in workshops, lectures, and concerts across the United States. With Hazzan Dr. Ramón Tasat, she created the Bountiful Light Choir in 2001. The Washington, DC, premiere of the music was held at Tifereth Israel Congregation in March 2002. Since then, Norma and the Bountiful Light Choir/Instrumental Ensemble, directed by Hazzan Tasat, have performed the music at such venues as Congregation B'nai Jeshurun and the Park Slope Jewish Center, both in New York City; the Washington, DC-area Jewish Folk Arts Festival; and the Washington, DC, Fourth Annual Jewish Music Festival in collaboration with the Heritage Signature Chorale, a group dedicated to preserving the performance traditions of African American music.

In April 2003 Norma and Hazzan Tasat introduced Shalshelet: The Foundation For New Jewish Liturgical Music. Norma is a Vice President of this non-profit Foundation. www.Shalshelet.org

photo of Norma courtesy of Terry J. Popkin Photography