Although he left the music industry a year ago to open a different business, his heart still beats with the Jewish music scene

A member of the uber musical Schnitzler clan, arranger ZISHA SCHNITZLER has had a hand in many projects, arranging music and collaborating with top-tier professionals including Lipa, Yossi Green, Moshy Kraus, and his uncle Michoel Schnitzler a”h. Although he left the music industry a year ago to open a different business, his heart still beats with the Jewish music scene.

HOW I GOT MY START

I grew up in Monroe, but my wife is Australian, so I started off married life in Australia, where I had a small studio in our spare bedroom. I was a one-man-band there, and I played all the weddings — which totaled like four weddings a year. In 2016, when I returned to the US, Moshy Kraus approached me to work with him on the Shabbos Nachas album he did as part of the Yiddish Nachas series. From there I jumped into music full-time.

MUSIC ARTISTS I CONNECT TO

Motty Ilowitz’s material is very thought-out and so positive. I appreciate his songs a lot. I listen to a lot of Baruch Levine and to the older Yaakov Shwekey albums. I love the ones that Yochi Briskman produced around 20 years ago. They have something special.

AN ARRANGER I ADMIRE

Hershy Ginsberg from London. He is a master at making the music so integral to the song that you can’t imagine the song without it.

MUSIC THAT TAKES ME BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD

Moshe Goldman’s music takes me back to those days. We used to listen to his albums a lot. Plus, the older music of my uncle, Michoel Schnitzler. I remember listening to the Neshamah Flam series as a child. The album Der Tatteh Hert really spoke to me then.

AN ARTIST I DREAM OF COLLABORATING WITH

Yaakov Shwekey.

AN ALBUM THAT BROKE THE MOLD

Yossi Green’s The 8th Note album opened the eyes and ears of many listeners. Then there are Lipa’s albums — he was always new and fresh, ahead of his time.

FIVE SONGS ON MY PLAYLIST

As a music arranger, I look at the entire track, not just the song itself. These are tracks I listen to regularly: the original recording of “Ben Bag Bag,” composed by Pinky Weber and sung by Shwekey — the tempo was a huge factor with its unique drum arrangements and a great mix; “Al Tudin” by Lipa; “Splash” by Lipa, which I think has his best vocals ever; “Meloich” by Avrohom Mordechai Schwartz; and “A Sukkaleh,” which I arranged on the Lev el Haneshamah album of Rav Cheskie Weiss’s songs.

AN INSTRUMENT I WISH I COULD PLAY

The drums. I know a bit, but I would love to be a master drummer. Not to play on albums, but just to play for myself. Drumming is an art, and the nature of it is to leave space for the imagination – there’s a lot of creativity in it. I sometimes listen to instrumental tracks of just drums.

A SONG THAT MADE A STRONG IMPRESSION THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT

“Di Velt Iz Gur in Mir” that Motty Ilowitz composed for my uncle Michoel, about the significance of the individual in the vast world. With lyrics such as “Nein, di bist gurnisht klein, nein, di bist a velt alein, der gantze velt bashaffen nor far dir,” this song, from the Mein Kind Tref Mich album, caught me right from the start. I listened to the whole thing and it gave me goosebumps. Looking back as an adult, I think that album was Michoel’s finest (although I also have a soft spot for “Mimini Michoel,” which I produced).

A NEAR FIASCO

I was involved in Shmueli Ungar’s Backstage album, produced by my brother Naftali. I was already preparing the file to send to print when I played a small part of it and realized there was a huge bug in the vocals. My heart almost skipped a beat. I managed to quickly edit the file, heading off a glitch that would have been embarrassing to the whole team.

A SONG THAT GIVES ME CHIZUK DURING TOUGH TIMES

Amram Adar had a track on his Baruch Hashem album called “Ad Matai,” that focuses on our questions as we suffer the length of the galus. There’s a Yiddish version to that song as well, which I find very powerful to sing along to. I’m also inspired by “Lamah Hashem” on Avraham Fried’s Keep Climbing album.

A SONG THAT BRINGS MANY TYPES OF YIDDEN TOGETHER

Yossi Green’s “Anavim.”

SOME SPECIAL FEEDBACK

The best feedback, as well as the best motivator, is hearing that your music can actually improve someone’s life. I got a lot of great feedback from the Shabbos Nachas album. People said it helps them prepare for Shabbos and get into the Shabbos spirit.

WHY I LEFT THE INDUSTRY

It’s very nice and very rewarding to be able to use your talents, but like any creative field, the music world is a trendy place, and therefore very risky. You can find yourself one day having to start from scratch in business, which is why I advise people to do music part-time, not full-time. I’m finished with full-time work in the music industry for now, and focusing instead on business development and marketing.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1089)