One of the things I noticed after some time davening in Israel is that the way some tunes are sung in Israel is a bit differently from the way I learned them growing up in the USA. That’s not to say that these variations necessarily originated in Israel – I don’t know if they did – it’s just that they seemed to be more ubiquitous here than in America.
Since I’m writing this on hol hamoed Pesach, I’ll give two examples from Hallel. The first is מה לך הים, the last four verses of Psalm 114, which is the second Psalm said in Hallel. I don’t know who wrote this tune. The way I learned this, it’s a straight 32-bar song in 4/4 time, in A-A-B-B format, with a two beat pick-up at the beginning. It’s often done responsively, with the baal tefillah singing the top line and the congregation singing the bottom line, although sometimes some members of the congregation will sing the top line along with the baal tefillah.
Mah_Lecha_Hayam_-_With_Full_Bars
It’s quite common in Israel, however, that people drop the second beat of each 8th bar, so that there are seven bars in 4/4 and then a bar in 3/4.
Mah_Lecha_Hayan_-_With_Truncated_Measures
I’m not sure if, when this variation started, it was done deliberately (it’s possible that the tune was actually written this way, and some people added a beat in each eighth measure), or if there were just enough people who couldn’t (be bothered to) count the extra beat that they rushed ahead to the third beat. If you’re leading and this happens, it can be difficult to pull the group back, and if the piece gets sung that way enough, young people start thinking that’s the way the tune actually goes.
So if you’re leading Hallel and you choose to use this tune, you need to be aware of the tendency of some people to skip the second beat every eighth measure. If that’s the way you want to sing it a priori, then you’re fine. I’m partial to the straight 4/4 way throughout, and if the acoustics permit, I will hold to that, even if some people try to skip that second beat.
Whether or not you do the truncated version, a nice feature of this tune is that it does not involve the repetition of words (unless someone sings both the upper and lower parts).
There’s also a Carlebach tune for ההרים רקדו, that can be adapted to sing the whole way through, from בצאת ישראל ממצרים.
The second example is the second half of Psalm 115, ה' זכרנו יברך. Usually the first three words of the Psalm are spoken, and then the remainder sung. This too is a straight 32 bar song in 4/4, in A-A-B-B format, with the whole thing being repeated once for an overall A-A-B-B-A-A-B-B structure. At certain parts – measures some members of the congregation will often sing an ascending or descending bit (see e.g. measures 2, 6 and 9 as I’ve notated them).
Yevarech_et_beit_yisrael_-_full with word repetitions
The problem with singing the piece as a full 32-bar song is that in order to get the words to fit the tune, the phrase מעתה ועד עולם gets repeated. So people who are sensitive to this will just substitute “lai lai lai” or “dai dai dai” for the second מעתה ועד עולם.
Yevarech_et_beit_yisrael_-_full without word repetitions
But a different way to avoid repeating words is to cut the second “A” part in the repetition, so that the tune has only 28 bars, with the structure A-A-B-B-A-B-B. In that case the tunes needs to be modified slightly to allow for an easy fit of the words.
Yevarech_et_beit_yisrael_-_truncated without word repetitions
Some congregations have a strong preference for one version of the tune over the other. If you’re leading Hallel in minyan where you’re a regular, you’ll know which version is most commonly used. If you’re leading in a place where you’re a guest or where there’s not a regular minyan (e.g. in a hotel on Pesach), you need to be aware of the difference and either be willing to force the group to go one way, or conversely be willing to go with the flow.
There are some minor variations. For example, in measures 14 and 29 (14 and 25 in the truncated version), some people sing the note a step lower than I’ve indicated. In the last three notes of the penultimate measure of the truncated version, some people sing a descending figure rather than an ascending figure. And people who are sticklers for correct syllable emphasis in the Hebrew may change the pronunciation slightly in places, e.g. “bru-CHIM atem” at measures 12-13 instead of “b’ RU chim atem”, or moving the “a” of “atah” from measure 26 (measure 23 in the truncated version) to be a pick-up note in the previous measure, so that the word comes out “a-TAH” rather than “A-tah”.