In his part two lecture on Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer for Torah in Motion, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says: “Congregational singing wasn’t even done in Germany. It was choir singing. It’s an American thing. It might be a development of the Young Israel movement. If anyone likes it and you go to a yeshivish minyan, it’s a matter of principal that you don’t sing. They are the traditional ones. They won’t even sing Lecha Dodi. The chazan sings and you’re supposed to mumble.”
Rabbi Kellerman: “The Rav did not allow any congregation singing in Maimonides… Almost nobody follows it.”
Marc: “The Briskers [the Rav was one] were dour. They did not sing zemirot on Shabbos.”
