SINGER-SONGWRITER JULIE SILVER
SALUTES A BELOVED TEACHER
WITH 'FOR LOVE TO GROW'
BREAKING NEWS!!!
FOR LOVE TO GROW RECEIVES PARENTS' CHOICE FOUNDATION "RECOMMENDED" AWARD!!!!
Julie Silver, a star composer-performer of modern Jewish music who also specializes in secular folk music, has made her new CD something of tribute album: All 14 songs on "For Love to Grow" were written by Julie's grade-school music teacher, Aline Shader.
But this was no ordinary music teacher. Aline Shader was a well-known composer who, like Silver, moved easily among musical genres, producing prolifically in mainstream adult music as well as children's music.Shader's large and varied body of work includes songs known to every music teacher in America, such as "Here in My House, a Hanukkah-Christmas favorite for more than 20 years, and the peaceful "Rainsong," a year-round selection for children's choral programs.
Successful as a writer, teacher, composer-in-residence, and all-around
music and musical-theater expert, Shader recorded few of her songs
and did not perform, preferring simply to make her songs available to her
fellow teachers. "Aline was no diva," says Julie. "She was a much sought after music specialist with a tremendous gift for marrying original melodies with insightful lyrics. She knew exactly what to do with a melody, where it should rise, where it should fall. And she was an incredibly generous, talented teacher, throughout my early school years and, really, throughout my life.
Yet, much as Julie loved the songs she'd grown up with -- and the newer
ones Shader continued to write until her death in 2002, it wasn't until
Julie's own daughter was born that she recognized her urge to record
Shader's work. "As a mom, I find I'm always singing one of Aline's songs
to my daughter," Julie says. "As an artist, I look for what will speak
to my audience -- as Aline's work certainly does and I look for what
challenges me. Here, the challenge was immersing myself in another
writer's songs, because I've never done that before. But these songs
have been with me forever, and I'm so happy to share them."
The result is that musical rarity: a collection of timeless tunes that
both kids and adults love. The swing-style gem that opens the disc, "A
Nice Little Piggy," only gradually reveals itself as a counting song.
And there's a story in every tune, including "Grandma's Song," a
longtime favorite in Silver's concert programs; the Spanish-English "Una
Brilla Luna," and the title song, written after Shader found herself in
the Beijing airport surrounded by German families heading home with
newly adopted Chinese daughters.
"Aline told me she was so touched by all these fair, blue-eyed adults
holding their new little dark-haired daughters, and what a brave, loving
thing they were all doing," says Julie, who performs "For Love to Grow"
with young vocalist Rose Connelly on the CD.
Julie's affection for Shader's music grew as she worked on arrangements with collaborator Troy Dexter, taking the songs beyond the bare-bones versions she'd heard. "I knew Aline's songs from hearing her sing them while playing piano, or from performing them myself back in school," Julie says. "So it was a thrill to hear Troy bring the songs to life in a completely different way. Their richness and depth show up beautifully here."
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