By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
What started out with a few kids, augmented by parents who “used to play,” KlezKidz and KidsChorus has grown into a large ensemble with regular rehearsals and up to eight concerts a year.
KlezKidz is a 40-member intergenerational ensemble that plays at synagogue services and folk music festivals, as well as Hanukkiah-lightings at malls. Usually, an audience of 300–400 people shows up in the rain at the University Village’s Hanukkiah-lighting in Seattle, said the group’s director, Wendy Marcus.
Performing alongside KlezKidz is KidsChorus, a group of youthful singers ages 8 to 18 that sing everything from Chasidic nigunim (songs without words) to lively
Israeli folk numbers. Each year, Marcus picks at least two 13-year-olds from the past year’s Bar and Bat Mitzvah class at Temple Beth Am to step out as soloists with the KidsChorus.
Now in their sixth season, KlezKidz and KidsChorus are sponsored by Temple Beth Am, a Reform synagogue in Seattle’s north end.
In addition to acting as the director of KlezKidz and KidsChorus, Marcus is the violinist and lay cantor at Temple Beth Am, and co-founder of the Northwest’s first klezmer band, The Mazeltones, which stopped performing in 1998. She drew on 16 years of playing and singing Yiddish and Hebrew with the band to pull together a repertoire for the Beth Am group. Marcus turned to fellow musician and spouse Shawn Weaver to create arrangements easy enough for up-and-coming musicians and interesting enough for audiences throughout the West. Weaver, former clarinetist and sax player with the Mazeltones, now fronts his own klezmer band, Shawn’s Kugel.
“I would have loved to have had this when I was growing up,” Marcus noted. “So I do it for my kids and for everybody else’s kids too.”
There is no audition process for KlezKidz or KidsChorus. The group is open to all who are interested. “I want everyone who wants to play Jewish music to be able to play,” said Marcus. “There’s lots of fun opportunities for this group to perform.”
The ensemble makes its debut road trip on Oct. 6 to perform at a Jewish street festival in Palo Alto, Calif., “To Life!,” sponsored by a Peninsula-wide organization called New Bridges. KlezKidz and KidsChorus will play three sets that day on outdoor stages along California Avenue, which will be closed down to traffic for the festival.
“It’s really the first time we’ve been invited to play away and it’s really exciting,” said Ronni Berger, one of the first members of KlezKidz.
As a member of KlezKidz, Berger plays the flute. Her 9-year-old daughter Leah Stoller sings in KidsChorus and her 13-year-old son Daniel Stoller plays the trumpet in KlezKidz. Daniel will play a trumpet solo at the Palo Alto festival.
“In KlezKidz, you can get a solo and you can shine,” said Berger.
Joining KlezKidz was a way for Berger to learn about Klezmer music while connecting to Judaism, she said. She has played the flute on and off for about 35 years.
“This is definitely a feeling kind of music,” she said. “Music is how I connect in a lot of ways.”
“I feel like musically that I’m in a better place than I was,” she added. “It’s one of the positives in my life.”
At least a third of the children in the band are joined by one or both parents.
“Playing in the band, especially with my children involved, brings back a long-lost pleasure. It’s fun, relaxing…sometimes chaotic, always exciting,” said Sheryl Kool. “It’s wonderful being there playing with my children.”
“Before I joined KlezKidz, I hadn’t picked up my flute in 20 years,” she added. “It was like coming home again.”
Kool started playing the flute at age 10 and majored in music in college. After college, she had a hiatus from playing. This is her fourth season in the band. She recommends it to anyone interested in joining.
Kool acts as mentor to the children in the group. “It’s this multi-generational band that allows the kids to have semi-professional music experience,” said Kool. “It’s really fun to work with the kids.”
“I can’t imagine stopping,” added Kool. “It’s also a great way to feel I’m contributing to the synagogue as well.”
Kool’s older daughter Zoe plays clarinet and younger daughter Sasha plays sax. Both of them play in their school band. But at school, says Kool, the conductor constantly stops and corrects them if they make a mistake. In KlezKidz, they can play continuously.
“I like getting the experience of being in a band with really good musicians,” said Zoe. “I enjoy playing at the Kline Galland Home for the aged because we make the residents feel happy and we definitely liven things up at temple!”
Clarinetist Amy Gray is also in her fourth year of Klez Kidz. Her son, Sam Gray joins her on the saxophone. Prior to KlezKids, she had not played since she was about 13 years old. Shawn Weaver lent her a clarinet and she took lessons from local musician Ronnie Pierce to get back up to speed. An instrument she once loathed, she came to love. Her son joined the group about a year after she did.
“Now he’s a much better musician than I am,” she said.
Amy and Sam are looking forward to taking the road trip to Palo Alto. The group flies out on Oct. 5 and returns the next day.
“I’m very excited,” said Amy. “I’m amazed that they heard of us.”
(KlezKids and KidsChorus will perform in Seattle at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 on the Children’s Stage at KlezFest at Temple Beth Am. Temple Beth Am is located at 2632 N.E. 80th St. in Seattle. For more information about KlezKids and KidsChorus, contact Wendy Marcus, at 206-525-0915 or e-mail to [email protected].)