~*~

ADS! - We Want ADS!

Folks, here are links to the program ad buy paperwork

Program Ad Contract

Ad Sizes 2024-2025 program

How We Handle Covid-19?

Monterey County is continually updating Covid-19 information. We follow the most current and reasonable practices available:

The Monterey County Health Department COVID-19 web page is continuously updated with news, information and data: www.mtyhd.org/covid19

For our singers - As data dictates, at this time, masks are not required for rehearsal. But of course, wear them as your comfort dictates. As of this writing, we expect all singers to be vaccinated to the most current booster available. If you are medically not able to handle any upcoming booster or vaccination, please privately contact our conductor, who will discuss how your case may be handled - 27 March 2024.

~ Postings from Julia ~
January 1, 2023

Happy New Year! 

May you enjoy a $.53 kind-of-year!  A what!?  

We know that life unfolds with good and bad, ups and downs, comings and 

goings, pleasure and pain. In all, I wish for us a year through which we journey 

with strength, perseverance, positivity, endurance, thanksgiving, joy, peace, 

love, to name a few. In 2023, may our lives be graced with bounty. 

Bounty, defined as something given or occurring in generous amounts, has been our lot during the 

past month. Musically, our concerts were bountifully satisfying to us and our audiences. 

Financially, with the MCGives fundraising campaign finalized, we ended with a total of 

$19,700.00. Quite a bountiful conclusion!  

I can read your minds. A $.53 kind of year does not sound bountiful! But wait! During our Friday 

night reception, while I watched the interactions amongst guests and choir members, two persons 

approached me. An older gentleman presented to me a folded currency and expressed his desire to 

donate it. Immediately following, a young woman, who had been standing near me for a while, 

timidly inquired - “Do you just take dollars? Or, will you take this? It’s all I have, and I want to give it to you.” 

“Of course,” said I with my hand outstretched. Into my palm, she placed her fist and released coins. 

“Thank you very much! We appreciate it.”  

“Thank you,” she replied with a smile and walked away while I stood watching, then counting 

fifty-three cents . . . two quarters and three pennies! 

We anticipated for donations from MCGives. Occasionally, we have received a personal 

donation from a friend or a check from an anonymous donor. For these, we are grateful. But, fifty-

three cents? This was a first in my 24 years with Camerata Singers; the treasurer thought we should 

frame it and keep it symbolically. Yes, that donation of $.53 has stirred my reflection.  

• Our music can move the heart, or is it just cliché?  

• This lady, expressing her gratitude, gave all she had. How do I express my gratitude? 

• When I prepare for and participate in each rehearsal, do I give my fifty-three cents out of 

a dollar or my $.53 out of $.53? 

• How might I apply this object lesson – either touching the hearts of others and/or giving 

all of myself – to ensure giving and living a bountiful life in 2023? 

Happy 2023! May we enjoy a bountiful $.53 kind of year! 

Julia Turner 

January 1, 2023 

Historic Posts…


Hello, all.

Happy New Year!

We will soon bid “adieu" to 2022 and “bienvenidos" to 2023!Throughout the new year, may Joy, Peace, Love, Contentment, and . . . walk daily with you as your constant companions.

UPDATE ~ ~ ~ ~
McGives: $17,395.00   Yay! Woohoo! With the expected 14% match and plus %, we surely will be gifted at least $2o,000.00 !

Nevertheless, if your rich great uncle still has not given you a buck or if you want to get the deposit for bottles (oops! I am showing my age) stored in your garage . . . . Hahaha! Only a few more days until December 31!

If you think to invite someone to join us as a new singer, then, be sure inform him/her of our Covid policy. If he/she would still be eligible to join us, then, send as soon as possible the contact info (name, phone number) to Bill so that he may contact your guest.

Finally, if you would like to share a Happy New Year wish or a brief New Year’s reflection that we would include on the Singers Page on the website, please send your text to me by next Friday, January 6, 2023.

Looking forward to singing with you again in a couple of weeks.

~*~

Merry Christmas Blessing!

Julia Turner! What a resource, our Board President and Resident Poet!

Bill McMillan
“You are taller than you looked on Zoom.”
On the occasion of “Christmas with the Camerata Singers 2022”


William McMillan, Artistic Director
Tall and slender,
The silver-haired gentleman greets his awaiting choir;
With a smile that disarms,
With humor protruding from his Irish pockets,
he takes the podium,
calls the page,
then sets us to singing.
Fewer than several measures
Dictate his stopping us
To draw our attention to a nuance missed,
Maybe not missed as on the page
but a nuance overlooked as his mind interprets.
“But the dynamics says legato, and you want staccato. Okay!”
Once again . . . sing we on . . . until
stopped again.
More nasty,
Say nyah! Nyah!
“Amazingly technical! Did they teach you that in doctorate school?”
Open, open tone. Spin it!
Give me vibrato!
“What Vibrato, really – oh no! Vibrato – a no, no!” sopranos rail from past haunts.
If you can wiggle your jaw . . .
“Wiggle! Singers do not move,” thoughts bombard.
Don’t reach for it. Falsetto is okay.
Let the sound go where it is supposed to go.
Don’t worry about words up there, just float the tone.
He demonstrates yet with the disclaimer not to do as he does, but as he says.
“Sounds familiar!”
I need a hair and a freckle more there.
He does not demonstrate that; ‘twould be interesting to see!
Basses, you are the foundation. We need you louder!
“Oh, really,” they ask!? “Whoa!”
My score has pianissimo at measure 287;
cross-out the screamando in your score.
Start at measure 28 and stop on the first note of measure 30.
Without calling out those who soloed through measures 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35,
He announces the same as if for the first time.
His patience exudes in astounding degrees.
Though sometimes, breaking his wall of patience,
he pleads, “Look at the ugly guy in front of you;
I’ll even suck in my stomach.”An Irish trait he claims -
Something about his propensity toward prolixity, being garrulous!
Oh well, won’t go there!
Just suffice it to say that after he is finished talking and talking and . . . .
And, he seems to have some notion about a husband being obedient . . . .
Oh well, won’t go there either!
Another topic on another long-winded day!
“Sarcasm and other services readily rendered upon request.”
“Or not!”
Really, the director plays with us, banters with us, has fun with us.
A maverick! A renegade is he!
It may seem, but
commanding musical structures -- not really new
but poised differently, interpretatively, lovingly
and provided to us as from an endearing father to his children,
Bill desires our best . . . for ourselves.
Then, in so-doing,
we make merry the hearts of others.
Following seeming unorthodox
but erudite instruction from Bill, the master,
the Camerata Singers transpose into
A transcendent, interpretive, heart-resplendent ensemble.
We love you, Bill.

Julia Turner
December 4, 2022

For Lucy ~

Ten . . . Two . . . One
Lucy Faridany, Collaborative Pianist
On the occasion of “Christmas with the Camerata Singers 2022”

Ten . . . two . . . one
Translating dots and flags and rests
speak in languages as individual
as those to whom spoken.

Ten . . . two . . . one
Manipulating the monochromatic
evoke senses and images
as real as the hearts beckoned.

Ten . . . two . . . one
Entwining logos, ethos, pathos
call forth myriad memories
as palpable as the tears that flow.

Ten . . . two . . . one
Yielding to the Spirit
express the goodness of creation
as ordained in the beginning.

Julia Turner
December 4, 2022


Julia Turner,
President of the. Board
Camerata Singers

Christmas, 2022

 Fractured Christmas Carols and Christmas Phrases

Just a bit of fun!
Two complimentary tickets to the first person to email me - juleyah@comcast.net - the correct answers after 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning (November 22). This way, all may have a chance to check their emails in order to play and win! 

What do you do? Read the following groups of words aloud to determine the name of a Christmas carol or Christmas phrase. Have fun!

Here’s an example: Ching, opals = “Jingle Bells”

1.  Awl, bee, hum, fork, wrist, mas

2.  Ahm, trim, enough, uh, wide, charismas

3.  Lid, toad, rum, more, buoy

4.  Eke, hang-up, panda, Midonite, call, ear

5.  Heaven, knees, are, ska, rouge

6.  Hand, ah, par, tree, chin-up, heir, gee

7.  Just, gnats, roads, ding, honor, owe, pain, far

8.  Got, blur, sauce, sever, he, won

9.  Dry, Tudor, were, old

10.  Thug, elf, author, mad, chai

11.  Pea, signer, the, coo, dwelt, amen

12.  Wee, whish, ewe, aim, eerie, caress, maw, sand, aha, been, you, air!

)(&)(&)(&)(&)

Happy Autumn, 2022!

Autumn reminds me of the vibrancy of autumn leaves - gold, red, orange, purple! Such beauty overwhelmed me as a young girl growing in upstate New York and while attending college also in upstate New York. Autumn reminds me of baskets of Concord grapes bought at country roadside stands, of picking bushels of apples with my friend and then with her dad taking us to the country farm house cider mill where we unloaded our apples, watched them rumble around in the apple bath, then watched as they disappeared in the mill of tubes and piston-like motions. We waited with anticipation as the mill worked its wonder. At the end, there it was . . . as a city girl this entire experience was new to me . . . but there it was, our bushels of apples reduced to jugs of fresh foamy apple cider! O the richness of its taste! When I think of Autumn, these vignettes — congregations of trees clad in luscious colors, Concord grapes that awaken the mouth with their bursts of gustatory delight, and apple cider from the work of my hands — cause me to pause and smile.

So, this morning, in an air of reminiscence, I googled "music for Autumn" and was led to this site; the link is below. I share it with you. The strings relax me. As you listen, may it be a soundtrack as you stroll through your Autumn days. May it awaken joys not often reflected upon. May the melodies transport you to pause, to remember, to smile.

https://youtu.be/IlxYSLiFHIk

Blessings,

Julia Turner

juleyah@comcast.net

831-596-1114



 REHEARSAL INFO -

2022_09_27 Rehearsal notes

Sectionals:

Shepherd's Pipe Carol - pp.5-9
Hodie - p.6, m.21 - p.11, m.56
We Three Kings

Full:

Shepherd's Pipe Carol
Hodie
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/search.jsp?setStickyDepartment=true&suggested=&keywords=hodie+narverud

We Three Kings
https://www.jwpepper.com/We-Three-Kings/10192382.item#.Yy5LfXbMK3A

A Winter's Night #4 (p.23) & #5 (p. 29)
It Fell Upon the High Midnight


MUSIC SITES: