[HANASHIR:5679] Re: Camp Swig / Camp Newman CD -- Shir L'Yom Chadash

[Rabbi Richard Schachet <lvrabbi...>]

What a great review--  And it is all so true
Rabbi Richard Schachet
Valley Outreach Synagogue
www.valleyoutreach.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Josh Miller <jmiller (at) eb(dot)jfed(dot)org>
To: <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2000 7:56 PM
Subject: [HANASHIR:5677] Camp Swig / Camp Newman CD -- Shir L'Yom Chadash


> Hello Fellow Hava Nashirites!
>
> I was so overwhelmed by the warm feedback on the Hava Nashira list from
> people about the Camp Swig / Camp Newman CD (Shir l'Yom Chadash) that I
had
> to write in and just thank folks for saying such nice things... Rick, I'm
> hiring you to do the PR next time around, thanks for sayin' such nice
stuff!
>
> For folks who haven't picked up a copy of the CD and are scared of
shopping
> on the internet I'll try to remember to bring some extras to Hava Nashira
> (I'm coming this year with some enthusiastic new songleaders from UC
> Berkeley whom I've been working with!)...
>
> See you all in two months!
>
> - Josh "Tree Song Guy" Miller
>   Berkeley, California
>
> PS- It's show and tell time! Here is a copy of an article that ran in
>     last Friday's Northern California Jewish Bulletin:
>
> CAMP SWIG, NEWMAN KIDS SING FAVORITES ON NEW CD
> by, Andy Altman-Ohr
>
> Bulletin Staff
>
> When alumni of Camp Swig and Camp Newman gather for a reunion on Sunday,
> April 9, the stereo system will no doubt be playing the same CD over and
> over again.
>
> Chances are, no one will get tired of it.
>
> Grammy-quality music? Uh, not really. But the disc in the CD changer --
> "Shir L'Yom Chadash: A Song for a New Day" -- will be popular nonetheless.
>
> Released a few months ago, the CD is a collection of 27 songs recorded in
> 1998 at the Bay Area's two big Reform summer camps: Camp Newman in Santa
> Rosa and Camp Swig in Saratoga, both under the aegis of the Union of
> American Hebrew Congregations.
>
> So far, about 500 copies of the CD have been sold at two local Judaica
> stores and through mail-order, leaving about 1,500 still available. Some
of
> those will be sold at the 4 to 6 p.m. reunion at Congregation Beth Am in
> Los Altos Hills.
>
> A conglomeration of more than 1,000 young voices, the CD is a combination
> of well-known Jewish camp favorites, emerging classics, and songs written
> expressly for campers at Swig and Newman.
>
> "Truthfully, it has exceeded my expectations," said Ruben Arquilevich,
> director of the UAHC Camp Institutes for Living Judaism -- better known as
> Swig and Newman.
>
> "I play it for my 2-year-old son Jonah, and he literally dances and cheers
> through the entire album."
>
> The CD was the pet project of Josh Miller, a Swig camper 16 years ago who
> went on to become a camp songleader as well as the program director at
U.C.
> Berkeley Hillel. It took him nearly two years to complete the venture.
>
> "I thought it would be great to make a CD for the '90s," Miller said. "It
> was sort of a bumpy ride. Making a CD is a big project."
>
> Although only a small one in retrospect, one of the bumps occurred in the
> "recording studio" -- the dining hall -- at Camp Newman.
>
> About 500 kids had gathered for a massive recording session. The
> microphones were set up and ready to go. All of a sudden in another room,
> pots and pans were clanging, silverware and plates were clinking.
>
> "Look, you gotta stop washing dishes. We're recording a CD," Miller
> informed the kitchen staff. "Things were a little confused for a while,
but
> the [camp] director ended up giving 'em the night off."
>
> The CD was funded by Josh's mom, Micki Miller, who put up nearly $13,000.
>
> The revenues generated by the CD won't go back into her pockets, but
> instead will go toward financing other Swig and Newman musical
endeavors --
> such as making CDs out of albums recorded by campers in 1975 and 1984.
>
> "There are also ambitions to make a songbook to go with the CD," Josh
> Miller said.
>
> Much of the music on the CD sounds simple, like hundreds of kids singing
at
> camp. But the voices come together to create a boisterous, energetic sound
> on just about every song, including such favorites as "Heiveinu," "Mitzvah
> Goreret" and "Shir Chadash."
>
>
> "It sounds like camp," Miller stated proudly. "It's not some studio job
> that sounds over-produced. No keyboards, no drum tracks."
>
> There are guitars on several cuts, and a few other instruments, such as
> horns, on "Mi Chamochah."
>
> The CD strives to capture a day in the life of Camp Newman and Camp Swig,
> and that day is a Friday. It starts with morning and daytime songs, and
> then moves into Shabbat songs.
>
> In fact, more than half of the album's 27 cuts are songs from the Shabbat
> evening service and sing-along.
>
> However, "the most special takes on the album for me are the closing
circle
> [songs] at the end of the album," Miller said. "It's a ritual every night
> at camp that we would sing these blessings, and for the kids it becomes a
> real strong part of camp."
>
> Four of the "closing circle" songs are blessings and the fifth is called
> "The La La Song." It's an Israeli beverage commercial that campers have
> sung for decades every night when they leave the dining hall.
>
> Wally Schachet-Briskin, a cantor at Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, said
> the recording sessions were powerful, emotional experiences.
>
> At Swig, campers did their singing in the Jo Naymark Holocaust Memorial
> building, which holds about 100 people; at Newman, they used the dining
> hall, which holds 500.
>
> "There was a lot of energy in those rooms," said Schachet-Briskin, a
former
> Swig songleader and author of about 30 camp songs, several of which are on
> the CD. "People were very excited not only to be singing the songs, but
> also making great harmonies. It was something that touched my soul."
>
> Because the recording methods weren't exactly high-tech -- four or more
> microphones placed around the room -- the campers had to be careful at a
> song's conclusion not to ruin the take.
>
> "Everyone would wait three seconds for it to be completely quiet," Miller
> said. "And then the room would totally erupt with everybody cheering."
>
> "Shir L'Yom Chadash: A Song for a New Day" is $14.98 at bob and bob, Palo
> Alto, and Afikomen, Berkeley. It is $15.95 plus tax and shipping from
> Sounds Write Productions: (800) 976-8639 or www.soundswrite.com
>
> Copyright Notice (c) 2000, San Francisco Jewish Community Publications
> Inc., dba Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. All rights reserved.
This
> material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
>
>
>

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