Biography
Rachel Buchman weaves children's songs and poetry together with Jewish holiday songs throughout her body of work. Worldwide classrooms and nurseries have adopted her material as a regular feature thanks to the albums, workshops, and live performances that earned her the American Library Association, Parent's Choice, and Oppenheimer Toy awards.
Plans for an acting career gave way once Buchman gained popularity entertaining at children's parties throughout New York. Although she had sung in a church choir and studied classical piano during childhood, a college-era journey to Israel redirected her path. While returning to the United States she stopped in London, where an encounter with a cousin who survived the Holocaust ignited her fascination with Yiddish. Back in New York she enrolled at Yivo University, and during her time there her engagement with Yiddish theater and music steadily deepened.
A year spent in Berlin alongside her husband, Harvey Yuris, a professor of ancient Greek and Roman languages, further strengthened Buchman's connection to Yiddish culture. Experience gained at a Harvard University day care center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, refined her abilities as a children's performer. She maintains an ongoing teaching role at the Becker Early Childhood Center of Temple Emanu-El in Houston, Texas.
Her recordings have consistently targeted the youngest listeners. The 1986 debut Hello Ev'rybody! Playsongs and Rhymes From a Toddler's World was followed in 1993 by Jewish Holiday Songs for Children; Mel Bay issued a multi-lingual songbook and guide bearing the same title in 1997.
Although Buchman's initial appearances stayed within the folk tradition, later programs have blended classical repertoire with improvised piano. Her focus on material for children extended into the new millennium, marked by the fall 2000 release of Shine Little Candles: Chanukah Songs for Children.
Plans for an acting career gave way once Buchman gained popularity entertaining at children's parties throughout New York. Although she had sung in a church choir and studied classical piano during childhood, a college-era journey to Israel redirected her path. While returning to the United States she stopped in London, where an encounter with a cousin who survived the Holocaust ignited her fascination with Yiddish. Back in New York she enrolled at Yivo University, and during her time there her engagement with Yiddish theater and music steadily deepened.
A year spent in Berlin alongside her husband, Harvey Yuris, a professor of ancient Greek and Roman languages, further strengthened Buchman's connection to Yiddish culture. Experience gained at a Harvard University day care center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, refined her abilities as a children's performer. She maintains an ongoing teaching role at the Becker Early Childhood Center of Temple Emanu-El in Houston, Texas.
Her recordings have consistently targeted the youngest listeners. The 1986 debut Hello Ev'rybody! Playsongs and Rhymes From a Toddler's World was followed in 1993 by Jewish Holiday Songs for Children; Mel Bay issued a multi-lingual songbook and guide bearing the same title in 1997.
Although Buchman's initial appearances stayed within the folk tradition, later programs have blended classical repertoire with improvised piano. Her focus on material for children extended into the new millennium, marked by the fall 2000 release of Shine Little Candles: Chanukah Songs for Children.
Albums
