Cantor, Teacher, Performer Who Started in Rock Is Now on a Roll

Monty Turner’s music career began with rock ‘n’ roll, but in recent years he has branched out with vigor.

The West Los Angeles resident now holds one full-time job as a cantor, and another as a traveling music teacher for the Los Angeles school system. And this month, he also is appearing in his own children’s musical show at the West End Playhouse in Van Nuys.

Turner and his former rock partner, David Pinto, are co-authors and co-stars of a musical for children ages 3 to 9, “Be-Bop Sizzle Pop!” The show, produced by Back Alley Theater, opened in November and is scheduled to run through Dec 31.

The show features Turner, Pinto and Tune Buggy, a flying music machine. “The concept of the show,” said Turner, “is that we’re on a journey of magical adventures, but we’re looking for the magic purple jelly beans that fuel Tune Buggy. The kids participate throughout the show. They get to come on stage and feed him.”

The show continues Turner’s long involvement with children. He started teaching music in 1973, when performing in pop and rock bands never quite paid the rent. The first job involved teaching music and drama at a preschool for $2.25 an hour. This led to assignments at other private schools and, eventually, a position in several Westside public schools as part of a program financed by the PTA.

“At one holiday show,” he recalls, “there was a woman in the audience who was a regional director in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She turned out to be my fifth-grade music teacher. She suggested I get a music credential. Loyola Marymount set me up with a program.”

In September, 1988, a permanent position as traveling music teacher in the school district became available, and Turner was hired.

“Every week,” he said, “I go to five schools--one a day. My primary function is to teach the teachers how to teach music. I give them lesson plans and show them, in demonstrations with the kids, how to implement a music program. I also lead a chorus and conduct special assemblies and graduation services.”

Although it’s been six years since Turner last performed on stage, for him, teaching children in schools “feels like a performance. You have to get them interested in music--be entertaining as well as educational, which is a fine line. You don’t want them to get too silly; you want them to learn. On the other hand, you don’t want it to be dry.”

Turner, 34, was born in Los Angeles and took an early liking to rock music.

“When I was 9 or 10,” he recalls, “I had a guitar and used to play the Monkees, the Stones and the Beatles.” He attended Beverly Hills High School, took theater arts classes at Santa Monica College, earned his bachelor of arts degree in music and theater arts at Immaculate Heart College (now closed) in Hollywood and studied at Dick Grove’s School of Music in Van Nuys.

From 1975 to 1983, the curly-haired, puckish-faced musician was the lead singer and songwriter for several rock groups. “I had four or five really good rock ‘n’ roll bands going around the club circuit in Los Angeles,” he said. “You come that close. Someone’s listening to you and you have your hopes up, and--almost, but not quite. That happened several times. I got to be in my mid-20s and thought, if this keeps up for another five or six years, I’m not going to have anything to fall back on.

“That’s when I went to Dick Grove. . . . Professionals from the industry teach classes there. I studied composing and arranging for a year and film scoring for another year. I’d work with a 40-piece orchestra, and it was a kick conducting my pieces.”

His interest in religion had started in his teens.

“One day, my father said, ‘There’s this rabbi, Ted Falcon, who meets at people’s houses. He does some of that spiritual stuff you’re doing, and it’s Jewish.’ I went, and Ted was there in a circle of about 15 people, talking. Eventually, he started an official congregation and rented space in a church. I started coming more and more.”

Rabbi Theodore Falcon now leads Makom Ohr Shalom, a synagogue for Jewish meditation, in Tarzana. And for the past four years, Turner has been the cantor.

“Ted’s inspiration and teaching are what sent me in this direction, and I’m grateful for it. It was totally out of the blue,” Turner said.

During the 1980 High Holidays, Falcon had asked him to play the piano while the rabbi led the congregation in song. “I was honored. At the next High Holidays, Ted asked me again. I said, ‘You know something? I’d like to be the song leader. I think that would be a real new one for me,’ ” Turner recalls.

He had written some songs for the congregation, and his repertoire grew. His interest led him to studying with Alan Michelson, “a superb cantorial teacher; . . . he’s trained some of the best cantors in Los Angeles,” Turner said.

Juggling religious services, teaching and the children’s show keeps Turner busy, but there’s no question where his interests lie. “As much as I like teaching,” he admits, “my first love is composing and performing. Between cantorial work and children’s work, I couldn’t choose. When I’m doing the cantorial work, especially on High Holidays, it’s heaven. When I’m doing the kids’ show with David, that’s heaven. I don’t know of a finer musician.

“I’ve been teaching children for many years, and now I’m very excited about performing for them.”

(“Be-Bop Sizzle Pop!” is at the West End Playhouse, 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys . Performances daily through Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (10 a.m. and noon on Dec. 30). For reservations, call (818) 780-2240.)