Clara McMaster
"Clara Elizabeth Watkins McMaster was born at Beaver Dam, Box Elder County, Utah, the youngest of eleven children. Music played an important part in her early life - her talented parents and family shared many musical experiences with her. She sang in the Tabernacle Choir for twenty-three years and served as a member of the Primary General Board for fourteen years. Over a period of more than sixty years, she and her husband, J. Stuart McMaster, sang thousands of duets before church and community gatherings. In 1978 they were presented with the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Award from Brigham Young University in recognition of their service. They are the parents of four children. She has maintained a lifelong interest in children's music, and her songs are well known to Latter-day Saint children."
Source for photo and biography: Clara McMaster. Sing a Happy Song: Beloved Children’s Favorites. Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers and Distributors, 1992.
Clara and her family lived at 1420 East Kensington Avenue from 1935 until she passed away on March 18, 1997.
Following are two interviews with eldest child, Diane McMaster McCoun, who shares memories of her mother and the composition of some of her well-known children’s songs. A summary and index file is available for each interview and may be accessed by clicking the link.
Note: This is the second interview with Diane. Go to her page in the Oral History Project section of this website for Interview 001.
Interviews
Access the Summary and Index file for this interview
Access the Summary and Index file for this interview
Additional Content
Here are links to some of the Children's somge written by Clara McMaster. To listen to the words with music, after accessing the link, click "Audio" and select "Words and Music"
These links will take you to an external site and will open in a new tab. To get back to this page, click this tab in your browser.
Documents
Here's a pdf file of a newspaper article profiling some of the contributions Clara made to the Salt Lake Community. Click the article title to open it.
Talent Makes Friends (document provided by Brent McMaster)
Photos
Here's an image of Clara and her husband Stuart. (Photo provided by Brent McMaster)
Rachel Morris earned her Bachelor of music degree in vocal performance while on scholarship at the Eastman School of Music in 2006, where she studied with Carol Webber. Rachel was the 2004 recipient of the Ornest Award for excellence in singing at ESM. She was the 2002 first place winner of the Utah State Fair competition and 3rd place winner of the 2005 Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition in Rochester, NY. Rachel spent the summers of ’04 and ’05 performing several major roles and in the choruses of 14 operas and operettas with the Ohio Light Opera Company. Among her favorite roles are Phyllis in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, Fortuna in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Despina in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte. Rachel made her symphonic debut in 2006 with the Buffalo Philharmonic, singing the role of Bastienne in their semi-staged version of Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne. Rachel also enjoys art-song literature, oratorio, and chamber music. Rachel currently studies with Carol Ann Allred at the University of Utah, where she is pursuing her Master’s degree. Rachel recently performed in the role of the Queen of the Night in the University’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She also recently won first place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition in Salt Lake City.
