Welcome


Welcome to Renate's Baton. This blog is mostly for and about my choir, The York Region Community Choir.

But, While I'm holding the baton, I'm in charge. So, if I want to talk about other parts of my life, I will. :)

The choir itself is a community and I'm discovering that we have a lot in common with one another besides our love of music and singing.

When I go off on a tangent, there is always a crowd coming along. Join us!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

YRCC rehearsal Mon.Jan.11, 2016

Our first day back was wonderful despite the despicable driving conditions. What a lot of snow we got suddenly! Some of us were a bit late, but many of us were there and enjoyed reconnecting after the holidays. Most of all, we were happy to be singing together again!

We will not put our winter season totally behind us yet, as we are going to do 2 winter seniors' home performances in February. So, we'll be singing The Magic of Winter a couple more times, and maybe Button Up Your Overcoat. We hope to have a bunch of our spring music ready for those performances as well, but we only need 6 or 7 songs since the sing-alongs are important.

Here's what we sang on Monday, January 11th:

1. Do Re Mi (Melinda and Lauren had turns singing the solo at the beginning and both did a great job. Thanks for stepping up to bat!) So many of us remember singing this one that it was pretty good already! We reviewed the Alto and Bass oo and oh part on page 6, and their "anything"on page 8. We will look at the ending again. It will be soft to start and will build to loud while at the same time getting slower, a nice big ending which you'll have to watch me for :-) Tenors: warning: I'm thinking of moving you to the second part, so that Tenors and Basses are together for more oomph in the lower octave.

2. I'd Like To Teach the World to Sing also begins with a solo, but we all sang it together. There will likely be 2 solos, as we've done before. This time, we tried only Sopranos on top and Altos, Tenors, and Basses on the bottom. I like it! It solves a couple of problems we had last time with people jumping back and forth between lines. This way everyone stays put. At bar 81, First Sopranos begin on beat 1, holding their last note, and Second Sopranos come in on beat 4 with the echo.

3. Canon of Joy Fewer choristers remembered this one, but the melodies of this mash-up are so familiar that it's a joy to learn and sing. Bar 45- 48 is the only really challenging section. Basses have a ton of melody in this song! Enjoy! We want to remember to sound like strings instead of brass here. Gentle and smooth on all parts! Sopranos and Altos especially will want to use staggered breathing, so that the sound is seamless. Take breaths at different times from your neighbours.

4. We sight-read through Why We Sing, which is completely new! Nobody had seen it except for Sapphire, Lauren, Teija, and me. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece! It expresses what we feel about singing perfectly, and sums up our Spring Season theme: The Joy of Singing. The recordings for this piece are already up on the website, so you can start working on it at home.

We had a long-ish break and I spoke to a few people about possible solos. I also spoke to Robin about playing the flute part on I Will Always Be With You. We also needed to talk about the seniors' performances, which happen on February 1st and 8th. Sign up on the website. Not all of us will fit in the seniors'  homes, but it will be a wonderful opportunity for those of us who go. We needed to make quick arrangements for those Mondays, as we discovered that our room had been booked. Be sure to always check your email on Mondays before you come to choir to be sure what the plans are. If you don't have email, make another arrangement with Lauren.

Next week, Monday, January 18th:

  • Canon of Joy
  • I'd Like to Teach
  • Magic of Winter
  • I Will Always Be With You
  • Can't Help Singing Intro
  • Joseph Medley Intro







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