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!

Friday, April 19, 2019

YRCC Rehearsal Review 15-Apr-2019 and the next two weeks

We're getting close to the end of this season of love. I'm enjoying this theme, and I think we'll continue with love next year, but maybe switch to love and romance, and maybe drama, dramatic love? Just starting to think ahead :-) Christmas will be Love and Peace on Earth, or something like that.

Top of the World and Lean on Me met early and are both sounding ready!

We used new paper straws for our warm-up. They're narrower than the plastic ones we started with, and that's good. You're supposed to work up to a narrower straw until you're blowing through those really thin stir sticks.

We had visitors! Catalina and Peter, our new accompanists came to see us and stayed through breaktime to meet us. How nice! They both worked with the YRCC ages ago, and we've grown and changed a bit, but we still have the same spirit. Catalina will be the principal accompanist, and Peter has offered to help out as a back-up and with recordings. We're still working on the details.

We started with Beauty and Beast, which Peter remembered playing for us. It's such a great medley! We did really well, but we also reviewed a bit. Transitions are always an issue in medleys. Be sure to watch because it's a challenge to switch tempos and it's up to Joy and me to get those but the choir has to be careful to watch. Beginnings and ends are always the time to watch the most, but in a medley its even more important.

Why We Sing is such a joy to sing! This is my main message in every concert. "A sound of love, a sound so strong! It's amazing what is given when we share a song."

Put a Little Love in Your Hear is our theme song, and I was hoping to use it as the finale. I'm having second thoughts though. It's not a strong piece, and we're not certain about our timing. If you have some time, spend some time on this song. I've asked the Kevins to look at it to see if they can add some strumming to fill it out. I'll keep thinking about how to improve it.

And, of course, we worked on Bring Him Home. It's hard, but it's amazing how well it has come together! It's so impressive, and such a strong piece of music! It think we'll have some tears.

Somewhere Out There comes right after Bring Him Home in the concert and is the last song before intermission. It's perfect. Remember to start wistfully, softly, and then at the middle of page 5, the mood changes and it's loud and positive. The tenors and basses lead the repeat with confidence. We end big, with an extra "come true".

Next week, Easter Monday Rehearsal:
Stanley and Mona start at 7:00

  • Bring Him Home
  • Put a Little Love
  • Higher and Higher
  • Rewrite the Stars
  • B&B top of page 29
Buy tickets! Last chance for advance prices. Cheques are good. Make them out to York Region Community Choir. 

Monday, April 29th: Run-through Rehearsal at Trinity Anglican Church

Binders are in order on April 29th to save time. I'll publish the order now. 










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