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!

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

YRCC Choristers support their church communities, cantoring

 Some of us have shared on Monday nights that we miss singing in church on Sundays too. Those of us who attend churches all miss singing with the congregation, and some of us are also members of church choirs that they miss. Others have taken on a new role as a church cantor! This is a fancy way of saying that they are singing solos that are meant to be sung along with. The congregation is not on site, in the church building, but is encouraged to sing along wherever they are.











Lauren shared a recording of her church’s service on Dec. 6th, where Lauren and her father each sang a solo. Her church is Port Carling United. She’s is often asked to offer a song there.

Cathy has shared this link https://rec.boltwave.com/scr/dir/jhnchrnmkt/v1.mp4  which is only available until Saturday, February 13th. Cathy sings at church regularly, twice a month, I believe. Here’s a link to her church’s website in case you’d like to join her at St. John Chrysostom Roman Catholic Church in Newmarket.

Blair also shared this link to St. Paul’s Anglican in Newmarket where he regularly sings. You can hear him on Sunday the 14th, I think, and on Ash Wednesday next week.

Some of us gather at choir for some of the same reasons people gather at church on Sundays and I’ve read somewhere that community choirs have taken the place of church in many people’s lives. We do talk about all the important things as we sing timeless words and melodies which express timeless themes. For some of us, though, there just can’t be enough singing and gathering with good people, so we do both (and some of us are members of several choirs, sacred and secular).

Consider singing along with your church musicians.

Keep singing, even if it’s in the car or shower only. 

But, please do also consider coming to our Monday night Zoom Choir. I love it. I love my choir!

Sunday, February 7, 2021

YRCC Zoom Choir in February-08-FEB-2021 Send Requests

First of all, a great big warm Thank You to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and another big warm Thank You to those of you who have supported my fundraising for the Inn From The Cold through the Coldest Night Of The Year walk on February 20th!!! 



 






There is still time to make a donation on my page on the CNOY site: Renate Naghavi

I had a very nice birthday despite the pandemic. Luckily 57 is not a big deal, so I wouldn't have had a big party anyway. I was happy to spend an evening in my family room with my family in front of a nice fire in the fireplace.

Early last month, I suggested that choristers could request the songs they wanted to sing. Just send me an email or a text or post on Facebook, find a way. So far, it seems you're happy to sing what I want to sing. I guess that's okay, but, with no concert to prepare for, I don't have a goal or any kind of limit. It's like picking what to have for dinner every night. What should we have?  It would be nice to have some suggestions once in a while. 

Maybe think about it for next time. But, maybe we can take Family Day off? We don't usually take holidays off because we're usually working hard to learn music for a concert. We don't usually have time to take a Monday off, especially during the winter when we might have had to cancel for a snowstorm. No snow days this year! (Ha! We drink, we don't drive, we don't have to worry about the weather: there have to be some perks to this second pandemic season.)

So, we'll talk about taking next Monday off. And, we'll talk about your requests.

I talked about that Choirs Ontario workshop last week and there were a couple of questions. I was going to look into that software for sharing music for choirs. MCC. My Choral Coach was the software that the professor was using with his choral music students/ choir. I haven't had a chance to do any research, but there's the link in case you want to look into it. There was also an app for your phone where you can check your pitch to see if you're singing in tune. I can't remember which one he recommended. I'm finding Singscope and Vocal Pitch Monitor. Let me know if you have tried either of these and if they're any good. 

Keep singing, friends!

Join us on Monday nights. It's keeping me (somewhat) sane to have a choir night during the pandemic, even if it's not perfect (what ever is?).