YRCC Rehearsal Review 27-SEP-2022

 New members and new/old songs.

We have a number of new members! It's so good to share our wonderful world of choir nights with them! Welcome, new folks!

Our warm-up included humming O Canada. It was nice. It felt good, and research shows that humming is good for your body and spirit. 

1. What a Wonderful World: it is. We spent a little time on the top of page 5. I like the contrast of "bright blessed day" and "dark sacred night" So we want the first to sound bright and the second to sound soft and moody. We nailed it. The sopranos have to be quite soft so that we can hear the alto and tenor parts which are especially dramatic. The bass part was super strong tonight! We also worked on the timing and blending on page 6 in the soprano/alto section and again with tenor/bass parts. Tenors and basses are not always as tight as the sopranos and altos on this page. 

2. Somewhere Out There: Last week, Cathy did the solo, and this week we heard Nadine. It was very nice, and I encourage Nadine to take more opportunities to sing solos. We reviewed the tenor/bass part at the segno again. It's getting better all the time. 

3. Hallelujah: Jane and Cathy shared their voices on the solos and then we had Blair and Kit too. The altos are so good, I forgot that I wanted to review their tricky bits. Maybe another time. 

4. Thank You For The Music: This is new for anyone who wasn't with the choir in 2016 or 2011. It's going to be difficult but fun and so worth it! We started it by walking through and noticing the places where we have to repeat. There's a segno in this song too, at C, but before that there's a repeat at A to come back to, for a second verse. The end of the repeat is in the middle of page 6. There are two endings. After the second ending, we go to the end of page7, then head back to the segno. We jump to the coda (ending) just before that first ending of the repeat. The coda is page 8. I might actually leave the ending quiet. Maybe. We learned parts at C, just 3 bars. So pretty. I got goosebumps a couple times. 

5. New Year Blessing: 2012 was the last time we sang this one, so it's new to most people. Yay! It's short and sweet, and we might sing it twice? I'm thinking about how to make it longer. We sang the first page- we're all in unison, and looked at the second. It's even tricky in the soprano line! You can watch the choir singing it here: 

We talked about: the show at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in November. I've set up an "event" on the website. Sign up and then pay for your tickets at choir. You can bring a cheque made out to  York Region Community Choir. 

Next: 

We're going to continue to feature different soloists in our songs, reviewing the ones we know well, and we'll get working on these two new pieces.