YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review April 25

 Bill, Blair, the One Voice trio, and Mad about Mozart all came early and did great! Bill brought a microphone and a cool mic stand that holds an iPad. I was able to use it during rehearsal and it was pretty neat. 

We did a very quick warm-up, just the most basic stretching.

1. Why We Sing: The whole choir sang the whole beginning section where we often have solos switching off (10-26: everyone sings). You have to sing very, very soft, please. It's a really good sound when everyone is quiet. The contrast between the P at the beginning and the FF at the end is fantastic!

2. Sunshine Medley: We did it! We made it work. The key is to relax and make it fun. But, let's look at a few things we cleaned up: Remember to hold melting in bar 32 and clear in bar 36 to the end of the bar. We have to remember to slow down at bar 42, in that alto solo section that introduces Don't You Worry Bout a Thing. That makes it easier to sing that difficult section. Sopranos had a hard time with the ahs on the word out in "check it out". I  thought the problem was the ties, but I'm looking at it again, and it's not. The ties are correct. You're singing 1 2 + + +   + + + +  + + + 4.  (your first ah in the word out lands on beat one, which is not what's written but it's okay). the word out is: ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-out, followed immediately by don't you worry bout a thing. You tend to land on beat one, so you finish out on beat one and sing don't on beat two. Let the Sunshine is so much fun and sounds great. You don't have to read the music at all, just sing the melody twice, and then add harmonies, first just a few, and then, after a couple the first sopranos can go way up and the altos can divide if they feel like it, maybe some of you can sing with the tenors? We just have to all end together with an extra slow, the su-unnnnn shy-niiiinnnn. I'll try to get the audience to do it too, so it can be a bit sloppy ;-)

3. I Can See Clearly: This is amazing! It was so difficult at first with all the repeats and page turning, but we got it! We discovered a handy-dandy trick (thanks to Michele) for turning the pages and finding your spot. Use large paper clips, clipping one on the page at the location where you come in. This marks the spot and makes it easier to grasp that page with your fingers. Middle of page 6 at bar 25 and bottom of page 9 at bar 46 (for bar 45) is where I would put mine. 

4. We Rise Again: We reviewed section C again, where we sing the chorus for the first time and the tenors and basses have some cool stuff, special timing. Everyone but tenor and bass must sing softly here, a quiet first chorus, drama. Our audience will love this! You sound faboulous. 

5. Top of the World: Sweet! It's excellent. 

6. Happy Together: Something magical happened. The altos forgot which line they were supposed to sing, and ended up creating a really nice harmony part at 13. I liked it so much, we're keeping it! So, altos sing the top line a third down from the sopranos bars 13-21. At 21, altos go to the bottom line and sing the bottom to the end, indluding the melody line at 30. Go altos! We had to review the ending, after the ba-bas. We got it pretty fast though. I have to remember to count clearly and then you can find your way in. You all come in on beat 3, which is what the descant was doing. Donna helps you with your note with a good chord on beat 2. 

7. Viva!: A number of you were worried about this, but it's excellent! The audience will be so impressed! It does appear harder than it is, doesn't it? You've got this!

We talked about: Tickets for Children

We decided together to offer half price tickets to children 12 and under. Tickets will be $10 and we'll write the word CHILD on them. (Note: someone should bring a couple $10 bills for change to the concert. We had decided on $20 across the board partly so that we wouldn't have to worry too much about cash and change on concert day.)

We talked about: Red scarves for the "uniform"

We still haven't located Musette the cat and her basket with the extra ties and scarves, so anyone who has an extra scarf, an old one with the gold music notes, should bring it to the concert so that new people can wear one. We will spend some of the baking sale profits on new scarves and new ties to match so that we all can match again. I wonder if some of the women would like to have a necktie instead of a scarf next time. Blair has a few extra ties for now. The old and newer ties are very different colours, so maybe men can bring a red tie that they already have and see if it goes with what the others are wearing. On the website, there is a page called "Concert Wardrobe" which describes our uniform choices and shows how to tie your scarf or necktie.

Next week: Tuesday, May 2nd  Run-Through Rehearsal in the Sanctuary, upstairs

6:30 all small groups and solos

7:00 everyone in and ready to start 

Have your binders in concert order so that we're not searching through binders on stage. 

Concert order was sent in an email and is listed on the website under "Spring Concert Order" in the members-only section. (you'll need to log in with your password). Some print-outs will be available next week if you aren't able to make your own. 

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review April 18 and looking ahead into May

 Bill and Blair rehearsed their solos with Donna starting at 6:30. 

Warm-ups included listening to Stevie Wonder's Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing to hear the way he sings Mama while we did some stretching. Stevie's mama is what I want. We Sang You'll Never Walk Alone as a warm-up and then for real.

1. On Eagle's Wings: remember the balance of melody vs long notes of harmony at bar 43 and bar 61

2. Viva!: sopranos got lost somehow, but found their way eventually. Consider listening to your part via link on our website. Or click here for the soprano part. 

3. Sunshine Medley: we spent more time on the Don't You Worry part, and it sounds good. If you're concerned about your part, let me know so we can look at modifying it. I really want us to perform this, and we'll do what we can to make it happen. Like the last section, Let the Sunshine, we can modify the arrangement, make it more flexible, easier, so that we can sing these songs. Do consider listening to versions of Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing to get more familiar with how it goes. 

4. Walking on Sunshine: very good! It's great, and we showed that we can fudge it if we need to. I got lost in the overlapping part, and we just did a few extra repeats, and managed. We also did it perfectly the next time, so it's really going to be fine. Michele came up with a good trick for finding the pages of the segno and the coda. She clips a big paper clip to the spot we retun to on page 5, the segno, and to the spot that we end up at on page 11, the coda. It helps with finding the page and also helps with turning the page when you have something to grip on to. Brilliant!

5. Hallelujah: We had 5 minutes left so we didn't do We Rise Again, but sang this instead. It's always awesome. 

We talked about: The Bake Sale

There was some discusssion about how to manage our bake sale in this post-pandemic period of mixed comfort with everything. Putting a bunch of bite-sized baking out for people to grab doesn't seem so attractive anymore. It is the easiest thing to do, but it seemed that the other idea of making plates of a variety of items was the hardest. We decided on a compromise, suggested by Tab and the alto section. We will ask everyone to bring baked goods in small single servings/bite sized portions, not wrapped individually, as we have always done. All choristers will donate some baking, dropping it off as they arrive (starting at 1:00) Volunteers will serve guests wearing tongs, gloves, masks, buffet-style. Volunteers will also prepare one table of plates for people to grab, for those who might prefer that, during our first half. This means we need a good number of volunteers for the bake sale, maybe 6 or more. This was done by high school students in the past. They can get volunteer hours. Please help us find these volunteers. 

Next week: Tuesday, April 25th (last rehearsal downstairs)

Bill and One Voice at 6:30, Mad About Mozart at 7:00.

• We Rise Again
• Sunshine Medley
• Top of the World
• I Can See Clearly Now
• Why We Sing

Tuesday, May 2nd: Run-through rehearsal

This is like a dress rehearsal, without the dressing up. We arrive at 7:00 and we might end later than usual. We are upstairs in the sanctuary where we will be performing on May 6th. The sound guy, Doug, will be there and we'll be able to try out the microphones. We will go through the whole concert in order to make sure we know where to stand, sit, walk, and to make sure the whole thing will flow nicely. Your binders will be in concert order. I suggest you enter pages for the songs you're not singing too, so you can be clear on what you're doing while those are happening. 

Tuesday, May 9th: First stop of the seniors tour: Willow's Estate in Aurora

be sure to use the YRCC Google Calendar to see where we're going to be each week. 

Tuesday, May 23rd: YRCC Potluck Party and AGM

Annual General Meeting: We need to have one meeting a year with all of us: we elect and re-elect board members/the executive to run the choir (President, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer, PR.). There's a budget to approve, and any other business. We try to keep business short so that we can have some fun eating, sing for fun, and socialize. We arrive a bit early and bring food to share. 

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review April 11

 2 Small Groups met early: Tomorrow (Duet) and Together Wherever We Go. I was able to watch the second one, and they're fabulous, everything I'd hoped for. I also heard the One Voice trio, and wow am I happy!

Warm-ups included stretching and breathing and opening our throats to allow lots of air support. We sang Wonderful World to warm up. Just wonderful, and so appropriate as we enjoy blue skies and green grass and flowers in this funny hot spell. 

1. Happy Together: Super! We reviewed the ending from the ba-bas, and Kit agreed to sing the descant part with the first sopranos. We thought about adding a pause for getting our notes where we all sing the same, and sometimes miss that note. We did fine with Donna just giving us a good chord on beat one. 

2. Sunshine Medley: We looked at Let the Sunshine, the last part of the medley. We decided to be very loose and fun with it. You don't have to follow the notes. We'll sing it in unison twice and then we'll break out into harmonies, just winging it- it worked really well. We repeat several times, and I'll invite the audience to sing along, and I'll stop it when we're all worked up ;-) We went back a little and worked on Don't You Worry Bout a Thing, and also sang all the way through. I'm putting a couple links here again for you to listen to so that you're more familiar with how Don't You Worry Bout a Thing sounds. 

SAB arrangement

from the movie Sing!

This is so good, and you can hear the soprano part really well. There's a lot of embellishment, but the main idea is clear. 

3. Walking on Sunshine: You've got this. We seem to forget a little when we don't sing it often, so we'll sing it more ;-) 

4. This Little Light of Mine: Wow! It's so good. I think the soloists are great.

5. On Eagles Wings: So beautiful. I hear that some sopranos don't know about not singing at 43, top of page 6. You come in soft at make you to shine. Altos, you're it here on those long notes, so balance out the volume to let the Tenors and Basses shine on the melody, and then altos and tenor/bass are strong through that whole page. At 61, you switch. Tenors and Basses have those long notes and soprano and alto are on the melody and need to be careful not to be too loud. We need T&B strong throughout that page as well.  

We continue to sell tickets. At choir you can tap a credit card! 

Next week, Tuesday, April 18th

at 6:30: Because We Believe (Bill solo) and Blair's solo at 7 or so.

Next week's songs:

• Sunshine Medley
• On Eagles Wings
• You'll Never Walk
• Walking on Sunshine
• Viva
• We Rise Again

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review April 4th

I'm starting to get excited (hyper/instense/overstrung) about our concert! 

Small group at 6:30 was Mad About Mozart, and it sounds so good! I can't wait for everyone to hear it. We'll bring in all the other solos and duets again over the next few weeks. 

Physical warm-up was the Macarena (fun!), and the vocal warm-up was You Raise Me Up. That's cheating, because it's really not great to warm up your voice by singing, but we were laughing and breathing hard during our physical warm-up, so hopefully you didn't strain your voices. 

1. Blue Skies: I selected the soloists: Lauren on the first and Melinda on the second. Debbie is a back-up for both. This is really very good, sounds great every time, and it's a crowd pleaser in the seniors homes. We reviewed proper snap form, and how to hold your binder when you're walking. Here's a video to watch to see how the snaps and jazz hands look. Also, watch it to hear how good it sounds. You don't get a good feeling for how we look or sound when you're in your section. Soloists for This Little Light of Mine will be Debbie and Blair, BTW, with Lauren and Melinda as back-ups. 

2. I Can See Clearly Now: This is coming along great! The blue skies part was a bit off at first, but we fixed it. I highly recommend listening to the excellent parts recordings on the website if you're feeling like you were missing anything, or maybe you just missed a few rehearsals. Your part is played over a choral version, so you can hear how you fit in with the rest of the choir. Here's a link to a performance on YouTube.

3. Sunshine Medley: We went over parts in the Don't You Worry Bout a Thing section. In a medly, there's always a little stress in the transition from one song to the next. But, I think this section is also difficult because it's not as familiar as the other pieces and because there are ba-bas. Here's a link to a choral version that inspired me and a link to the version from the movie Sing. 

4. We Rise Again: I selected Lauren to be the back-up for Marlene's solo. That doesn't include the second soprano part, so I'd be happy if one of the second sopranos could step up for this song at least. Lauren did a great job, nailed it on her first try. I'm still not hearing the tenor part in the second group of oohs and aahs. Maybe we should consider having you all on the bass part? Let me know what you think. Unfortunately, we lost the recordings for this, except for the accompaniment and alto part. Here's a video for you to watch, where you can watch a singer from your section, see/hear what they're doing.

5. You'll Never Walk Alone: Such an awesome arrangement! We looked at the second soprano bits that we often miss. The second syllable of "alone" has an extra syllable on beat 2 of the next bar (a-lo- 231-own). I want that one, but won't be sad if the quarter notes in "dreams" are missing. Here's a video to watch.

Tickets are $20 and you can start buying them for friends and family. We can take payment by credit cared with Square now. Cash and cheque are good too. Posters are availble if you have a spot to post them.

Tuesday, April 11th

6:30 Tomorrow Duet, 7:00 Together Wherever We Go Small Group

• Happy Together
• Sunshine Medley (Don't You Worry)
• This Little Light of Mine
• Walking on Sunshine
• Wonderful World

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review March 28

I apologize for being late with my review, and thank you for your patience.

Mad About Mozart met at 6:30. They'll have one more full rehearsal, and then we'll bring back Together Wherever We Go.

We warmed up with Hallelujah, which is always fun and sounds excellent. I love our arrangement.

1.We Rise Again. We studied the oohs and aahs. Altos, yours is the only parts recording that is still available on the website - the others are lost with our former webmaster.

2. Sunshine Medly: We learned the first section, Here Comes the Sun

3. I Can See Clearly Now: Sounding excellent! We're still working on coming in strong on the right note at 45. We'll keep on top of it.

4.Viva!: We looked at dynamics, when to be loud and when to get soft. Big Mozart drama: I love it!

5. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: Lovely!

6. Why We Sing: Always moving and satisfying. I might change the beginning. 

We are selling tickets to our concert. Remember to bring cash, or a cheque made out to York Region Community Choir, but we can now also accept credit card payment with our Square machine. Try it out! Copy this picture of our poster and put it in an email to all of your contacts, so that people know we're back! Share the event on Facebook, or  one of my messages with the poster. Let's try to get a full house. We can set tickets aside for pick-up at the door, but they will need to be paid for in advance. 

Tuesday, April 4th:

6:30 Mad About Mozart

• Blue Skies
• I Can See Clearly
• Sunshine Medley
• We Rise Again
• You Raise Me Up

I've been updating the website with events in the ARTS LISTING section, under NEWS.

My friend Judy Craig collects events and distributes regularly a listing of all the stuff going on in our area. She also sends me the occasional additional email with a poster or some info, which I've been adding, so I changed the name to Arts Listing Plus. 

I'm going to add this poster below for the Men of Note concerts coming up the weekend after ours.