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, September 20, 2023

My Thursday Singing Night at Trinity Newmarket

At yesterday's YRCC rehearsal, I mentioned my new Singing Nights at Trinity United Church in Newmarket (corner of Park and Main).

My Singing Nights are on Thursdays in place of the former choir practice, but open to anyone. 

Trinity's Choir only sings once a month and rehearses most Sunday mornings, but people at Trinity love to sing. So, I thought I'd offer to host an evening singing time with a time for choir members to practise their pieces but also have fun. I've offered to conduct the choir with the accompaniment and help by the music director, Kevin. Kevin is not available evenings, so I'll need to use recordings until a rehearsal accompanist presents themself. 

My hope is that with extra time to rehearse and lots of time for fun, recreational singing, and time to socialize too, the choir will grow. My goal for the church is to have a good-sized choir for the Advent season to sing at Christmas and at a Candlelight Service. Candlelight services in the past were lead by the Senior Choir, with lots of audience participation on carols in the hymn book along with readings by choir members and a few choral selections. The church's great big sanctuary is a magical place at night with the lights turned low and with candles glowing. This year will be different, and will possibly feature a theatrical presentation. 

I hope that some YRCC memebers will be available on Thursday evenings. I know that some of you sing at your churches and I hope you continue to do so. I don't want to poach anyone away. If you're  not busy on Thursday evenings, please come and sing. If you can sing with the choir on our Sundays (October 8 and November 5, to be confirmed) that would be wonderful too. The Candlelight Christmas Service is going to be Sunday, December 17 and I'm hoping we can prepare something nice and choral for that. 

We'll sing from 7:30-9:30 every Thursday for now, maybe switching to 7-8:30 when the weather gets wild. My vision for this is for it to grow so big that we need to meet in the Sanctuary to accomodate all the people who want to sing, like Choir!Choir!Choir! but with pop and hymns (wouldn't that be cool?!). Right now we're pretty small and we can meet in the music room. Please use the Park Avenue entrance. There will be signs posted. 

Here's the poster. It's hard to read. Click on it to enlarge it or save it to enlarge it.



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