YRCC 2024 Rehearsal Review Tues. April 23

I'm very happy with everything! All the small groups are in good shape. All of our songs are in good shape, and we are ready for our show!

We started at 6:00 with the Rainbow Connection small group, and we did it! We got this together and I'm so grateful to Donna for making those rehearsal recordings! I love this song. Then, we rehearsed Anthem, and the sound of a men's group is a special treat. The song is pretty special too, and the soloists nailed their solos. Excellent. Night of Stars had a rocky start just because we hadn't reheared it in a while. We got it together again, and it was beautiful. I have to remember the slower tempo. Wishin' and Hopin' also took a moment to get back together again, to remember that the second sopranos carry the melody, that the melody is in the middle and not on top, and we added a couple of parts to second soprano. Such a fun, cute song, but I have to be sure to comment on how "old-fashioned" it is.

At break we heard Mona and Stanley's duet, I See the Light. Their performances almost always make me cry. Stanley sings: "Now she's here, shining in the starlight; Now she's here, suddenly I know." This song is about a moment when your dreams change. We talked about how the things we wish for blowing out candles, or on Santa's knee, change over the years. In this song, the lovers find each other and then see things in a new light. Many of us sang along with Marlene's Climb Every Mountain. So good! Some of us dream about reaching those high notes. 

1. Somewhere Out There: Sweet.  Remember the little mice, alone in a new country, but feeling the presence of their sibling looking at the same sky and "wishing on the same bright star". This song should have a sweetness and a lovely hopeful child-like positivity. Our show is about wishes and dreams, the things we wish for, and how our dreams come true, and how wishing, dreaming, praying for things helps us. As always, my big theme is that singing about these things is good for us. 

2. Nella Fantasia: Gorgeous. I love this song, and yesterday, you nailed it. It was so good! This is the big wish, the dream: a peaceful, just world, where we feel- deep down in our souls- free and as light as floating clouds in the caress of a warm wind. 

3. Rewrite the Stars: Solos nailed. Bass clef entries nailed. I love how this song moves. This song is not as positive as all the others. Hope is good, dreaming for a better world is good, and we can change the way we think and act but we can't change everyone and we can't change everything all at once. The ending is not a big happy one. In that movie, the people who are disrespected by the public, in the end they are not accepted by everyone, but they feel empowered, and the people around them understand their value, and we admire their courage, so it's a step in the right direction. We're moving in the right direction, becoming more inclusive, accepting diversity. Performance note: please get your first page set to where you come in, and don't follow along with the solo, so that we don't have distracting page turning going on during the solo. For the second solo, you can clip those pages together for one clean flip.

4. Power of the Dream: We got it! This was the most difficult thing we did this season, our only completley new song. I love how we all pulled together to get this one sounding great. The big ending is going to make us all proud. We are all making it up, creating it together, and I love that! This is the power of the choir. I described my vision to you, and with all your individual skills and talents, working togehter, you made my vision come to life. 

5. Star Canon: Sweet! We're going to walk in up the aisle like celebrants in a wedding, to Canon in D, and once we're all settled on the stage, we'll start singing this. This is our first song, but not the beginning of the concert, as our first song usually is. I will enter first, with Tab, and we're going to start with a thoughtful, even prayerful, and inspiring musical treat for our audience, with Jane's inspiring and impressive decorations to help guide the audience to open their hearts to our offering of things worth dreaming about.

6. Hallelujah: Always a treat. The audience will love this as our ovation song. They will possibly have wished for us to sing this, and we will deliver. 

7. You'll Never Walk Alone: Powerful! This is impressive and a pefect finale. Whatever the stars have in store for us, no matter how many of our dreams get blown away in storms, we have our friends and family, we have Love, God, hope in our hearts. Hope. We keep dreaming. 

We talked about:

The bake sale: bring your baking in smallish, individual portions, but not individualy wrapped. You can bring a tin of cookies, a plate of squares, or a tray of tarts, or a loaf (or strudel, or whatever) cut up and ready for us to put on a platter. There will be a buffet of sweets for our audience. They will make a donation and fill up their plates. It's always a great success. Coffee and tea, water and juice will be there too. The intermission feels like a celebration.

The concert order is available on the website, and there's a printable version there and here that you can download if you like. Please have your binder in order for next week's run-through so we don't have to wait for anyone to find their music. 

We talked about avoiding flipping pages while soloists are singing. We'll need to talk about avoiding other distracting behaviour during small groups and solos too. 

Tickets are still available for you to buy, but only at breaktime next week, and by calling Carol with a credit card. Tickets will be sold at the door too, but we would love to sell as many tickets as possible in advance to help getting people in the door smoothly.

After the concert, seniors' tour and Citizens Band concert: Please sign up on the website, in Events, for all of the Tuesdays after the concert, and for our concert with the Newmarket Citizens Band on Saturday, March 25th. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 30th- early start 7:00

Run-through rehearsal at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora, like a dress rehearsal without the dress. Everyone will be in place by 7:00. We will walk through the whole show, figuring out where and when to walk, where and when to sit, and all the logistics of the concert, and test out the order of songs to make sure that works. We'll test the sound, working with microphones and the sound technician, Doug.  

When I find out when we can get in, I'll post the start time for small groups and soloists, sometime between 6 and 6:30. 

No dress for our dress rehearsal. Come in comfortable clothes because it will be a long night. We often go past 9:30. For the concerts, on May 4th and on May 25th, our concert uniform is simple: black on the bottom all the way to the floor (long pants or long skirt, black socks, hose, shoes), white on top all the way to the wrists (long sleeves). We have red scarves and ties. If you're new, you'll get one from Lauren next week. 

Upcoming Events Schedule- Sign up Please

There are two places you, YRCC members, can see what's coming up: the YRCC Calendar, and the Events page on the website. 

Here's a screenshot of the Calendar on the Agenda setting. When you click on any of those entries in the calendar on your device, you'll get the times and locations with links to a map view. You can copy things to your own calendar very easily, and there are print options too. I don't recommend printing, because I change things sometimes. Like, I don't know where the rehearsal on the 21st will be. Probably the Old Town Hall, but idk. Timing for the small groups on the 30th is not clear yet. So, I've entered a guess. I'll update it when I know for sure. I add more information as I get it and when I can.

In Week or Month view (see below) you'll get more detail, but keep clicking, and you'll want to click on "more details" when you have that option. 

agenda view

month view after clicking on the blue entry

more detail view

Below, you have a look at the Events Signup Page on the website in the regular (List) view and Calendar view. You need to log in with your password. It's in the Members section. Click on "Show details" (bottom right) to see the whole entry. You can see who else has already registered and you can register too. Please do register for all of the events that you can come to. The Calendar view is very nice. I always forget that it exists. Make yourself at home on our website, click around, snoop in all the places thhat open up. 

Please sign up so that I can see who's coming (or not) and I can plan our performances. 

I'm especially interested in everyone coming for the Citizens Band Concert and rehearsals. Sign up as soon as you can. Thanks!

calendar view of events list

details of event after calendar view- nice

YRCC 2024 Rehearsal Review Tues. April 16

We're almost there! This was our second-last rehearsal in our room. 

Rainbow Connection small group met 6:30. I was late and things were a bit messy, so Donna has offered to record parts and meet with us early next week. Write the instructions into your sheet music. And, here are the la-las. Write these in too, please. Big harmony on the last note. Choose a Bb, F, or D. 

Warm-ups included light stretching and breathing with light cursing. Breathe in a cleansing breath and let it out with fudge, then cleanse and let out fudgity-fudge, then a big fudging Mc Fudgity fudge. Just now, I tried it and then did it backwards to calm down even more, like a crescendo-decrescendo. If you're having an especially stressful day, don't use the euphemisms; enjoy the power of the four-letter word.  

1. All I Have to do is Dream: sweet and soft for a vocal warm-up. We spent a little time on the timing of the bass clef Oh in the pick-up to E on page 6. Make sure you're only holding the last note of dream for two beats, so you can breathe for half a beat on beat 3 and come in on the and. "and4.1and.." After that bass clef section solo, the passion of the song is higher, so I want to hear a big "Gee whiz", and "need", "die", "love" and "so" should all be accented. We spent a little time on the last page, the oos and watching, as always at the end (and I'll try to remember to to give the sopranos their 1.and2.). 

2. City of Stars: smooth and cool. We remembered that all bass clef singers can sing the optional solo section, just be soft and tightly together. The whole beginning is soft and cool, getting a little stronger at 21, and a little more at 29. We need to empasize "It's love" and the word love in the last line there. At 35 we're quite strong, where everyone is together and it swings so nicely. That section builds up to the "rat-tat-tat on my heart" and then is suddenly soft again with the bass clef voices soft and together, watching for each beat in bar 49. The altos and sopranos are perfect on the ending!

3. Power of the Dream: we're still learning this, but it's gotten very good. We're doing a big Renate-ending where everyone sings the last line: to realize the power of the - dream! Ignore the sheet music there. Bass clef voices can sing the melody or a harmony, even all on one note, if you like. Altos can do that too. Make up a big harmony for the ending. And if we have 6-8 parts on the last note, dream, I will be so happy! This song is at the end of the first half, before we break for the bake sale. If there's a good strong ending, we'll be forgiven if we have some weak spots, and the weak spots might seem like a bit of drama. One more rehearsal for this, so if you're feeling lost still, can you spend a half-hour or so on your part with the recording on the website? Download it so it's on your device. Sing along a few times. Sing the words and adjust for our new inclusive wording. There's a part where a couple sopranos still want to sing the notes as written, adding an extra note. It's at the top of page 3. "And since time began" it's simpler now, a1.2.and3. (not a1.a2.and3). And, sopranos and altos, on page 6, please remember to come in on beat one. There's no pick-up before "Every one of you" (same number of syllables as the original). The rhythm at the top of page 4 is still giving us trouble. I've marked beats 1.2.3.4 on my music to help me with this,  and I circled the words to lean on. Here's a screen shot:

4. Rewrite The Stars: wow! I love this song, and now we've figured out the solos! Lorraine on the first and Tab on the second sounds perfect. The bass clef pick-ups on beat 3 are so good now! (what if we, say you were, no one can, how can you, say that the,...). Remember after Tab's solo, we get more passionate, and it's negative. I'm not the one, it's not up to you, it's not up to me. Stress those negative words, and you'll be sure to fit them in. 

5. Joseph Medley: By request. So much fun and so satisfying! So worth going overtime! 

We talked about signing up for the band concert and the seniors' visits. Numbers are limited, so please sign up on the Events page on the website. Dates, times, and locations are listed there, and they're also entered on the YRCC Calendar. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 23rd- last rehearsal in our room

6:00 Rainbow Connection

6:30 Anthem, Night of Stars, Wishin' and Hopin'

We're going to talk about the bake sale, uniforms, the band concert, and the seniors' tour.

• Power of the Dream
• Nella Fantasia
• Any bits of anything you want: come with requests

Week after next, Tuesday, April 30th- Run-through Rehearsal

We'll be at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora

You will have your binders in concert order. (see website)

We will start at 7:00

We will sing parts of all of the songs, so we can hear how the concert flows.

We will find out how best to stand, sit, and move, how to enter and exit.

We will have a chance to see how the soloists and small groups will use the microphones. 

Everyone must attend.***

***If you can't be there, be sure to let your neighbour in your section know so that they can leave a space for you and guide you at the concert. 

YRCC 2024 Rehearsal Review Tues. April 9

I love my choir. Thank you for giving me a wonderful evening of respite from my grief. My brother passed away after a 10-month battle with Leukemia on Monday. I was not sure I would be able to manage choir night, but also needed it so badly. I'm always telling people to come to choir if they're feeling rotten, because I know it's such a good escape. It sure is.

The Rainbow Connection small group met at 6:30 to work through the revised arrangement. It was great. I tried to play my ukulele, but it was not great, and one cute instrument alone is just a little weird. So, we'll just work on the singing. I can conduct. 

Our warm-up involved picking up the music that Peggy brought for us (Thank you, Peggy!), the words for the concert sing-along pieces, Over the Rainbow and Catch a Falling Star. We sang Catch a Falling Star with Perry Como. So smooth. We'll do a straight-up version like we do with seniors, easy-peasy.

1. Over the Rainbow will be a choir and band collaboration. So, we have their arrangement, and I've entered the bar numbers on the lyric sheet so we don't have to worry about the sheet music, or copying it, but can be "on the same page" as the band. If their conductor calls out "Let's go back to bar 21", we'll know where to go. There's a big instrumental section, and after that a repeat at bar 53, and then a little fancy ending, a Coda at bar 54. Donna was so impressive, sight-reading the arrangement for us to sing to. Wow! It was pretty easy for us. For our concert, we'll do an easy straight-up version that everyone will be able to sing easily. 

2. We took a quick look at Seal Lullaby, the choral piece we're singing with the band. We will sing the parts with lyrics, leaving the oohs and ahhs to the band. You can find recordings of your part on YouTube, and I've collected them on my playlist for the choir. (screenshot below). We will have a whole rehearsal to learn this on May 7th. 

3. Nella Fantasia was excellent! All of your hard work is paying off. 

4. Power of the Dream was also very good. We spent a little time reviewing some of the tricky bits: top of page 10, and top of page 11 where it's easy to get lost when your words have moved, the low notes and rhythm at bar 13, and the ending with the bass clef folks singing pretty much whatever feels good, the melody with the sopranos or a harmony, and then the last note, a real Renate ending where you can all choose a good landing note. We just have to repeat this piece a couple more times for your confidence. Sopranos, sing out loud, especially where you're the only ones on the melody. This is big: With support, we can make dreams come true- like Olympic dreams, reach for your own star, but also, the flame burns forever for us to unite in peace. This is our big message along with with Nella Fantasia, a fantasy of a world of peace, justice, honesty, and freedom. Dreams, fantasies, wishes are related to hope, and they're vital to keep us going with positivity toward better futures for ourselves and for the world.

5. Joseph Medley: Wow!!! It's so good! The soloists nailed their solos and we all got it all in one shot. We just spent a quick moment on the timing of the Go, go, gos. From the end of Benjamin Calypso, those la-las, you count La-2-3-4-1-2-3 and 4 and Jo-seph! Go, go, go is "and four and".  Take a quick breath on the beat 3 just before. Bam. It was perfect. 

6. Star Canon: Wow! It's so good. This will be our first song, a sweet hug for our audience, and it will also be impressive. You sound great. Keep the beginning sweet, only getting a little stronger when there are two or more sections singing together. When we're all in, for that last part, it's big and awesome.

7. You'll Never Walk Alone: Our big finale song, this will leave the audience uplifted, inspired, and impressed. We briefly reviewed the tricky second soprano bits. It was fantastic! We would for sure have gotten a standing ovation on that performance. 

8. Hallelujah: Our encore. They're going to be so satisfied! Your performance brought me to tears. Thank you, my beloved choir! 

Next week, Tuesday, April 16th

6:30: Rainbow Connection small group

• Al I Have to do is Dream
• City of Stars
• Nella Fantasia
• Power of the Dream
• Rewrite the Stars

My Singing Night Moved to New Blog

Trinity Newmarket Singers is my new blog for all the singing stuff at Trinity, mostly for the weekly reviews of my Thursday nights, with the list of songs we sang and the stuff we talked about.

YRCC (York Region Community Choir) members are still more than welcome to come to my Thursday nights at Trinity! In fact, My Singing Night has been rebranded as Sing-Along Café , a Community Singing Evening.

We want to share our Singing Nights.  The Thursday evening gathering evolved from a choral singing and sing-along evening to simply singing along to music on my Apple Playlists. We moved from the Choir Room to the Fellowship Room. 

 Armchairs, sofas, a big TV screen for the lyrics, and playlists with themes, tea and cookies or squares (often home made), and good conversation with lovely company, this is our new singing night, a Sing-along Café.

YRCC 2024 Rehearsal Review Tues. April 2

Another fantastic evening! I was so tired at first from the long weekend, but at the end of the evening I left invigorated, high and happy!

The evening started with Rainbow Connection, the small group at 6:30. Love that song!

Our warm-up included a little twisting, and so many people know the words to Let's Twist Again- fun! We did a bunch of "Maybe my mummy will go to Miami, and maybe my mummy will not". 

1. Hallelujah is always wonderful. We reviewed a few tricky bits that some of us sometimes miss. There are the three alto tricky bits: page 3 "the baffled king composing Hallelujah", page 6 "the holy or the broken Hallelujah", and "with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah". When everyone comes in, there's almost always someone who forgets that our version has a different rhythm on "It goes like this". Circle that if it's you who gets carried away right from the beginning. And, there are often sopranos who go up, up, up in a different way than what's written. Try your best. If someone beside you makes these mistakes in a performance, don't panic. It's not horrible, and everyone loves this song. I promised we'd sing it again at the end of the night if everyone was good ;-) We did, even though we went over time past 9:30. It was so worth it, right?

2. Nella Fantasia is also wonderful, one of my alltime favourites. I know some of you disagree. It's hard, but you're getting it. We spent time on the first page, getting the sopranos together, clear and strong. We reviewed the ahhs for everyone and repeated the in "fondo al l'anima" for everyone several times so that it's strong and clear. There was a brief moment of discussion on the ending of Nella Fantasia, and whether it was a Renate ending or should we add something. Although I appreciate the thought, I do like it, and one thing that I like is how it reminds us of this moment in the first verse, but it's a bigger version of this one. We spend time getting the tenors and basses together at bar 23, and in bar 35. Please review this if you can. 

3. Rewrite the Stars: Wow! We tried a few different soloists and Lorraine and Tab nailed theirs! Can they be our star-crossed lovers? Maybe! We spent time on the tenor and bass entry at the beginning at bar 18. I often yell "one two" here so you come in strong on beat 3 with "What if we". There are a bunch of these pick-ups where the bass clef folks come in before everyone else. It's so important that you do, and do so with confidence and volume. The next one is right there in bar 20: "Say you were". I suggested that you circle all of those in pencil on your music. I have them all circled. The last time we sang this, we added the altos to these bits, but I'm confident that the bass clef sections can do this. This is another of my favourite pieces. If you haven't seen the movie The Greatest Showman, please do. The music is outstanding. The story is beautiful. The love story of the star-crossed lovers is powerful. For this song, see this video. 

4. Power of the Dream: Yes! We're getting it. It's hard, but it's coming together. We spent time just saying and then singing the rhythm of the first couple pages. Those melodies are repeated. We reviewed the top of page 4 "special part every one of us will play" I marked the beats in this phrase. "one" comes on beat 3 and "us" on beat 4. On page 6 "Every one of you, as you come" is a little confusing because of the new words- a little like the Italian and English in Nella. E---vry-one-- of--you. Slow, fast, fast, and 3. The next thing we spent time on was page 8. We'll go over that again. We added a beat at the bottom of the page, changing the 3/4 bar to a 4/4. So, you hold that lst note "can" for two beats in that bar, then rest a beat before coming in on beat 4, for the pick-up "feel the".  The ending will be a Renate ending, with the bass clef voices added and then on the last note, "dream", we'll have a big crazy harmony with everyone singing a note they feel like singing. I love those. It's goinig to be fabulous.

Next week, Tuesday, April 9th

6:30 Rainbow Connection Small Group

• Nella Fantasia
• Power of the Dream
• Sing-alongs: Catch a Falling Star, (Somewhere) Over the Rainbow
• Rewrite the Stars?