YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review September 23rd

It was a grand night for singing, despite the rain. We got all the equipment and stuff inside, not too wet,  except for my ‘riser’ which I left dry in my trunk. We did just fine without it. 

6:30, we started the first small group, Dona Nobis Pacem. (dough-nah no! beesss/not beez paw 🐾 tshem) It was excellent how we worked together to make it sound best, and came up with a plan for its performance. Stellar teamwork. We lowered the key so that the bass clef singers could all sing together, and it’s not too low for the sopranos, and altos are comfy there. We’re starting on a D instead of an F. We will lead the audience in the second singing, with altos leading their side, sopranos the other, and tenors and basses will lead all who sing in that lower range.

Our physical warm-up was a recorded song with movement again. It’s good to gently stretch your neck and shoulders and sway and twist and wiggle to music anytime you’re feeling a little stress or anxiety. We responded to the rhythm with our dancing and also with snapping and clapping- on 2 and 4! The song was September by Campsite Dream. We also listened briefly to the version from the movie Trolls. We sang the ba-do-doos and ba-de-ahs. We raised our voices in loud Wows and Whats again. Love those.

1. Peace on This Silent Night: has lots of notes written on it. We’re going to make it simpler this time. Sopranos and Tenors on top, in Part l, all the way through, and Altos and Basses on the bottom, Part ll. I want two soloists for the beginning, please, an Alto and a Soprano? Little short solos that end with a duet. Everyone comes in not quite Forte at 27. We have rehearsal recordings of the parts for this on our website. Go to the Music Library and open the folder with the song's title.

2. For Unto Us a Child is Born: We started at the ending. Well, the last section, actually, from the words "and his name" at the bottom of page 8. We went over each part and we sounded so good together! If we nail the ending, then anything we might have fuddled in the middle will be forgotten. We get to sing this part again, with slight variations on pages 3, 5, and 7. I'm copying the links to some rehearsal videos. You can access these on our Music Library on the website, and they're on my YouTube playlist too. And, you might find your part in a different video that is more to your liking, because there are several on YouTube. 

• Händel: Messiah - 13. For unto us a child is born - Gardiner
• Handel - For Unto Us a Child is Born - Soprano Practice
• Handel - For Unto Us a Child is Born - Alto Practice
• 13 - Handel Messiah Part 1 - For Unto Us A Child Is Born - Tenor
• 13 - Handel Messiah Part 1 - For Unto Us A Child Is Born - Bass

3. Song for a Winter's Night: Wow! We got through the whole song and it was awesome. We did parts on page 9, went over all the oohs and ahhs up to there, and then did the top of page 10. It was cool and not too difficult. Note: the oohs turn to ahhs at bar 37. There are recordings on YouTube for this too, and you can access them from our Music Library. 

4. Various Themes on Fa-la-la: We're so good, we got ahead of what I expected. We are at bar 74. Some of us remember this very well from last time, and the melodies are so well-known that it's not difficult to follow and sing these fun classical themes. We should have fun with this piece, try to relax and smile and even laugh-the audience will laugh. We have recordings of all the parts on the website if you're feeling behind. 

Next week: Tuesday, September 30th We'll dip our toes further into Christmas, even though it will still be September! 

6:30 small group: African Noel Please sign up!

• Angels Among Us
• For Unto Us a Child is Born
• O Holy Night
• Shine Hanukkah
• Various Themes on Fa-la-la

It was a Grand Night with YRCC at the Theatre

Friday's Theatre outing. 

This past Friday, a bunch of us went to Theatre Aurora on Henderson Drive just west of Yonge Street to see A Grand Night for Singing, (that's a link to the theatre's website- you can see the show next weekend too!) a Broadway revue of Rodgers & Hammerstein songs from their many musicals. It was fabulous! We all agreed that we need to do more of that, going out together to see a show. Live music, live theatre is something so special, and we have lots of opportunities in Newmarket and Aurora to see wonderful shows. 

This show featured a cast of 5 actor/singer/dancers and a 6-person orchestra. I kept calling them a band: "I want a band!". But, they were more like a tiny perfect orchestra. There was an amazing percussionist, a man who played flute, clarinet, and saxophone, a cellist, a bassist (standing double bass! love) and two (magical) keyboard players. I loved watching them all, and they sounded huge. 

The description on the poster says "with humour, heart, and irresistible charm" and that's what it was. Funny, loveable, charming. The actors were absolutely charming, funny, adorable. The singing was so, so good! And dancing too. Such a joy! Of course, the music was fantastic, and the lyrics incredible, iconic songwriting. I didn't know many of the songs but loved them all. 

The venue is smallish, humble, unassuming, but the sound was excellent, perfect, and the lighting/set absolutely professional. 

We're going to look at the rest of the season's offerings to make some plans for a future choir trip. Next time, we hope more people join us for dinner before too. 

Dinner was a good opportuinity to talk to each other and discover how much (very much) we have in common. There's not much time to get to know one another during rehearsals, so this was a real treat. We went to Symposium on Hollandview, and it was good, but we can consider trying different restaurants too. 

I'm looking forward to our next YRCC outing! What will it be?

Read the article in the Auroran

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review September 16th

Woo-hoo! We had a bunch of new people come to sing with us. It was great. I love sharing our wonderful thing, our choir (therapy) evening, this beautiful community of friends who love to sing. 

We danced a little to "shake the sillies out". We did the twist and the mashed potato (sort of) with the song Do You Love Me? I made a point of singing "work, work, work" because it was going to be a busy rehearsal with lots of work. We have lots of work to do before our concert in December, but we have lots of time, too. If you need to miss a rehearsal, be sure to read my blog post following the rehearsal so that you can get caught up. There are some recordings on the website and on my YouTube channel.

After a brief vocal warm-up, featuring very loud (double forte ff) "wow!" and "what!?", we got straight to work.

1. Angels Among Us: this one is not only new to almost everbody, but also a song that many people have never heard! That put us all on an even level for a change. We started learning this song by doing it part by part starting at the chorus, bar 18. Bar 18 marked as the segno. We talked about how the segno (which means sign) marks a spot that we will need to return to. It's ofen used in conjunction with a coda, a symbol to indicate a special ending. We found the place where we have to go back on page 9, also the page with the coda. I love the oh-oh-oh before the chorus. We get to sing the chorus 3 times. The third one is in the ending, and it's in a key change. It looks different but it sounds the same, just a little higher. We even did the ending! I'm thinking about having soloists sing the verses, maybe with a little bit of choir back-up? I'm not crazy about how the verse is divided up between parts. Just an idea now. Let me know what you think.  

2.Let There Be Peace on Earth: So special! We did really well. I've decided we're doing the "quiet ending" It's so much better than the loud one. It's bigger, and we don't have to sing it that quiet ;-) Don't forget to write in pencil the alternative words "With Earth as our mother, her children all are we. Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony." We're going to have 2 sopranos sing the extra top line, the descant-like echo part. I think that's all we can spare. I'll need a back-up for each part though, so 4 sopranos to learn those. I was happy to see the coda symbol on the endings of this piece to reinforce your learning. Notice also that the first bar of the coda is the same in both endings "me", after "let it begin with." In the same way, our coda in Angels Among Us starts with the same "love" as after the first "light of love".  

3. Song for a Winter's Night: We are all singing all the way through this time, and we learned the oohs under the first two verses! Last time we didn't start until page 9, having soloists only up until then. This is what gave me the idea to do that with Angels. It was excellent, and doing that made this year's version different, very easily. This Gordon Lightfoot song is super-Canadian, and I love it so much! 

4. For Unto Us a Child is Born: Wowza! Some strong feelings about this one. It's hard and we have to "yodel" (Colby's word for when we sing the wild melismas/runs/ornamentation on the word "born" for example.) We almost finished this piece last Christmas, but had to put it on hold. Now, we're going to finish it. There are videos for each part to help you learn your part. You will probably need to spend a little time outside of choir nights learning this piece. It's super cool, though, impressive, and we don't have to be perfect. Just listen to any recording of a choir singing it, and you'll have a hard time discerning whether or not they're singing it accurately. We're not judges and we're not going to be judged. Yay!

5. Various Themes on Fa-la-la: Wheeee! it's so much fun! Memories of Bugs Bunny, right?! We learned the parts of the Deck the Halls sections. Remember that the la-la-las are short and weird, and they will get weirder as we go from song to song in this medley. The audience will laugh and they'll love it. 

We talked about:

• Getting signed up on the website. Carol will send emails to the new folks who will complete their profiles on the website. Access to the website is very important. Please keep up to date by taking a look from time to time in addition to reading this blog weekly. 
• Small Groups are starting next week. Sign up in "Events" and come early, at 6:30, if you want to sing Dona Nobis Pacem. 
• Friday's Theatre outing. This Friday, a bunch of us are going to the Aurora Theatre to see A Grand Night for Singing, a Broadway revue of Rodgers & Hammerstien songs from their many musicals. Sign up online. We still have 2 tickets available. Sign up in "Events". We will have to pay Robyn for our tickets (only $22.50 if we get 10 people). 

Next week: Tuesday, September 23

Small Group: Dona Nobis Pacem at 6:30

• Peace on this Silent Night
• Song for a Winter's Night
• For Unto Us a Child is Born
• Various Themes on Fa-la-la

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review September 9th

I'm so happy to be back at choir!!! 

It was wonderful to see so many of my choir friends again after a long hot summer. It was a good summer, but I'm really ready for this cooler weather and singing every Tuesday evening again! 

We're having another 30th Anniversary Celebration! Why Not? We do two very different concerts every year, and this is our 30th Winter Concert Season. We're going to sing winter songs and, naturally, Christmas music. Yay! I love Christmas music. 

This week, we had returning members registration. It went very smoothly and we got our binders and updated our phone numbers and email addresses, and we're set. Don't worry if you were away, we'll be sure not to give your music number away. 

Next week, we will have new members starting! Yay! New members are asked to come at 7:00 for registration. We'll try to start on time at 7:30. 

We started our rehearsal with a few stress-relieving exercises and some good breathing stuff. I'm trying out a few new things I've learned. I like the "dive" breathing exercise where you hold your hands together above your head while you breathe in, so you can't lift your shoulders and you have to fill your abdomen to get a good big breath. We did some short and gentle vocal exercises with the breathing. 

1. In Our Town in December: a simple and sweet opener. It talks about the different things that people do and celebrate in December, and the climax is "Singing Peace on Earth". Our secondary theme is Peace. All of the traditions in December are about family and community and peace on earth, and so is our choir. If everyone sang in a choir, we would have peace on earth. Please remember to mark your music with our special ending. We'll go over how to do that next time. (ad lib notes, and pencil!)

2. Let There Be Peace On Earth: our theme. This one has a lot of pencil marks on it because we've done it so many times, and probably never twice the same way. We have a solo/small group descant, and two possible endings. We have alternative lyrics. We have tenor and bass parts that we re-write. We reviewed  parts, up to section F. But, we'll do it again once the new folks are there. I'm not sure, but I think I might want the second, quiet, ending. I know; it doesn't sound like me. But, it's more dramatic, actually. We'll see.

3. Various Themes on Fa-la-la: OMG! This is so  much fun! It's such a good piece because we get a ton of classical music in one big medley and it's also pretty funny. Humour and Classical themes. Perfect. We just did a quick run-through, to remember that we have to work on the transitions but the parts are not too difficult. 

4. Song for a Winter's Night: This will be more fun this year because we're doing the oohs! But, not the oohs on the first page, we're skipping that intro and using the one Donna made for us last time, four bars only. And, we're not having solos, so we all get more melody too. The top of page 10 will be different this time; we're going to sing it as written, with the oohs. It will be so good!

5. Angels Among Us: New! We get a new song because it was a small group in the past, so technically, it's not new. A number of people had never heard of this song, so I'll put the YouTube video of the Alabama version below, but you can always go to my YouTube Channel and look up the YRCC playlist for the season to find the songs we're singing, often with old recordings of the YRCC! 

Renate's YouTube Playlist for YRCC 2025 Winter

6. Why We Sing: This is why. This is our ongoing theme: singing is good for so many reasons! It's mostly good for us, those singing, but also good for the ones we sing for. We are bringing back the descant this season! First sopranos will sing on top for the big ending. It's so big! 

Next week: 

• Angels Among Us
• For Unto Us a Child is Born
• Let There Be Peace On Earth
• Song for a Winter's Night
• Various Themes on Fa-la-la

Youth Community Choir for Newmarket Area Families

 

This is a fantastic opportunity for young people in Newmarket, Sharon, East Gwillimbury, Queensville, Aurora, Bradford,... Sharon-Hope Church is north of Mt. Albert Rd., South of Doane Rd. on Leslie St. 

YRCC Rehearsals Start September 9th, 2025

 Next week! We meet again starting next week. Yay!

I hope you all enjoyed the summer, and you're all ready and excited like I am, ready to get back to choir.

We're finally advertising openings for new members. It's been years since we did that. We had a waiting list for many, many years, with only a few spots coming available from time to time, and then we limited membership to returning members after COVID. Now, we're ready to invite new members again Although I thought that we were a good size last season, I believe that we should welcome more people since we have the space. Everyone deserves to sing with us. Our experience should be shared as much as possible, right? 

So, let Carol know if you've got a friend who's interested in joining. They can come on the second Tuesday to try us out, September 16th.

Have you looked at the website lately? The new redesign is not ready yet, but we've been working on the way the music and recordings are stored and accessed. The list of music for this coming season is up. You can take a look at all the music that will be in your binders. Peggy and Anne have got them ready for us. 

Remember that the yearly membership fee is now $100. You'll be able to pay by credit card, cheque (to York Region Community Choir) or cash. Don't forget to see Carol and Peggy first when you arrive. Come a little early so we can all get registered and start singing as soon as possible. I can't wait!