YRCC Winter 2025 Seniors Tour & Holiday Wishes

We had so much fun, and all agreed that it was too bad that we only had two Tuesdays left. Christmas singing is special. We will definitely do more seniors’ visits in the spring.  Sometimes we manage as many as 5 or 6.

I always have people coming up to me after to thank me and to let me know how good we were and how grateful they were. I am so lucky to be the one to receive their kind words! I hope you all know that you are appreciated and admired.

I will be planning our spring concert and rehearsal schedule right after Christmas, and Peggy and Anne will be preparing your binders. Make sure all your music and your binders got to Peggy. If not, get them to her asap. It’s a big job filing all the music away and putting the new music in 65 binders! Don’t be the one who messes up their work.

I wish you all a holiday full of joy, celebration, and lots of music,  🎶 with many warm and peaceful moments of rest and relaxation too. May our music of peace and love continue to inspire you until we meet again. 

See you in 2026! We start again on Tuesday, January 13th. See if you can bring a man with you, or anyone who can sing tenor or bass. 

Special Christmas Event, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025: Trinity Drama Club Presents:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trinity member, Mary Lawlis has been running a Drama Club, open to young people ages 8-14 in the community, every Wednesday evening since the fall. 

Those young people are joined by adults from the community and the congregation for this inclusive Community Christmas play. 

The cathedral bells haven't rung in ages, generations of silence. Only the best gift on Christmas Eve will start them ringing again. Whose offerning will be greatest? Find out:

Why The Chimes Rang 

I've been helping with the music and arranged a special version of Carol of the Bells for this show, taking advantage of the set of handbells the church has. 

Trinity's Choir and Praise Team (I'm a member of both) are singing in the play and will lead the Carol singing!   

Come in the morning, during church time, or come in the evening when we'll be sure to do some singing by candlelight-a tradition that's probably over a hundred years old.  

Our Concert & Singing with Seniors YRCC Dec. 2025

Our concert was huge! I haven't got numbers, but that was a big audience, around 200 I'm guessing. 

It was a lot of work rehearsing the music, but the concert iteself is a big job. So many choir members worked hard getting everything set up and beautiful, baking, making coffee, dragging tables and chairs around, and unpacking and placing poinsettias (they're even bigger than last year! Stunning!), and making sure we had programs and tickets for everyone-and there were so many wonderful people, beautiful happy faces and lovely voices, in the audience! What a great audience! 

I'm happy that our music selections were well received and, although not flawless, well performed! Yes, you did great! Some of the little flubs were probably the weight of the responsibility that you were feeling. It's something really cool, actually, to be part of a big concert and to have people counting on you to do your part. It's a big deal, and you should feel proud of your efforts and the nearly perfect performance. 

Yesterday, at Sharon Corners, I think the choir sounded even better than at the concert at times, even though lots of people were missing. The seniors' visits are always so much fun, and way less stressful. There isn't much time to worry about setting things up perfectly, or standing perfectly. Robin did the work to set up the visits ages ago. When we arrive, the audience is there waiting. The seniors are just so happy that we're there, and we just relax. There were a few moments of stress, though. The layout there was not the best, and I worried about that, and then we were interrupted by a visit from Santa. I was so mad! How could there be a fuss happening, people talking loudly, bells ringing, etc, during our performance?! I turned it around though, by inviting Santa to come and stand with us for a photo, and then started an impromptu serenade of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Santa was a good sport and waltzed around the room with me for a bit, before I bid him adieu, "Bye, Santa!".  Also, we were missing some sopranos, so I got to sing! It was fun. I do love singing. 

I saw that someone has posted photos from the concert on our website. Thank you, Sou!!! I hope we get more, and I'm looking forward to having a photo of myself dancing with Santa!  

I'm looking forward to next week at The Roxborough. One last chance to sing our stuff. Don't forget that you'll need to hand in your binders next week if you haven't already. If you miss next week, then you'll have to get your binder to Peggy's house. The spring music has to be ready for you in your binder when we start rehearsing again in January.  

 

Why We Sing: YRCC loves this song, and loves to sing

Our (surprise) encore song at our concert on Sunday will be Why We Sing. 

When we first got this piece of music, and started learning it, a number of us started to cry. 

Singing is so good! We love it, and the song gives us so many reasons why singing is good. We've joined the choir for all kinds of reasons, and we love it for all of the reasons that are listed in the song. 

We can feel good about singing and it's also good for our health, physical, mental, and spritual. I've read a ton of articles over the past couple decades about the health benefits of singing. Every time I read a new one, I feel validated. I'm doing something good for myself and for my community when I lead the choir. 

Peggy has sent me a new article on the health benefits of singing, Why singing is surprisingly good for your health, and of course it says choral singing is the best! 

    "But not all types of singing are equally beneficial. Singing as part of a group or a choir, for example, has been found to promote a greater level of psychological wellbeing than in solo singers."

"From boosting the brain to reducing pain, joining others in song can bring some wide-ranging benefits." Yes, I know. Go ahead and read the article. It's pretty good. There's a link down there.  

 

Read the article from BBC Future. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why We Sing by Greg Gilpin

A sound of hope, a sound of peace,
a sound that celebrates and speaks what we believe.
A sound of love, a sound so strong,
it’s amazing what is given when we share a song.
This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
why we stand as one in harmony!
This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
take my hand and sing with me!
Soothe a soal, mend a heart, bring together lives
that have been torn apart.
Share the joy, find a friend,
it’s a neverending gift that circles back again.
This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
why we stand as one in harmony!
This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
take my hand and sing with me!
Music builds a bridge, it can tear down a wall!

Music is a language, that can speak to one and all!

This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
why we stand as one in harmony!
This is why we sing, why we lift our voice,
take my hand and sing with me!
This is why we sing, we sing, WE SING!

 

YRCC 2025 Run-through Rehearsal Review December 2nd, 2025

Now, we're ready: We know how to hold our binders, how to walk, how to sit down and get back up again, and how to wait. Funny, it's just like Choir to make regular stuff that you've been doing forever, without thinking, into complicated things, like breathing for example. hahaha

It's not that complicated. Breathe deeply to support your voice. Hold your binder closed while walking, sitting, or waiting. And, hold it in your left arm. When we're ready to sing, I'll give you the signal to open your binders and you'll have them open while singing, and the close them before you start walking. 

The singing is well-rehearsed and the choir sounds great. You sound great. I know it doesn't always seem that way, especially if you're standing near the edges of the choir, far from the other parts, and maybe beside someone who sometimes gets a little lost. Did you hear the recording that Doug played for us during our break? Always, people are surprised to hear how we sound. We sound magnificent. Do your thing, the best you can, and your voice will join the others to create that big sound. Here is a link to a recording from last night. Enjoy that! And, feel confident and calmer. 

Try to feel confident in your part so that you can look up from your music to watch me for when to come in/start singing and when to stop. There were moments when people were not watching and we didn't sound 'together'. Those were always beginnings and endings of songs and sections of songs, a new verse, or phrase. If you miss a cue, don't come in loud when you're catching up, phase in gentlly. 

Soloists, please try to memorize your parts, so that you can look up at the audience, and not down into your binder the whole time. We'll try to get you a turn to sing with a microphone before the concert. Come at 1:00 and let me know you're there and ready. 

Stay healthy, or get healthy, please. I've been popping Vitamin C's like never before. And, drinking lots of water. Eating my veggies. Stretches, walking, dancing whatever makes your body feel good, do some of that. Get a good night's sleep Saturday night. 

If you want to read some advice I gave the choir about performing in 2012, here is a link. Very little has changed since then. The most important thing is to have fun, smile, sing with joy. When you're smiling the audience will smile, and their smiles will make you smile more, and so on. 

 

And, some business: Seniors' Visits and Binders

The next two Tuesdays, we're singing at seniors' homes. Seniors' Visits are so rewarding and I encourage you to come to at least one. Please sign up on the website, in Events, so that I have an idea how many people are coming. 

After your last performance, (if you're not coming to the seniors' homes, you have to hand in your binder after the concert) you must hand in your binder and all the music. If you forget, you can bring the binder to Anne's or Peggy's house before Christmas. You'll get your binder back with the next season's music in January. 

Binders go to Peggy and Anne, so they can empty them all, put all the music away in filing cabinets in Peggy's house, and then fill them up with the music we're going to start singing in January! It's a big job, and you have to do your part, which is so easy, just hand your binder in at the end of each season. If you forget, you can bring the binder to Anne's or Peggy's house before Christmas.