Another Cancellation- Tuesday, February 18th

 

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review February 11th

What an excellent rehearsal! I had several moments of absolute bliss. The harmonies, the songs, the people... bliss.

The altos met at 6:30 and Lauren and Donna helped them out with tricky spots in a number of songs, including looking ahead to Song for the Mira and Imagine, which was impressive.

We had a brief warm-up, just getting kinks out, relaxing and stretching our instruments.

1. Blue Skies: We have snaps, jazz hands, and there are two solos. We discovered that we'd been singing bar 22 wrong all these years. We now have recordings of parts, so if you sing alto, tenor, or bass (part ll), please review "shining so bright" at bar 22. Also, a number of  part ll people forgot about the last blue skies; landing on skies at bar 73 is different. I'm hoping to have everyone snap at the beginning, not just the sopranos. It should be possible. You can snap and sing, right? There is no page turn there. 

2. We Rise Again: We have a soloist! Melinda can do it, and does it well. I would love to have a back-up, so please give it a try and let me know. We have stressed over this song in the past, and I don't want to stress over it. It's always been excellent, even though it's never been perfect. There are all those oohs, and then the first chorus is especially difficult for the tenors and basses. We might try to do that first chorus as written, but we might not. When everyone except the first sopranos is on the melody, it's powerful. We'll work on the mm-ooh-ahhhs. They're cool. The tenors move a lot, down to the bass line whenever that divides, and back up to the tenor clef/treble clef an octave down. Second sopranos are on the alto line singing the melody most of the time (the chorus, and page 9-bar 61. At bar 62, last system on page 12, there's a little bit of shuffling for the big ending. But, again, don't stress it. It's big and loud and awesome, always excellent, even when it's not perfect.

3. Imagine: We have an option to have 2 short solos at the beginning. I'm not sure if we will. I like that this arrangement gives everyone the opportunity to sing the song with good strong and simple harmonies. There are a few bars that have rhythms we'll need to work on. We all sight-read through the whole thing, and it's already sounding good.

4. On Eagle's Wings: We worked on all the different "make you to shine like the sun" sections. They're so good! We are excellent on the choruses and the ending now. Even though we haven't spent time on the rest, it's also excellent. This song is beautiful. You sound fantastic.

5. Shenandoah: Same thing here. We haven't worked on this, except for the oohs at the beginning, but people remember it, and new folk are following or studying or just amazing, and it's really very beautiful.

6. Song for The Mira: Such a pretty song! We only had 10 minutes, but we went over the parts on pages 8-11 where the choir sings the chorus and the last verse in SATB.  We have recordings if you want to review that at home. Again, the new folk are excellent at following or they're studying or just amazing. I was impressed. Reminder: we're not going to learn the oohs. Just like Song for a Winter's Night, it's going to be a solo piece with the choir coming in at the end. It worked well and I liked the way the focus is on the soloist and their words. Here, we have more solos and very good lyrics to listen to. 

At break time, Juergen treated us to a German love song, as a Valentine's Day gift. Will you be singing a love song to your sweethearts? 

Next Week: Tuesday, February 18

6:30 Anthem Small Group (I would love to see 12 or more people in this group)

• Canon of Joy
• Imagine
• Shenandoah
• Song for the Mira
• Wonderful World
• Hallelujah/You'll Never Walk Alone

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review February 4th

 My birthday was yesterday, and it was wonderful. The joy started the evening before, Feb. 4th, at choir. My beautiful choir sang Happy Birthday, and it is a little thing but it felt really special. Also, the awesome way you sang You'll Never Walk Alone was so powerful, I was high for hours. I love my choir!

The small group singing Together Wherever We Go met at 6:30, and they were amazing! We created a little choreography for it, and it's sweet!

We had a brief warm-up and then sang O Canada. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. We love being Canadian and we are singing quite a few Canadian songs, as we always do. We represent our community, York Region; something I am always mindful of.We added our national anthem to our binders because we need to sing it more often.

1. All the Little Rivers of Canada is one of our obviously Canadian songs. It's pretty hard but we're making good progress. We learned sections, A, B, and C. So now we can sing the whole thing except for section E, which is a cappella, and a little bit of F where it's special. If you feel like you want to work on this song, we have recordings on the website. Please make good use of them. Make sure you're accenting the word HEY, and then ride and rapids in C/F. It's very effective. Be very dramatic with the dynamics in G/E, the chorus which we learned last week. Coppermine Winnipeg Porcupine is very loud and then suddenly you're very soft for Saskatchewan Columbia. It should feel to the audience that they're riding waves up, up, up and then whoosh! down, then up, up, up agian. 

2. Canon of Joy is not difficult. The challenge for me is getting the right tempo that's not too slow for the Canon and not to fast for the Ode to Joy. The challenge for you is turning the pages (repeat page 5, then DS al Coda and repeat page 5 again, skip to page 8 for the Coda/ending), and not getting bored with your Canon notes. If you get bored, you'll sound sloppy and the opposite of joyful. Try to put some emphasis on beat one every time, so you kind of bounce on the J of joy. We spent some time on page 7 where everyone has the Beethoven. 

3. Song for the Mira is more Canadian content. We will have up to 6 soloists. We're going to omit the oohs, even though they're pretty. We're going to have a flautist play with us, because it's sooo prettty and it will add an element of surprise for the audience, a lovely special sound. We didn't start learning the song, but just looked at what to expect. There is one chorus and one verse in 4 parts, and the rest is solos. However, we might add some choir bits. If you want to get a head start learning this, you can use the recordings on the website. 

4. Hockey Song is soooo Canadian, and our audience will love it. We learned parts, but don't stress over it. (If you must stress, there are recordings of all the parts on the website that you can study) The chorus is so powerful that the rest is more about the words. We'll make sure that the audience hears those names and we'll try to enunciate well throughout. Remember to watch in between the sections for entries. Sometimes, you'll need to wait a little longer. You'll see on page 4, there's a note for the accompanist "vamp if necessary".  I found this definition: "A vamp is a section of music that is repeated several times while dialogue or onstage action occurs. It is usually directed by the conductor's cue." Theatre. You hear choral vamps a lot in gospel music, where the worship leader/soloist tells a story while the choir repeats a short phrase, and sometimes a bridge in a song is a vamp of a phrase, sometimes sung in changing keys that lead to the final chorus or a coda. I love vamps. You'll sometimes hear me saying, "We'll repeat that as often as it feels good; just watch."

5. You'll Never Walk Alone was fantastic! It's one of our most powerful songs. We could perform it today, it's so good. If you haven't sung it with us before, you might want to listen to the recordings on the website. 

We talked about Bill's funeral. We have a tentative date of May 4th, the Sunday after our concert. We are going to sing You Raise Me Up and Anthem, from Chess. There is a sign-up in Events for the Small Group Anthem.

Next week, Tuesday, February 11th

6:30 Alto Sectional: your chance to do extra review of your parts by yourselves

• Blue Skies
• Imagine
• On Eagles Wings
• Shenandoah
• Song for the Mira
• We Rise Again

My Fundraising Thing: CNOY the coldest night of the year

 

We Walk February 22, 2025!

The Coldest Night of the Year #CNOY is a winterrific family-friendly fundraising walk in support of local charities. Let’s change the tune for people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness... because it’s cold out there.

I've been participating in this walk since 2017. I have quite a collection of toques. Every Year there's a different toque that you can get if you raise $150 or more. (see below)

It's cold out there. Again this February, together with thousands of Canadians across the country, I'll be walking and fundraising to support people and families experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness in my community.

In Newmarket, we support Inn From The Cold.

 "Inn From the Cold collaborates with individuals experiencing homelessness, supporting them on their path to stability through a comprehensive array of services and programs that include daily drop-in facilities, emergency housing/shelter, employment social enterprises, transitional housing, and permanent housing solutions. A continuum of services from basic needs to securing housing assists our clients on their journey to wellness and self-sufficiency."

Here is something you can do about homelessness. Help me fundraise, or come and walk with me.

Here's a link to my fundraising page.

https://walk.w-ith.me/Renate

Please, give generously by clicking the "Donate Now" button on my page. Thanks!

.

TONIGHT CANCELLED -Tuesday, January 28th, 2025

 

It was cool! YRCC at Ray Twinney on Centre Ice

Sunday, January 26th, 2025

We had such a cool experience, singing O Canada on centre ice at a hocky game at Ray Twinney in Newmarket! Whooooo!

There's a nice picture of us by Greg King of Newmarket Today, see below. Here's a link to the article.

There's also a little video that captures the moment I cut off the audience at the end of O Canada, part of a video montage posted by the Toronto Jr. A Canadiens on Instagram.

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review January 21

Wow! I'm very late with my rehearsal review. I do apologize. 

We had a very productive rehearsal, even though we had to quickly add O Canada, with sheet music on our phones. We're singing O Canada at a hockey game at Ray Twinney on Sunday. It's a promotional and fundraising game called "The battle of Yonge Street" The Ontario Junior Hockey League is hoping that Newmarket will be home to one of their teams. The Aurora Tigers will play the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. Sopranos from Denison High School will join us as will Marianne, their teacher, who sang with us at our rehearsal. I'm told she has a beautiful voice. The altos are happy she's joining them to sing O Canada on Sunday. She sings with a choir in Toronto (can't remember which one). 

Read More Here

It will be good to have O Canada in our binders. I think we should keep it and sing it from time to time to remember to stand on guard for our beautiful nation. 

1. Wonderful World was our warm-up song. We did the briefest warm-up because we took a long time to get started.

2. O Canada. Tenors, Basses, and Altos, please practise with the recordings on the website. Sopranos have the melody throughout. Let's see if a big ending sounds good when we rehearse on Sunday. 

3. Shenandoah: We started at the very beginning, a very good place to start. We learned our ooohs, and then we sang through sight-reading.

4. All the Little Rivers of Canada: We learned the chorus at section D. 

5. Hockey Song: We learned the chorus at section B, and sang every chorus in the song, and then sang the ending. 

6. On Eagles Wings: We also learned the chorus and sang every chorus in the song. We stared by looking at the chorus at 43 and 61 where one group sings the chorus and the other sings long notes in harmony. Tenors and Basses, be sure not to go straight to the melody note when you turn the page after "And he will raise you...", on page 60. Make yourself a note that it's a high harmony note. We'll have to review the "Make you to shine like the sun" parts next time.

7. Hallelujah: We spent a moment on all the parts right after the first solo (we're going to sing it with solos this year- let me know if you'd like to sing one of them). "It goes like this" remember, is different form the versions on the radio. And, the sopranos do not have the melody. Tenors have the melody here. We'll need to sing a little softer so that we can hear them. 

8. You Raise Me Up: We're going to sing this with a solo at the beginning too. Stanley did it for us, and he's done it before. If you'd like to be considered to sing it, let me know. 

Next Tuesday, January 28th:

• 6:30 Small Group Together Wherever We Go (Sopranos and Altos) Please sign up on the website. I'd like to see at least 6 women in this group and up to 12. 
• All the Little Rivers of Canada
• Canon of Joy
• Hockey Song
• On Eagles Wings
• Song for the Mira
• You'll Never Walk Alone

YRCC Performing O Canada Jan. 26 at Newmarket JHL Hockey Game

Tomorrow,  Sunday, January 26th, we meet at 3:30 inside the main entrance to find our rehearsal spot at the Ray Twinney Recreation Centre. 

You'll be wearing your white top and black bottoms with your red scarf or tie. You'll want to have sturdy (black) shoes or boots. You'll want to have a layer on top, a black jacket or cardigan that you can open up or take off when we sing. 

You will get your O Canada sheet music to put into your binder.

You will take a pencil and cross out "our sons" and write in OF US. We will sing:

True patriot love in all of us command.

We will rehearse with the 5 sopranos from Denison High School with their teacher Marianne who has agreed to sing with the altos.

We will be on centre ice at 4:25 singing the National Anthem, and the game starts at 4:30. So, you'll be on your way home or into the audience pretty quickly. 

Have fun!

YRCC first 2025 Rehearsal Review January 14

It's my first rehearsal review of 2025! This is our 30th Anniversary year! 

The YRCC was founded in 1995 as an inclusive alternative to the York Regional Police Male Chorus. You can see quite a bit of our history on the page on the website called Time Capsule. (Click that. It's a link.) It's found on the main/top menu right before the Photo Gallery. The  Photo Gallery is also a fun walk down memory lane. Those pages are available without needing to log in, so you can share them with friends and family. 

Tuesday's rehearsal was also our "festive party" since we didn't have time to celebrate the holidays together before the new year. Happy New Year, Everyone! We had a variety of sweet and salty snacks and some refreshing beverages (no red beer, or any other kind, though) while we caught up with our choir friends, chatting up a storm above the loud party music. 

We didn't do any learning, but sang through a lot of our music, almost all of it, just sitting and singing. We talked about the songs a little and why they're on the list. Mostly, I chose songs that you choristers identified as your favourites. And, I chose songs for their historical importance (choir history, that is) and to create variety in the program. As the 30th anniversary celebration theme, I want to focus on what the choir means to us choir members: joy, escape, friendship, community, contributing/volunteering, pride and purpose, etc. When you are part of our choir, the choir will be a part of you for good, forever.

Here's what we sang:

1. Halelujah
2. Blue Skies
3. All the Little Rivers of Canada
4. Canon of Joy
5. Monday, Monday
6. Shenandoah
7. On Eagles Wings
8. Hockey Song
9. You Raise Me Up

Next week, we start learning and reviewing parts. If you want to get a head-start, you can go to the website and log in to see what recordings we have there, and I've got videos on my YouTube playlist for this season.

Next week, Tuesday, January 21st, we're going to sing:

• All the Little Rivers
• Hallelujah
• Hockey Song
• On Eagles Wings
• Shenandoah
• Wonderful World

Renate's YouTube Playlist for this YRCC season, Spring 2025

 I've started making a playlist every year so that you can find parts recordings or other choirs singing songs we want to sing, for inspiration and to help you learn the songs. 

This 2025 Spring Season is our 30th Anniversary season, so most recordings are of  the YRCC singing our songs, but there are also some parts recordings, and some other videos of our songs for inspiration. 

Renate's YouTube Playlist for this season.

There are some surprises, like this one. Enjoy!

 (I shed some tears, as you can imagine, seeing choristers who've left us.)

Start date for 2025: Tuesday, January 14th

 Just a quick note to remind you that we start next week.

Stay home and rest up. 

This season is going to be big: our 30th Anniversary!

30 Years of YRCC 1995-2025