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!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Warming Up

Hi Everyone!


I recently joined a group on Linked In: Choral Enthusiasts. There are some really good discussions going on and the one I'm most interested in is the one on warm-ups. 


I know they're important, and I like to explain why we do what we do as we're doing it, but I do feel that some people might think we're wasting our time. When people consistently arrive after warm-ups, it bothers me a bit. I try to think positively and assume that they're late because of a long trip home after work, traffic, or something like that :)


There's a really good blog about warm-ups that you should read. (just click on that highlighted part) The writer compares warm-ups to breakfast. We all know that we shouldn't skip breakfast, but it happens. And, lots of people continue to skip breakfast by choice. 


One thing that she mentions is that it sets the tone of the rehearsal, even establishes the choir's identity and goes so far as to say that "To miss the warm-up is to withhold your full participation in the choir’s moral order."


I like that. We do establish that we want to have fun and relax, get the kinks of the day out, and that we're serious about our music too by the exercises we choose and how we do them and by laughing heartily. 


I'm going to spend some time looking at that blog. It's called Helping you harmonise. 


See you next Monday!


Yours in harmony,
Renate

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