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!

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Old Pollyanna and Musical Empathy: Renate's other blogs

My YRCC choir friends might be interested in reading things I have in my other blogs, Old Pollyanna and Musical Empathy. 

I write because I'm compelled to; it's like a public diary, blogging. I hope that someone sees something that resonates with them. Making thoughts public helps us to feel connected, not alone with our funny feelings and fuzzy thoughts. 

Here's a summary of my recent activity:

Old Pollyanna: Musings on Ageing and Optimism
https://oldpollyanna.blogspot.com/

Singing and Dancing are for All of Us This is my current focus (obsession). It's always been something I get on a soapbox about, people telling other people (especially children) that they can't or shouldn't sing or dance. That's so wrong! It makes me so angry!

Not Giving Up My Snow Shovel for a Snow Blower We've had quite a bit of snow and I love it! I'm known for loving snow, and something else that I like is using a manual tool, a plain old snow shovel. I don't like noisy smelly snow blowers. 

Giving Up: Sometimes the show does not go on and it's okay This was a response to Adele's sadness in having to cancel or postpone her shows in Las Vegas. We're under too much pressure to never quit, to always push through. Sometimes we just need to stop and rest and wait for things to blow over. 

Feeling the Opposite of Pollyanna Optimism doesn't mean always feeling happy. We need to name and deal with negative emotions, and know that they pass. 

Selective Memory This one is about being able to forget negative things, and making efforts to remember good things by paying attention to all your sensations in the moment. Build happy triggers.












Musical Empathy: Exploring the relationship between feelings and music
https://renatesmusicalempathy.blogspot.com/

We Can all Sing- We have rhythm in our blood My current focus is on invalidating the belief that people have that they can't or shouldn't sing. They feel this because someone told them as a child or young person that they were bad singers. NONSENSE! We all have music in our essence.

We Can all Dance-We have rhythm in our blood I want to nullify the messages that people get that they shouldn't or can't dance. PREPOSTEROUS! Our very essence is musical.

Everything's Going to Be Alright One of the post-COVID choir themes is sunshine and positivity. Music can help us feel better, and support our good feelings. I hope that our feelings of relief at singing together will be so uplifting that we'll feel like flying. 

Singing Together has so Many Benefits We know this, and it's one reason that we're so sad at having to miss choir for so long during the pandemic. 

Music During the Pandemic: My Survival from A-Z This was just a fun enumeration of ways that music has been helping us/me survive the pandemic. 



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