YRCC Thespians- Acting/Singing Opportunity in Newmarket

 YRCC friends, 

I know some of you are not only singers but also actors. If you are available on Sunday, December 17th in the morning (10:30) and then again in the evening (7:00), there is a good opportunity for you to use your talents. If you haven't done any theatre, this is a super opportunity to learn from an amazing educator and artist.

Trinity on Main, the United Church in Newmarket, is lucky to have Mary Lawlis running the Trinity Arts program again. Mary creates the most wonderful musical theatre productions and I will be helping with the music for this Community Christmas Pageant. It's a beautiful story, and music will be a big part of it. Plus, the play will be incorporated into a Sunday morning church service and an evening candle-light service of Christmas carols. 

Interested actors, musicians, and production team members are invited to attend an information meeting in the sanctuary of the church at 461 Park Avenue (corner of Park and Main) in Newmarket either this Wednesday evening at 7:00 (tomorrow) or on Sunday, Nov. 5th at 11:30 am (after church) for about an hour. Rehearsals will be Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons for 1 1/2 hours. 

The production is intergenerational.  Children under 8 accompanied by a parent/guardian, and anyone 8 years old or more, including families, youth, adults, and seniors from the community are invited to participate. There are many roles in a production like this, including stage crew, artists, musicians, actors with and without lines, and more. It would be great to have some experienced folks come, but if you're not, then this is a good chance to learn from a very experienced educator to gain experience.  

*Adapted from the book The Painted Chest by Judith Christine Mills

Please use Music Director Kevin Heung's email kevin@trinityuc.ca to contact either Kevin or Mary Lawlis if you want more information, but coming to either of these two meetings is recommended.

YRCC Musical Friends and Family

I wonder if you've ever noticed how wonderful our audiences are. 

They are often exceptionally good at singing when they're invited to sing along with us, and very willing. I'm not surprised that many of us come from musical families and hang out with friends who enjoy a concert, a sing-along, or some karaoke for fun.

I've actually heard you speaking about siblings all playing instruments and singing together, family bonfires with harmonizing vocals and guitars and ukuleles, Christmas carols with the whole family, all generations, around the piano in the living room, etc. Maybe there's something in our DNA that makes us respond to music with more than usual enthusiasm (and talent)? 

I just received a message from Cheryl in the Soprano section. She proudly shared a video of a cousin of hers playing piano with a violinist in a concert called "Rediscovering George Enescu and other composers".  I Googled Enescu and found that he's considered to be the greatest, or the most important Romanian musician. 

"Just sharing my(Cheryl's) cousin Stephen’s recent concert in Constanta... He has said if he’s ever back over this way he’d come and play for our choir."

Of course he would. We're a ton of fun, and I bet Stephen is too, knowing his cool cousin Cheryl. 

Thank you, Cheryl! Here's the video.

My Singing Night Thursday, October 26th

 An evening of music, connection, harmony, and spirit. 

Warm-ups: We started with watching the One Voice Children’s Choir sing You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen, as a gathering moment, and to feel drawn in to music and away from our everyday.

Sheet Music songs:

The Trinity choir and praise team will join together on November 5th to sing Rutter’s A Flower Remembered.  We had sheet music and sang along with a video of a choir, and tried to sing with the parts videos, but had some technical difficulty. The music is not difficult and we’ll have lots of time to look at it at home and time to rehearse together before that Sunday.

Hymns: We sang along to these hymns for this Sunday

VU401 Worship the Lord

MV1 Let us Build a House

Pop and CCM songs for fun, thinking about how Love is Home

Wedding Song by Paul Stokey

Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle

Higher Love by Steve Winwood (notice the choir)

Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi (such a good chorus to belt out!)

Like a Prayer by Madonna (Let the choir sing)

Perhaps Love by John Denver and Placido Domingo

New Category: Watch a video

We didn’t do a campfire type thing but we spent time watching a scene from Come From Away, called “Prayer”, which I discovered when I searched for songs with prayer. The song in the scene is Make me a Channel of Your Peace. Here’s a link to my Trinity Singing Playlist on YouTube.

Everyone enjoyed my store-bought shortbread cookies. Our theme is always LOVE. We talked about hair, how it’s hard when it changes with age; it’s a big part of our identity. We talked about church, the meeting last Sunday and this upcoming one. It was a lovely evening in lovely company. 

 

 

 

 

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review October 24

 6:30 Canon of Hope- this small group did an amazing job of learning this pretty piece in one session. 

Warm-ups included grounding and breathing with gentle stretching and then singing with Imagine. Melinda recommended it. Great idea to sing about world peace right now. Donna played our arrangement’s accompaniment and some of us remember the parts. We remembered Janet with great fondness.

1. One Voice is a gentle and powerful reminder that each of us has the power to be light, hope, love, to inspire others, so everyone will sing together/live in harmony. We had 2 people sing each of the 3 solo parts at the beginning. Cathy and Melinda, Blair and Kent, Lauren and Nadine. Those solos are recorded to help you out. Check them out on the website. We reviewed the alto and baritone parts all the way through and spent quite a bit of time on the one-one-one-one voice before 39. It sounds so good! Make a note on your music to turn to page 4 immediately on concert night if you're not singing a solo. We don't want page turning during the solos. It's distracting and totally unnesessary. I will remind you when to start, but you'll know by then. If you missed this rehearsal, I suggest you review your part using the recording on the website.

2. Winter Song: we also identified the soloists for this one. There’s the Treble Group that sings the melody at 35 and 59 and the building/layering repeat part on page 12 (starting with Part 1 at the bottom of page 11) Part 1 will be Cathy and Kit, Part 2 will be Lauren, Part 3 will be Marlene and Kim. The rest of the choir can simply repeat your page 12 until the piano stops, and then there are the 3 last Is love alives a cappella. Please be sure to watch for my cut-offs, especially at "inside your arms". Also, watch out for holding notes too long and not holding them long enough. Look at the rests. If there's a rest, you are silent for the rest, if there's no rest, you're singing through. If you’re still feeling uneasy about this song, please listen to the recordings on the website. The recording cuts of just at the end of the first ending on page 12, but it will help you to hear your part all the way to there. ("I love soft bum-bums, doesn’t everybody?")

3. Star of Wonder/We Three Kings of Orient Are. We played with harmonies for that chorus, which perfectly expresses my theme. This will be an audience sing-along, but I’ll play with the verses, I’m still deciding how to do them. 

4. Fa-la-la/Deck the Halls: also an audience sing-along and we’re going to harmonize on the fa-la-las. We will also sing White Christmas with the audience. Probably with a small group on the intro?

5. Somewhere in My Memory (my keys, my phone…) We learned everything except the oohs in the middle! We are doing great on this one. It’s also one that has recorded parts to help you learn at home, thanks to Tabatha.

Next week, Tuesday, October 31st Halloween 🎃 

If you need to come late because you have to shell out or accompany little ones, that’s okay. It gets dark early, so it shouldn’t be too late. Please come in costume if you feel inspired to do so. 

6:30 Canon of Hope 7:00 Winter Song Treble Group

• Christmas Waltz
• Do You Hear What I Hear
• One Voice
• Somewhere in My Memory
• Winter Song

The Posters and Tickets will be ready for distribution and sale on Halloween Tuesday. You can buy tickets for family and friends for $20 each, cash, cheque, or credit (no debit). 

Poinsettia sales will start soon too. $30 each. This is a choir fundraiser. You get a beautiful large plant to keep or give as a gift, and, as a bonus, our concert is beautifully decorated (thanks, Jane!)

My Singing Night Thursday, October 19th

An evening of music, connection, harmony, and spirit. Hosted by Trinity United Church in Newmarket. 

Warm-ups: Our warm-up was energetic and uplifting-I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas. It always feels good to move our bodies to music. Move anything that doesn’t hurt.

Sheet Music songs:

Somewhere a Child is Sleeping (YRCC) with proper printed scores. We listened to and sang with Kevin’s recordings, which were excellent, loud and clear and a good tempo.

Hymns: We sang along to these hymns for this Sunday

VU747 The Lord’s My Shepherd (an organ accompaniment on YouTube)

VU225 The Living God be Praised

VU422 God Be With You Till We Meet Again (by  Bluegrass Martins!)

Pop and CCM songs for fun, thinking about how Love is Heaven

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel

I’ll Be There by Walk Off The Earth

In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel

Heaven by Bryan Adams

Iris by Goo Goo Dolls

Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United

The Prayer sung by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion

You Raise Me Up sung by Josh Groban

New Category: Sing-along/Folk/Campfire Songs

This Land is Your Land (Canadian lyrics)

We had chocolate brownies which I had baked. We noticed the safety of love. We talked about the December 17th Christmas Pageant auditions and rehearsals, and the upcoming busy season. We welcomed another YRCC member, Robin! We had more YRCC folk than Trinity folk and it was a joy for me to have my worlds ovelap like that. It was a lovely evening in lovely company. 

  

 

 

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review October 17th

6:30 All That Holiday Stuff: Super! And, 7:00 Marlene and Blair were also Super!

We started our time together this evening with a prayer and a lit candle to join people all over the world who were asked to pray for peace, observe a day of fasting, and light candles at 6:30 our time in response to the Israel-Hamas war. 

Mindful breathing, relaxation, and grounding were part of that meditative time. After that, we stood and sang Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, from memory, which gave us a positive boost.

1. Little Tree: was a perfect thing to help me feel good. I love this little song, and it always brings back memories of our dear friend, Enid Maize. It's excellent already. The only thing we had to review was when the sopranos come in with Don't be afraid at 25. This has to be strong, and the next section is my absolute favourite, an expression of love and devotion that sounds like a mother singing to a child: lift up your arms and I'll dress you in every beautiful thing. 

2. Do You Hear What I Hear?: Love this! We learned page 7 and then sang the whole thing- so powerful! Sopranos, pay attention to the places where you don't have the melody. It's marked in the music, but maybe circle it or make your own note. Tenors and Basses, you have a lot of melody! Enjoy it and sing out strong. 

3. Somewhere in My Memory: We started at the beginning, pages 1-5. Everybody is in right from the start in a beautiful harmony. 

4. Mele Kalikimaka: We learned the beginning, which is a little introduction, supposed to sound like angels. It's very important though, because it expresses our theme: we see the same bright star. It was very good, but a few people in the tenor and alto sections asked for a review, so we had them sing the whole thing with Donna playing their part. Sometimes this is a perfect way to get more comfortable with a song. 

5. Christmas Waltz: We looked at the weird bit at 65. I avoided it until now, but now that we've done it, we've looked at the whole song. Now we just have to review and perfect this fun waltz, get it feeling like a dance around a ballroom. Remember, you can always go to the website and listen to your part. If you haven't updated your password this year, then you will find that your password doesn't work. They need us to have longer, more complex passwords now. 

Next week: Tuesday, October 24th

6:30 Canon of Hope Small Group (sign up on the website event, listen to a recording there)

• Somewhere in My Memory
• One Voice (assemble soloists)
• Winter Song (assemble Treble Group: we need a few more, and they'll rehearse early)
• We Three Kings (Star of Wonder with harmony)
• Deck the Halls (Fa-la-la with harmony)

 

My Singing Night Thursday, October 12th, 2023

An evening of music, connection, harmony, and spirit.

Warm-ups: Our warm-up was peaceful and uplifting- Just the Way You Are by Boyce Avenue. It always feels good to move our bodies to music. I first heard this recording while swimming in a pool in Cuba in 2016. Ahhh

Sheet Music song: Somewhere a Child is Sleeping (YRCC) with proper printed scores. We listened and sang with recordings of the tenor and alto parts, then sang along with a Frank Mills instrumental recording. I hope to have a new recording next week.

Hymns: We sang along to these hymns for this Sunday

MV 147 God Help Us to Treasure
MV 221 I Am Walking a Path of Peace

Pop and CCM songs for fun, in the theme of Friendship

• Count on Me by Bruno Mars
• A Friend Like You by Andy Grammer
• Close To You by the Carpenters
• Draw Me Close by Michael W Smith (a praise team song)
• My Lighthouse by Rend Collective (a former praise team song)
• You’re My Best Friend by Queen (with videos of Queen and then Voice Play)
• You’ve Got a Friend by Carole King
• I’m a Believer by the Monkees
• Three Little Birds by Bob Marley (a video of the SRMS Spring Choir)
• I Will be the Light by the Joy Vox Community Choir (YRCC friend soloist)
• True Colors by the Sacramento Master Singers
• Perfect by Ed Sheeran
• Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars
• Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel

We had banana bread which I had baked, at break. We talked about friendship feeling like home, where we are loved “just the way we are”, and how mothers and spouses and Jesus are often called my “best friend”.  It was a lovely evening in lovely company. 

My Singing Night supports and is supported by the Trinity Church Choir.

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review October 10th

Warm-up music was A Time for Giving by Alexis Ffrench (there are two f's). I have an Alexis Ffrench playlist downloaded on my phone. I highly recommend his beautiful music. We did the choir massage exercise. 

Our vocal warm-ups were from my warm-up book, Vocal Warm-ups by Klaus Heizmann. 

All That Holiday Stuff met at 6:30.

1. Breath of Heaven: we got through the whole thing, but we'll review parts at the end next time, and anything else you need me to. I love this piece. Be sure to hold the notes you're supposed to hold. You'll see me with my left hand held high and open, palm up, and then I shut it into a fist. You can also count, but the timing is challenging. Sometimes I yell out the counts for you. At the end, see the note where it says to end holding on to the 'n', not the open vowel. Circle that. This is a quiet ending (I know, strange for me) and we end with the word 'heaven' completed, and the 'n' fades away. Have you listened to the 2014 YRCC recording yet? Here's a link. 

2. Christmas Waltz: we started at the beginning (a loud beginning in 6 parts!), and we've only got a little bit more to do before everything will be review. If you've missed learning this song, please go to the website and listen to the recording of your part. Here's a link to the recordings page, but you need to sign in.

3. Do You Hear What I Hear?: No, you don't, because you are sitting in your section. I hear the whole choir and it's amazing, so good! We started at the beginning. I don't often do that, but I don't like to be too predictable. Also, we really want to sing this song. We got to the bottom of page 6, learning parts. I'm so happy that we have strong basses and tenors. 

4. Somewhere in My Memory: We just read through this to see where it goes, how it goes. Here's a link to a recording. 

We didn't sing Mele Kalikimaka as planned because we ran out of time. We had a wonderful breaktime with a beautiful spread of sweets, and time to socialize. The room was loud with talking and laughter. It was time well spent. I shared a bit of a recording of Canon of Hope, the next small group song. You can sign up for it, and you'll see the music and a recording in the Event. 

We talked about the concert a bit. We will be doing the pointsettia fundraiser again. The price went up to $30 which we decided was still a good deal. They're huge and always gorgeous. We'll look fabulous at the concert and then we can take them home to decorate our homes or to give to our concert guests. Be sure to start telling your friends and family to book off Sunday, December 3rd for your Holiday Concert. We will likely be arriving at 1/1:30 and the concert goes from 3:00-5:00, but with clean-up, we'll be out around 5:30/6. So, you can arrange for a light dinner and/or drinks after with your fans. You will love hearing how much they enjoyed your concert!

Next week, Tuesday, October 17th:

6:30 All That Holiday Stuff and 7:00 Blair and Marlene

• Do You Hear What I Hear?
• Mele Kalikimaka
• Little Tree
• Somewhere in My Memory
• Christmas Waltz

My Singing Night 2023-OCT-05

I was so happy to see Colby from the YRCC join us! And, very excited to see Birgit who is happy to have the Thursday Singing Nights while she waits to join the YRCC. I just know that there are more people out there who want to sing more and will enjoy this. 

YRCC 2023 Rehearsal Review October 3rd

The small group doing All That Holiday Stuff met at 6:30 and made excellent progress! It’s going to be great! It’s not too late to join this group. They’re meeting again next week and you’ll be able to catch up.

Warm-ups were fun! I didn’t feel like playing by the book, so we did a physical warm-up to an instrumental guitar version of Van Morrison’s Moondance by Zak Rupert. Then, our vocal warm-up was singing along to Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, the 1970 B.J. Thomas version, by Burt Bacharach. 

1. Mele Kalikimaka: We had to do this because we’re in a heat wave in October, and Hawaii and palm trees make sense. My weather app says it feels like 31 degrees right now. We got a lot of this song done and it’s sounding good. We sang from bar 22 to 88! We only have the ending and the beginning to learn, and then we’re done. 

2. Breath of Heaven: It’s so beautiful! I’m happy that we’re including the men. Tenors and Basses will need to read in the treble clef, but it’s not crazy different. Basses on the bottom, tenors on top. You don’t sing until the first chorus at bar 49. Don’t sing at 70, but come in at 78, softly. Basses stay on the bottom with the altos through to the end. Tenors sing the melody with the first sopranos, on top starting at 78. At bar 109, tenors sing with second sopranos on the same chorus notes as before, while first sopranos go up. Altos: you’ve got mostly melody. How cool is that?!! Sopranos, you mostly have a harmony above the melody. Don’t worry, it’s beautiful and not difficult. First sopranos have some melody on page 5, so second sopranos don’t, and altos don’t. At bar 70, second sopranos have the melody. You need to be strong and solid there. Enjoy your moment. You lose it at 78. First sopranos have the melody at 78 and share it with the tenors. So, seconds, you need to stay loud on your harmony part at 78. Everyone, watch out, and watch my baton, for the timing in the chorus. There are a bunch of 6/4 bars. I always try to give a strong beat one, and here I will also try to give a strong beat before one, so in a 4/4 bar, the 4 will be up high, in a 2/4 bar the 2 will be up high, and in 6/4 the 6 will be up high before I come down to beat 1. 

3. Christmas Waltz: We moved back another section, so we were able to sing from 74 to the end! This is a nice, big choral arrangement with a soft ending, which I usually don’t like, but here, it’s effective. At the end we want to look at the audience and wish them the same thing too. I want us to get soft at 121, and clearly sing to our friends and family. Don’t forget, we have parts recordings on the website for this song.

4. Do You Hear What I Hear?: This is such a wonderfully big choral arrangement! Lots of us know this, so you’ll be happy to follow them, but you’ll be happy to know that we have all the parts recorded and on the website for you to listen to and sing with if you need a little boost. We only sang through once as a preview. This has my favourite kind of ending, big and very loud  with a fermata for me, and with a powerful piano part with the notation “sempre con forza!” Forcefully, Emphatically, Vigorously to the very end!

5. Winter Song: I love this! We’re doing great. We need to get the treble group together for a special rehearsal, since we didn’t do your part, and once you’re strong and clear on that layering repeat part, then everyone else will be happier with the ending. Aside from the last page where people get lost, it’s excellent!

Next week: Tuesday, October 10 is the day after Thanksgiving 

We’re going to have a longer break with decaf coffee, tea, and treats and time to chat. 3 people volunteerd to bring treats, and Kit will bring our coffee stuff and coordinate.

All That Holiday Stuff is meeting at 6:30

• Breath of Heaven
• Christmas Waltz
• Do You Hear What I Hear
• Mele Kalikimaka
• Somewhere in My Memory