YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review April 22nd

Our last rehearsal was fantastic. You sound beautiful. 

Wasn't the flute amazing?! There will also be a song with guitars, so our concert will have quite a bit of variety for our audience.  The addition of different instruments is always appealing. Our songs are already quite varied in style and tempo, and we'll have a duet, and three small groups in addition to our songs which feature soloists and lots of good harmony in 2, 3, and 4 parts. Our voices in all of those different configurations will rreally be awesome. Donna's mastery of those amazing accompaniments is going to be impressive too.  I'm sure it's going to be an excellent and enjoyable concert for everyone. 

1. Blue Skies: Excellent, snappy, fun! (microphones)

2. Song for the Mira: Beautiful and powerful. Watch for the slow down of the bar before verse 5. on page 9. The flute slows down to milk that pretty run. Watch me for when to come in on the word "Out"(microphones for soloists and flute, logistics)

3. All the Little Rivers: Impressive and lovely. Watch that you don't slow down at the top of page 7 ff very loud but in tempo. Watch me. 

4. Hallelujah: Super! One of our favourites and an audience favourite too. Love the soloists. (microphones, logisics)

5. Musical Medley: Yay! It's working. Donna nailed those transitions. Solos were beautiful. (microphones, logistics)

6. We Rise Again: Electrifying! First sopranos nailed their parts. We reviewed the oohs and aahs under the second solo. Melinda nailed the solos. Well done, everyone. 

7. Monday, Monday: Fun! Groovy. Nailed it. 

Next Tuesday, April 29th: EARLY START FOR EVERYONE 7:00

Small groups and soloists starting at 6:00 (Anthem is first)

Next week, we're at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora, where our concerts are always held. We will go through the whole concert from start to finish to hear how my order sounds and to see how it works. Logistics include where everyone stands on stage, how to get on stage and off stage and where to sit when you're offstage. Plus, we will use microphones for solos and small groups, so using those and how to get them where they need to be is something to work on. Your music will be in concert order in your binder so that we don't have to worry about looking for music. Be prepared to stay a little late. We often go overtime, past 9:30. 

Lauren will be selling tickets at breaktime only. Carol can sell tickets by phone too. Those will be your only chance to get tickets with a credit card. Tickets can be bought at the door, but cash-only. 

I'm going to send an email with the concert order and timing as well as timing for the concert Saturday evening. 

Some people who are coming to sing with us on Sunday at Bill's celebration of life were asking about joining in on Anthem. We can add you to the rehearsal for Anthem Tuesday at 6:00. Peggy will have extra sheet music for you. If you want to have a look at it in advance, it's on the website. Also on the website is a link to my YouTube playlist, where you'll find your part to rehearse with. Here's the Alto part, a direct link. 

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review April 15th

We're almost there! It was not perfect being in that space, but we did good work.

1. Canon of Joy: remember to bounce the long notes, especially the “joy” ones. Smile as you end the word, so your mouth makes the o, then smile as you end on the y, big mouth. 

2. Monday, Monday: if you’re still having difficulty with the “every other day” section, try speaking the words, then singing them. Same smile and bounce thing with the ba-das. 

3. Imagine: Observing rests: watch for cut-offs, especially words ending in s.

4. Wonderful World: big ending. We’ll sing this on May 4th as well. 

5. Thank You for the Musicals: big ending; adding soprano notes and the words “to me”.

6. We Rise Again: back-up Nadine did an excellent job. The timing in the second solo is hard, and I will do my best to help Melinda. The oohs are also challenging there. Just do your best, and remember that nobody in the audience has the sheet music and they’re listening to the words Melinda is singing.

7. All the Little Rivers of Canada: we determined that we need a little more time to get this one. It’s very common to get out of tune in an a cappella section. Often when the piano returns, the choir is shown to have gone off. This happened to us last night. We can add Donna in if necessary, but we’ll work on it next week. 

Continue to buy and sell tickets. Email friends and family. Send them our pretty poster. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 22nd:

6:30 Lean on Me Small group first, then For Good, then first sopranos. If there’s time, Nadine and Todd’s duet in the medley (if not, at break). 

• All the Little Rivers
• Blue Skies
• Hallelujah
• Song for the Mira
• Musical Medley

In two weeks: Tuesday, April 29th, Run-through rehearsal. 

We'll be at Trinity Anglican in Aurora, our concert venue. We will walk through the whole concert from start to finish (we don't have to sing every bit of every song), with a focus on where we're standing, sitting, and walking, and using microphones (solos and small groups). 

The concert order is on the website under Members\Concert Order. 

Have your binders in order. You might want to use flags or dividers with labels to help you find your place after the small group sections in the middle of each half, and at the second half after intermission.

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review April 8th

I'm feeling very good after last night's rehearsal. Lots of gold stars would have been handed out. 

The small groups, Anthem, and Together Wherever We Go, were both excellent. We heard Melinda and Lauren's duet and that was also fantastic. 

1. Hallelujah: Soloists were Winston and Jane, back-ups will be Stanley and Melinds and Lauren. Such an excellent arrangement of a beloved song by a Canadian!

2. Blue Skies: Soloists will be Lauren and Debbie. Jane is a back-up. The snaps were super! Remember to snap across from beat one to beat two, then three to four. I will count first, then you snap, then Donna joins us. At the solos, turn page 5 first, then start snapping. You won't have to worry about how to get in at page 6 and you can enjoy the solos. 

3. O Canada/Hockey Song: We sing O Canada and then go straight into Hockey Song. What a lovely surprise it will be for our audience! At the end of O Canada, Donna will play the fanfare from the beginning of Hockey Song, and then she'll give us the same chord we get before the chorus, so the sopranos and altos will have their starting note for "Hello". Don't worry about precision with notes on this song. The chorus will be big and fun. The audience might join in, and will probably clap. Fun chaos; no worries.

4. You Raise Me Up: Stanley will sing the first verse and chorus as a solo. We will join him on verse 2, holding back, and then letting loose at the key change. Remember to observe all rests on pages 4 & 5, but sing pages 6&7 loudly broadly, holding notes over the rests, especially on "mountains" and on up. In the middle of page 7, the word "up" is short, leading into the ending. 

5. Musical Medley: Soloists will be Todd and Nadine on "There's Something Sweet". Stanely and Miral will be back-ups. Soloist on "I've been so lucky" will be Miral with Cathy as back-up. The star on this piece is Donna, who has created transitions between the songs that help us get to the next song. 

6. On Eagle's Wings: Outstanding!

7. Shenandoah: Gorgeous!

Lauren had tickets for sale and the machine for tapping. Buy tickets for friends and family in advance to make concert day easier, smoother. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 15th We all start at 7:30 (no small groups)

Our room in the Admin. Building is not available, and our usual back-up isn't avialable either. So, we are meeting at my church, Trinity United Church in Newmarket. We have the sanctuary, all the way upstairs. There are stairs, one flight up from the Main St. entrance that have a stairlift, and two sets of stairs up if you enter by Park Ave. There is a lift at the Park Ave. entrance that takes you all the way up to the sanctuary. Parking can be a challenge but there is a lot of parking downtown Newmarket, including street parking for up to 3 hours. Here's a link to a map of parking possibilites. The church is the big stone building across from the library and the new boutique hotel. 

• Canon of Joy
• Imagine
• Monday, Monday
• Musical Medley
• We Rise Again
• Wonderful World

Tickets bough in advance would help :-)

Piano Recital Sunday April 27, 2025 at 3:00

 Support Trinity United Church: Tickets $25.00

10-year-old Angel's playing is astounding.

YRCC 2025 Rehearsal Review April 1st

 Oh, how I love my choir! What a beautiful evening we had, what a joy to hear our songs coming together so wonderfully! 

First, at 6:30, Melinda and Lauren met with Donna to rehearse their duet. Then the Tenors and Basses gathered for a sectional rehearsal. I arrived toward the end of that and took over for a bit, and it was evident that they had made good progress. Go, Bass Clef Team! Thank you to Donna and Lauren for leading these early rehearsals! Thank you to Melinda for having the equipment ready so early too!

1. We had a brief warm-up, physical and vocal, and sang What a Wonderful World to get started. It's so good, I love it. We might be performing this at Bill's Celebration of Life. 

2. Song for the Mira: Our flute accompanist came today for the first time (Robyn will be busy at her eldest child's wedding during our concert). Carolyn plays flute in the Aurora Community Band with Nadine. How lovely it was! Our soloists have obviously been practising. I love how you all sound together on the first chorus. When the choir comes in, it's really very beautiful and powerful. The flute adds a special brilliance. Carolyn suggested a couple of moments of drama- a woman after my own heart- where we will slow down and you need to watch me and listen to the flute to keep us together. The first spot is in the middle of the whole-choir section on page 9, the bar before verse 5. Watch for the entry of "Out on the Mira" there. The second is at the end, just before you all come in with your ooh (not hmm), the last note. You always watch at the end anyway, so that will be easy. Thank you, Carolyn!

3. You'll Never Walk Alone: I wanted Carolyn to hear this because you sound magnificent singing it. It's a really extraordinary arrangement, the best I've ever heard. You're the best. I could hear the improvement after Lauren's teaching. Thank you, Lauren! I never have to worry about having to miss choir when I'm not feeling well. We did spend a moment on page 7, because I need to hear very strong "never"s from the Tenors and Basses, and not the octave down, the high note is so powerful. We tried out the basses on the alto note an octave down, because that's not as low, but it's not much better and a little confusing. 

4. Monday, Monday: We slowed down the "every other day" section and went over everyone's parts. It's so much better now. The altos get most of the melody, and a lot of the time, everyone else is just singing the same ba-das. Make sure you bounce on all of those to keep them from dragging and sounding boring. It's the same problem as the Canon parts of Canon of Joy, where you sing the same joy, joy, joys again and again. Bounce off of the consonant and smile in the vowels (easier to do with ba than with joy).

5. Musical Medley: Dancing Queen and Thank You for the Music: I recruited Nadine to sing with the first sopranos on Dancing Queen. That top row is special and needs to be big. Second sopranos will need to be strong on the soprano line to make up for the loss of the firsts, but I have faith in you. We went over parts a bit, but you're all good. For Thank You for the Music, we have a new soloist. Cathy will be the back-up, since she's done it before, and Miral will sing the "girl with golden hair" solo. How lovely to have a new voice for solos! (If you're wondering why it's always the same people, it's because it's rare for a person to be willing to sing alone in front of an audience. Like public speaking, it's a special gift. Choir is perfect for people who don't want to stand out, like most of you and most people everywhere. I'm very pleased with the growing number of choristers who are willing and able to sing solos.) We sang the whole thing through, and it was awesome. Todd and Nadine's duet was super-charming. Stanley and Miral have agreed to be back-ups. We'll have to hear that next time. The transitions between the songs are getting better (so hard to do, but Donna's brilliant) and you just have to always watch for the timing of those, as you do with all beginnings and endings. 

6. All the Little Rivers of Canada is amazing! Again, I could hear the improvements made with Lauren last week. You all sounded so good! I love this piece. 

We have posters ready- pretty posters prepared by Jane- for you to share wherever you can. Jane had hard copies there last night, and I'm going to attach a png(picture) here for you to copy and share in emails. You should be able to capture it with click.

I forgot to mention that Robin has booked 5 Seniors Visits for us on Tuesdays after our concert up to June 10th. I've added them to our Calendar and I've set up Events for you to sign up to go and sing. Please do sign up. We need a good number for each one, around 15, with a few people from each section, but usually not more than 20 total, sometimes fewer depending on space. There's also a sign-up for Bill's Celebration of Life. I hope we have a good turn-out for that. 

Next week, Tuesday, April 8th

6:30 Anthem, 7:00 Together Wherever We Go

• Blue Skies
• Hockey Song
• On Eagle's Wings
• Shenandoah
• Musical Medley
• Hallelujah/You Raise Me Up