Woo-hoo! We're off to a great start.
Woo-hoo, btw (by the way) is a singing thing that you do with your voice. We warmed up by doing a few regular sing-song sounds: Wow! and What? and no-no-no-no-no. If you're looking for your "singing voice", look no further and see how wide your range is- really wide, actually. Keep playing with your voice regularly and you'll gain more control over when and how those singing sounds come out.
We met a bunch of new people and had a bunch of choir friends come back again after some time of absence. Welcome!!! We're so happy you've joined us! What a wonderful sound we all made last night! Wow!
1. The Hockey Song: We spent some time going over parts in the chorus. So, now we know most of the song. The chorus repeats 5 times: at B, D, F, and twice at H! There's only a few notes that are tricky in bars 21 and 22. We sang through the whole song, with the help of the folks who know it well. Thank you for leading and thank you for following so well! I'm impressed with the way the new folks blended in.
2. Angels Among Us: We worked on the chorus of this one too, which is repeated 3 times, but we also learned the first verse! We've done a good chunk of this song now. Here, the new people and the "old" ones were on a more even footing. The verses were sung by soloists last time, so learning the first verse was our first learning done together. It went really well. I'm so proud of all of you.
3. Song for a Winter's Night: We were all in the same boat here too, learning the first page for the first time. The last couple times we sang this, Donna gave us a piano introduction. This time, we'll do it as written, with an a cappella choral intro. It's hard, but if we learned page 9, we can do anything. Again, I was impressed by the new folks as we sang through the whole song together. We sounded so good! There are some really good recordings of parts to help you learn this song on YouTube. Here are the links (they're also on our website, in the Music Library and Donna has made some for us too):
Song for a Winter's Night - Soprano 1
Song for a Winter's Night - Soprano 2
Song for a Winter's Night - Alto
Song for a Winter's Night - Tenor
Song for a Winter's Night - Bass
4. Edelweiss: This is going to be so special! I can't wait for us to learn the whole thing. We started at the end, and it's my favourite kind of ending: super big and dramatic! We learned parts from bar 112 to the end, and then we sang from bar 88 to the end. Powerful!!! Donna has made parts recordings for us so you can sing along with your music binder in front of you to learn or review your part at home. If you are away and don't have your binder, you can see the pdf saved in the Google Drive Edelweiss folder with the recordings. You can also sing along with the York Region Community Choir of 2014 with this video:
Small Groups will be starting in a couple weeks. First, Lauren will lead sectionals, Alto, Tenor/Bass at 6:30. Then, starting on Oct. 6, There's Still My Joy, a sad but hopeful Christmas song. SAB. You can sign up for that right away.
Holiday Market on November 14th. We have a table at the Aurora Community Band Holiday Market at Trinity Anglican in Aurora, and we're going to make and get some music-themed crafts to sell. I'll set a date to make crafts together at my house. It's more than a fund-raiser; it's an opportunity to promote our concert on December 6th, and to attract new members. I'd like us to perform as well, so please put that date on your calendars and plan to be there from 10-2.
Choir Revolution pub choir night on October 21st. Some of us went in July, and it was excellent, a fun and very different evening of singing. Get your ticket. Maybe we can carpool? Parking is weird there. We were a group of maybe 6 and it was wonderful. Maybe we can get a few more this time?
Donna's play: Over the River and Through the Woods at Theatre Aurora. We'll pick a couple of dates to go together. Let's plan dinner and a play. Nov. 13-21.
Whenever I spend time chatting with you, it's wonderful. I know we have so much in common besides enjoying singing in the choir. Let's make sure we always have some opportunities to get together outside of our Tuesday nights.
Next Tuesday, September 22nd
6:30 Alto Sectional: just the altos, going through their parts
- Angels Among Us
- Edelweiss
- So Long, Farewell
- Song for a Winter's Night
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