You are what you sing!

Hello Everybody!

Identity

You are what you eat. That’s not new.  I’ve been thinking about my own identity in terms of, “You are what you say, read, and write,” and “You are what you google”( more to come on that another time).

Now, I’m thinking about the choir’s identity. What is the York Region Community Choir? Who are we?

I think we can determine the identity of our choir by what we sing.

Discos and Rockers

When I was in high school, we were labelled according to the music we liked: rockers and discos.  There were also fashions and hairstyles that went along with them. Fuzzy dice! Some people fit very clearly into one or the other. 

YRCC

Let’s see. Looking at the list of the songs we sang this past season, I’d say we were beautiful, fun and Popular!

We seem to like popular music, popular music from the past, that is. So, we’re also old? No way!

Best Concert Ever

The York Region Community Choir has never had a more successful concert than our spring concert last month. We made a bit more money at our Christmas concert, but all things considered- quality, participation, fun, audience-response and revenue- this one wins.

Best Music Ever

One of the things that I heard repeatedly was that the music was excellent, the best ever.  The audience loved hearing all those well-known melodies. We had fun learning and singing songs we love. Choristers have asked for more familiar songs.  

Next

For Christmas, we’ve decided to include music from different cultures to reflect the diversity of the choir and the community around us. So, we’re continuing to build our identity through our music.

We are more than our music, of course.

We love to bake and eat too! Ok, there’s more than singing and eating, but that’s the topic of another blog, another time. (In another, maybe I’ll talk about how my Book Club is really a Reading and Eating Group.)

Yours in harmony,

Renate

Autocomplete me

Hi Everyone!

People out there are always trying to figure out who I am and what I want. That’s ok. So am I.

Google Search

Google Search is cool. It knows so much about me. I start typing in the thing I’m looking for and bam! It’s there before I’ve typed the third letter. How did they know? It’s called autocomplete. How does it work? Math. Algorithms, not a team of psychics with runes and cards or secret spies, predict what I want based on what everybody else has wanted, basically.  And, if I’ve signed in to my Google account, it will personalize the search, taking into consideration all the information they have on me, including my past searches.

Facebook

Some people don’t like the way Facebook takes your profile information and places ads in the periphery of your page. I like it. I don’t have to pay much attention to those ads, but I can see what they think I might like. Sometimes something will catch my eye.

A bright red book cover caught my eye when I logged on to Facebook this morning. The title was You Are What You Speak. Well, that’s right up my alley. I love stuff on language use and perceptions. I could guess at all kinds of things this book might be about. I didn’t click on the ad like I’m supposed to. I went to Google. (Is that ok? I figure if I click on the link, the writer will have to pay.) Turns out I think I’d love to read this book. I’ve read a bunch of stuff by and about this author now, clicking around this morning.

I already know a bit about how language use defines us. Sociolinguistics is fun. So, I am what I say and read and write. I know that I am what I eat. I am what I google too.

Think about what you eat and read and say, and also what you google.

Who are you?

Yours in harmony,

Renate