I'm sexy and I know it.

Hello Everyone!


Catchy title, isn't it? I'm talking about music, though, not about my attractiveness, my magnetism, my allure.


Ce qu’on ne peut dire et ce qu’on ne peut taire, la musique l’exprime. 
(Victor Hugo)


--Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.


So, when we want to say something, but can't, we can express it with music. Like, "I'm sexy and I know it!" (LMFAO-Loving My Friends and Others, not the Internet abbreviation, they say.)


Maybe Victor Hugo wasn't thinking of that, but music does liberate you, doesn't it? You will sing things that you wouldn't say, for sure. Don't we all love to prance around singing "I'm sexy and I know it?!" (Ok, if you don't, then just humour me with this one. I know other people besides myself who do. really.) 


I have been known to say similarly arrogant things when I'm holding the magic baton that turns me into "The Intrepid Choir Conductor." Fearless and reckless are related, right? My theme song "Ain't She Sweet" became my theme song because I always say to seniors when we're about to start singing it, "We're going to sing a song about me!"


Another recent example of singing something you wouldn't say is that Mumford and Sons song that I love, Little Lion Man. The chorus has the f-word in it. I'm no fan of cussing, but that song is awesome and I'll sing right along (when my kids aren't in the room). I do wish there was a clean version of it, but it I guess it would lose some of it's power, wouldn't it? 


There you go: it's power. Saying things you can't- shouldn't- say, things that are forbidden to say, is powerful. Even declaring your love for someone, or your pain, openly-out loud- is huge. And, we need to express our love and our pain, regret, loss, joy and celebration, and even our self-confidence.


Passionate expression is powerful. That's part of the magic of music!


Feel the passion when you sing, let it out, and share it!


Yours in harmony, 
Renate

Money and Happiness

Money, it is often said, does not bring happiness; it must be added, however, that it makes it possible to support unhappiness with exemplary fortitude. (Robertson Davies)

It’s a good thing I’m a happy person.

I wrote that quote down in the middle of reading rhe book. I actually stopped reading, put my bookmark in, and went and got paper and pen to write it down. It’s that good, isn’t it?

I’ve started reading Roberson Davies’ Salterton Trilogy. (Love Robertson Davies.) The first book is called Tempest Tost. It revolves around the production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a small community, Salterton.

My favourite character so far is the music director J

The music director is a happy guy with very little money.

Money would be nice. The alternative to money is dreaming.

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping (Who said that first? The original get going version is attributed to JFK’s father.), but window shopping works too. Spending money is very satisfying, but not entirely necessary. Dreaming, visualizing is powerful too. 

We’re in the process of planning a Mini Choir Executive Field Trip. A trip to Ikea is taking shape. There’s a place to dream in! Walk around the “rooms” and imagine and wish and escape. And, there’s usually something inexpensive that you can buy for even more satisfaction.

Postive thinkers, and Olympic athletes, use Creative Visualization to create postive outcomes. They tell you to "go to your happy place" for pain control. What if that happy place is Ikea?  

We're going to go and dream and increase our happiness.

We'll let you know how it works.

Yours in harmony,

Renate

You can sing. Yes you can!

Listen Edith, I know you're singing and you know you're singing, but the neighbours may think I'm torturing you. - Archie Bunker

Archie Bunker said all kinds of stupid things. Luckily, Edith was good-natured enough, and smart enough, not to listen to him most of the time.

I’ve met too many people who have told me that they were told that they can’t sing. Not just, “I can’t sing.” But, “My mom or my teacher, someone said so. So, I won’t sing, don’t sing.”

This really bothers me.

Everyone can sing, should sing. People sing differently. Some will like your voice, your style, and others won’t. We’re not all expected to be Celine Dion or Sarah Brightman, Pavarotti or Elvis. But, when everybody’s singing American Pie or 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, you should join in. It feels good.

Sing in the car. Sing with your baby. Sing to your plants, your garden. Sing when you’re cooking. Sing when you’re vacuuming. Sing when they don’t expect it.

Sometimes during a quiet moment at the dinner table, or while everyone’s reading, I’ll sing a little something. Lately, my little something is: Grab somebody sexy: tell him, Hey!

I feel the same way about dancing.

It bothers me when people don’t dance and say they can’t dance. Bah. Just do it. It feels good. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not a good dancer. If they do, don’t let it stop you. Moving to music is heavenly. I take every opportunity I can to dance.

I’m not going on TV to dance with the stars. I dance in my kitchen. I dance in the basement. I dance at concerts. I dance at weddings, all night long.

I got a really great greeting card once that said: Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth. Mark Twain said that first. Smart guy.

Try to sing and dance and love more. It feels good.

Yours in harmony,

Renate

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day, Everyone!

Main Street and Fairy Lake

I took my girls to Main Street and Fairy Lake for the Canada Day festivities. What a beautiful day, a perfect start to summer: hot and sunny. There were tons of things to see and crowds of people there to see them, lots of people in red and white and lots of flags. The Town of Newmarket had a booth and some nice ladies were handing out little flags, flag pins, and flag stickers.

Music everywhere

I paid more attention to the music this year. At our executive meeting this past Monday, one of the things we talked about was participating in more community events. Canada Day is one of the events we’d like to suggest to the choir. I think it will be great!

Today, we heard all kinds of music all over the place along Main Street and in Fairy Lake. Music makes any event more exciting. Live music is best of all!

YRCC on stage next year

There is a stage on Main Street that would be perfect for us. I took a good look at it. There was a small band playing excellent jazz. Chairs were set up for people to sit and listen down on the street in front of the stage, but people were standing all over the place and walked by too. There should be enough room for the choir to stand up there on stage with Sapphire and the keyboard. I think I’ll have to be on the ground though. We might have to buy a riser.

I hope the weather is nice next year for Canada Day. I think that the YRCC will be singing!

See you there!

Yours in harmony,

Renate

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

My First Post

Hi Everyone!

This blog will be a way to communicate with and about the York Region Community Choir, my choir family.

My baton is a symbol of who I am. It says, "I'm musical and I'm in charge." It also says, "I stand out."

I feel great when I'm conducting the choir. I experienced a similar feeling when I was teaching ESL, which I did before motherhood. (Back then, my baton was a piece of chalk.) I'll try to share that feeling.

I'll share experiences and stories about all aspects of my life, not just choir. Everything is connected.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you as I embark on this new journey. Come back regularly to look for choir news and information.

Yours in harmony,

Renate