Articulation: little marks above notes

This is a theory post for the YRCC about articulation.
Articulation is, like, pronouncing things clearly, right?

In speech, articulation refers the act of giving voice to your thoughts, or to clear enunciation.

In music, it's about giving a note a special effect and those special effects are marked with articulation marks which are often called accents.

My favourite one is the fermata. I call it the mark of power. It looks a bit like an eye. When you see a fermata, think "watch Renate". It kind of rhymes.
The Fermata indicates that the note can be held indefinitely, and I get to decide how long. It's the last one in the example below.

Now let's look at the rest, starting with the first one.
1. The dot is a Staccato mark. The note is shortened to detach it from the next note.
2. The line is a Tenuto mark. The note has its full value.
3. The sideways arrow is an Accent mark. The note is louder and attacked, or accented. Bah!
4. The arrow that points up is the Mercato. The note much louder and very strongly attacked so that it ends up staccato too. Bam!

There are a few more, including the Breath mark ' that we talked about last time, which really shouldn't affect the note much at all, and the Caesura which is called a cut-off to describe what it does or railroad tracks to describe how it looks. The Caesura doesn't go above a note, but after it. Like the fermata, it indicates something that the conductor has power over. When you see the railroad tracks //, stop and watch. I get to decide when we start again.

Examples:

Look at Carol of the Bells.
Above bar 9, where Mary Ellen starts to sing, it says pp (pianissimo), so it's supposed to be very quiet and detached throughout.

Above the first note there's the tenuto mark and above the next 3, you see staccato marks. We have to pay attention to the fact that the whole thing is detached but make the first note longer than the other 3 notes.

The pattern continues, and then at bar 13 it says pp sempre cres. which means keep getting louder.

Then at bar 14 it says simile. That means they're not going to mark everything, just keep going the same way (long, short, short, short and louder and louder). So, the whole song has that long-short-short-short feel, but we just have to remember it.

Look at all the fermatas at the end! I practically control every note! Wow! That's power. But, with power comes responsibility. I have to figure out not only how I want that to sound, but I also have to figure out how to let everyone know when to sing and play all those notes that come after the fermatas (yup, even Sapphire's piano part is marked with fermatas).

For examples of accents and mercatos, look at Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Tons.

For examples of breath marks, look at Let There Be Peace on Earth. Tons.

For an example of a caesura, look at the bottom of page 30 of Mamma Mia. We don't actually observe that cut-off, because we have experienced the audience clapping there, so we make sure they understand we're not done by going straight to bar 228. The combination of fermata and cut-off there makes it clear to me that I can do whatever I want, whatever I think is best.

October 15th

Here's what we did on October 15th:
1. Warm-ups featured triplets with different consonants
2. We Wish You a Merry Madrigal-done! We did the middle section in 3/4
3. Song for the Unsung Hero: concentrated on p3, reviewed p4- excellent progress. Next time, we'll be looking at the end with the different words. Be sure to have the words written in your music in pencil!
4. One Voice-done! We leaned the parts on the third page where the choir comes in, and needed a bit of review in other parts but, we did the whole thing to the end. Just clean-up to do.
5. In Our Town in December: we looked at where the solos are and where everyone sings. We did p6+7.
I announced that this would be our last new piece. We will now only continue to learn and polish what we have from now on. This means that we will not do Welcome, Welcome Christmas this year. I was really looking forward to that song, but we'll have to do it next year. We'll hand them back to Trix next week.

Our Choir Uniform on Another Choir!

Wow! This choir has the same uniform that we do. Well the ladies do anyway. Our men's uniforms are wayyyy better.
I like their risers and the director's podium. They sound pretty good too.

And-a-one, and-a-two: Counting and swing

Ok, if you're old enough, you might remember Lawrence Welk counting in his orchestra with his trademark "An'-a one, an'- a two" (which was actually often "one an' two an'").

Lots of the music he performed was dance music, and quite a bit of it was swing. When music "swings" the beats are not as even as usual.

Let's look at regular "straight" time first.

Most of our music is in 4/4 time. So, there can be four quarter notes in a bar, and we count 1  2  3  4.
If we have all eighth notes, then it's 1+2+3+4+.
Sixteenths: 1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a.
It all divides up evenly so that each bar takes the same amount of time and beat 1 is always in the same place. So, I can conduct all of those buy simply giving you the four quarter note beats.

3/4 time sounds different. Let There Be Peace on Earth is in 3/4.
It sounds like a waltz. 1 2 3 1 2 3.
We also have 1+2+3+,
and 1e+a2e+a3e+a.
It's more dance-like but still straight. Our new song, In Our Town in December also has that waltzy feel.

Sometimes you get a bit of that 123 feel in a song, like in Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.
We sing "Sing the so-o-ng o-f my own na-a-tive land" with triplets.
Triplets are written joined together with a number 3 above them (sometimes there's a bar above or a curved line above). 3 notes take the time for 2.
The counting for that phrase is: 4 a 1+a 2+a 3  4+a1.

Here, we're saying 1+a2+a, but it doesn't sound like Lawrence Welk. What's up with that?

Sometimes people will say that swing is like triplets, but it's not. We can try to write it in straight notation, but  it doesn't quite capture it.

Look at Hymn to Freedom. It's in 4/4 but at the top, it says 'Gospel Style' and then you see this:

It's not exactly like that- that would be bouncier than a swing or gospel swing. The idea is to make you aware that the music moves differently. Swing has a cool, jazzy feel.  When you see that Oscar Peterson wrote Hymn to Freedom, you can start to imagine how he'd play it. The counting is the same as for eighths so you say 1+2+3+4+, but it swings :) That's not easy to describe. You need to feel it. And to feel the sixteenths, you add the a. 1+a2+a --Like Lawrence Welk

Blue Skies swings. When we sing it, we don't even think about it. It's jazzy and we swing it. Don't worry about it too much.

For more on counting, go to my previous blog post on counting. And this cool video post.

Thanksgiving Monday rehearsal

Wow! It was great to see so many of you at choir tonight! If you missed it, here's what we did.

We started with the small groups shortly after 6:30.
I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing is coming along very nicely. The accompaniment recording is great!
Happy Holiday/White Christmas had some beautiful moments, and is also moving right along especially now that we have the accompaniment.

Warm-ups included loosening up our knees and bubble bubble gum.
1. Go Now In Peace was beautiful. No need to review anything.
2. I Will Always Be With You: we reviewed p 6-7. The recording was faster than we thought it should be, but it worked out okay in the end.
3. Hymn to Freedom: we did p 6. It was amazing! The recording was slower than we thought this time, but we worked it out and got to the end without too much difficulty. Page 6 is important. If you missed this, please review it. 
4. Song for the Unsung Hero: we did p 4. Another very important part, and it went really well. We sang through the whole piece and discovered that several people had not written in the Canadian words at the end. Please get those words in, from this blog post or from the website, by logging in, going to members only resources and clicking on the sheet music for Song for the Unsung Hero. The Canadian words are in red on the sheet music online.
5. Let There Be Peace on Earth: we reviewed who sings where and sang through it once. Erase the previous markings. Mark your  music so that you know where to sing, when to come in. Everyone starts at the beginning at A, except the descant. The descant starts on the second line. Note that when there are two choir brackets (square brackets mark the choir part, squiggly brackets mark the piano part), the top part is going to be sung as a descant by 2 or 3 sopranos. The choir sings in the middle. On page 5, there's  no more descant. On page 6, the choir part divides up in the second line. We skip the top of page 7 and go to the optional quiet ending. So, on page 6, at the sign at the word "me", we jump down to the bottom half of page 7. Tracey and Heather brought treats and Debbie made excellent decaf coffee, and there was even tea. We had a happy Thanksgiving Monday!

October 1st

If you missed October 1st, here's what you missed:

1. The small group rehearsals started with I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing and Happy Holidays/White Christmas. **This means that you will not be able to go into the room until 7:20. If you need to go in and sit, you'll have to be silent.

2. Warm-ups included shaking off our day, and funny hands and waving.
3. Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves was beautiful. We looked at the unusual phrase marks that mean that you can't take a breath where it seems natural, according to the words.
4. We learned all of New Year's Blessing! The whole thing.
5. We learned all of Carol of the Bells! Really. Most people only sing for one section, and the soloists will work on their parts independently.
6. We worked on Hymn to Freedom, pp 4-6 and sang through the whole thing. We realized that most of us forgot how the ahs went. So, Sapphire and I recorded them for you! Go to the website, to the resources page and download your ahs.
7. We sang We Wish You a Merry Madrigal. We just fudged the middle section, but the rest was excellent!

Small Groups: next steps

For those of you who are not in small groups, please be patient while they use our space to rehearse before choir every Monday. 

• If you want to use the time before choir to socialize use the foyer. 
• If you need to sit down in the room, be silent. 

For members of small groups, review the Small Group Guidelines. (Click there or access by logging in on the website and  clicking on "Members-only content." ) Here are some key points: 

Once the list of participants has been agreed upon by the Director, each small group needs to:

•          Decide on a Group Leader, perhaps someone who could direct, or lead a practice,
•          Establish a phone tree to call each other if there is a change in practice information,
•          Find out who would be willing to host a practice or two at a convenient location,
•         Find out who has (portable) equipment to assist with the practice, such as a keyboard, CD player, etc.

Here are just a few tips to help ensure your experience is a pleasant and successful one:

• Watch your director!
• Prepare for practice by reviewing the written score as often as possible.                                                     
• Try to memorize the words so you can really focus on listening.
• Listen often to the music on our website or CD or YouTube.
• Listen to yourself and gauge your volume so you don’t drown out others, or fade in to the background.
• Listen for the timing. Are others speeding up or slowing down? Keep up with the group’s tempo.
• Breathe, and Enjoy Yourself!  

Small Groups- lists

**Please note that these groups have changed somewhat since sign-up time.

I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING

Part l Mona, Kay, Lynne F, Pat, Eithne, Galina

Part ll Stanley, Gerry, Michael, Robin, Jennifer, Sharon, Debbie

HAPPY HOLIDAY/WHITE CHRISTMAS

Sopranos- Louisa, Mary Ellen L, Darlene, Trix

Altos- Janet, Holly

Tenor/Bass - Todd, Kevin, Bill

MELE KALIKIMAKA

First Sopranos: Tracey, Lori

Second Sopranos: Jean, Kit, Michele

Altos: Carol, Lauren

Tenor/Bass: Dorothy, Gerry, Kevin

The groups for Happy Holiday and Mele Kalikimaka are closed, because there is a limit of 10 for those, but we can have a few more for I'd Like to Teach. It can be a bigger group. So, if you feel that you missed your chance to be in a small group, we can probably fit you in there. Let me know, and Trix too, so you'll have music. / R

Song for the Unsung Hero- Alternate lyrics

Song for the Unsung Hero :  Alternate Lyrics for page 8-end

From  East to Western sea, our True North strong and free, of thee we sing.

May order, peace abide. ‘Cross prairies far and wide, o’er snow capped mountainside, let our voices ring.

Sing a song for unsung heroes. Sing from sea to shining sea, Our Canada.

For the descant (Kristen, Mary-Ellen, and one other high soprano, tbd Anne Marie?):

O Canada, land of the maple leaf, of thee we sing. O Canada! Sing O Canada. Sing it from every mountainside. Let our voices ring. 

Sept. 24

If you missed Sept. 24, here's what you missed:

1. warm-ups included clapping and stomping rhythms together
2. We learned more of One Voice. We sang from page 5 to the end!
3. We sang Mamma Mia with 3/4 of the new soloists.
4. We sight-read through Song For the Unsung Hero. There are alternate lyrics, to make it Canadian instead of American. They are on the sheet music scan on the website, but I will publish them here too. Write the words in on your music in pencil.
5. We learned a hard part in Hymn to Freedom, pages 7&8. Review that with the recording.
6. We talked about small groups, which start next week at 6:30 and 6:50. There will be posts and emails.
7. People who would like to do a solo song are letting me know, and suggesting their songs. I've got some really good ones already. It'll be so hard to choose.

Breathing and Phrases in singing

Because we have so much music to learn and want to spend our time together singing as much as possible, the music reading and music theory lessons will have to be limited to quick mentions as needed and posts here on my blog.

Today, I am starting at the very beginning, and it's not Do Re Mi. Before we can sing notes, we need to be able to breathe.

You might be thinking I'm a nut because everyone just breathes naturally. It's just there, breathing. You're alive; you're breathing. You're not breathing; well, you're not.

Singers, like athletes, cannot take their breathing for granted. 

We need to breathe consciously and deliberately. Breathing properly gives us good sound and helps our body to sing so that it doesn't hurt our vocal apparatus. We have to be aware of our breathing and understand what a breath can do for us, how far it will take us. Then, we need to be in control of our breathing.

Fist of all, you have to be sure to breathe with your belly and not with your chest. We do that in our warm-ups most Mondays. Here's a cool video of a guy with a shoe on his chest and a shoe on his belly to show you what it looks like when you're breathing using your belly (and most people focus on the diaphragm, but it's more complicated). The shoe on his chest stays still while the one on his belly moves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmi6sNG9ttM&feature=related
There are lots of videos on how to breathe properly, posted for people who do Yoga, and run and do other sports, and specifically for singers.

If you're not accustomed to breathing consciously, you might feel a bit dizzy when your start. Lying down like the guy with the shoes is a good thing. And, don't exaggerate. It's more about paying attention to what your body is doing than making it do what you want. Don't fill your body up like a balloon about to burst. Allow it to fill up.

There are all kinds of articles on how we breathe and which muscles are used, and they'll basically tell you not to breathe too far down in your abdomen and not too far up in your chest, and to be aware of all the muscles that are used, not just the diaphragm. I won't go into detail, since most of you are not interesting in singing like an opera singer, or like Madonna (both of whom have strict daily physical work-outs and tons of exercises that focus on breathing) and if you do, you'll want to get a good vocal teacher who will go into detail.

In a choir, you have to breathe as a team.

We take breaths together sometimes and at other times we deliberately breathe at different times like a relay team: first me, then my neighbour, then another singer. Most of the time, we breathe together and the music tells us when to breathe and when not to breathe.

You need to pay attention to your body and to the music. There are lots of signs in the music that tell us when to breathe.

The most obvious musical breath is the apostrophe above the music.
Some music has breaths written in with an apostrophe ' When you see that, take a breath. Easy. (Go Now In Peace has one on page 5, and Let There Be Peace On Earth has lots.)

A lot of rests are there for you to take a breath. We had an example in our music yesterday: In One Voice, at the top of page 7, Sopranos need to hold ring for 7 beats and there's a big quarter note rest before shout it out and then a little eighth note rest before and let it ring. Use them to take breaths.

In fact, mark all the rests in your music. Make sure you take a breath there and then you won't be holding a note longer than your neighbours, and you won't run out of air.

For a review of rests and how long to hold them, click here.

Rests are about half-way down. Pay as much attention to the rests as you do to the notes! Silence is important, not just for giving you time to breathe, but to give another part prominence, to create contrast, provide drama, and more. The rest is as important as the note.

Generally speaking, you breathe before and after a phrase, but not in the middle of one. The phrase could be a sentence. Look at the words, and see where there's punctuation. Breathe if there's a period. Take a breath if there's a comma or another natural pause as in speech.

There's also a musical way of marking a phrase. When a phrase is marked with a curved line above it, you need to take your breath at the beginning of the phrase, because you  must not breathe in the middle of a phrase.

Last night, we learned our ahs in Hymn to Freedom in phrases. Curved lines divided the ahs into sections, phrases. We had an example of an unusual phrase in Chorus of The Hebrew Slaves, on page 5 at F, and again at the top of page 9. Here you have thronging, oh my homeland joined by a phrase mark, so you can't take that natural breath at the comma but must wait until after Oh. People often swoop there (another topic for another time). Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves has a few examples of phrase marks to show you not to take a breath at a comma in the words. Check it out. You see a comma in the words, but in the music there's a curved line above or below the notes. You must pay attention to the musical phrases.

If you find yourself short of air from time to time, unable to hold a note as long as you're supposed to- like most of us- then mark more breaths on your music. Put in apostrophes above the rests that you want to remember to use, and put them in at the beginnings of sentences and phrases. If you come across a note that you always have trouble holding, work your way back from it to a place where you can take a breath, and mark it in your music.

If there is a place in the music where everyone has trouble holding a note, or keeping the sound going through a long phrase, then we do what is called staggered breathing. Singers singing the same part take turns taking a breath during the long note or phrase so that there is no obvious break, so that the sound continues. You sneak a breath where nobody else is sneaking theirs. You have to mark these breaths on your music and do it consistently so the team can count on you.

Soloists: rehearse with deliberate breaths, mark them in and observe them every time. Don't breathe randomly, or you will find yourself nervous and unable to hold a breath properly when you perform. Likewise, don't stretch yourself in rehearsal, or else you put yourself in danger of running out of air in a performance because you didn't anticipate your ex being in the audience.

The conductor can also help you with when to take a breath. When I'm conducting, I often breathe with you. You'll see me open my mouth and I'll exaggerate a deep breath along with the arm movements when I'm leading you in. When I sing a hard bit for you, I often exaggerate a breath so that you notice where to breathe, to make sure you observe the rest, and to emphasize the role of the rest in the rhythm.

When you do breathing exercises, you want to increase your ability to take a good amount of air in with a breath and then to use it evenly throughout a phrase, or while holding a note. Evenly. You want to have the same quality of tone at the beginning of the note and at the end. You don't want your sound to peter out, even if you're supposed to get quieter.

There's a breathing exercise that we do where we go ts-ts-ts-ts... as we let out air. This is to train us to let it out gradually and evenly.

The best thing you can do to help you with singing and breathing is to keep your body in good shape. If your lungs and heart and all the other muscles that you need to sing are in good shape, your voice will have all the support it needs. Don't smoke. Limit your caffeine and alcohol consumption. Keep hydrated. Take care of yourself. And, singing will help to take care of you too. It's a good cycle.

Solo Assignments- will be updated

I'm posting this but it is a work in progress. I'll let you know when it's final.

Carol of the Bells
Soprano: 9-12 +13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (solo and lead) (Mary Ellen)
Soprano: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (Dolores)
Alto: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (DEBBIE)
Alto:13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (CAROL)
Tenor: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (Todd)
Bass: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (important ending, very low) (BILL)

In Our Town in December
 5-12 (intro solo) (Bill)
24-31 ( Hanukkah solo) (SOPHIE V., back-up)
32-39 (Christmas duet) (TRACEY and JANE, back-ups)

Let There Be Peace On Earth
Duet 2 first Sopranos, very strong 9-34 ( Kristen and Mary Ellen Lasota, Anne Marie as back-up)

One Voice
Soprano: 6-15+9-22 (Heather, need backup)
Alto: 18-22 (Teija, Janet)
Tenor: 15-22 (Stanley, need a back-up)

Mamma Mia
Soprano: 23-47 (LOUISA Heather will be back-up)
Soprano: 94-106+199-122 (KIT Sophie will be back-up)
Alto: 124-132 (DAPHNE Trix will be back-up)
Soprano: 200-208 (CATHY Kristen will be back-up)

I Love Lucy/Friendship

Groovy song from Cole Porter's Anything Goes done by Lucy and Ethel.
We'll do this as a small group in the spring. We have a fun choral arrangement.

Mele Kalikimaka

Ok. I won't ask anyone to sing and dance, but maybe a lei, or sunglasses would be fun? What do you think?

Meal Ministry- great ideas to share

Hey Everyone,

One thing I love about Facebook is that people share all kinds of interesting things, and you don't have to agree, or worry about making a face that shows you don't.

I don't want to start Pinning- that Pinterest thing where you share interests by Pinning, which is kind of like Liking on FB. But, I like seeing what other people pin. Is that weird? Maybe just lazy?

So, one of the things that a friend Pinned yesterday is a blog post called "Top 13 Meal Ministry Meals" which gives ideas for meals to take to people or to take to a potluck or church thing. It's from a really cool blog that I think a number of you will like. It's called TakeThemAMeal.com Blog. It's from a website called TakeThemAMeal.com.

The whole thing started when a friend needed help and there were a ton of people who wanted to contribute meals for a family over a period of time and there was a need to coordinate all these people, schedule it in a central place. A website grew and now they also have the blog which shares all kinds of great ideas for helping people, and even just plain practical advice: How to Support a Person Through Loss and Transition, 19 Ways to Help During Crisis, From Your Freezer to Your Family, etc.

I'm looking forward to reading more of those posts and I hope that you might find it interesting. And, if you don't. Don't worry about it. I can't see your face.

Yours in harmony,

Renate

Sept. 17 Fantastic rehearsal!

Wow!!! Tonight was Fantastic! Amazing! Spectacular!
I had so much fun!!!
The YRCC has never sounded better. We are hot, hot, hot :)

Here's what we did:
1. Warm-up included different kinds of voice-stretching, range-expanding techniques.
2. I Will Always Be With You, pp6-9. We are just about done. Sang to the end!
3. Do You Hear What I Hear, section D. And, sang from the beginning to the end of that section.
4. One Voice, p 5 to the top of 6.
5. Hymn to Freedom, sight read through and it was really good!

It was great and we sounded fabulous, but I have to teach faster. I had planned to sight-read through 2 more songs :) But, I was enjoying the amazing sound we had. "Let's do that again!" I really did get the chills several times. Our harmonies were perfect and full and just wow!

Please do work with the recordings if you can find some time! We really have a lot to do, and it's all such great music that we want to do all of it and not have to drop anything because we didn't have enough time. We can do it!

What you missed on Sept. 10

Here's what you missed if you didn't make to choir on Sept. 10:
If you can, have a look at the parts in red to catch up.

1. Warm-up (massage, etc)
2. Mamma Mia with past soloists, ending at Dancing Queen
3. Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, run-through
4. I Will Always Be With You, sight read through, **parts: pp1-5
5. We Wish You a Merry Madrigal, sight read through, **parts: pp2&3
6. Do You Hear What I Hear, sight read through
7. You Raise Me up, run-through

Solos in our Songs

Here's a list of all the various solos that are available. Look at them to see what range is required. They are marked SATB, but you can sing anything that's within your range. If you're a Bass, and you want a Tenor solo, that's fine. Same for Alto and Soprano. It's not usually important where you stand. Please let me know if you are interested in doing one in particular or any one of them. I will need back-up soloists too. I will assign solos as soon as possible.

Carol of the Bells
Soprano: 9-12 +13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (solo and lead)
Soprano: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine
Alto:13-24 +37-44 +37-fine
Alto:13-24 +37-44 +37-fine
Tenor: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine
Bass: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (important ending, very low)

In Our Town in December
Anybody(SATB): 5-12 (intro solo)
Anybody(SATB):24-31 (Hanukkah solo)
Duet (SA or TB): 32-39 (Christmas duet)

Let There Be Peace On Earth
Duet 2 first Sopranos, very strong 9-34 (I'm thinking, Kristen and Mary Ellen Lasota, but willing to hear your input)

One Voice
Soprano: 6-15+9-22 (Heather, need backup)
Alto: 18-22 (Teija, need backup)
Tenor: 15-22 (Stanley has been assigned, need a back-up)

Mamma Mia
Soprano: 23-47 (Heather will be back-up)
Soprano: 94-106+199-122 (Sophie will be back-up)
Alto: 124-132 (Trix will be back-up)
Soprano: 200-208 (Kristen will be back-up)

Register before Monday

Hello YRCC Choristers!

It's almost time! Monday is only around the corner. I'm super-excited. We've got amazing music planned and   it's going to be so good to see all of you again!

Please come a bit early to pay your registration fees. You don't have to register on Monday, just pay. Because, you can pre-register online!!!

Please register online instead of waiting until Monday, if you have the chance to. In fact, stop reading this and go to the website now and do it. It will only take a few seconds! Click here. Do it.

All you need to do is log in with your email address (the one you've given us before) and make up a password for yourself. The log-in box is near the top on the left.

Once you're logged in, most if  not all of your information will show up. Update it and save it and you're done!

It'll say that you still need to pay. You will do that on Monday. You'll receive an email to let you know that you're registered but you have to pay-a kind of invoice will be sent to you. And, when you log in next time there will be a reminder in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen that you owe $60, until Monday.

Spend some time clicking around while you're there. There's a bunch of cool stuff already online, and more coming! Super-exciting!

Here's a link to the website again: click here.

See you Monday!!!

Yours in harmony,

Renate

Soprano? Alto? What am I? Examples and discussion: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, a...

I am reposting this repost because it's so good.
There are sample clips of singers that fall into each category.
This is one way to try to figure out which part suits you best.
In our choir, we have Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses. Sometimes Tenors and Basses sing a Baritone part together. Our music is SAB or SATB, and sometimes it's only in 2 parts.

City of Dunedin Choir: Examples and discussion: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, a...: The following is a cross-post from my blog The Chorister . I have copied it to here, because I thought members of City Choir might find it i...

WEBSITE!

The YRCC Website is now up and running!

It's still under construction, but already has tons of useful stuff on it. 

For the public, you'll see how to contact us and what events we have coming up and some general information about us. There's a link to this blog, and to our YouTube page where you can see and hear samples of our performances.

For members there's lots more!

YRCC choristers, when you go to the website, you'll see on the left side a white box for your email address and a white box for a login password. Use the email address that you use for the choir and make up a password. Trix has input all of our data, so you'll find your address, phone number etc already there. Thanks, Trix!

Review your information and update it, filling in any missing bits, and then you're registered. All you have to do on Sept. 10 is pay your membership fee of $60. 

Once you've logged in, you'll have access to the members only section. Go to links to resources. Treasures! There's all of our music! You can download the accompaniments and your part to the songs we're doing this season. (all the parts are not up yet, but will be soon) You can make yourself a CD of all the accompaniments and your parts to all of the songs, or you can use them on your computer or iPod, or anywhere you can download WAV files. There's also pdf downloads of the sheet music to preview- but you'll get purchased copies in your binders, so you won't need these after Sept. 10, unless you prefer to read them on your iPad, or computer. 

You'll be able to sign up for performances through the events page. And, I'll be able to see everyone that's signed up, so I'll know which soloists I can use, etc. 

Where it says links for members, you'll find our calendar. Click on the calendar to find details about our events, including maps. And, there's also a link to this blog, because I've always got the Nota Bene box which has reminders and the Schedule box with upcoming dates to remember that will help keep you on track. 

Also on this blog, you'll find the box in which I've got links to the blog posts about music theory that are very useful and another box with links to the blog posts that are videos of us. 

So, hopefully you'll never wonder what day our Christmas concert is or what time we have to be somewhere or where you need to be, and have to wait for Monday to find out. All the information you need will be at your fingertips!

Keep checking in for more features as the website keeps growing. 

Happy clicking!

No space for new choristers?

Is it possible? 

The York Region Community Choir has been happily growing for the past 6 years or so, after a period of uncertainty and renewal.

And now, we're at a point where we have to have a waiting list! 

We are very close to the maximum number of people that fit in our rehearsal space, and have already had to limit the number of members going out to seniors' homes because of lack of space. All summer, we've been trying to get a bigger rehearsal space with no success. There are very few options available to us, none of them satisfactory.

We're still going to be very happy to have men join, because our tenor and bass sections are still under-represented. But, we will have to stop accepting new sopranos and altos. Shocking.

We discussed how a waiting list would work at our last executive meeting- very reluctantly. We are very uncomfortable with having to say no to people who want to join our choir. 

We love our choir and would love for everyone in York Region to have the experience we are having. The idea has been that anyone in York Region who wants to have the experience of singing in a choir should be able to. Our fees are low and negotiable, and no previous experience is required. The Region supports us by providing our wonderful free rehearsal space, and we've been very proud to represent York Region at community events and at the seniors homes that we love visiting. We've been very proud and happy to accept new members and to share this great thing we have. But, we are approaching the point where we will have to say no.

We will be posting the details of how our waiting list will work soon. 

Sleeping In: messing with circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythm is not a fancy jazz term.


It refers to something in our biological clock that is a daily cycle, like sleeping and eating patterns. We're influenced by daylight, dark/light cycles, but, the 24-hour cycle is built in to us. Like lots of other things in nature, we have daily patterns of behaviour. Our daily sleep pattern is a big deal.

Jet lag and shift work mess with your sleep patterns. So do weekends, and summer holidays. 

You can read about studies that show that keeping a regular sleep pattern is good for your health, performance at school and work, everything. And, the reverse is also true. Not being in rhythm is bad for your health, performance, etc. Still, many of us sleep in when we can, especially on weekends, and end up suffering on Mondays and whenever we need to get back to our routines. 

School starts next week and I'll be happy to have the regular rhythm of the school week back. Harry and I both have irregular hours, so the girls' school days set the rhythm. Without the structure of a regular day, things get messy. This has been the case for the whole summer. Our sleep patterns haven't had a regular pattern. 

I don't think it's a horrible thing that our circadian rhythms are irregular in the summer. Music doesn't keep the same rhythm throughout a song. That would be boring. A change in pattern is interesting and necessary. Even in Mozart's music (think Mozart Effect)  there are necessary changes in rhythm and tempo. Our summers are more jazzy, with lots of improv. 

So, I'll let my family sleep in. But, maybe just a bit less, so that it's closer to the rhythm of the school year which is just around the corner. After all this free jazz, classical could be a shock to the system.

Exciting Project- New Recreation and Event Centre in Aurora

Our good friend and fellow chorister Bill Reid is involved in an exciting project in Aurora. The plan is to build a new Recreation and Event Centre in Fleury Park that can be used by a variety of sports clubs (in particular the Aurora Tennis Club) and community groups, and will include an amphitheatre where people can come and hear us sing! We loved our experience singing in Newmarket's Fairy Lake Park Amphitheatre and look forward to performing at this proposed new park!
Check out this newspaper article: click here
And keep up-to-date with the progress of the project on the Facebook page: click here
Here's the picture from the newspaper article that shows Bill with the model of the building. Check out all the playing surfaces inside.

More Support for Singing in a Choir

Through Facebook, I read another good article about the benefits of singing in a choir. 

Here's a link to the article called "The Choral Cure": click here

Like I said on FB, we just do it because it feels great. You don't have to convince us. 

 Indeed, in the article it says "Singing is the best free drug going."

Here's the best part: 
"Like walking, singing has always been taken for granted – it's just something people have always done," says lead author Professor Stephen Clift. "But just as walking is now prescribed, the benefits of singing for health are slowly being rediscovered by health practitioners."

Like walking, singing is something that everyone should be doing. 

Another Olympic Success!

Another group of YRCC Olympians made us proud. The York Region Community Choir participated in the Olympic Finale Event at the Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket yesterday, Saturday, August 11th, 2012. 

This time, our choir was asked to sing more, because they loved us so much the first time. What an honour! 

We were told that our O Canada "gave the community a feeling of patriotism", which we all felt when the crowd cheered at the end of our beautiful a cappella version of our national anthem. What a thrill! 

I'm so proud to be part of this wonderful group of people, the York Region Community Choir. 

Here's the picture of the group that performed at the Olympic Opening Event. 

YRCC Olympians return to the Mall Saturday

Come to the Upper Canada Mall on Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 11:00am!

Hear the choir sing to celebrate the excellent work of our Olympic athletes in London.

We're part of another Olympic Event at the Mall.

There will be commemorative medals and photos and a gymnastics display in addition to our performance- all happening in Centre Court.

Go, Canada, Go!!!

Sing to Your Sweetheart

I was thinking about campfire songs, and Googled it. Most of the campfire stuff was for girl guides and boy scouts and children in general.

So, I got to thinking about what you sing when you're not a kid anymore. 

My teenage daughters sing with their friends- pop songs from the radio, mostly with the radio. They sang well past midnight at a sleepover in our basement recently. I loved it. 

My husband and I break out in song frequently, singing bits of things from all over the place- old and new radio, musicals, movies, TV commercials, anything. That's one thing I love about Harry. He's a great singer and knows tons of songs and is playful and confident enough to sing anytime, anywhere. He doesn't have to sing anything romantic or even sing it to me for his singing to make my heart flutter. Hmmm...

I Googled a bit more and I came across this article:

Songs To Sing To Your Girlfriend

By: Matt Ralfe


The writer suggested that when guys think they should "do something sweet for their girlfriends to enhance their relationship," they should sing something romantic. 

He says that it's great if you can play a guitar or piano-"Luckily most girls like simple songs with simple chords." (what?!)- And, if you don't, he suggests you get a karaoke version of the song. 

"Don't worry if you think your voice sounds like a frog. It will not matter to your girlfriend if you can't sing, just the thought of doing this for her is enough. Just be confident. Make sure to practice first, though."(my italics) 

He goes on to suggest a number of suitable "romantic" songs.


Aside from his weird notions about girls liking simple songs and the idea that you have to practise first before singing for a girl and need accompaniment, Matt's got the right idea.  

Sing to your girlfriend. Sing anything to your girlfriend. Try it. I bet she'll like it. 

Sing to your boyfriend. 

Sing together. 

We sing to and with our babies all the time, and it's a great expression of love. We know babies love to hear your voice singing, the voice they love. So, sing to your sweetheart.

Summer Singing

We just had a long weekend and I'm sure that lots of people had campfires. I see and hear about more and more people having outdoor fireplaces in their backyards too. So, I'm wondering whether there was a lot of singing going on. And, what were people singing?

When I think about campfire singing, it's mostly the girl guide stuff I think of first:

• Fire's Burning 
• My Eyes are Dim 
• Make New Friends 
• Land of the Silver Birch 
• Kumbaya, etc. 

Then, there's pop stuff like:

• American Pie 
• Stairway to Heaven 
• Bridge Over Troubled Water
• Hey Jude (wasn't that cool at the Olympic Opening Ceremony?)

And what about:

• the Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch theme songs
• I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner ; )

And my kids might sing:

• Pumped Up Kicks
• Somebody That I Used to Know

Do you sing around the campfire? What do you sing?

Olympic Athletes Making Us Proud

Following the Olympics a bit. Isn't it awesome? Feeling proud!