January 14th review and looking ahead

If you missed choir today, here's what you missed:

1. Our warm-ups included making funny faces and strange sounds.
2. We sang I Will Always Be With You. It's beautiful. We had to review pages 6 and 7.
3. Monday, Monday was great!
4. Hallelujah: we reviewed "the baffled king composing Hallelujah", "the holy or the broken Hallelujah" and "with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah". The first one is different for everyone. The second and third are the same but in a different key, so just a bit higher. I'm considering changing soloists. Let me know if you're interested in singing one.
5. We sang I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing. It was really good! We're going to start with solos first a soprano or alto and then a tenor or bass. Everyone starts at 25. Soprano and Tenor are on Part l and Alto and Bass are Part ll.
6. Wonderful World was beautiful.

Looking ahead to Next week:
Blue Skies
Get Happy
Hallelujah
I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
One Small Step

If you like to work on stuff at home, here's the harder stuff you'll want to look at:
From a Distance
You'll Never Walk Alone
On Eagle's Wings

Solos and small groups for Spring 2013

As soon as you get your music, have a look at the solos we need this season. I've listed them all here. Find them in the music and see if you like the range and the song.  If you would like to be considered for a solo in the choir music, let me know. The deadline will likely be end of the month. 

Also think about solo pieces. We can have 3 or 4 solos and duets. Last season we had 3 solos and a duet. I've already heard from a few duets but no soloists yet. We'll have to limit it to 4 total. Please come forward and let me know if you are considering a solo song or a duet. Your deadline will likely be later in February or March. Remember our theme is Friendship and Community. 

Small groups: Sign up will be soon. We have a men's a cappella small group piece, Sam Hall, and a mixed group song called Friendship. There is room for another piece with piano accompaniment, and we're hoping for 2 Janet and the Kevins small group pieces again. We have a few suggestions for music, pieces we have in our files, but if you have a song you'd like to do as a small group, please let me know. Remember that small groups do most of their preparation on their own. We count on members of small groups to learn their music at home and to organize rehearsal time independently. You need to book your time with Heather and Anne Marie or Janet and the Kevins and be available to meet before choir and possibly on other days. 

Spring Music Solos

Blue Skies (or keep Trix and Janet?)

Soprano at 37

Alto,Tenor or Bass at 45

From a Distance

Alto: at 6 and 26

Soprano: joins the alto for a duet at pick-up to 10 and 30

Hallelujah (new soloists)

Tenor: beginning

Soprano/Alto: at 16

I’d like to Teach the World to Sing

Soprano/Alto: at 9

Tenor/Bass: at 17

Imagine

Soprano/Alto: at 5

One Small Step

Soprano/Alto: at 5 and 75

Tenor/Bass: at 10

One Voice

Keeping soloists from last season (Heather, Stanley, Janet/Teija)

Wild Mountain Thyme

Soprano/Alto: at 5, first verse

Tenor/Bass: at 5, second verse

Old men singing at Tim Horton's cool not-flashy flash mob

Shut-up-and-do-as-you're-told politics here and now

Don't like conflict. Avoid it.
So, politics are obviously not my thing.
But, sometimes I see something that demands my attention.

Tomorrow's events both have the same kind of aura of unfairness to them and I think it's because they both revolve around groups of former second-class citizens and their right to participate in the processes that govern them.

York Region Elementary Teachers, among others, will have a day of protest tomorrow, Friday, January 11th, 2013.

Teachers have lost their rights and there is no uproar from the other unions. Do they feel immune? Do they believe that the teachers are different, don't deserve the same rights?

I'm surprised and disappointed in the public, especially members of all unions, for their lack of support for teachers. It isn't fair.

The Prime Minister is going to meet with some First Nations leaders that have been neglected tomorrow. There will be a prayer vigil at our church, Trinity United Newmarket.

The First Nations want to be heard. I don't agree with much of what they are saying. I don't like the word Sovereignty. I don't like that their solution is to separate themselves from Canada and Canadians. But, they believe they are not included, so they are separate already. If we believe that they should be included then they need to be at the table. We need to be considering their issues. What do we know about this and how much do we care? Excluding First Nations is the problem, not the solution. This is a much more complex issue that we have to become more aware of. Check out the Official Idle No More website. I had no idea.

I'm surprised and disappointed in the continued lack of attention the First Nations get.

If I do nothing else, at least I can reflect on these issues and express my hope for peace in these situations, for the individuals involved and for all of us who are and will be affected.

Spring Season starts Monday

I'm excited to get going with our new season!

Our theme for this Spring Season is Friendship and Community. 

It flows well from our Together for the Holidays theme of gathering with friends, family and community.

We will continue to sing several of our winter season songs and will bring back a bunch of things from last spring as well. There will be a few pieces that I've reached back in our archives for which only a few people will remember. One of them is a beautiful anthem-like song called You'll Never Walk Alone. It's a really cool and jazzy arrangement of a powerful piece of music that I'm sure everyone will enjoy.

As promised, everyone will have the chance to sing I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing.

I'm really looking forward to moving in to our new, bigger space across the hall! 

We were packed in like sardines before, but now we'll have a bit of room to stretch. Look out for more interesting warm-ups ;)

Please note that even though we'll have more space, our numbers are still capped. The room capacity is only 60, and we have decided not to grow any more anyway. The waiting list is still in effect.

Hand in your Binder now

Dear YRCC Choristers,

Don't forget that you are responsible for handing in your binder to Trix, our Music Librarian, at the end of each season.

If you want  to have your binder full of music to start the spring season in January, you must hand it in to Trix by next week. Trix has the big job of preparing the binders for our spring season and filing away all the winter season music.

Tomorrow night, after singing, we can all give our binders to Lauren, as Trix will be absent.

If you are not going to be there tomorrow night, you have to drop off your binder at Trix's house in the bin on her front porch.

Please, everyone, help to make this big job a bit easier by ensuring that your binder is handed in as soon as possible.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Renate

Last Seniors' Christmas visit---Newmarket Health Centre, Monday 17

Yesterday at the York Region Forest Jingle Walk was really special. It was great singing outdoors surrounded by trees. The crowd of families that came to walk was energetic and seemed to enjoy our performance and singing carols with us. 

Tomorrow is our last "gig" of the season :(

Here's the tentative order for tomorrow's performance at Newmarket Health Centre.

Remember to always be ready for changes when we go out to sing. We'll see who is there and what we can do, so be ready with all of your music. 

Go to the calendar to get a map and other details. 

Newmarket Health Centre                   Monday December 17, at 7:30pm

1              In Our Town in December

2              Let There Be Peace On Earth

3              Carol of the Bells

4              I Will Always Be With You

5              Happy Holiday/White Christmas (group)

6              Do You Hear What I Hear

               Sing-alongs

7              Thankful (Todd's solo)

8              You Raise Me Up

9              We Wish You a Merry Madrigal

Humming is good for you

Classical 96.3 is my radio station for driving. I also like to listen to it while I'm working, so I use my laptop to listen to the live stream. Today, as I logged on, I noticed a teaser for an article on the website:
"Humming and sinus problems"
It seems that humming helps to keep your sinuses working properly. Interesting.
Here's a link to that short article. It's from Libby Znaimer's Zoomer Report.

http://www.classical963fm.com/shows/zoomer-report/health/humming-and-sinus-problems/

YRCC sings "In Our Town In December" (December 2012)

Thank you, Gerry, for posting your family's recordings of our concert on YouTube!

Together For the Holidays

 An afternoon of spectacular music & seasonal songs

that remind us of the joy of being with friends and family!

                                              

                                               

 2 pm, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012

 Trinity Anglican Church

76 Victoria St., Aurora

Singing in the snow!

We're going to be singing outdoors on December 15th!

The York Region Forest Jingle Bell Walk
is a community event that starts at 1:00 with a guided walk on an accessible trail and ends with hot chocolate and singing!

Here's a link  to the Hollidge Tract Trail page on the York Region Website,  so you can find it.

November 23 -tomorrow's performance order

Here's the order for tomorrow. We start at 12 noon and sing until 1:00 pm.

Arrive by 11:45. We might be able to meet in our room. 

Casual performance attire: any white top and black bottom with scarf or tie.

1. You Raise Me Up
2. Hymn to Freedom
3. Michael's solo
4. Heather's solo
5. In Our Town In December
6. Do You Hear
7. Carols with Kevin for 10 minutes or so
8. Let There Be Peace on Earth
9. I Will Always Be With You
10. We Wish You A Merry Madrigal
11. Carols with Kevin for 10 minutes or so
12. New Year's Blessing
13. Go Now in Peace

Really Big Show!

What an experience that was!

The In Harmony With The Community concert, the 20th annual fundraiser of the York Regional Police Male Chorus was thrilling, again. Stupendous, fantastic, just amazing, the concert was a huge success!

I'm so proud of our choir, the York Region Community Choir, for our excellent contribution to the evening. The OPP choir down from Barrie was also excellent and the kids from Roselawn Public School in Richmond Hill were a super treat again!

Thank you so much, YRPMC, our wonderful neighbours on Monday nights for inviting us again. You are a class act and it is an honour and a joy working with you.

Pat yourselves on the back, YRCC!

It's going to be great! Have fun!

If you want to review some pointers on performing, here's the link to a former post of mine.

Wow! Excellent rehearsal on November 12th!

Tonight was thrilling! Our YRCC pieces were really fabulous tonight:
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
Mamma Mia Medley
One Voice

And singing with the York Regional Police Male Chorus was an awesome experience again! What a great sound we have together! It's huge and rich and beautiful.

We sang
I Will Always Be With You
Song for the Unsung Hero
Hymn to Freedom

We didn't sing
Go Now In Peace

Don't forget: We're also going to sing O Canada. Remember to sing the melody only. Do not create a harmony or sing a harmony that you know. The YRPMC have a version that they sing, and we're singing along with the melody.

If you're still not sure what to do and where to go on Saturday, go to the calendar, it's all there.

Why Travel Makes Us Happy

Why Travel Makes Us Happy is a great blog post by a woman who writes a blog on happiness. She says she's an advocate for Travel.

Click on that link and you'll read her 6 reasons why travel makes us happy. I love the last one!

I work for a special travel agency, CWT Victor Travel, where people are passionate and knowledgeable about Travel and help to make people happy every day. I often tell Jack that he's a hero and he just shrugs humbly. He makes magic whenever there's a disaster like Hurricane Sandy, or a personal disaster, getting people home safely. Jack and Judy and Lucy and all the folks that I work with have the happy job of helping people to go out and see the world and then come back again to tell their stories. Every day there are hundreds of happy stories.

I'm lucky to have the job of writing about the services and the products of the Travel Agency and Victours, the Tour Operator. So, I'm a travel advocate too.

I guess I'm in the happiness business too, like Britt. This blog about my choir gives me the opportunity to write about the happiness that comes from singing and making music together, and my job helps me to spread the happiness of travel.

Halloween Humour (from an email from Enid)

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night............. 

Bob Hill and his new wife Betty were vacationing in Europe....as it happens, near Transylvania. They were driving in a rental car along a rather deserted highway. It was late and raining very hard. Bob could barely see the road in front of the car. Suddenly, the car skids out of control! Bob attempts to control the car, but to no avail! The car swerves and smashes into a tree.

Moments later, Bob shakes his head to clear the fog. Dazed, he looks over at the passenger seat and sees his wife unconscious, with her head bleeding! Despite the rain and unfamiliar countryside, Bob knows he has to get her medical assistance.

Bob carefully picks his wife up and begins trudging down the road. After a short while, he sees a light. He heads towards the light, which is coming from a large, old house. He approaches the door and knocks.

A minute passes. A small, hunched man opens the door. Bob immediately blurts,

"Hello, my name is Bob Hill, and this is my wife Betty. We've been in a terrible accident, and my wife has been seriously hurt. Can I please use your phone?"

"I'm sorry," replied the hunchback, "but we don't have a phone. My master is a doctor; come in, and I will get him!"

Bob brings his wife in.

An older man comes down the stairs. "I'm afraid my assistant may have misled you. I am not a medical doctor; I am a scientist.. However, it is many miles to the nearest clinic, and I have had a basic medical training. I will see what I can do. Igor, bring them down to the laboratory."

With that, Igor picks up Betty and carries her downstairs, with Bob following closely.. Igor places Betty on a table in the lab. Bob collapses from exhaustion and his own injuries, so Igor places Bob on an adjoining table.

After a brief examination, Igor's master looks worried. "Things are serious, Igor. Prepare a transfusion." Igor and his master work feverishly, but to no avail. Bob and Betty Hill are no more.

The Hills' deaths upset Igor's master greatly. Wearily, he climbs the steps to his conservatory, which houses his grand piano. For it is here that he has always found solace. He begins to play, and a stirring, almost haunting melody fills the house.

Meanwhile, Igor is still in the lab tidying up. His eyes catch movement, and he notices the fingers on Betty's hand twitch, keeping time to the haunting piano music. Stunned, he watches as Bob's arm begins to rise, marking the beat! He is further amazed as Betty and Bob both sit up straight!

Unable to contain himself, he dashes up the stairs to the conservatory.

He bursts in and shouts to his master:

"Master, Master!.....The Hills are alive with the sound of music!"

Thank you for sending this to me, Enid!  I don't know where you found this, but it's perfect. 

November 5th

Here's what we did on November 5th:

• Warm ups included massages.
•  Hymn to Freedom page 11, the ending
• We learned all of In Our Town in December. (because of the solos, really only pages 4, 6, and 7)
• Song for the Unsung Hero: bar 63- the end
• After break we joined the Police Chorus in their room to rehearse, in show-order,

1. I Will Always Be With You
2. Song for the Unsung Hero
3. Hymn to Freedom
4. Go Now In Peace

We will meet with them again at 9:00 next Monday. 

Please review for next week:

• the endings of everything so you can watch (it's good to know that I'm not the only director who changes endings)
• I Will Always Be With You: sopranos and altos bar 50 (remember it's different)
• Song for the Unsung Hero: bar 63, ending starting at 80 and dynamics throughout, it really was just loud and louder. Start soft, and we're only medium on page 5. I'll try to conduct better to let you know when to get quieter and louder. 

Next week we'll be doing our stuff for the first half, Mamma Mia, One Voice and Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, and then we have coffee and treats before we head over to the police room.

For the following 2 Mondays, we will start early at 7:00, and we'll focus on our Christmas music. 

Early Rehearsals after Police Concert

Hello YRCC Choir Members!

I'd like to have some more time to rehearse for our Holiday Concert, so I'm asking you to come early at 7:00 for the 2 rehearsals before Dec. 2nd:

7:00 Monday, November 19th and 
7:00 Monday, November 26th.

I know there will be some people who absolutely cannot be there before 7:30, and that's alright.

This will affect the small groups. I'm hoping you'll be able to manage a couple of rehearsals on additional days, if you need more time. I hear that the MK extra rehearsal last night was very good. I will come to the small group rehearsals on Monday, November 12th to see how things are coming along.

Yours in harmony,
Renate 

Storm Cancels Choir! Bah!

This was just sent out in an email to all choir members. We're also phoning everybody.

Due to the fast approaching weather system, and out of concern for members on their drive home later on, we feel that it would be in the best interest of the safety of all that we cancel this evening's rehearsal.

Please take some time to review music provided on the website over the next week. 

And as a reminder to those participating in the performance at St. Andrews on Saturday, rehearsal will be at 10 a.m.

Be safe all!

We want to sing! Storm update.

Hurricane Sandy, AKA Frankenstorm, is coming up to Newmarket tomorrow night, Monday, October 29th.

Right now, they're saying the high winds and heavy rain will be the worst from Monday overnight to Tuesday. But, I've also heard that they're starting Monday afternoon.

We're going to be optimistic and say that we will have our choir rehearsal tomorrow night as planned. 

But, we'll be careful and review the situation at 4:00 pm. If it looks like we will have a scary drive there or back at 9:30, then Heather or Lauren or I will cancel choir. We have a phone tree in place, so everyone will get a phone call if choir is cancelled. I will also post here, and on Facebook, and on our website.

If we don't cancel choir, and you are worried about driving and would rather stay home, spend some time going over your music with the recordings.

Solo Assignments Updated

The 3 solo songs at the Holiday concert will be sung by Trix, Michael, and Todd. 

The solos in our choir songs will be as follows:

Carol of the Bells
Soprano: 9-12 +13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (solo and lead) (MARY ELLEN, Kristen)
Soprano: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (DOLORES, Trix)
Alto: 13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (DEBBIE, Janet)
Alto:13-24 +37-44 +37-fine (CAROL, Lauren)
Tenor: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (TODD, Michael)
Bass: 17-24 +37-44 +37-fine (important ending, very low) (BILL, Kevin)

In Our Town in December
 5-12 (intro solo) (BILL, Kevin)
24-31 ( Hanukkah solo) (SOPHIE V., Trix)
32-39 (Christmas duet) (TRACEY and JANE, Heather, Lauren)

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

One Voice
Soprano: 6-15+9-22 (HEATHER, Kristen )
Alto: 18-22 (TEIJA, JANET)
Tenor: 15-22 (STANLEY, Michael)

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

Being a chorister: Some basic choir rules

With all the new folk and with a smallish space for such a large group, we have to be especially conscious of the people around us, and review the rules so that we continue to work well as a team and sing together in harmony.

There is a document on our website in the Members Only section called
A CHORISTER'S GUIDE TO KEEPING YOUR DIRECTOR HAPPY

Here are some highlights which I think we need to review.

• Be punctual. Respect the time of the director and other choir members.
• Attend and participate in warm up.
• Support and be respectful of other choristers. We are a family, a community, we want rehearsals and performances to be positive experiences for everyone. 
• When rehearsal begins focus immediately on the conductor and your music. Maximize the use of rehearsal time.
• Be silent and attentive when the conductor is speaking. 
• Limit conversation during rehearsal. Talking wastes time and interferes with the conductor.
• Listen carefully to the questions of others. They may be your questions as well.
• Watch your music and listen to others practice their parts. Doing so will make you a better musician. Time spent listening may be as valuable as time spent singing.

There's more, and it's all common sense, like this, but people are not always acting sensibly. Sometimes we have so much fun, that we get carried away and it's easy to forget that we're all working together to learn our music so that we can perform it and be proud.

Please be aware of and kind to the people around you, and remember that you are a member of a big team. 

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!