YRCC Rehearsal Review Monday, April 4. Preview to April 11

Monday, April 4th

Sing Me A Song met early and  Grand Night for Singing met early.

1. We started with a good warm-up, physical and vocal. And, sang Do Re Mi as a warm-up. Tracey wasn't there so Mary Ellen sang the solo. It was awesome!

2. We finally started One Voice! The soloists will be Kristen, Jonathan, and Trix. Their back-ups and some other friends sang along to start. A good number of people know this piece, so it's already pretty good! We reviewed from the ba-da section to the end. We'll do more on the beginning next week.

3. Canon of Joy was a joy, as usual. The tenor/bass section was especially good tonight! We're really feeling the graceful joy of this piece. It's a good compliment to the exuberant joy of Can't Help Singing.

4. The focus was on the tenor/bass section again with One More Angel in Heaven. We've got to get this timing together. Try to learn your part well enough to be able to watch me more so that we're all together. You all sounded so wonderful tonight! What a difference it makes to have a few more people in your section!

5. We were going to sing Thank You For the Music, but did Benjamin Calypso instead. Be sure to know when to sing! The back and forth between SA and TB is a bit confusing. Soloists, learn your parts! It's best if you can memorize these short bits so that you can look at the audience. Rob and Robyn are soloists here, with Garry and Trix as back-ups.

6. We ended with Go, Go, Go Joseph, and are adding several tenors to the bass part at the end. Only the front row will hold notes.

Next week:

Sing! and Song Sung Blue are meeting at 6:30 with Kevin!

• One Voice
• Thank You For the Music
• Joseph
• Hallelujah

Small Group Change- Not Sing Me A Song Apr.11

There has been a change in plans.
Sing Me A Song is not meeting on April 11 at 6:45.
Instead, Song Sung Blue and Sing are meeting at 6:30 because Kevin is available on April 11 to come and help us with those songs. They will be accompanied by Kevin and Kevin on guitars.

Weekend review- YRCC Monday, March 28 and prep for Apr. 4

My goodness! Again, it's the weekend and I haven't posted the review yet. I'm sorry. 

We made some important discoveries last week. We might have to get the tenors and basses in for a sectional rehearsal early or keep you late one night. There are some places where it's really important for you to be together, and you're not. More below.

1. Warm-up was I Will Always Be With You, appropriate for Easter Monday. There is still some confusion with the Tenor part at 46. Make it very clear that those 2 phrases have the same melody! "Where my love and peace abound." is huge and equal to "Near my heart I'll lay thee down." The second one goes sour when some of you sing it differently, the way it is for the rest of the song. This part is different. It's the high point of the song. We're at forte and then drop to piano with "In the quiet mountains."

2. Thank You For the Music is coming along really nicely! It's hard and we need to review it again and again, but we fixed an important bit. At the top of page 6, in the chorus, there was a bar that was messy. We all have to be together on "what are we". So, at the bottom of page 5, we sing Without a song. "or a dance" comes at beat 2, and altos and basses have an extra bit that falls on beat 3. "what are we" is on the + of 3: + 4 +. What are we = + 4 +. We practised this until we were all together. I hope we can manage to stay together :-) We also reviewed the oohs and aahs and the fist soprano part at E and the Tenor and Bass bits at the beginning. The second one: "You must have heard it before, oh yeah" is the most difficult. Review it please.

3. Joseph is in review, and it's looking very good.

 The first part we stopped at was One More Angel in Heaven. Tenors and Basses need to get together with their timing here. Please review this song. 

Song of the King: Blair is rocking his Elvis solo (memorize?). He will be on a microphone, so don't worry about your Bop-shu-wada-was being too loud. 

Benjamin Calypso: Rob/ Gary please memorize that solo " I hear the steel drums sing dere song..." Same with Trix/ Robyn on "Sure as de tide wash de golden sand..." You shouldn't need microphones since you're on your own, but it has to be strong and you have to look at the audience. 

Go Go Go Joseph: Fun! we need to be more together on the entry + 4 + (again). We'll keep working on it. And, at the end, 285, we'll need to add some tenors on "ahead of my time". I'm thinking all the men on that, and we can have only the women tenors on the ahhs.  

Monday, April 4

Sing Me a Song 6:30 and 6:45 with Renate/ Grand Night for Singing 7:00 with Renate

• One Voice-finally! Kristen will sing the solo at the beginning, joined by Jonathan/Stanley and then Robyn/Trix (I'm not sure how that's going to work because Robyn was the one I had in mind to be Kristen's back-up, but let's see.) I'm counting on those who've done it before to remember it well so that we can learn this quickly,
• Thank You For the Music
• Joseph
• Canon of Joy (since we'll be focused on the Tenors and Basses with Joseph)
• Do Re Mi?

YRCC March 21 and 28 Rehearsals!

Oh, my goodness! I've been so busy I didn't have a chance to review our rehearsal on the 21st and prepare for tomorrow's rehearsal until now!

Happy Easter! What a beautiful day! Church this morning was spectacular! What a joy!

I'm happy that I was able to celebrate early with my family so today is a quiet day. I really needed this break. I had a nap this afternoon. Now, I've got to look at my choir stuff.

Monday, March 21
Sing Me a Song met early and learned the whole piece!

1. Why We Sing- We looked at the dynamics of the song, how the volume builds. This is our finale and has to be dramatic. It's a powerful piece and we must express its message clearly.

We talked about dynamics in general, how you need to not give it your all when you see an F for Forte, loud, because you have to be able to sing louder for FF- Fortissimo. Your MF should not be loud, but Medium- Mezzo-Forte. P is Piano, soft and we really need to work on singing softly. Don't worry, we will be heard even at PP, Pianissimo, extra quiet. Really.

We have some dynamics built in to Why We Sing, because we start with Kit and Stanley's gentle and sweet voices, build with Enid and Rob's bigger, stronger voices, and then add everyone in at MP, medium soft, but think very soft, okay? Build that first phrase up to a MP on the word Harmony. Down again on This is Why, building to Take My Hand and Sing With Me, decrescendo. Pay attention throughout to the directions for dynamics!

2. I'd Like to Teach: We continued with our theme of dynamics. This one starts like Why We Sing, with solos to keep it soft, but it builds to a Forte (only) and the high point is at 57. After that section, we get softer and softer until the end, Piano (only) and a soft-but-strong last sentence.

3. Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves: Opera. Drama. This one uses dynamics very dramatically. We go from FF to PP twice in a row on pages 6 and 7! Wow!

4. Joseph! We finished! Go, Go, Go Joseph is so much fun! The last bit is hard, Ahead of My Time... but the rest is not hard and very satisfying. Now, we need to focus on cleaning up the rest.

Monday, March 28

Sing Me A Song is meeting at 6:30 and Grand Night For Singing at 7:00, or maybe 7:10

• Thank You For the Music (timing top of page 6)
• Joseph Medley, stopping to review trouble bits
• I'd Like to Teach 
• Can't Help Singing
• Preview of One Voice?

Joy of Singing! YRCC Spring Concert Poster

March 14 YRCC Rehearsal and preview to March 21

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

When we meet next, it will be spring! Spring arrives at 12:30 Saturday night. Something to celebrate. And, it means we're getting closer to our spring concert! Yikes! There's still lots of work to do, but we've come a long way. We have gone through most of our new music and soon will be only doing review and clean-up.

Tickets are now on sale. You should be inviting your friends and family to our show and posting our poster everywhere you can think of.  Thank you, Roxanne, for this adorable poster and matching tickets!

Sapphire recorded parts for Thank You For the Music, starting at 6:30, so there were no small groups. Those recordings should be up on the website soon. I know some of you were very anxious to have them! Thank you for using the recordings! It means a lot to Sapphire and me to know that our time is well spent creating these recordings, and Trix, too spends a good amount of time to upload them. So, it's actually very nice to hear that you are looking for them. 

We warmed up with I Will Always Be With You, and made a new recording to replace the one that was too fast.

1. We learned lots of oohs and ahs, and eees, in Thank You for the Music. Everyone except the first sopranos has oo-ah in section E. The special ending (coda) has a long "me", so some of us are singing an oo line with an ee vowel. We have now learned all of this song, so from now on, it's review and polish.

2. Why We Sing is also done! We learned the last part, the ending. Review and polish from now on!

3. We sang a piece that a whole bunch of new folks were probably worried about- Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. It's a difficult piece, but only a few of us don't know it, so it's really very beautiful already. You can find your part on the website and sing along. Now that you've sung it once with everyone, it won't be scary anymore. You can follow along with everyone in your section. They know this one. We reviewed parts on pages 6 and 7, the most important part. There are videos of us performing it too. No worries!

4. Joseph: We did the Benjamin Calypso part! Perfect for March Break, when friends and family are away in warm places on beaches and we're stuck here. Everyone has la-las! Blair has a fun solo, as does (soprano) Robyn. Kristen and Trix tried it too to be back-ups. Rob will be Blair's back-up. We sang the whole Joseph Medley! It was so much fun!!! Next week, Go Go Go Joseph!

Monday, March 21

 Sing Me a Song Small Group meets for the first time at 6:30 

• Joseph: Go, go, go Joseph!
• Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
• I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing
• Thank You For the Music
• Why We Sing

March 7 YRCC Rehearsal Review

Monday, March 7:
6:45 Grand Night for Singing

Warm up: Do Re Mi -We needed some review in the alto/tenor/bass line.

1. Can't Help Singing- Sop 1 descant (pg 9,10), pg 11 (ending)
2. Why We Sing-Sop 1 descant (pg 9), pg 8, ending
3. Joseph- Close Every Door

Monday, March 14:

No small group rehearsal: Thank You For The Music Recording parts with Sapphire 6:30.

• Thank You For the Music
• Joseph Benjamin Calypso
• Why We Sing- ending
• Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves

Monday, February 29 YRCC rehearsal

We warmed up with Canon of Joy to get ready to focus on the Tenor and Bass sections.

1. Thank You for the Music starts off with a cool echo thing in the Bass clef. The sopranos and altos will have to sing a bit softer for balance. We learned parts up to the chorus, so we can almost sing the whole song.

2. Joseph. We got through the next 2 songs! Angel in heaven features the Tenors and Basses. Song of the king has a big solo for Blair (Rob is his back-up). Everyone else does the bop- shoo- whadda- was. Tenor is on the bottom of the treble clef! 

3. Can't Help Singing has a tricky descant part that the First Sopranos learned. Listen to the recording if you missed this rehearsal, Sop 1! We learned our parts right to the end!

4. Why We Sing is almost done. Next week.

Next week: Monday, March 7

Sapphire should be back from her vacation, and we will be back in our room.

We will show off what we learned while she was away:

Same 4 songs

Grand Night For Singing small group meets at 6:45.

(Sing Me a Song postponed for a bit. We also need to do recording. Watch the Calendar for updates)

YRCC Rehearsal Review Mon. Feb. 21 and preview to Feb.29

Feb. 21
Grand Night for Singing met at 6:45

Warm-up: we sang I Will Always Be With You, and discovered that the recording is really fast, so fast that it's almost like a different song. Still pretty.

1. Why We Sing is coming along swimmingly. We are almost finished, having learned from the beginning to 74. Remember that all parts are recorded and available on the website.

2. Thank You For the Music is such a great song! We'll be so happy once we've learned this difficult piece! For now, we have to work hard. We reviewed the chorus which we learned last week- sections C and D. We'll need to sing it again and again. Thank goodness, it repeats several times in the piece! We only have the accompaniment recorded for this, so see if you can review it on your own, and if you can't, wait until Sapphire returns so we can get those parts recorded.

We had amazingly wonderful sweets at break-time. Judy, Pat, and Peggy brought a smorgasbord of cookies, cakes and squares. Thank you, kind friends!

3. After break we reviewed what we learned of the Joseph Medley, from the beginning to 81. It's not difficult and very rewarding to sing.

4. We ended the night with Can't Help Singing. We sang right through, and it was really great that so many of us had learned so much last week! It's great!

Next week:

We're at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Aurora to rehearse because our room is booked by others. We've rehearsed at St. Andrews many times in the past. They have a keyboard that we can use, and music stands. Set up will be easy: just the amplifier (and chords) for the accompaniments.

Grand Night For Singing meets early again.

• Finish Why We Sing. First Sopranos can look ahead to their descant part 
• Finish Can't Help Singing: First Sopranos again have a descant part to look at
• Start at the beginning with Thank You For the Music. Tenor/ Bass has a special echo part to look ahead to.
• Continue with Joseph. Coming next: cowboy Angel in Heaven (who can whistle?) and Elvis Song of the King (bop-shu-wha-da!) 

Family Day Monday YRCC Rehearsal

We had a great turnout on Monday! And, we got lots of work done!

We started learning 4 new songs:

1. Can't Help Singing (up to bar 50)

2. Joseph (first 2 songs!)

3. Thank You For The Music (chorus)

4. Why We Sing (just a sing-through)

We will continue with these 4 songs next week.

Next Monday, Feb. 21st, Grand Night for Singing will meet at 6:45 for the first small group rehearsal. That's Melinda, Kit, Lauren, Jane, and Blair with Anne Marie.

We will have social time with decaf coffee and treats at break next Monday!

Missing Sweater

Rob went home without a coat or sweater last night. He left his sweater in a pile of coats in the area we were performing in, but it was not there when he was ready to go home. If you happened to pick it up by accident, please let him ( or me) know and we'll figure out a way to get it back to him. 

YRCC Rehearsal on Monday, January 25th and Seniors' Visit Orders

Monday, January 25th

1. I Will Always Be With You is pretty enough, but adding the flute part makes it's magical. What a lucky thing it is that we have Robyn in our choir! This the second time Robyn (the soprano Robyn, or the Robyn with a Y) has played the flute for us. Watch your dynamics! Watch me for dynamics, too. There is a loud part on page 9 at the key change. Tenors and Basses listen to the run in the piano part for your starting note. Remember that your first 2 phrases are the same and nice and big, but get soft quickly with "in the quiet mountains". This one is ready to perform, and the seniors will love it!

2. I'd Like to Teach The World to Sing is coming along nicely. Soloists today were Janet and Carol. Debbie will be the main soloist for the first part. We're still working out soloists and back-ups.
Tenors, Altos and Basses will all be on the bottom part. It's good to have more depth there, as there is a lot of melody in that line. Sopranos are fine alone on top (aren't you!). We reviewed parts on pages 8, 9, 10,11.

3. Hallelujah is still awesome! Blair sang the tenor solo and Lauren sang the soprano/alto solo. Both were super. Blair will be our lead soloist on the tenor solo, and I'd like another Tenor to back him up. Several women have expressed an interest in singing the second solo.

4. Do Re Mi is charming and much more effective now that we have Sopranos alone on top and Altos, Tenors and Basses on the bottom, especially in the section with "When you know the notes to sing"- stunning! Tracey will be the lead soloist here. Lauren can back her up, and several other people have expressed and interest in singing this solo.

5.Thank You For the Music is big and wonderful. We just did a sing-through sight-reading of it while Sapphire recorded the accompaniment for us. There are repeats to worry about, some page-turning challenges, and big 5-part harmonies, but it's so good! We'll have fun learning it. There's a possible solo, or it might be a first soprano part, later in the song "I've been so lucky. I am the girl with golden hair..."

6. Sing! Sing a Song! will be a small group song (I'm picturing a folksy group with guitars) with audience participation for our concert in May, but for our seniors over the next 2 weeks, it will be a big sing-along. What a great song! Such Fun!

7. Canon of Joy is already show-worthy. What a pretty piece, and it shows off the beautiful voices in our Tenor and Bass section! Remember to make it smooth and pretty. Take breaths when other people in your section are not, so we have seamless sound. There is one part where the tenors all took a breath and it was okay: just before voices. It doesn't really make sense grammatically to have a pause there, but the emphasis on voices is nicely dramatic.

8. Magic of Winter will be our only winter song for the seniors. I was considering doing Button Up Your Overcoat, since it's a love song, but I prefer Magic of Winter. This sounded heavenly.

The order for both seniors' home performances (tentatively) will be:

1. Magic of Winter
2. Canon of Joy
3. I'd Like to Teach
4. Do Re Mi
5. I Will Always Be With You
6. Sing!
7. Sing-Alongs
8. Hallelujah 

YRCC Rehearsal Mon. Jan. 18

Mon. Jan. 18

1. Magic of Winter: Beautiful
2. Canon of Joy: Worked on all parts, esp. Page 7 and end. Tempo is better. Tenors and Basses at bar 49-50: Mark you music, with pencil, to say "thee" instead of "thuh"to anticipate universe so that we hear "thee you" We recorded the accompaniment.
3. I Will Always Be With You: Worked on all parts, esp. Page 6-7, and end. Watch carefully from bar 67 to end. I will slow down and stop before the last word, you. 
4. Can't Help Singing: we sight-read through, almost all of us hearing it for the first time ever. Our concert will open with this song! 
5. Joseph Medley: So BIG! Can't wait to get started on this one? Go to the website and start learning your part. 

Mon. Jan. 25

• I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (try soloists, seniors' performance soloists) 
• Do Re Mi ( try ATB on bottom and S only on top, try new soloist- seniors' performance soloist) 
• Button Up Your Overcoat ? Maybe, maybe not?
• I Will Always Be With You
• Canon of Joy
• Sing?
• Thank You For The Music (Introduction and recording)

Sign up for Feb. 1 and Feb. 8 Seniors' Performances. Remember that we meet on Family Day, Feb. 15. Small groups will start the week after Family Day. 

YRCC rehearsal Mon.Jan.11, 2016

Our first day back was wonderful despite the despicable driving conditions. What a lot of snow we got suddenly! Some of us were a bit late, but many of us were there and enjoyed reconnecting after the holidays. Most of all, we were happy to be singing together again!

We will not put our winter season totally behind us yet, as we are going to do 2 winter seniors' home performances in February. So, we'll be singing The Magic of Winter a couple more times, and maybe Button Up Your Overcoat. We hope to have a bunch of our spring music ready for those performances as well, but we only need 6 or 7 songs since the sing-alongs are important.

Here's what we sang on Monday, January 11th:

1. Do Re Mi (Melinda and Lauren had turns singing the solo at the beginning and both did a great job. Thanks for stepping up to bat!) So many of us remember singing this one that it was pretty good already! We reviewed the Alto and Bass oo and oh part on page 6, and their "anything"on page 8. We will look at the ending again. It will be soft to start and will build to loud while at the same time getting slower, a nice big ending which you'll have to watch me for :-) Tenors: warning: I'm thinking of moving you to the second part, so that Tenors and Basses are together for more oomph in the lower octave.

2. I'd Like To Teach the World to Sing also begins with a solo, but we all sang it together. There will likely be 2 solos, as we've done before. This time, we tried only Sopranos on top and Altos, Tenors, and Basses on the bottom. I like it! It solves a couple of problems we had last time with people jumping back and forth between lines. This way everyone stays put. At bar 81, First Sopranos begin on beat 1, holding their last note, and Second Sopranos come in on beat 4 with the echo.

3. Canon of Joy Fewer choristers remembered this one, but the melodies of this mash-up are so familiar that it's a joy to learn and sing. Bar 45- 48 is the only really challenging section. Basses have a ton of melody in this song! Enjoy! We want to remember to sound like strings instead of brass here. Gentle and smooth on all parts! Sopranos and Altos especially will want to use staggered breathing, so that the sound is seamless. Take breaths at different times from your neighbours.

4. We sight-read through Why We Sing, which is completely new! Nobody had seen it except for Sapphire, Lauren, Teija, and me. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece! It expresses what we feel about singing perfectly, and sums up our Spring Season theme: The Joy of Singing. The recordings for this piece are already up on the website, so you can start working on it at home.

We had a long-ish break and I spoke to a few people about possible solos. I also spoke to Robin about playing the flute part on I Will Always Be With You. We also needed to talk about the seniors' performances, which happen on February 1st and 8th. Sign up on the website. Not all of us will fit in the seniors'  homes, but it will be a wonderful opportunity for those of us who go. We needed to make quick arrangements for those Mondays, as we discovered that our room had been booked. Be sure to always check your email on Mondays before you come to choir to be sure what the plans are. If you don't have email, make another arrangement with Lauren.

Next week, Monday, January 18th:

• Canon of Joy
• I'd Like to Teach
• Magic of Winter
• I Will Always Be With You
• Can't Help Singing Intro
• Joseph Medley Intro

January 11 Start to our Season of Singing

Spring Concert rehearsals start on Monday, January 11, 2016!

This season our theme is something like "The Joy of Singing". I want to express how wonderful and fulfilling singing is and how singing in harmony promotes harmony among people.

I've found a bunch of brilliant songs for us to sing, and we'll talk about operas and musicals (Nabucco, Joseph) where singing is central, and I want to mention that to us singing in the middle of a conversation is quite normal.

The list of our current songs is in the right-hand menu on this blog. There are links to the website and to the calendar, which you should use regularly. Always check your emails on Mondays before choir. If there are changes, you will get an email. If you don't use email, please let Lauren know so a different arrangement can be made.

Seniors' Home Visits: Performance and Sing-Along

Monday, December 7th: Roxborough
Monday, December 14th: Barton
Monday, December 21st: Mackenzie Place

There is a sign-up on the website. It's called Event Sign-up and you "register" for the event. They're all closed now. The seniors' homes don't usually have a lot of space so it's not possible for all of us to go. Some are especially small, like Mackenzie Place.

Tenors and Basses are always welcome, even when the event is "full". And, if a soprano or alto is desperate to come, just come. We can squish together. If there are 30 of us instead of 25, that's okay.

I post the order of songs on the website, but always be prepared to sing all of your music. Things change depending on who is there and who isn't. The sign-up helps, but it's cold season and bad-driving-conditions season, so you never really know until you get there.

The locations are listed on the website and on the calendar. Sometimes parking is an issue, so be patient and be prepared to walk a bit.

Be prepared to be hot. Wear white on top with your scarf or tie and black on the bottom, but it's okay to wear a shorter skirt or short-sleeved tops at seniors' homes. (Not for formal concerts!)

Try to make it to at least one of these performances! They are special, and very rewarding! You'll feel like a million bucks! The "performance" part is only about 7 of our songs and the rest is for singing  with the seniors. It's so much fun! Our songs are in top shape, and we are more relaxed, so we always sound great. The sing-alongs are the best!

Don't forget to come for the Pot-Luck Party on the 21st! Let's all get together to celebrate the end of our (hopefully successful) season, our 20th Christmas Season! After Mackenzie Place, we head over to the Admin Centre. If you're not singing with us at Mackenzie Place, just go straight to our room, and you can help set up :-)

Monday, November 23rd's YRCC Rehearsal

Mon. Nov. 23

Bowie and Bing met at 6:45 and were super! Those male voices are so special! Thanks for sharing your talents, guys!

Warm-ups included marching and clapping to get you in a following mood. Volume was another focus.

We had a bunch of guests, people in search of a choir to join. They will probably be signing up online and hoping that they'll get a call in January. Be sure to let us know if you can't make it back after the holidays so that we have a good idea of how many new folks can start.

1. We sang You'll Never Walk Alone to show off. It was amazing, as usual. Love that beautiful arrangement, and you do it very well!

2. Shine Hanukkah is better! We added some dynamics: during the Shine Hanukkah part, where we repeat that chorus 4x, we build up to the third one, and then get quiet for the 4th, fading to a decrescendo before the next section which is soft. Also, the descant part at the end is better now that we have all the first sopranos and helpers on the top part. We don't need that extra harmony. Problem solved. They came in on beat one!

3. 3 Folk Carols is fantastic! Maybe take some time to review your doo-doos. Remember to give the ending a lot of energy and volume!

4. Another show off piece: O Holy Night. I was disappointed to hear a bunch of sopranos mess up the O night divine on page 8. Remember that O is on beat one. You need to lean on it.


5. After break, we tried out the sing-along pieces, O Christmas Tree and The Twelve Days of Christmas. We're going to sing up to 6th and then skip to 12. I think our audience will have fun singing these less common carols. You'll get the words in the program. Feel free to add harmonies if the spirit moves you.

6. 12 Days After Christmas is very good. If we slow it down a bit, it's easier to catch the words, but continue to make every effort to enunciate clearly, especially on the ends of words, final consonants.
If you have time, sing with your part on line.

At break, Trix sang a very groovy Santa Baby using a feather boa as inspiration. Coventry Carol did a great job once they got the hang of blending. Dynamics are much better! Teija and Heather sang Home for us, one of my favourites.

Monday, November 30 at Trinity Anglican Church in Aurora

All small groups should try to come early next week. We have the church starting at 6:00, so 6:00, 6:15, 6:30 gather your group, and get your instruments in place.

All choristers must be there by 7:15. We want to start the run-through at 7:30. Be prepared to stay late. We often go until close to 10:00.

The order is on line, in the Members section, under Concert Order. Have your binders ready. Use place holders where there are songs that you're not singing.

Nov.16 YRCC Rehearsal Review

Monday, Nov. 16

Bowie and Bing met at 6:45 The recordings are up on the website now, but you'll have to suffer with my voice singing the parts, and up an octave. It's better than nothing. Sing with me :-)

Breath of Heaven sang at break; also Anna and Trix had a go at their solos at break.

Warm-ups included very soft sounds. mmm and looo and variations in volume and tempo

1. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is excellent

2. 12 Days After Christmas: we reviewed page 10 to the end and and sections E and F. It's getting really good. We've slowed it down to make it easier to understand the words.

3. 3 Folk Carols: We did really well without Sapphire's help on the a cappella parts! The soloists are awesome, and with a little review, we got our doos. Tenors and Basses: please, please come in hard and strong on the first beat of your long doos on page 11, with a strong d sound, like pulling a string and then letting it go and it resonates. When you did it, it was so good! When you don't do it, it's hard to hear you and it's not nearly as interesting.  It's the same as the Deck the Halls part in the 12 Songs of Christmas. Brrrm with a big strong B.

4.  Shine, Hanukkah: The dynamics could be better. They were pretty good in the parts we worked on, but I think we need more. I'll have a plan for next week.  The first sopranos, even with help, didn't come in on beat 1 at the end. I'll have to think of something. I'm thinking (Robyn would like this) of having them all come in on a C and forget the harmony in that descant part. We'll try again next week.


Monday, Nov. 23

Last chance to buy tickets, order poinsettias

Bowie and Bing at 6:45
Solos at break

• 12 songs
• 12 days
• Shine
• 3 folk carols
• anything you need to go over- last chance 

Monday, Nov. 30 Rehearsal at Trinity Anglican Church to run through the concert order and to see what our sound system needs are, and to rehearse getting on and off stage

Mon.Nov.9 YRCC Rehearsal

You are awesome! We're ahead of where I thought we were. I'm feeling very positive about our upcoming concert!!! It's less than a month away. We have 2 more rehearsals to learn things and fix things and then we do our run-through. I'm sending Roxanne the order for the concert this week so that she can create our programs.

At 6:45 the Men's Small Group met and made good progress on the Bing and Bowie song.

Warm-ups included lip trills and tongue trills. Stretching your range with these causes less strain on your throat, because your focus is on the trilling going on in the front of your mouth. So, your throat can worry about itself and do what comes naturally :-)

1. Button Up Your Overcoat was super! The new tenors and basses blending in like a charm! We really nail this one now.

2. A-Men is definitely better at a faster speed and the augmented tenor and bass section worked! Or, maybe it was my threatening you that did it. We still need sopranos to be more careful from bar 61 to the end. Sing what is written, please ;-)

3. Bleak Midwinter is super-impressive! Again, the new folks are amazing! And, I guess it's because everyone does such a good job that it's possible for someone new to follow along. This is a difficult piece and you rock it! Janet and Todd were superb on the solos. Kristen knows both parts so could sub in for either one. I also can call on Heather, I'm sure if necessary.

4. Come Emmanuel was one of the songs that I was a bit worried about, but you surprised me with a nearly flawless performance! Wow! And, it was another example of a stellar night for the tenor and bass sections and their new guys! I'm impressed!

5. 3 Christmas Folk Carols became a medley! Yay! It was much better that I expected. We tried out the back-up soloists and switched them around a bit. Melinda's strong voice suited the last part, Sussex Carol, much better. And, Robyn will make a wonderful back-up for Heather on Lovely Fragrance (Shepherds). We always love to hear Stanley's beautiful voice. He'll be a perfect back-up for Blair on Lovely Fragrance. Next week, we'll try to really do it a cappella without Sapphire's help!

6. 12 Songs is gorgeous and so much fun! Be sure to hold notes until there's a rest, or another note. Sometimes people are cutting off words before they should be, which results in a weird popping or hissing of final consonants. (This is always important, but I think you're forgetting with this piece because the melodies are so well-known. Read your music.)

Next week, November 16th

Men's Group meets early at 6:45

• 3 Folk Carols: We need to do the a cappella parts without help from Sapphire (except for that intro for Sussex Carol). We did great last Monday. Let's polish it up so that we feel really confident. These songs are so special! 
• 12 Days After Christmas. Can you look over your parts before Monday? At least get the words, the flow of the story going, so that you will come in confidently when your part has the melody and softly when you don't. We're going to polish this up. If there are parts you need to review, this is the time to ask. We have only 2 more learning rehearsals. 
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Let's remember to come in soft and clear. Mark your music so that you're doing our dynamics, which are not quite as written. We are loud in the middle throughout that section which starts "Word of God". We often use the words as guides as to what should be the high point of a phrase, so that the same dynamics don't work for both verses. 
• Shine! First Sopranos, anticipate your special ending. Come in before everyone else with great conviction and good volume! There were some Seconds who were going to help? Everyone: Review the music so that you're ready to be louder when you have the melody and softer when you don't. Mark your music to guide you.

Bing and Bowie recordings coming for Men's Small Group

Gentlemen, your recordings are on their way.

Sapphire recorded a new accompaniment for our Bing and Bowie song, and I sang your parts on top of it. Trix will upload the recording from the SD card to some format that she can send to you. The new accompaniment will go on the website.

It ain't pretty, but the notes are there and the timing, so you can sing along. I hope you don't share those recordings because I sound pretty weird.

You're singing an octave down, obviously.

I just did one Tenor and one Bass, and that should be fine. We don't have to do any tenor harmony, except maybe at the end. Or, if we have a brave tenor or two. It's quite a busy piece with the two melodies alone. Let's try to get the duet parts.

There's your homework. See you on Monday! (If you don't get the recordings in time to practise with them, then listen to the real Bing an Bowie a few times and sing along)

Men's small group: Bing and Bowie

Our arrangement of Bing and Bowie's Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth is for a 4-part choir, not TTBB so we're adapting it. It will mostly be in 2 parts. Sometimes the Tenors will divide but the Bass will not divide (except maybe the last note).

We move around a bit, so I'll try to describe it here (without the music in front of me-I gave mine to somebody):

Basically, there are 4 sections:

1) is a "high" part with T and B in close harmony singing Little Drummer Boy together. Tenors on top and Basses on the bottom, one octave down from what is written.

2) is a duet part with T singing Bowie and B singing Bing way down low. We're all an octave down from what is written, even the Bass line. When tenor divides, just make sure the melody is clear, if someone wants to take the harmony part, that's cool but not necessary.

3) is a "high" part with T and B in close harmony singing Peace on Earth together. Tenor on top, Bass on the bottom of the Treble Clef only. So, Bass has to move up to just below the Tenors, until the last section. The middle system of the last page of that section is written in 2 parts. The Basses move down a bar or two before that to incorporate the A below middle C in the Bass line. You'll know it when you see it. We need that note, and you can move down right there. I think it's beat 4 of the second last bar of the first system.

4) is a duet part with T on Bowie and B on Bing down low again. This continues to the end. The last note, will be a big chord and we might all have our own note, and we can figure that out when we get there.

Mon.NOV 2 and Mon.NOV 9 YRCC Rehearsals

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth and Coventry Carol had early rehearsals. Sapphire will record a new accompaniment and parts for Little Drummer Boy at break next week.

Warm-ups included watching and following exercises.

1. A-Men was messy, but we seemed to have solved the unbalance by adding Altos to the Tenor/Bass part. Sopranos have to watch out at the end. We have more energy when we sing it faster, so that helps too. Remember to mark the high notes at 61 so that they're not a surprise when you turn the page. Same notes. Not difficult.

2. 12 Songs of Christmas is fantastic! It's so much fun that we sound like we're having fun, and sound great. You can hardly tell when there's something wrong. We need to find this kind of enthusiasm for all of our pieces. We reviewed lots of the parts, starting at the end, with the Hallelujah chorus. We spend a fair amount of time on the bottom of page 18. If you weren't there, review this part. We don't have parts recorded for this so you have to let me know where you need help on your part. I think we covered all the tricky bits. Sopranos: Silent Night has a dramatic 'holy night'. Sopranos watch out: Joy to The World starts on straight Cs, and harmony, not melody. Tenors: at 14, you BRRRMMMM like bagpipes. Come in hard and strong. BRmmBRmm Fallalala...You need to come in strong also on the pick up to 117 and at 121 again. Your big moment. Review the top of page 11 "Peace". If you lean on the A of Heavenly (He-), you'll get back there for the A (the first note) of Peace, then you just go downstairs from there.

3. 12 Days After Christmas is quite difficult. We learned section E finally. The du-bas are great! One tricky bit is the part right after I say "Well, actually I kept one of the drummers." Sapphire will give us a chord, and then we'll sing, broadly and evenly, "And sent them back col-lect" (4-1-2-3-4-1) then we can take a breath (2-3) before singing, " I wrote my true love" (+4+1-2) This sounds really great when it's done as written. I thought we had all the parts recorded, and I totally remember do the recordings but it looks like we don't. Sorry.

It looks like we didn't do much, just 3 pieces, but we got through the whole medley, which is 12 Songs! I'm really happy with how well you're all learning your songs! Great work, Choristers!

Roxanne sold tickets for our show and for the Amadeus Choir performance at Trinity United in Newmarket on November 15th. I've got my ticket. I hope to see some of you there!

Next week:
Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth meets at 6:45

• A-men
• Button Up Your Overcoat
• 3 Folk Carols
• 12 Days After
• Bleak Midwinter

Tickets available at break for our concert and for November 15 Amadeus Choir

I was given 20 tickets to sell for the Amadeus Choir concert to be held at my church, Trinity United Newmarket, on Sunday, November 15 at 7:00 PM. Buy tickets at break time for this major musical event and help me support my church. It will be so cool to see and hear a professional choir in my beautiful church, with its awesome organ.

Here's what they have to say about the concert:

Thrill to the sound of the award-winning 80-voice Amadeus Choir who will perform at Trinity on Sunday, November 15th at 7:00 p.m. Under the direction of Lydia Adams, assisted by Joan Andrews with accompaniment by Shawn Grenke on piano and organ, the choir will sing a variety of music... sacred and secular...and prepare us for the Advent season with some Christmas favourites. 

Please support this fundraising event organized by the Senior Choir with the help of many friends. Invite your friends and neighbours to this wonderful evening of fine music! Tickets are $20 ($10 for students) and are available on Sundays at coffee time, from choir members or from Dianne in the Trinity office.

I googled the choir, and discovered that they're celebrating 40 years, 31 with Lydia Adams as director! I can hardly wait. Hope to see you there!

Sussex Carol- directions. Where do I sing? Where is my part?

The Sussex Carol, the third of the Three Christmas Folk Carols, is a lot like We Rise Again-same basic structure.

There's a solo, which Kristen sings, starting alone, and the choir does some background twice and joins in twice, and at the end everyone is singing and it's really big. The challenge is that it's not written that way.

This is not written as one solo, but that's how we're doing it. We're doing it our way (okay, my way).

So, at the beginning, up to bar 15, it's just Kristen.

At bar 15, SATB lines are indicated and Kristen will sing in the middle, in the line that says "3 or 4 men". Everyone sings do-do where indicated until bar 23.

Here, at bar 23, only the tenors will feel funny. The tenors move to the line where it says T. Tutti (=all the tenors). Kristen joins the sopranos in the soprano line, altos stay, and bass is at the very bottom.

At the bottom of page 10, at bar 28, there's a fermata and then a line shows you where your part moves, except the sopranos will also move down and take the top do-do part. Kristen will go alone to the top line.

So, on page 11 we have Kristen on top, with the choir below all in their usual spots. 

Bar 37 is strange for the sopranos. You stop the do-do part and move up to the top to the melody. Altos stay, Tenors and Basses stay.

From bar 38 to the end, everyone is where they expect to be.

Mon. Oct. 26 YRCC Rehearsal Review

Mon. Oct. 26

Coventry Carol Group met early and was excellent! Work on dynamics and a prettier, lullaby-like sound.

1. Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head is done! Wow! It's beautiful.
2. Sussex Carol is also done!!! We learned it all in one shot! Well done, everyone!
3. O Holy Night was awesome, as usual.
4. The Twelve Songs of Christmas is so much fun! It's an amazing ride, isn't it? I love it!

Our meeting went so well! The financials from last year, this year's budget and the new financial year-end all passed and we enjoyed treats while we met. Good stuff!

We're still looking for a home for our music library. Can you help? Does anyone know of anyone who has office space to give us/ rent us cheap? Maybe if we had all the stuff housed somewhere easy to access, someone could take care of it? Or, a couple of people could share the work? We're willing to look at creating a new system for the music library if someone has a great idea. We need some creative thinking if we can't find someone to take over from Trix. The weekly task of carting extra music around could be rotated like the equipment? The bi-annual binder switch is already done with help in a team. Put your thinking caps on, and see how you fit into the solution!

Mon. Nov. 2

• Amen (balance between parts as the melody switches between parts)
• 3 Carols (need to put them together)
• 12 Days (review, fix any messy bits)
• 12 Songs (any tricky bits? it sounded really good)

Our Beautiful Christmas Concert Poster: Share it everywhere!

Oct 19: Election night and a Jays game too, but we had a big, wonderful rehearsal.

Monday, Oct. 19

Roxanne brought posters and tickets! We started buying/ taking tickets and taking posters to post where we work, where we meet with others, anywhere.

We are still looking for someone to take over the Music Librarian position. We are willing to look at accommodating anyone willing to help. If you have the space but not the time, maybe someone will partner with you, someone with time but not enough space. It doesn't have to be an Executive position if you're not interested in the planning thing. Talk to us if you have any ideas. Trix really needs to give up this position asap.

Coventry Carol met early and Breath of Heaven sang at 7:15 with the accompaniment recording. Breath of Heaven people need to pay more attention to blending and enunciating so that the words are clear and the parts are balanced. Be sure to quiet down when you're not singing melody.

Warm-ups included watching hands and quickly responding to changes. Some of us are better than others at this, but we did well before our hands got too heavy.

1. Little Tree. We reviewed pages 6 and 7 and remembered to enunciate carefully, especially final consonants. It's not always easy, but try.

2.Shine Hanukkah We reviewed the special Soprano 1 ending, the Descant part, and added a few volunteers from Sop 2 for extra strength. It's cool, but we really need to hear it.

3. Shepherds (aka What is this Lovely Fragrance) We reviewed the a cappella part on page 5 at starting bar 56. It really helped that a bunch of us learned it the week before! Bam! We got it. And, Melinda and Blair sang the solos at the beginning so that we could do the whole song! It was awesome!

4. Jesus, Jesus We got all the way through! Again, it helped so much that some of us already knew the chorus from last week! It's so pretty! The altos and tenors and basses were excellent on their oohs, and everyone was great on that very challenging part at the bottom of the page, "Winds were blowing..." So cool!

I hadn't planned to get that far on Shepherds and Jesus, Jesus, but we did so well that I kept going with that instead of singing through the 12 Songs of Christmas. That will have to wait until next week.

Next week: Monday, October 26th

We are having our Meeting with Coffee and Treats, and hopefully it will be fast so we can sing more than talk. It's just a bit of financial business: approving our Financial Statements and Budget and officially changing our financial year-end. The doc was sent in an email for you to look at.

6:45 Coventry Carol

• Twelve Songs of Christmas
• O Holy Night
• Jesus, Jesus
• Sussex Carol

Thanksgiving Monday, October 12 YRCC Rehearsal Review and Preview to Oct. 19

Thanksgiving Monday, October 12

We were small but mighty! We did a lot of work, and made good progress!

We sang Amen, reviewing from bar 57 to the end. Some sopranos were finding it hard to find the notes at the top of page 11, but we discovered that when we started at 57, those notes were easy at 61, and if we remembered them from there, we could do the pick-up to 65, which is the same as the top of page 11. Follow me? Try it at home. You'll see.

Shepherds What is this Lovely Fragrance. Starts with Heather on a solo and then Blair on a solo. At bar 56 on page 5, everybody comes in together a cappella (with no accompaniment). We learned that part! It's beautiful! Don't worry, we'll review it, and it sounds very fancy but is not terribly difficult. You can try it with the recordings on the website.

Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head Starts after a little piano interlude (which will test how well we keep our pitch), and it's also a cappella. We sang through the first page, which is the chorus. Listen to your part on the website!

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was next. We reviewed how the dynamics that we are using are different from what's written. And, they're slightly different in the second verse from the first verse. On page 4, at the beginning of the second system, it's not the loudest, as written. Page 5 is the loudest. But, the word Soar is loud in the first verse and the word Joy is loud in the second. On page 6, in the last system, the word soaring is the loudest the first time through, but the word love is the loudest the second time through. Don't forget to do a big mmm chord at the end, under the fermata.

We sang a bit of Come Emmanuel which occurs twice and which has to be strong. The section starting at bar 35, "Some are waiting for a mighty king" is the same as the one at 57, " And you will come as a tiny child". I love those parts!!! So dramatic. The drama happens because we're all together and it builds up "poco a poco" (little by little) from very soft to very loud. It's not very difficult but sounds really great. Listen to your part on the website!

We ended the night singing about celebrating with the ones you love, which was appropriate because we were spending a holiday with our beloved friends at choir! We sang The Magic of Winter. It was beautiful, as always. Such a pretty song!

Next week is Election Monday. Remember to vote before coming to choir, if you haven't already voted.

Tickets and Posters will be ready! You can already book your family for December 6th at 2:30, and starting next week, you can buy their tickets too! In advance, you save $5 on a pair of tickets. 2 tickets are only $25. Singles and tickets at the door are $15. Think about where in your neighbourhood or workplace you can post a beautiful poster.

Coventry Carol is meeting at 6:45 and Breath of Heaven will be there a bit early to sing at 7:15.

We will sing:

• Shine Hanukkah
• Little Tree
• Shepherds
• Jesus, Jesus
• 12 Songs

YRCC Rehearsal Review for Oct. 5 and preview to Oct. 12 Thanksgiving Monday Rehearsal

Monday, October 5

Breath of Heaven met early and is awesome! Remember to enunciate carefully so that all the words can be understood, and to listen to the people around you so that you're blending and sounding like one voice.

Warm-ups included various vowel sounds all made with attention to open airways.

1. Twelve Days After Christmas. We made it to the end! We'll have to go over some parts and need to do section E, which I missed, but it was great singing all the way through. Remember when singing the Du-ba section that the Tenors and Basses have the important words that everyone needs to understand. Be sure to enunciate clearly throughout the whole song. Whenever there's a consonant at the end of a word, be sure to make it clear. Often that means you have to make it the beginning of the next word. Eg. love and I had a fight becomes la van di ha da fight.

2. Shine Hanukkah is fun and easy. The only hard part is for the first sopranos to come in "early" on beat one on the last page. Done. We'll work on some dynamics next time, so that those choruses don't become monotonous.

3. In the Bleak Midwinter is so strong! We're going to have Janet on the first solo and Todd on the second for extra drama!

4. Come, Emmanuel, Come! It's so dramatic! I love it. We are watching for those little stars that mean we hold the m or n closed as we hold the note. It adds to the drama.

5. Three Christmas Folk Carols. We walked through and sang through this interesting medley of unusual Christmas melodies. They're really special. The first one is What is This Lovely Fragrance. Heather starts us off with a solo, followed by Blair on a solo. And, then, the choir comes in a cappella in 4 part harmony that sounds like angels. Sapphire has a little piano interlude, and then the choir sings Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head a cappella in a strong 4 part harmony with soft verses of sopranos singing above ATB oohs. How is Kristen going to come in on her own after the last "manger bed"?
We'll find out. Kristen leads us in the last piece, Sussex Carol. She will sing the solo part throughout. Like We Rise Again, the choir will sing special bits behind her melody. Here, it's doo-doos. It moves. You'll see. And, like We Rise, the end is big- ff- and everybody sings a strong 4-part harmony verse that ends with a big Amen!

Lauren announced that we will have a brief meeting during our rehearsal on October 26. We will vote on some business that was left over from our AGM, and that arose our of our AGM. For example, because of our new status, we have to approve a new financial year-end (I know; try to reign in your excitement).

Jane will be coordinating the Poinsettia fundraiser again. It's a win-win-win thing. You get a great deal on some really great Poinsettias just in time for Holiday decorating and gift-giving, the concert looks beautiful, and the choir makes some money, too! Yay!

Roxanne has started to add Seniors Visits to the Events sign up. Sign up!

I noticed that the equipment roster is up on the website, so please have a look and make a note of when your turn comes up to help Lauren with setting up and taking down the equipment.

The recordings are also up, so you can sing with accompaniments and learn your parts at home, or in the car,...

Next week, October 12 is Thanksgiving Monday. We hope that lots of you will be available to keep learning our music. The more people know the music well, the easier it is for all of us. This is where we show that we're a team. Come if you can. If you need to miss, don't worry.

Nobody will meet early.
We will sing:

• Amen
• Button Up Your Overcoat
• Come, Emmanuel
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
• Magic of Winter
• Shepherds What is This Lovely Fragrance

YRCC rehearsal review Sept. 28 and preview to Oct. 5

September 28th - We had a social time coffee break! Lauren and I baked and Mary Ellen did her first coffee time perfectly.

Breath of Heaven small group met early and already sound excellent. Next week, you'll have the accompaniment recording to sing with!

Warm-ups included exercises to open our airways and tongue and lip stretches so we can enunciate better.

1. Little Tree: I had forgotten that we needed to finish learning Little Tree, so we did it first thing. Did I say that I love this song? I so do! Don't forget that we're saying gentle little Ts and not soft Ds in the word Little. Enunciate.

2. O Holy Night:We fixed our timing issue on page 8. O Holy night. O night divine and And glory ever more proclaim. We could perform this now. It's magnificent.

3. Shine Hanukkah: We learned the whole song! It's fun and pretty easy. The first sopranos have to work on the ending. They have a descant part with different timing.

4. Come Emmanuel: We sang it through once and it was already pretty good. Quite a few people remember this one from 2 years ago. This is a really cool Christmas song! It features the tenors and basses, so they should spend some time looking at their music to get really strong on their parts.

Remember to think about whether you can take on the role of Music Librarian. You'd have to have space for 4 or 5 filing cabinets and some boxes and bags and a table, ... a fair amount of space. You'd get help with preparing the binders and filing the music after each season, but it's a big thing to coordinate- there are 65 binders with 20 or so pieces of music that get filed away and another 20 that get put in. Some days you'll have a lot of stuff in your car, but people are very good at helping out with the carrying in and out.

Trix will continue to be our Webmaster, but doing both jobs has become impossible now that she has much  more responsibility at work. Maybe you've retired or you've found yourself with more time and space because your kids are grown up? Please help us out.

The men are going to have a small group song! They will be singing The Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth, the Bing Crosby and David Bowie song! Gentlemen: the music is in 4 parts, but you'll be singing it mostly in 2, whatever parts have the melodies. Don't worry, it's not complicated. If you listen to a recording of it, it will be clear. There will be a few places where you can easily split into 3 or 4 parts.

Roxanne has started booking our seniors home visits. You will want to look out for the sign-up 'Events' on the website.

Next Week, October 5th

Breath of Heaven is meeting at 6:45 again.

1. 12 Days After Christmas
2. Come Emmanuel
3. In The Bleak Midwinter
4. Shine Hanukkah
5. 3 Christmas Folk Carols (intro)

Don't forget: 

We are meeting on Thanksgiving Monday. Don't stress it if you have dinner plans. The recordings will be up by then so you can catch up.

We are meeting on Election Day Monday. Be sure to vote! Voting at the Advance Polls is so easy and convenient, you'll never want to vote on Election night again.