March 23rd-Rehearsal Review and Preview of March 30th

Monday, March 23rd

Thank you to Jane and Tracey for bringing treats and to Debbie and Carol for taking care of the delicious decaf for our social time at break!

6:30 Musical Medley of Medleys

Warm-up was I'm Always Chasing Rainbows. Sang it twice and then on the third time, we also snapped through the whole song. It was a challenge, but we can do it! We'll stop somewhere on the last line since the timing there is hard.

Shenandoah is so beautiful! We reviewed the oohs at the beginning, and the top of the last page, and the rest was excellent!

We finished Moon River!!! The ending is very cool and we'll review it next week. So happy that we've done so well learning this really tricky piece. Thank God it's a great melody that everyone loves!

Tup Tuppa doesn't seem to be everybody's cup of tea, but I've had enough with the bad attitude I'm hearing. From now on, no more rolled eyes and no more moaning about this charming piece of music (not even joking, Really.)! You will find it much easier if you adopt a positive attitude. The first page is really very good already, and you need to work on the second page. Please listen to and sing along with your part on the website. Some people report that it's easier when they don't look at their music, because to them that's intimidating. When they just listen and sing to the recording, it's easier to just let go and sing without thinking about it.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was also intimidating at the beginning, but now it's so good, we can do it in our sleep. We talked a bit about some of the really scary challenges we've overcome together. It's such a great feeling when we conquer a scary piece!

Hallelujah is our reward for all the hard work we do. It's one of our most beautiful and satisfying songs to sing. Our arrangement is the best I've heard. Gerry and Trix did a great job on their solos. When you remember to stay strong on the last chorus, it's magical!

Next week, Monday, March 30th:

6:30 Musical Medley of Medleys

1. Button Up
2. Moon River
3. We Rise Again
4. Yesterday Once More
5. Tup Tuppa
6. Hello, Goodbye/ Monday, Monday/ Eagles Wings? (we'll see what we feel like and how much time we have)

March 16 Rehearsal Review and Preview to March 23

March 16

6:30  Sapphire recorded all the parts of Tup Tuppa on their own. Listen to your part and sing along!

7:00  Born This Way! 

Warm-ups included lots of stuff for paying attention to the conductor and breathing exercises.

Do Wah Diddy Diddy is easy, but you have to pay attention to where you're singing and where you're not singing. Sopranos have to be confident coming in on each section. 

Button Up Your Overcoat is good! We can stay on the subway! It was fine. 

Tup Tuppa is coming along. Each time we sing it, it gets better. Keep on singing it. Use the recordings. 

This Little Light of Mine is fun. We decided to pronounce our Ts carefully on the first page to make a bigger contrast between the "Sunday School" beginning and the groovy gospel part that starts on the third page. Gerry and Kevin sang the solo together and it was great! After the solo section, the chorus is quieter. The end is loud, starting at the key change at bar 68. It's at the page turn, so make a note at the bottom of the page. 

Moon River is so cool! It's pretty hard, but so rewarding! We continued on with the oohs on page 7 and learned pages 8 and 9 and reviewed everything from the beginning. It's coming along nicely, but please have a look at it at home if you have some time. The recordings are up for that, so you can sing along.

Next Week,    March 23            Coffee and Treats at Break! 

6:30 Musical Medley Group

• Hallelujah
• I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
• Moon River
• Shenandoah
• Tup Tuppa

March 9 Rehearsal Review and Preview to March 16

***Please check your binders and bags for missing Keynote's Choir music, Steal Away. We were given #20-40 and there are 4 missing: #21,24,31,33

Thank you to everyone who participated in our performance on Sunday. I'm very, very proud of you for coming to Roy's funeral and for being so wonderful! You learned new music in half an hour and did a great job with it, and of course On Eagle's Wings was fantastic. Emanda Richards, the Trinity music director sent a nice email thanking us, and the family presented us with a lovely card an an honorarium.
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The Born This Way Small Group met at 6:30 and they've re-vamped their already awesome version of this popular Lady Gaga song! The Boogie Woogie Man group met at break. It's so much fun! We're working on page 7 and the ending. The rest is just a matter of looking at the words.

Warm-ups included stress-reducing stretches.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was excellent! It's hard to believe we used to think it was really, really hard!

Tup-Tuppa is really, really hard. I wonder if it will ever feel as good as Jesu? We sang it through, with both repeats, and it wasn't great, but it's getting better. We are planning to re-record the parts so that you only hear your part so that you can try to do more work on it on your own. It's going to come together.

Moon River is a treat! It's not easy, but it's so rewarding! All parts are on the website with only the accompaniment in the background.

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows is coming along really, really well! I'm thinking we might be able to do the snaps all the way through the way it's written. Once we're comfortable with our parts, let's try it!

Hello, Goodbye is getting close to perfect. I think we even got the "no mac" part the last time through!

Monday, Monday is always fun and when the tenors and basses get their "fine" in strong and on time, it feels magical.


Next week, Monday, March 16:

6:30 Sapphire and Renate recording
7:00 Born this Way

• Button Up Your Overcoat
• Do Wah Diddy Diddy
• I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
• Moon River
• This Little Light of Mine
• Tup Tuppa

March 2nd Rehearsal Review

The Musical Medley group met at 6:30 and learned the Joseph piece, and sang the whole thing from the beginning up to that point, then sight-read through I Could Have Danced All Night. Great ending!

Warm-ups included marching and wiggling and All I Have to Do is Dream. It's pretty

Hello, Good-Bye is almost done! We learned Ticket to Ride and Can't Buy Me Love, and sang the whole thing through!

Tup Tuppa is hard, but we have to make it sound easy. Try to relax and have fun. If we have a bit of extra harmony, it will be okay ;-) Here's a link to the video of an orchestra all singing their instruments' parts in the William Tell Overture.

Yesterday Once More is sounding excellent already. We looked at the shoobie-doo lang-langs on page 5, 9, and 11, and the ending. The timing at the end is tricky. We'll look at that again.

At breaktime, the Boogie Woogie group got together and sang it for the first time. (Enid, Lauren, Janet, Debbie, Altos and Sophie S2, Trix S1) Pretty good. Great team. We've to to look at the alto part on page 7 again, and page 8 is not quite what we expected. We'll do it again at break next Monday.

Next week, March 9

1. Hello, Goodbye
2. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
3. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
4. Moon River
5. Tup Tuppa

Funeral Sunday- Music and details

On Sunday, at Roy Bryson's funeral at Trinity United Church in Newmarket, we will be given the opportunity to sing with the other choirs (Trinity church choir, the Keynotes and the Harmony Chorale). This is voluntary, but I highly recommend it.

Come at 12:15 and we'll try to learn Steal Away. Here is a link to a video of a small choir singing it on YouTube. Here's one without the clarinet. Not sure if we'll have one. If you're looking for other versions, look for the arranger Helvey. I'll see if I can get the music and scan it for you and put it up here or on the website.

We'll be sitting in the congregation, on the far right (north) side in the front.

All choristers are wearing black and white. We will wear our formal concert uniform, which is white on top to the wrists and black on the bottom to the floor (pants or long skirts, and black hose/socks and shoes) plus our scarves.

We will have our black binders with On Eagle's Wings at the front, ready to go.

The library reserves some parking spots in the town lot. Be careful not to park there. The town lot opposite the church by the library fills up. So, you can park on the street (lots of streets allow parking on Sundays) and at Roadhouse and Rose Funeral Home, and down in the town parking lot by the skating rink. There's a stairway up to Main Street that lands you right across from Trinity. Carpooling is probably a good idea.

Feb 23 Rehearsal Cancelled Last Minute!

Sorry, Everyone! Something went wrong and we didn't know until people went to choir that our room had been re-booked. If we had known earlier, we could have found an alternate place to rehearse. As it is, half an hour was not enough to find a place and find everyone, so we just implemented our call tree and called off tonight's rehearsal. So disappointing!

We'll have the Musical Medley small group try again next week at 6:30.

Boogie Woogie Man will have to wait. No worries; it's going to be easy to learn.

If you have some time tonight or during the week, please review your part in Tup-Tuppa. Have fun with the recordings. Sing along to some of the accompaniments.

Listen to the sound recordings of our December concert! Have a great evening!

Family Day Rehearsal and Preview to Feb. 23

Monday, Feb. 16 was Family Day and we had quite a few of our choir family together for a good rehearsal. We did so well that we went right through our break and left early!

The Musical Medley group met at 7:00 and we did all of Dancing Queen with accompaniment! Sapphire was back from her trip and we not only learned Dancing Queen, but did Razzle Dazzle and went straight through to Dancing Queen. It was fun!

We started by warming up with On Eagle's Wings. It's always good. But, try to remember that page 6 is for the Tenors and Basses- all the way through. They have the melody the whole time and we have to hear it.

Another Op'nin' is coming along nicely and most of us have already got it memorized. We'll be walking in with our binders closed and singing this with some hand movements!

We sang all the way through I'm Always Chasing Rainbows! We learned our parts in the Do-do section and the ending, so we have the whole thing now. We'll review the do-do section when everyone is together again. All the parts are on our website. Take advantage and sing along with your part.

This Little Light of Mine is good, but it needs more spunk. We used to clap along with this one. I wonder if we can memorize it and clap, or sway like a gospel choir. We need something. In the "On a Monday" section, pay close attention to the words and notes. There are some pretty chords there but you have to be together. Sopranos and altos should hold back so that we can hear the tenor and bass parts. The loudest part is right after the key change after the second time through "On a Monday" and stays loud up to the big ending.

Button Up Your Overcoat was appropriate. How well will it go over if it's really hot in May? It's a cute and fun song. Don't worry. I think we should try to stay on the subway- not jump off- on page 8, bar 57-58.

We Rise Again was not as beautiful as it was at the concert. Did we forget our oohs and aahs? All the parts are on the website for you to review them if you've forgotten. Kristen did a stellar job, as usual.

Next week, Feb. 23

The Musical Medley group will meet again at 6:30. Boogie Man will meet the following week. (It was scheduled to start but we'll get more people signed up first)

1. All I Have to Do is Dream
2. Hello, Goodbye
3. Moon River
4. Tup Tuppa
5. Yesterday Once More

Feb.9 Rehearsal Review- Family Day we're meeting.

At break, we listened to 2 of the recordings made by the sound guy, Doug Jarvie, at our concert in December. Some people didn't think Welcome, Welcome Winter was us! It was so, so good! You'll Never Walk Alone was spectacular! There will be links to these recordings on our website soon. Be sure to listen to them! There's something special about hearing us without any distractions. The blending is awesome. We sound crazy good!

6:30 Musical Medley was successful, went through Razzle Dazzle (watch out for little rests that make the preceding words short, kind of clipped and crisp- in fact/ you're just/) and started Dancing Queen -fun for the first sopranos!

We warmed up with Monday, Monday. We discovered that a number of us didn't know it and some had forgotten, so we worked on it quite a bit. Now it's better! I love when you sing Fine-Fine-Fine Yeah! Magic wand. Maybe go over the words in the every other day of the week section, you can find me...tongue twisters

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows is  one of my favourites. I love how Sapphire's Fantaisie Impromptu has the melody in it! Wait 'till you hear her play that one! Wow! We will also wow the audience with this song. It's really cool. We just got to the really cool part. We went through all the parts on pages 3 &4. I wonder if we can snap, or if we can have someone snap? Kevin Jaques?

Do Wah Diddy Diddy was better this time. My plan went really well, and the back-and-forth on pages 8 and 9 works even better with the back-and-forth in the other sections. (I forgot to post the plan! Here it is: Page 6, 31-39 is Women only and Page 8, 51-59 is Men only) There's clapping marked at the end on Page 11. I wonder if we can do it, pass your binder to someone or tuck it under your arm? Something to think about.

All I Have to Do is Dream is so pretty and sweet! This will be one of those tunes that lots of audience members will be humming all the way home. Maybe you find yourself singing it during the week? Very catchy. The key is to keep it smooth and easy and we'll work some more on dynamics. The ending is soft.

We had an interesting experience with Hallelujah. It didn't download onto my iPad, or sync, or something. So we didn't have the accompaniment. Trix eventually found it on her phone, when we were done. We know this song so well, we did it beautifully without accompaniment! It sounded good, too! Now we're thinking of how to incorporate an a cappella bit into the song!

I also messed up with the recording of You Raise Me Up, but Trix found a version on her phone. We did great! Stanley's solo was partly a duet, with Anne Marie's voice singing the soprano part on the recording! It was fine.

We'll be very, very happy when Sapphire is back, but we're doing really well without her thanks to all the recordings and Anne Marie's help on the keyboard!

Next Monday is Family Day. If you have plans for the evening, that's understandable. We'll be working on our stuff, and I'll be sure to write down everything we do so you can catch up. There are lots of good recordings up of your parts of many of our songs. They really help!

We won't start at 6:30, but can the Musical Medley people come at 7:00 so we can do some more of Dancing Queen?

1. Another Op'nin'
2. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (the doo-doo section)
3. On Eagle's Wings
4. Shenandoah
5. This Little Light of Mine

Monday February 2nd: no choir rehearsal.

Snow day- snow night. Stay home and be safe.

January 26th and February 2nd YRCC Rehearsals

Monday, January 26th
6:30 Musical Medley Small Group met and went all the way through Be Our Guest!

1. Do Wah Diddy Diddy was fun, but we had some (not quite supportive and respectful) discussion over who should sing what. It's 2 parts, and Soprano is always on top, on part 1. On page 8, there's an echo thing that we're going to do a girl-boy thing with. Sopranos sing 'I'm his' and Tenors and Basses sing 'I'm hers', then Sopranos sing 'and he's mine' and T&B sing 'she's mine', then Sopranos sing 'well, I'm his and' and then ST&B sing he's mine or she's mine together. Altos join in at 'and the wedding bells will chime'. This same thing happens again on page 10
We'll have to go over who sings what next week. I'll have a more definite plan so that there won't be any discussion about it. We might want to talk about our choir culture though.

2. All I Have to Do is Dream is pretty! We learned the whole thing except the ending! It's not very hard, but the Sopranos have to fight the urge to sing what they want, and just sing what's there. For example, at the top of page 3, the Tenors and Basses sing 'want you-ou', but Sopranos and Altos don't.  That happens every time. Also, at the top of page 5, Sopranos have a special "away".

3.Another Op'nin' is the one we have to memorize. We've pretty much got it already; no worries. For people who read music, please don't worry that we don't sing the opening the way it's written, also the ending. We don't overlap the parts, but sing one after the other to make the echo clearer. It's very fast, so make sure you know where you're going. Remember, we repeat  page7 but jump down to the key change at the bottom of 9 the second time through.

4. You'll Never Walk Alone is still very, very special and fantastic! If you're new, you might want to review your part with the online recording.

We enjoyed decaf coffee with treats at breaktime, and the executive had a brief meeting. One of the things we discussed was contacting former directors and accompanists. If you have contact info for anyone, see someone on the executive. We also discussed creating a memory lane audio-visual display for intermission. I'm now thinking that we could also post things on our website throughout our special 20th anniversary year. If you have old photos, programs, posters, videos or anything, see us too.


Next Week: Monday, February 2nd

• All I Have to Do
• Do Wah Diddy
• I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
• Monday, Monday
• You Raise Me Up/Hallelujah? 

Rehearsal Review: Monday, January 19th

Monday, January 19th
Sapphire and Renate recorded the accompaniments for Boogie Woogie Man, Button Up Your Overcoat, Another Op'nin', Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Hello, Goodbye. We also did all the parts for Jesu so you can review them at home :-)
Most of the recordings for this season are already up! Spend some time singing at home- or, how about singing in the car?

Warm-ups included Mi Me Ma Mo Mu.

1. Button Up Your Overcoat was amazing!!! The tenor and bass section was especially strong.

2. Tup-Tuppa was hard. We learned our individual parts for the second half. Wow! 32nd notes are fast! Everybody has challenges in the second half.  Look at your music and divide things up into manageable bits. Which parts are the same, repeated? Mark up your music with pencil. Listen to Sapphire's recordings and listen to versions on YouTube. The more familiar you are with the song, the easier it will be to read your music. The first half is already sounding pretty good after only 2 rehearsals. Trust me. It will be great.

3. Hello, Goodbye is fun and not very hard (Yay!) but we do have some work to do. We started with Penny Lane, with the bm-bm part. We noticed that the bm-bms are supposed to be detached, and that's similar to what we're doing in Tup-Tuppa. If it helps you to detach your pa-pas, think of them as pm-pms. We did say that the Tenor and Bass parts have pa-pa-pum and quite a bit of it sounds like pum-pum.

4. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring got messed up last week when we sang the second verse. So, this week we started with the second verse. No worries. Whatever happened got fixed. It was fine this week :-)
Looking ahead, we want to be very strong on our parts in both verses, and remember to sing very softly at the beginning and to give pages 5 and 6 extra attention. There's a lot of drama there.

5. This Little Light of Mine. We just sang through once, sight-reading, and it was already pretty good! Gerry is going to sing the solo in the section that starts "On a Monday" and that section repeats. Sopranos lead the key change out of that second repeat. We'll have to work on making the many repetitions of the chorus interesting by varying the dynamics.

Monday, January 26th: Social Rehearsal with Coffee

6:30 Musical Medley small group rehearsals start! Sign up and come early to sing special selections of our past musical medleys. 

1. All I Have to Do is Dream
2. Another Op'nin'
3. Do Wah Diddy-Diddy
4. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
5. You'll Never Walk Alone

Monday, January 12th's Rehearsal Review and what to expect Monday, January 19th.

Monday, January 12th.

Sapphire and I recorded the accompaniment and all 4 parts for Yesterday Once More and the accompaniment for Do Wah Diddy Diddy :-)

Warm-ups included pa-pas and tuppa-tuppas.

1. On Eagle's Wings was beautiful, in part because we reviewed all the "Make you to shine like the sun" bits. Remember to give page 6 to the Tenor/Bass section: they have the melody all through the page. Starting from the top, sopranos especially have to be very soft and pretty and altos have to hold back too, except in bar 48. Bar 48 is the pretty alto "sun".

2. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was beautiful too. As I've said before, we are singing Jay-zoo. We had some discussion (which I dismissed because we're not discussing it. I have investigated and decided and I have expressed that.) over whether to pronounce it Jay-zoo or Yay-zoo or Yay-soo. I know that the Latin is Yay-soo. The German is Yay-zus. I'm going with a more anglicized, but not totally anglicized form. (There are some who would say: Gee-zoo.) I want the written alliteration to be heard, but only barely, because we're singing very softly. We spent some time reviewing pages 5 and 6, which are the hardest, and sang through the whole thing. We should have reviewed the words for the parts on pages 5 and 6, because we totally messed up on the second verse! If you have some time look over pages 5 and 6, both verses.

3.Yesterday Once More is a theme song. Lauren is the soloist on the first page, Janet is her back-up. Only the sopranos come in at 19 with the tenors. Altos start at bar 14, with Oh. Watch your rests! There are lots of places where only the sopranos or only the altos are singing- sticks up are soprano and sticks down are alto, generally. In the recordings, Sapphire sometimes plays the "other" part for timing. Be careful to know which is your part. Also circle every entry of "Every". Some are slow (quarter notes-you come in on beat 3) and some are fast (eighths you wait 'till beat 4). Be careful with these entries.

4. Tup Tuppa. We sang through the whole first part, with the repeat and it was good! It's hard, but it felt so good to get it that we cheered and clapped! I'm a bit worried for the basses, who have been absent for both weeks, but we will have recordings up soon. Sopranos can sing along with the video I inserted into a blog post from a couple weeks ago, but for the altos, tenors and basses, you'll have to use our recordings. The altos and tenors are amazing! Next week, we move on to the second part.

5. Hallelujah is always beautiful. I forgot to ask the new people how they felt singing it. I know they must have loved it, but I like to hear it. Our arrangement is so satisfying to sing!


Next Week: Monday, January 19th

1. Button Up Your Overcoat
2. Hello Goodbye
3. Jesu, Joy
4. This Little Light
5. Tup Tuppa

Monday, January 5th Rehearsal Review, and Preview to January 12th

Monday, January 5th.
We welcomed 3 new members: Jie, Blair, and Bev!

It was great to be together again, and we spent quite a bit of time talking at the beginning of rehearsal. That's fine (and really nice to see for our first night), but we need to get to work at 7:30 from now on. You can talk before or at break time.

We had a quick warm-up and got to work singing. Here's what you missed if you couldn't be there.

1. Another Op'nin' is fast and has a repeat. Make sure you know where you're going. It's in 2 parts. Tenors join Sopranos on the top and Basses join Altos on the bottom. We will be memorizing this so we can walk and sing and do actions! Start now if you're like me.

2. Monday, Monday is fun! Be sure to start off soft, and you're always soft whenever you're singing bah-dah. (for Sopranos and Tenor/Bass that's a lot) Altos have lots of melody. Be strong! Everybody, go over the words and timing at "every other day,"... "but whenever Monday comes"..., especially the Sopranos.

3. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring! (aka, the easier Bach piece) We learned all of our parts, but we'll review them lots, don't worry. Especially that dramatic middle part "Word of God..." Pay attention to dynamics. We felt a huge difference when we sang the first line softly. It's so much better soft than loud! We pronounce it Jay-zoo, not Yay-zoo.

4. Tup-Tuppa (aka Bach Badinerie, aka the other Bach piece) Everyone wanted to sing Tenor, but, really, each part has its blessings (and curses). This will take some time, but we'll be so proud when we master it!!! It will surprise everyone, even some of us ;-)

5. Hello, Goodbye (aka The Beatles Medley!) Yay! This Beatles Medley is awesome, and not too hard. There are only a few tricky bits, and everyone loves theses songs. Altos and Tenors get some fun bum-bums.

Homework: go to my Bach blog post and listen to that recording of Bach Badinerie. Especially if you're a soprano, try to sing along. If you can have your music in front of you, even better. See if you can figure out what your part should sound like. Sapphire and I have made recordings of your parts and Trix will have them up as soon as possible.

Next week, Monday, January 12th

1. Hello, Goodbye
2. Jesu, Joy
3. On Eagle's Wings
4. This Little Light
5. Tup Tuppa

Choir starts tonight!

It's really cold out there, but the snow squalls have calmed down.
WE'RE ON!
Take care driving and walking. It's slippery. Bundle up!
We have lots of music to learn, so we want to get started.
I'm so excited to have you see your new music!!!

Cross your fingers! Snow on the first night of rehearsals!

Let's hope the snow squalls and ice and mess all clear up by tomorrow night for our first rehearsal!

If things are still awful tomorrow and the forecast is bad, you will get a phone call to let you know that choir is cancelled, and there will be a message on the website and on Facebook. Keep your eyes and ears open. 

If we don't cancel and you feel that you shouldn't go out, don't risk it. You have to decide what is best for yourself. If we have a rehearsal and you miss it, you can visit this blog and I will have a review posted and some tips for what you can do to catch up. 

We're going classical as we look "Bach"

YRCC goes classical!
We're looking "Bach" at the past 20 years of the YRCC and choosing some of our favourite pieces from the past to sing this spring.
Listen to this and get ready to sing it!
Yes, it's a whole song without words.
You'll see.
We've done it before; we can do it again.

We'll also be singing Bach's well-known Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring this season. Listen to the YRCC sing Jesu here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Just a quick post today to say

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday with family and friends and maybe some rest too. I wish you and yours peace and joy and love for this new year 2015.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again on Monday, January 5th!
We've got a lot of excellent music to sing for our 20th Anniversary Concert in May! We'll have lots of fun and quite a few challenges learning it all. I can hardly wait!

We Are Winter is almost here and we are ready!

Wow! Amazing last rehearsal!

Go to the website and sign in to find the final order and also to find the dates, times, locations, and orders for the seniors' visits and the Probus performance. Here's a link to the website.

Click here to read an old post of mine about performances.

Remember to take care of your voice and try to smile and at least look relaxed. Frowning into your binders isn't attractive. When you look like you're having fun, the audience has more fun. Let's give them a wonderful afternoon. We have lots of beautiful music, some things they've never heard before that will amaze them.

I'm excited to have a few of my friends and family members coming. I hope you have some familiar faces in the audience. It helps. Give someone tickets as a present. It's way better than a box of chocolate or cookies, and we'll have sweets at intermission together!

Don't forget to bake and bring serving-size stuff for the bake sale and mark things as nut-free or with nuts.

GO TEAM!!!

November 24th-Last Regular Rehearsal of 2014

6:30- Sapphire and Renate recorded one accompaniment for spring, and the bass part of Christmas in our Hearts.
6:45 Christmas in our Hearts is so pretty! We reviewed all parts at Fam- lies and friends...

Our warm-up was Magic of Winter. It's a good warm-up because you have to watch carefully for all your starts and stops and work as a team, and it starts off soft and easy. There's a lot of dynamics (loud and soft) and it's really pretty.

Blue Skies. Watch for your snapping starts and stops. Jazz hands at the end on the last word (on). Heather and Janet are the smoothest scat singers anywhere!

Somewhere a Child is Sleeping. Watch out: you'll be tempted to make "Bless all the little children" the biggest part. Hold back a bit here so that you can make "so we might love each other" the loudest part. It will also help if you always make "somewhere a child is sleeping, a child was born on Christmas day" soft and pretty. Bill rocks!

You Raise Me Up is always beautiful, and I think this version of ours is the very best yet! Go, Stanley!

The Hockey Song is so much fun! Gerry is perfect as the announcer! Great! Wayne! Gretsky!

They All Call it Canada will make all the hearts swell with pride in our beautiful country! "My country is my cathedral. The northern sky its dome...When you look up and sing this to the audience, they'll shiver. Sopranos- on page 9, "I call it home" sounds a bit like an ending. Go up there; it's okay.

O Holy Night Both groups of soloists were wonderful! All the ahs and oohs were very good! It's awesome. Just remember that bar on page 6, at 63, the "oh" of "oh hear" is on the second beat, longer than you want it. On the second verse, "oh praise" you do it right every time.

At break, you might have heard Teija and Heather's duet and Trix's solo. Next week you'll also hear the Huron Carol small group and Janet and Kevin's duet.

Next week, December 1st, we will run through the order for the concert. We won't sing all the way through all of the songs, but just enough to feel how it will work. We need to rehearse how to walk in and out, how to get on stage and off stage when the soloists and small groups perform, and the soloists all need a chance to rehearse with microphones. If you can't be there, let someone near you in your section know so they can save a spot for you and lead you on Sunday. There is not much time before our show to go over anything. 

Soloists and instrumentalists come at 6:30 and small groups at 7:00. We start punctually at 7:30, so come before to settle in and take your coats off, etc. 

I'll send out the order as soon as I set it, so that you can put your binders in order for Monday. 

November 17 rehearsal review and November 24

Wow! We're getting close!

We had really wintry weather! Baby, it was cold outside.
Breath of Heaven met early and sounded perfect.

We warmed up with stretches and wiggles and the chorus of 1. They All Call it Canada.

Then, we sang the whole thing, but a lot of people forgot to look up at page 10 when we sing that chorus. Make a note at the bottom of page 9 to look up and sing the chorus.

2. Baby, It's Cold Outside was fun and so appropriate! remember vicious and suspicious go all the way to the next word, so that we all say the s at the same moment.

3. Button Up Your Overcoat was also perfect for the cold, cold evening. Timing is key, here. Review how it goes on pages 7 and 8 especially.

4. In the Bleak Midwinter. Todd did a great job on my favourite part (snow was falling snow on snow, snow on snow.) We watched our dynamics and it was awesome!

5. O Holy Night. We went over our parts for Truly he taught us to love one another. It's awesome. It has to be really strong there. The second string soloists sang and it was wonderful.

6. We Rise Again. It was Heather's night tonight. She's Kristen's back-up too, and she rocked We Rise Again. We reviewed the Tenor and Bass lines at section C, since they're so good. Be sure not to sing too loud, Sopranos and Altos. We want to hear the tenors and basses here.

7. Welcome, Welcome Winter. We're a bunch of tough Canadians and we welcomed the wintry night with this moody and dramatic, but fun song. Remember to enunciate and watch what you're singing, especially with slipping and sliding the first time and later, slipping sliding down as we head to the end, slower and softer.

Next week, November 24:

Sapphire recording at 6:30
Christmas in Our Hearts at 6:45
Kristen at 7:10

1. Blue Skies
2. Hockey Song
3. Magic of Winter
4. O Holy Night
5. Somewhere A Child is Sleeping
6. They All Call it Canada
7. We Rise Again
8. You Raise Me Up

Mon. Nov. 10 at St. Andrew's and Mon. Nov. 17 at the Admin Ctr

November 10th
Early:
Heather rehearsed Winter Song with Sapphire. It's going to be a duet with Teija.
Heather and Robyn rehearsed the Olympic Fanfare and Theme with Sapphire.

We talked about this Saturday's carolling gig for Doane House. Contact Roxanne if you can join a small group of YRCC members to sing Christmas carols at a craft show Saturday from 1-3 at the Newmarket Community Centre. Visit the craft sale from 10-4. See our Facebook Page for their ad.

Sign up for the December 11th performance! We had a lot of hands raised but only 4 signed up. This is an important event for us. Please make every effort to participate.

Michelle and Roxanne started selling concert tickets.
Jane started taking orders for poinsettias.

Warm-ups included stretching and yawning :-)

1. Wonderful World was wonderful ;-)

2. On Eagle's Wings was also wonderful. We remembered our "make you to shine like the sun" parts.

3. O Holy Night: We reviewed the oohs and changed some to aahs. They can all be a bit stronger. Our soloists are excellent and so strong that we have to support them a bit more with our parts.
14: Tenors come in louder, smooth with no breaths audible within the phrase line. Here it's ooh.
18: Altos come in strong, also smooth with no breaths audible within the phrase line. Stagger breathing if necessary. Here, it's still ooh.
43: Everybody oohs here. Sopranos and Altos can get their note, middle C, from Sapphire's part, most bars start with a middle C. Also, Mary-Ellen's last note is a middle C. Altos are used to finding that third-down-from-melody note.
52: Everybody switches to aah here, when all 3 soloists are singing. The next word is Fall. It sounds great.
101: Altos and Tenors ooh here.
110: Everyone aahs with sopranos joining in. Next word is Christ, with a big open mouth, so it almost sounds like Chraah-ist.
Coda: last note is Hm, as written.

Next week we'll review the Truly he taught us parts. It has to be good and strong here.

4.In The Bleak Midwinter: We missed Todd, but Kristen did a great job on the solos. Watch the dynamics. When we paid attention to dynamics, the last page was 200% better! One key was for the Sopranos and Altos to come in soft and pretty, way up in their heads, with no chest. Keep soft coming in on the second line, even Tenor and Bass. Follow the arrows to get louder and softer. That third line is all soft, until the very last note, the sopranos "Yet". (everyone else can get a bit louder on their 'yet's too) After a very loud "heart", everyone is very soft for the last phrase, and fades to super soft.

5.We Rise Again: We reviewed the Soprano 2 part at the end. Next week we'll get the Tenors and Basses to fix their timing at  bar 22. Take a look. You're holding the note as if you're singing the melody. You're not. You're with Sop.1. We'll review the oohs and aahs next week.

6. Blue Skies: we went a bit late, but it was fun, and we remembered to do the jazz hands (most of us).

November 17th

6:30: Recording
6:45 Breath of Heaven

1. Baby it's Cold
2. Button Up
3. O Holy Night
4. They All Call it Canada
5. We Rise Again
6. Welcome, Welcome Winter

Buy tickets from Michele and Roxanne! Advance tickets are 2/$25 for a $5 saving.

Order poinsettias from Jane to take home after the show.

Monday, Nov. 3 YRCC Review and Preview of Nov 10

Monday, November 3
No small groups met early. Sapphire and I recorded parts for a Bach piece that we're singing in the spring.
Kristen went through her piece. It was beautiful.
Huron Carol Group met after choir.

Warm-ups included a rhythm exercise/physical warm-up and we all sang the chorus of They All Call it Canada, from memory. We're all going to memorize that bit (pg 10-11).

1. The Hockey Song was great fun, as usual. We were perfect on Great! Wayne! Gretsky! Kevin was the announcer without a whistle...

2. Button Up Your Overcoat was excellent. Carol did the cutie bits. The tenors and basses were nice and strong on the beginning, once they realized it was a competition (they could sing louder than me, but barely).

3. On Eagle's Wings: we worked on the words "make you to shine like the sun". They come up 4 times, and each time they're different. Review your parts. Find them on pages 2, 4, 6, and 8.

4. O Holy Night is coming along beautifully. Our second-string soloists were up front and did a great job, especially Heather who didn't know she was Mary-Ellen's back-up :-)

5. We Rise Again. We love singing this one! I love hearing Kristen's solo. But, we did work on it first. We reviewed all parts at section C, on page 5, and all of the first soprano parts.

Next week: Sapphire and Heather are meeting at 7:00 to review Teija and Heather's piece.

Monday, November 10

1. Blue Skies
2. Bleak Midwinter
3. O Holy Night
4. On Eagle's Wings
5. We Rise Again
6. Wonderful World

Oct 27 YRCC Rehearsal and Preview to Nov 3

Oct 27
6:30 Christmas in Our Hearts
6:50 Breath of Heaven

Warm-up included being loud. We yelled, carefully and with lots of air to support us, "Hey! That's my car!" It was fun :-)

We had some announcements: We've been asked to sing at a Probus event. Christmas theme and sing-alongs. It's over the lunch hour on a Thursday.
Keep your eyes on the Events page on the website. There will be things to sign up for. Christmas season singing is so much fun. Make sure you participate in some of the upcoming performances!

1. They All Call it Canada has to be strong throughout, so we're adding everyone to the Tenor/Bass solo at page 10. Everyone sings the melody together in unison. Make sure the words are strong and clear. Enunciate really well.

2. Bleak Midwinter is awesome! We did really well transitioning from the solos to the whole choir. Now that we know our parts, we need to work on dynamics. There's quite a bit of movement in the volume.

3. O Holy Night is amazing! You guys are so good! We reviewed the oohs and aahs and they're really very good already. We sang through the whole thing with the soloists.

4. Somewhere A Child is Sleeping is beautiful with Bill singing the solo at the beginning!

5. You'll Never Walk Alone was stunning, as usual.

6. We decided not to sing Button Up Your Overcoat last so that we don't have it in our heads all week. So, we sang Magic of Winter instead. It was perfect! Just writing BUYO has got it playing in my head now! It's such a sticky melody!

Nov 3- no small groups
6:30 Sapphire recording
7:00 Kristen

1. Button Up Your Overcoat
2. Hockey Song
3. Bleak Midwinter
4. O Holy Night
5. On Eagle's Wings
6. We Rise Again

Sorry, this is late. I've been really tired after work. 

Mon Oct 20 and Mon Oct 27 YRCC Rehearsals

Mon. Oct. 20
Christmas in Our Hearts met at 6:30 and got to the end. It's beautiful!
Warm-ups included massages.

1. Welcome Winter: we did really well! We remembered to enunciate and sing the slipping and sliding parts clearly and correctly. We remembered to sing softer to hear the tenor/bass section.
2. Bleak Midwinter: Awesome! We only need to work on timing between the solo and choir parts and dynamics. We got through the whole thing!
3. O Holy Night: Fantastic! We learned all the ahs (actually written mostly as hm, but all oo). They weren't bad at all, but we need to do them a few times to feel comfortable. We have lots of time! We got through the whole song!!! It was a bit too fast, but we did it!
4. You Raise Me Up with Stanley singing the first verse is just amazing! We had to hold back our tears instead of holding back our voices. Perfect!
5. Button Up Your Overcoat: Trix did all the goofy bits in the soprano line. We fixed the subway problem! We're not going to hold the awful grating sound. We jump off the subway, and that way we can hear the tenor/bass part!

At break, we've been hearing Robyn playing flute, rehearsing with Sapphire. They, along with Heather on French horn, will play the Olympic Fanfare and Theme as a processional. We walk in like we're entering the Olympic Opening Ceremonies! And then, we sing "This is my country; this is my land, my own Canadian land. This is my home..." Should be really special!

Mon. Oct. 27 (Election night)
We're having treats and coffee at break

Christmas in our Hearts 6:30

Breath of Heaven 6:50

• Button Up Your Overcoat
• Bleak Midwinter
• O Holy Night
• Somewhere A Child (Bill)
• You'll Never Walk Alone
• They All Call it Canada

Thanksgiving Monday Rehearsal and preview to next week

We had a productive rehearsal on Thanksgiving Monday! It was so good, we were able to finish early, at 9:00. It was very nice to have Jonathan singing with us :-)

We started off with a head-massage warm-up and the tongue twister: A knapsack strap, the strap of a knapsack. We warmed up our voices with ng.

Baby it's Cold Outside was excellent. We reviewed the harmony bits and the end. We'll have to go over them with everyone else too. Just need to remember them.

Button Up Your Overcoat was also excellent. We just have the same messy spot as last time: that's on the subway. Grrr. We'll go over that a gazillion times, I'm sure. Something for First Sopranos to keep in mind: the ending is short and light. Those of you who are singing the First Soprano part, stay light and crisp at the end on those high notes: you belong to me! Altos and all Sopranos, remember to hold back and not sing too loud whenever the tenors are singing melody, which is a lot of the time. And, at the end they have a cool part which needs to be heard.

Bleak Midwinter: we went ahead to the last page! It's not bad, very much like the second page which we learned last time. The ending is cool and special! You can hear your part online on our website!

O  Holy Night: we went ahead to the next section where we're in 3-part harmony after Fall on your knees/ the chorus, Truly he taught us... Next week we start the ahs! This is online too so you can continue to learn your part at home.

On Eagle's Wings was awesome as usual. We didn't review those tricky Alto bits. Next time.

Hockey Song: not the same without Gerry, but still fun. Don't forget to be strong and short on Great! Wayne! Gretsky!


Monday, October 20th

6:30 Christmas in Our Hearts

1. Button Up Your Overcoat
2. In the Bleak Midwinter
3. O Holy Night
4. They All Call it Canada
5. Welcome, Welcome Winter
6. You Raise Me Up

Monday, October 6th Review and Preview of Thanksgiving Monday's Rehearsal

Monday, Oct. 6

The Christmas in Our Hearts small group met at 6:30 and made excellent progress on their first rehearsal!
Nobody meets next week, but this group will meet again the following week, Oct. 20th. The accompaniment recording is now online :-)

Warm-ups included stretches, breathing and "scooby-doos"

Blue Skies warmed us up, on a dark and rainy night; it was just what we needed. I forgot about adding the "jazz hands" ending. At the end, on the word "on", everyone does a jazz hand with their right hands. Don't forget, Sopranos snap at the beginning and everyone snaps during the solos in the middle.

Button Up Your Overcoat is done! Well, we got to the end. It will take some review, but I'm very happy with the work we did! We learned everything from page 9 to the end. Be sure to pay attention to the dynamics (fff, mp hushed, etc)! It's very dramatic. Oh! I forgot to decide what to do about the spoken parts in the soprano line. And, I meant to do that to announce it as a solo. That will have to be Trix, of course, and Carol can back her up.

We started In the Bleak Midwinter and learned the whole second page (4). We did a sight-reading through the whole song, and some of you remember it very well from a few years ago! It's really quite difficult, but very rewarding. It's beautiful. The timing is hard, as every part has its own special timing. I make every beat clear and try to give you in-between bits too (hair). But, you have to know which beat is yours. The recordings are up, so you can review your part. Yay! 

O Holy Night is similarly difficult and also very, very rewarding. We had gone through the whole piece a while ago, so we went straight to bar 60, "Fall on your knees". It's exceptionally powerful. I especially love singing "His power and glory" because I really feel the power and the glory in the music! Our arrangement is spectacular!

Things to note (really; note them on your music in pencil):
Altos at bar 68 have a rest on the +of 4, under the Soprano note for "di". You might want to scratch out that Soprano note, so it doesn't bother you.
SAB at bar 71 sing "vi-ine-O-night" So, on the + of 4, it's kind of like "no-night"
Altos at bar 72 your "night" moves up on beat 1 of bar 73. Cool.
Sopranos, at the top of the page at bars 78 and 79, it says "sing cues 2nd time". Everyone can ignore them and just sing the regular part, except for Mary Ellen who will sing those cues the 2nd time as a descant part.
SAB bar 80 and bar 81: the cues are for the words of the second chorus that starts "Christ is the Lord" at 60. Here, there's an extra syllable that needs a note. For the first chorus, we sing "night" on beat 1 of bar 80 and hold it briefly until "O" on beat 1 of bar 81 (ignoring the cues). For the second chorus, we sing the cues: the word ever divides: "e" on beat 1 of bar 80 and "ver" very quickly just before "mo" on beat 1 of 81. The word "more" also divides into two notes. So it's kind of like, e--vermo--or proclaim. Don't worry; we'll review all of this (probably a few times).

Welcome, Welcome Winter was fabulous, but not perfect. That's okay. It was nearly perfect. Here's what you need to do: Look at the words in bars 46-52 and 83-84. They need to be clear and the timing has to be crisp and together. Don't add any syllables, and don't hesitate on the words and smush them up (technical music term?). If you do nothing else, read the words and get them clear and confident. The recordings for this are online. You can review your part.

Thanksgiving Monday, October 13th

Nobody has to be there early. Set-up will be at 7:15.

1. Baby it's Cold Outside
2. Button Up Your Overcoat
3. Hockey Song
4. In the Bleak Midwinter
5. O Holy Night
6. On Eagle's Wings

Solos Announced

Yesterday, I announced all the solos.
Here they are:

Blue Skies: 1. Heather/ Trix 2. Janet/ Lauren
Button Up Your Overcoat (forgot to announce): Trix/Carol
Hockey Song: Gerry
In the Bleak Midwinter: Todd/Kristen
O Holy Night:1. Mary Ellen/Heather 2. Debbie/Cathy 3. Robyn/Tracey
Somewhere a Child is Sleeping: Bill/Mary Ellen
We Rise Again: Kristen/Heather
You Raise Me Up: Stanley/Bill

Let it Go: Kristen
River: Trix
Winter Song: Heather and Teija
Christmas Medley: Janet, Kevin, and Kevin
Huron Carol: Lauren, Mona, Roxanne, Stanley

Thank you to everyone who bravely offered to sing solos! 

Review of Monday, Sept. 29th, and preview of Monday, Oct. 6th

Monday, September 29th

I was hoping for a cold night, but we had a beautiful day and it was still warm in the evening. I had planned so much wintry stuff and our surprise was that we sang Let it Go from Frozen! It's perfect for our theme: We Are Winter: Survive, Celebrate, Sing!

Our solo songs will be Let it Go, sung by Kristen, River, sung by Trix, Winter Song, a duet, with Teija and Heather, and the Huron Carol, a quartet.

Our first small group, Breath of Heaven, met at 6:30 for the second time and they are doing really well, which I expected. It's an especially beautiful song that we've sung before and so many in the group remembered it very well!

Our warm-ups included roller coasters: oooooeeeeeeooooo and we let all the stress of the day go with Let it Go!

Baby it's Cold Outside was so good, we could have performed it for an audience! The key was to get the altos and sopranos to sing softer so that we could hear the tenors and basses. Everyone was excellent with when to hold their notes and when to stop. The harmony parts are really pretty!

We sang the Magic of Winter and it was beautiful! The key, again, was to have the sopranos and altos softer, especially at the beginning, to balance with the tenors and basses. There's the same kind of back-and-forth and overlapping.

We Rise Again: we went over the first soprano parts for each section. They're all different. The last one is the simplest, even though it has some of the highest notes, and there are some lower notes where you expect high ones to be.  Be careful! The tenors and basses have a beautiful part at the first chorus. We reviewed their parts and it was awesome. Make sure you can hear them in good balance with the melody in the alto and second soprano parts, and try to keep the first soprano part a bit softer too. I'm very happy with how much this song has improved!

Welcome, Welcome Winter impressed me! There was a fair amount of stress about this one, but it's very strong. The first time through, it was a bit messy and we just tried again and fixed most of the issues! We reviewed bars 15-18 and 52-53 where it's not easy to remember who sings what. Mark your part with pencil, and maybe scratch out the part that you don't sing. When the sopranos and altos are holding a note and the tenors and basses are singing "Welcome, welcome" under them, make sure you can hear the tenor and bass part.

We continued with the next section of Button Up Your Overcoat, the strident "that's on the subway" and the fun "Don't eat fat food" part (bars 55-63). The key with the word subway is to be confident with your part and to stick to it. You might feel the need to adjust your note to sound nicer, but it's supposed to sound harsh. "Stay on your rail."


Monday, October 6th

6:30 Christmas in Our Hearts

1. Baby it's Cold Outside
2. Blue Skies
3. In the Bleak Midwinter (soloist: Todd)
4. O Holy Night (soloists TBD)
5. Welcome, Welcome Winter

Surprise for Choir next Monday

It's a secret.
Hint: I hope it's a cold day next Monday.
Be sure to come to choir next Monday for a fun surprise.

September 22 Rehearsal Review, and Sept. 29 Preview

Rehearsal Review: Monday, Sept. 22

Breath of Heaven small group met for the first time at 6:30 and we got through the whole piece! It's beautiful! We'll meet again next week, and then Christmas in Our Hearts meets on October6. Sapphire and I gave everyone a bit of a sample of how it sounds, in hopes of attracting more members to that group. We need 2 Tenors and 2 Basses, 3 Sopranos and 3 Altos for Christmas in Our Hearts, so please go to the sign-up on the website and see if we still need you!

Our warm-up featured conga-line massages! We love those :-)

1. We warmed up our voices with What a Wonderful World. It was wonderful ;-)  We reviewed the middle part where the Sopranos and Altos sing "The colours of the rainbow..." and then the Tenors and Basses sing "Are also on the faces..." The tenors and basses were strong and blended well! We talked about how to pronounce our 't's in "what a wonderful world". Some people are being very careful to say whatta wonderful, while most of us are saying whadda wonderful (it's not really a 'd' sound, but a Canadian flap). I prefer a natural pronunciation, especially for jazzy songs such as this. We do have to be careful to enunciate always, but, I think we can be clear while using our Canadian pronunciation. And, I argued that singing things differently from the way you say them can make the words even more difficult to understand. All that being said, I don't really mind if some of us pronounce things a bit differently. We are multicultural after all. And, after all that, I didn't pay attention to how we were pronouncing "Button Up" ( ba-tin or ba-'n? or some of both?)

2. Magic of Winter was next. We were careful to watch our rests, to make sure we weren't holding our notes too long. There were 2 places where there was some tenor/bass voices holding too long: bar 12 and 31-there's a 2 beat rest, so you can only hold the note for 2 beats. Other than that, it was very good! I'm very happy with how strong the tenor and bass section was last night!

3. We went right to work on the next section of Button Up Your Overcoat, at bar 34. We were careful with rests here too, and noticed that there is a mistake in bar 36. There's an extra beat. We decided to colour in the last note to make it a quarter note instead of a half, and to observe the rest. That makes the first oo shorter than the second, but the Tenor/Bass part is different too, so it makes sense to me. We sang all the way through to bar 55, having gone over the beginning with the Tenors and Basses. We haven't decided yet what to do about those funny little solos in the Soprano line. Maybe Trix?

4.We finished learning Baby it's Cold Outside! All we had to do was learn bars 35 and 71 and the ending, which we did splendidly! It so much fun! What a cute song! We'll keep watching the rests and how long to hold notes here too. To hold, or not to hold: that is the question!

5.The Hockey Song was great, and great fun! Have fun with this one and don't stress. Just watch for when to come in, especially after the announcer bits.

6. Somewhere a Child is Sleeping. I forgot to mention this song when we were talking about solos. Mary Ellen has done the first verse as a solo (up to bar 28) and is willing to do it for us again. I love her voice and this song is a nice showcase for a good soloist. It doesn't look like a hard thing to sing, but it takes good control and a clear lower and higher register. It's also quite long. Robyn bravely gave it a try. Thanks, Robyn!

7. We did a quick preview of O Holy Night, to see how the solos go. It's quite a grand production with lots of stuff going on. Notice that only the first one is a real solo, the next one is a duet over the choir singing oohs, and the third one is a trio over oohs or ahs. I'll assign 3 soloists and 3 back-ups for this song. I've had lots of people come forward to offer their talents, so it will take me some time to decide.

Next week, September 29

Small group: Breath of Heaven at 6:30

1. Baby it's Cold Outside
2. Button Up Your Overcoat
3. Magic of Winter
4. We Rise Again
5. Welcome, Welcome Winter