Welcome


Welcome to Renate's Baton. This blog is mostly for and about my choir, The York Region Community Choir.

But, While I'm holding the baton, I'm in charge. So, if I want to talk about other parts of my life, I will. :)

The choir itself is a community and I'm discovering that we have a lot in common with one another besides our love of music and singing.

When I go off on a tangent, there is always a crowd coming along. Join us!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Back to Choir soon! Start Date is Monday, September 14th

Choir starts next month! Labour Day is late this year, so we're not back until Monday, September 14th. We have a late concert this year, too: Sunday, December 6th.

What a beautiful summer we've had! I hope you've been enjoying it. I'm sure that music has been a big part of your lives even when your Mondays aren't dedicated to it. Music festivals and concerts in parks are a huge part of summer, and with lots of parties with dance music and pool-side music and campfire sing-alongs, there's music everywhere. I went to a 25th Wedding Anniversary party where the music was supplied by a steel band (2 guys) playing popular songs and dance music by the pool. It was fantastic! What a great, festive summer vibe that provided!

And, I've had Christmas music interwoven in all this.

Our Christmas repertoire was decided in June, and the music has all been ordered. Sapphire and I have done some recording so that you have parts to learn and accompaniments to rehearse with. I'm trying to figure out which soloists will sing which parts, thinking about what to teach first, how long it will take to learn the new things, and getting wonderfully sticky melodies stuck in my head. It's never a problem when it's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, but strange when it's the Magic of Winter, or Button up your Overcoat and Santa Baby! It's always fun when we put the binders together and start singing our favourites. It's better when there are a few of us. It's weird being the only one singing Christmas music in July and August.

I've posted the songs we're singing here on my blog. I hope you enjoy singing them and I hope that people will have fun memories of the older pieces that I've pulled out to commemorate our 20th Christmas/ Winter season. Over the years, we've moved to a more inclusive Winter concert in December, but our earlier December concerts were Christmas concerts, so, this season, the majority of our music is Christmas music. There are some exciting challenges, some fun and easy pieces, and lots of our old favourites too. You can start telling your friends and families about our concert on December 6th in the afternoon at Trinity Anglican Church again. Mark the date on the calendar!




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