Week 3 Newsletter
September 26th, 2024
A Message from Tyler…
A member shared with me on their way out of rehearsal Tuesday that, despite some physical discomfort, she felt a renewed sense of the healing power of singing! The fantastic thing about community singing is that we can simultaneously draw energy from each other, inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging each other along the way. It’s my favourite thing about making music, singing, and life. We’re a team, as I always say!
Thank you for all your hard work and focus on Tuesday. We're making significant progress with our new ‘Queen Tribute’ and other songs we’ve looked at!
Notes From Last Week
Since we’ve completed our third week of rehearsal (time flies, right?!), I’d like to touch on a few general notes highlighting the good things happening in rehearsal and some areas where we can improve to help us all enjoy our singing experience, even more, every week.
Overall, the focus during individual section work (soprano, alto, bass) has been good! There are still many moments when we need to pause because of chatter in another section, which is not singing. It’s vital that when one section is singing through their part, the other sections remain silent, listen, and follow along with their part to see how it fits in with what you’re hearing another section sing. Talking during this process disrupts those around you, the director, and the group’s atmosphere. Limiting the chatter will give us all more time to sing and live in the music!
Thank you to everyone who has diligently printed out your sheet music! I understand there is some printing for our new members upfront. This is because, in the fall, we need a few core songs to get the ball rolling and keep us moving forward, and some of those songs are drawn from previous seasons. As the year progresses, this will balance out, as we generally start a new song every couple of weeks. However, this may vary, as some songs might take a bit longer to learn, but this is accounted for in the rehearsal schedule and planning.
Week Three Announcements
OOTB Workshop – Saturday, October 26th
As noted in the season schedule sent at the end of the summer, our OOTB Workshop will be held on Saturday, October 26th. We hope you’ve marked this date in your calendar! It will be held at Grace Presbyterian Church from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (the same venue as our past two concerts and the fall concert this season). The cost will be $20 per member and includes a pizza lunch.
An Eventbrite page with more details on the day and payment options will be sent with the Week 4 Newsletter. We’ll look at what we’ve started the season singing and cover some ideas about foundational technique and sound production. While not mandatory, having as many choir members there to learn and build community will be fantastic.
We’ll tackle songs, dig deep into the music, and explore more singing together!
Next Rehearsal - October 1st
Learn ‘The Rain Song’!
This is a piece I learned from a fantastic choral director in Calgary, Liz Paynter—some of you may have heard of her. Liz has a gift for getting her choirs moving and grooving while they sing, and this song is the perfect opportunity for OOTB to do just that!
We'll learn it by ear since it's a simple piece, but we’ve included the sheet music HERE in the Members Area for those who want to see how all the parts fit together. There’s no need to print it out for next week. This song will be a fun way to free up our physiology, add percussion and some movement to our rehearsals, and have fun!
Check out the video links in the Members Area to see a few ways this song can be interpreted and performed. Come week with an open mind and a spirit of exploration! 😊
Finish learning ‘Queen Tribute’
We’ve done fantastic with this medley, and there is still some learning on this piece. I started the season with the most challenging song we’ll learn (as it’s essentially four different songs), as I know we can do it!
As always, we’ll sing through our other carry-over songs and songs we’ve done in the first three weeks.
The following week…
We’ll return to 2017 and start learning one of my favourite songs, ‘What About Us?’ by Pink!