CE News 15 Nov 2025

If you are counting, you will know we have one more rehearsal, the dress rehearsal and then the shows! It is so close! I hope you are getting excited to present our show to friends, family and the community. During rehearsal, Andre makes comments/notes about some of the trickier spots. Make sure you document those and refer to them when rehearsing so it comes easily during rehearsal. My music is full of notes: tricky spots, when to breathe and when not to, HALL instead of HALLS, and things like that. If you are unsure, reach out to a fellow section member or your section lead to get the scoop. I am requesting that we all wear our colours this Wednesday at our Sooke rehearsal. Reminders: tenor and bass wear white shirt (button down or dressier shirt), black pants, socks, shoes. The alto and soprano will be in red dressier shirts (please stay as close to the colour red as you can, so no burgundy, wine or orange), black pants, socks, shoes. If you want to wear jewelry, keep it to gold and silver so colours don't clash. The idea is that we will look like the Canadian flag. As mentioned last Wednesday, our set will have Canadian memorabilia. We hope to put the items around the choir. If you have something to share, I would request that you send me an email and I will advise if it will work or not. I would request that those with cherished items be responsible for them. I will send out a list of what I have so far. As suggested last week, I'd like to continue to capture the names of our marvelous volunteers. Linda will once again look after our book lights, Mary M, Jacqueline and Emily will be setting up our pre-concert lawn signs, the riser team headed by John and Tony: Thibault, Sebastien, Caleb, Mary W and Jan, Sebastien is helping Andre with the lights and sound, Mary W, Maureen, Nicole, Joy and Gwen are helping with the set, Jan is overseeing the volunteers for front of house, and our front of house will be previous members: Mike, Sheila, Naseem, Christiana and Amanda. Anne and Evangelina will also be helping! And the list goes on! Everyone can also help by getting more people into the audience. If you haven't convinced 2 new people to come, get out there and start selling this show. We want to ensure we have a full house at each venue. An email will be shared soon with details about the show: when to be there, where to be, etc, so be watching for it. Thank you all for being such an amazing part of this organization. And we get to have fun singing, too! See you Wednesday in Sooke!

Crunch Time Choral Evolution! Our time is getting short. We have 2 more rehearsals before our dress rehearsal on December 2 nd and concerts December 5 and 6. It’s amazing how the time has flown by. Only a few months ago most of this music was a mystery to us, now we can't get the tunes out of our heads. You can each make an enormous difference in the quality of our performance in the coming weeks. Pay attention to your practice, really critique your knowledge of the music. Focus on passages that are fuzzier for you and clean them up. Listen and sing along with the recordings and do your best to sing out and commit to every entrance and cutoff. Please put your music in the following concert order: O Canada Sing the Winter Away Indian Summer (Echoes of Summer) All the Little Rivers Locus Iste Solstice Carol Away from the roll of the Sea Thank you Intermission Un Canadien Errant In the Early Mornin’ Rain Make and Break Harbour The Field Behind the Plow Christmas Trilogy Carol of the Bells Here are the arrangements we will work on Wednesday evening: 7:00 Warm up and Locus Iste – 7:30 Sing the Winter Away 7:50 Solstice Carol 8:10 Break 8:20 Un Canadien Errant 8:40 Early Mornin’ Rain 9:00 Christmas Trilogy – I will see you all at The Masonic Hall in Langford at 7 pm Wednesday November 19 th . André ♪ About singing “high notes” There is a physical element to singing that can’t be imagined or explained, it has to be experienced. When you sing higher pitches, the vocal chords tighten in order to vibrate faster. Your breathing system has to respond with more breath pressure in order to overcome this tightening. When singers and teachers talk about supporting the tone, this is what they are often referring to. You must blow more air with more force in order to get the high notes to speak. Conversely, your vocal chords must be strong enough to resist that higher breath pressure. Practicing and trying are the only way to learn this balancing act. Once you get the hang of this, it becomes second nature and the 2 systems, vocal chords and breath work together in harmony. But you must try to sing out regularly to develop that coordination. Imagining or singing quietly in your car will not do, you must experience and practice the skill. You must find a big room and sing those rising phrases repeatedly, even if you fail. Eventually, the systems will balance themselves and you will develop strong high notes. · Sing regularly in a large room. Sing high passages on “OO” at first, it will be easier, then move to an “AH” and then add the words without losing the feeling. · Don’t worry about cracking or sounding bad, that is part of the process. Over time, strength and coordination will build and you will gain confidence when attempting higher passages. · Sing those higher passages multiple times and return to them regularly. Sing a comfortable Mezzo Forte at first, then get softer for passages marked Piano. · Use Locus Iste as a practice piece, there is lots of variety.