Director Notes - Sept 18th 2026
Hello Choral Evolutioneers!
We are making steady progress reading through our Christmas tunes. Thank you all for keeping the chatter to a minimum during rehearsals. It saves so much time and energy for all of us.
The choir's sound is only as good as the singers making it. Please start exercising your voices regularly. Find a nice big space where you won't be disturbed and sing some of the parts you are working on at full voice. Imagine you are in a big hall, really sing out and enjoy the feeling of making a free and open sound. The halls we perform in are large and require a lot of sound to fill. We need each voice to contribute to our exciting live sound.
If you would like to try out for a spot in our little group, please prepare your part in "Rivah" , 9 bars starting at letter D.
Next week, Sept 23rd we will work on the following tunes:
Underneath the Three - let's dig into this one
Child of Wonder - We will read this acapella piece and start learning it
River - Sing through and clean up
Christmas Morning - Read through
Christmas Canon - If we have time
See you Wednesday in Langford,
André
Breathing is the rhythm of music – singing is tone on breath – practice the complete breath – be conscious of each breath
– then put breath on pitch – let the breath make the tone - release vocal tension, stiffness - trust the breath
Start your practice every day:
✓ Complete breath – Low – Med – High, then all together.
✓ This will Coordinate – innervate – strengthen your breathing
✓ Keep chest high – sigh to start tone – start relaxing right away
✓ Sing 5 notes down on oo, then oo – ah. Like a sigh
✓ Now you are ready to start singing
✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. If you have trouble accessing them, please ask.
Reminders:
✓ We have Excellent New music, mark lightly with pencils only.
✓ Please bring a pencil to rehearsal
✓ Mark your parts – score is a road map to beautiful music
✓ In long passages, decide where you will breathe, mark it down and practice it.
✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. You will get an email explaining how to do
this.
News
Hey, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving! I hope you have the opportunity for Food, Family, Friends and Fun this weekend. I have a houseful coming tomorrow so it's turkey time! We are making great progress on our music, so thank you to everyone who is working so hard to accomplish this. Thank to Andre and Gabe for keeping us on track and teaching us the way of the music so it turns out just right. They are the stars of the photo you see above. Our very own Fraser has mad computer skills and has created all parts of "Child of Wonder". Andre posted a choir singing so use the two to learn. Thank you to both! Click the link below to access the parts one: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xjTRRlS1Vxq8G-tLWiTq64NcC4cojD1K?usp=sharing Andre's Blog spoke of ticket sales: yes please! Get out there and spread interest. You know the dates of the shows from the calendar (Dec 4, 5) so get people to save the date in their calendars. Let's make us the event of the season that everyone wants to attend. Start talking us up to friends, acquaintances, co-workers, people in line at the grocery store, etc. Sally has worked on an awesome poster and we should get some printed soon so you can post in your car: it is a passive way to share our event. Thank you to everyone who signed up for a task on the "job board". I'll take some time to review it and then share the jobs we still need done. Because we are fewer this session, it might mean that there will have to be more than one job. But I know you are up to it! We are in Langford for the next two rehearsals as well as the SUNDAY "retreat" rehearsal on 18 October from 1-5. Afterwards, those that can make it (and significant others are welcome) will head to Lawrence and Hilary's home for some food and fun times. If you have a portable musical instrument, bring it with you. Please make every effort to be at the long rehearsal as we accomplish so much it is not to be missed! Have a great weekend and we'll see each other on Wednesday in Langford.
First up, thank you to everyone who was able to sing the anthem at todays hockey game. It was a blast...and we learned it was Marty the Marmot's birthday too, so we got to sing Happy Birthday to him as well. I didn't stay for the game, so those that did will have to advise if they put that up on the big screen as well. There are some pictures floating about (thanks Vanessa!) which I'll try to get to the website. We have rehearsal in Sooke again this week, same place, same time. Andre will post the songs we need to work on so remember to check his blog. Some songs are coming along great, so be encouraged that we will sound great for the shows. Keep up all your hard work. As spoken of before, we are a volunteer organization, so there are jobs to be had by everyone. Some have already taken some on, and thank you, but there are many more. At rehearsal will be sign up boards for volunteer jobs: the idea is that if you sign up early, you probably will get something in your wheelhouse; if not, you get what is left over. The volunteer lists will be ready for Wednesday, so please take a look for them at the break. It looks like the get together event will happen after the long rehearsal as Lawrence and Hilary will share their home for the event. More details will come soon as the long rehearsal is on 18 October (which is in 2 weeks). Please join us for some fun, great food, singing and getting to know one another better. See you on Wednesday in Sooke!
Director Notes
Hello Choral Evolutionaries! Oktober is the month where our singing takes the shape we need for performance. Now that we've spent time with the practice tracks and been through the arrangements together, we will begin to drill down and clear up any problem spots. Expect me to start at the end of the piece and work forward. That will help to break dependance on the practice tracks. We need to come as close as possible to memorizing this music if we are to truly give and enjoy our performances. Please start thinking about ticket sales. I was out with friends last night and told them all about our Christmas Spectacular. I did a bit of a sales pitch saying they should come to our show as a group, go out before the show, see us in action. I'll follow up as the show gets closer and hopefully make some actual sales. We each need to take every opportunity to grow our audience. If they don't come to the shows, they'll never know how rewarding the shows are. Stay tuned for updates on when and how to sell tickets from the Board. I need hand clappers for "Like It's Christmas" See if you can memorize the part so your hands are free for clapping. We'll do some simple hand clapping choreography (clapography?) to add visual interest. Oh, and there are finger snaps too! Next week, Oktober 14th we will work on the following tunes: White Christmas- Finish work through River - clean and polish Child of Wonder - CTRL + click to hear a performance of this piece Carol of the Bells - this must be memorized for performance Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Tunes we have worked through: All I Want For Christmas Is You Happy New Year Christmas Morning Festive Christmas Trilogy Christmas Canon Like It's Christmas Underneath the Three See you Wednesday in Langford, André Breathing is the rhythm of music – singing is tone on breath – practice the complete breath – be conscious of each breath – then put breath on pitch – let the breath make the tone - release vocal tension, stiffness - trust the breath Start your practice every day: ✓ Complete breath – Low – Med – High, then all together. ✓ This will Coordinate – innervate – strengthen your breathing ✓ Keep chest high – sigh to start tone – start relaxing right away ✓ Sing 5 notes down on oo, then oo – ah. Like a sigh ✓ Now you are ready to start singing ✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. If you have trouble accessing them, please ask. The choir's sound is only as good as the singers making it. Start exercising your voices regularly. Find a nice big space where you won't be disturbed and sing some of the parts you are working on at full voice. Imagine you are in a big hall, really sing out and enjoy the feeling of making a free and open sound. The halls we perform in are large and require a lot of sound to fill. We need each voice to contribute to our exciting live sound Reminders: ✓ We have Excellent New music, mark lightly with pencils only. ✓ Please bring a pencil to rehearsal ✓ Mark your parts – score is a road map to beautiful music ✓ In long passages, decide where you will breathe, mark it down and practice it. ✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. You will get an email explaining how to do this.
Hello Choral Evolutioneers! We are right on schedule working through our Christmas repertoire. We ran the pieces we've learned so far, and things are in good shape to begin shaping and polishing. Don't stop singing and improving your knowledge of those songs we've worked on. Keep them fresh by visiting the regularly. Sue thought that tracks for Child of Wonder, our acapella piece, could be up today. Please check for the recordings and get to know the piece before next rehearsal. Think of it as this season's "Locus Iste", and we'll use it to develop our choral sound. White Christmas is also on the docket for next week. It will challenge us with lots of lush choral sounds to enjoy. Choir is much more uplifting when we listen and participate fully. The more of the concert you memorize, the more involved you can be in the performance.. Read a line, then look up and sing it. Do this enough times and your memory will take over and you'll be able to get your eyes off the music and on to the conductor. Thank you again for your concentration and keeping the chatter to a minimum during rehearsals. It saves so much time and energy for all of us. Next week, Oktober 7th we will work on the following tunes: White Christmas- Work through Child of Wonder - CTRL + click to hear a performance of this piece Carol of the Bells All I want for Christmas is You Tunes we have worked through: River Happy New Year Christmas Morning Festive Christmas Trilogy Christmas Canon Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Like It's Christmas Underneath the Three See you Wednesday in Sooke, André Breathing is the rhythm of music – singing is tone on breath – practice the complete breath – be conscious of each breath – then put breath on pitch – let the breath make the tone - release vocal tension, stiffness - trust the breath Start your practice every day: ✓ Complete breath – Low – Med – High, then all together. ✓ This will Coordinate – innervate – strengthen your breathing ✓ Keep chest high – sigh to start tone – start relaxing right away ✓ Sing 5 notes down on oo, then oo – ah. Like a sigh ✓ Now you are ready to start singing ✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. If you have trouble accessing them, please ask. The choir's sound is only as good as the singers making it. Start exercising your voices regularly. Find a nice big space where you won't be disturbed and sing some of the parts you are working on at full voice. Imagine you are in a big hall, really sing out and enjoy the feeling of making a free and open sound. The halls we perform in are large and require a lot of sound to fill. We need each voice to contribute to our exciting live sound Reminders: ✓ We have Excellent New music, mark lightly with pencils only. ✓ Please bring a pencil to rehearsal ✓ Mark your parts – score is a road map to beautiful music ✓ In long passages, decide where you will breathe, mark it down and practice it. ✓ Practice – know your parts – use the practice tracks. You will get an email explaining how to do this.