Wonderful Day Whatever - Quarantine Challenge 2020

Okay now put on your favourite song and boogie.  This daughter and dad with a cameo from the mum is such fun.  I love dad's entrance.  They are rockin' it.  Even if you are just shadow dancing, do it!!!  Your kitchen can be your stage too.  What a great smile maker.  

Musical Monday - 22 Musicals In 12 Minutes w/ Lin Manuel Miranda & Emily Blunt

Make sure you have the 12 minutes to sit and watch this fun mash of popular musicals.  It ends with Mamma Mia.  The costume changes are quite brilliant and even though they use some lighting for scenes, the use of props is really well done.  These 3 are consummate actors and singers.  They are having such fun you will too.  You can see the chemistry and respect they have for each other and at the end, they celebrate making it through!!  Take time, breathe and enjoy!!

Terrific Tuesday - CLARK W. - Up Here, in Canada

Have you been missing us?  Well, good.  We will remind you of just who we are Up Here in Canada.  

During this time of protecting others from this nasty virus, we know we cannot sing in groups.  We can't hug all those people out there.  So consider this a great big Canadian hug from your musical buddies at Embro Thistle Singers. 

Happy Canada Day - O Canada - Walk off the Earth (2020)

Happy Canada Day this July 1! This is such fun. Cue the fireworks. 

Terrific Tuesday - Longest Time - Quarantine Edition

This song is so right on.  Love the words.  Of course, their diction even singing individually is so clear you can enjoy this fun version.  But just in case, the words are on the bottom of the screen.  Note this is a Capella but the rhythm is supplied by the disinfectant wipes top being clicked.  Love it!  When in quarantine, have fun. 

Terrific Tuesday = An Irish Blessing- over 300 churches from Ireland

Over 300 churches and other faith groups from across all counties of Ireland have contributed to this compilation of Be Thou My Vision and other blessings.  Not only is the music wonderful but the panoramic views are stunning  You can see why Ireland is a very special place with wonderful people. 

Terrific Tuesday - Footloose - Perpetuum Jazzile (Kenny Loggins)

Great memories of performing. Okay, your turn. Up and snapping and booting it around the kitchen. Remember they have nothing to accompany them but a drum and their own sounds. How cool. DANCE!!!

Terrific Tuesday - Workin' From Home (Funny Song Parody of Bon Jovi)

Okay.  I have it figured out.  We choirs can do lip sync on Zoom to some of our favourite songs.  Costumes will be optional as are clothes these days.  So as you watch this great Bon Jovi cover (err sort of) figure out just which songs we could lip sync for our own YouTube channel.  One, two, three -- GO!!

Terrific Tuesday - Don't Start Now - Walk off the Earth & Friends (Dua Lipa Cover)

Here are our friends from Walk Off the Earth doing their Zoom version of Don't Start Now.  I don't know about you, but I needed something a bit upbeat today.  This did the trick.  They truly enjoy making music.  Joy, joy, joy!!

Terrific Tuesday - The Lord Bless You and Keep You (John Rutter) - Virtual Choir by Batavia...

During this rather delicately sung John Rutter song, the pictures of people in their protective garb are particularly poignant.  I have a friend who had surgery the other day and recounted that when the staff entered she wondered if she was being abducted by aliens.  It certainly is a very different time.  One thing remains constant.  The music will bring us through.  Alone together with music as the glue.  

Terrific Tuesday - True Colors - Camden Voices (self-isolation/virtual choir cover)

Before we had to stop practising, we were working on this song. I look forward to getting back to it when it is safe to be in groups again. Until then, enjoy this lovely quarantine style rendition.  Kudos to the technicians who turn odd internet speeds into this unified whole.   

Terrific Tuesday - YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND performed by the worldwide cast (in quarantine).

You've Got a Friend done by many singers and musicians to support those artists who aren't able to perform right now.

The timing for this one is so fun. I love it. Check out the syncopation. It really brightens the sound. The little voices are so sweet.  

Thank you for being a friend of ETS who can't sing together these days either.   

Terrific Tuesday - Appalachian Spring - Musicians of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

I am in awe of the technology brilliance that allows this to happen.  All of these wonderful musicians from the Toronto Symphony are in their homes and play their parts which are separately recorded and then put together.  

So, did the violins play their part and everyone match to that one?  What was the basis for the underlying beat that kept it all together. 

There are a number of really big changes in tempo here.  So how in the heck did it happen to all come together?  

Magic!! 

 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free.

Terrific Tuesday - Carole King - Celine Dion - Shania Twain - Gloria Estefan - You've got a...

One of the hardest things to do as a soloist, is to sing in as a member of a group.   Here we have 4 outstanding musicians who are able to sing together blending their unique voices beautifully.  There are voices that just cannot go together because their beats or vibrations are not complementary.  They just don't fit together.  It takes tremendous control to keep that voice blending with those around you.  As I often say, singing is much more about your ears than your mouth.  If you have people in your choir who have trouble singing where they are, move them about until they find a spot that is more compatible.  It is always worth the effort.  In the meantime, enjoy this musical treat. 

Wonderful Wednesday - Don't Stop Me Now - Perpetuum Jazzile

We usually meet on a Tuesday BUT somehow the powers of the internet decided to "update" something or other and all heck happened.  It has taken ages to get things back on track including my brain.  So here we are.  

We are all on overload with the important health measures keeping us physically apart and missing all our musical buddies.  

Here is a wonderfully upbeat version of "Don't Stop Me Now" with many cut-away shots of things like fuzzy slippers to keep you smiling. 

Now just on the technical side, wouldn't we amateur choirs love to have all those microphones and the mixing board to create these marvellously blended sounds.  Oh we can all dream can't we? 

Terrific Tuesday - Walk off the Earth Beatles Medley

There are so many wonderful Beatles songs.  When we were doing the Homecoming Service for West Oxford Church we based i all on Beatles music.  Boy was that a job!! There are so many meaningful songs to choose from.  Here the amazingly talented Walk Off the Earth puts so many of the songs together.  The melding of these melodies is quite beautifully done.  It is so smooth as to seem seamless.  Wow!  I keep listening to it and am so impressed every time.  

Terrific Tuesday - The Broadway Coronavirus Medley

You have to listen to this all the way through.  The TP song to Cats is so funny.  So creative while giving great information.  Thanks again Elaine for this great find. 

Terrific Tuesday = Alabama - Angels Among Us

In these days of staying away from each other to keep everyone safe, there are some true angels out there. Medical students are volunteering to take care of front line workers' children or do shopping or housework. Neighbours are checking in and helping out where needed.
Our choir is now suspended to keep everyone safe. Our churches are closed too. So let's remember to do those little things that make a big difference. ETS does this song so well. It always takes me to our times together. I miss you all already. 

Enjoy these amazing harmonies.

Terrific Tuesday = The lion sleeps tonight - George David Weiss

These young men do a really great job of not only these unique sound effects but singing this fun song.  So how many directors would attempt this version?

Saturday Sounds - Your Brain and Singing

Your Brain and Singing: Why Singing in a Choir Makes You Happier

By Jaime Babbitt

Any of us who have sung in choirs know all too well the joy it brings not just the audiences, but also the choir members themselves. And why wouldn’t it? When we raise our voices with lots of other gorgeous voices in a big, beautiful space, it feels like we’re altering molecules. The power, the mojo that this (relatively) small time commitment offers…how is it possible? Well, according to various scientific reports, we are altering molecules…inside our brains, with different changes occurring whether listening to music, singing, or singing with others.

In Stacy Horn’s wonderful book, Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness While Singing with Others, we get a first-hand account of how music uplifts and empowers, with various scientific evidence cited. Horn has been singing with The Choral Society of Grace Church (in New York City’s Greenwich Village) since 1982; she evocatively describes her own experience while explaining how science is finally catching up with what vocalists have known since the dawn of time: singing heals.

Choirs are known for singing about somber topics, including death. Requiem masses by Mozart, Haydn, Verdi and Berlioz are extremely popular selections for choirs worldwide. Yet, even though the content isn’t necessarily joyful or soothing, endorphins — hormones produced by the central nervous system — release and interact with opiate receptors in the brain, diminishing pain and triggering an almost analgesic feeling in the body. Our brains get an endorphin “rush”, which apparently feels a lot like taking morphine. Singing (both listening to it and doing it) can also release dopamine, a chemical that works to help regulate the brain’s pleasure and reward centers. Music has also been found to release serotonin, a neurotransmitter found mostly in the digestive tract that helps regulate our moods, social behaviors and appetite; other studies have shown that cortisol levels can be lower when listening to music and singing. In addition, Dr. David Huron, a music professor at OSU, postulates that singing may increase prolactin production; prolactin is found both in tears and in nursing mammals, and it helps regulate the immune system.

Other forms of happiness await us via singing as we age. Neuroscientists have shown that musical memories engage broader neural pathways than other types of memories – that’s why hearing an old song can flood one with very specific emotions and visual cues. When dementia and Alzheimer’s patients are encouraged to sing along songs from their youth, they sometimes respond with wide-eyed wonder and exhilaration, and sing out in a way that surprises not only those around them, but themselves as well; it’s a beautiful phenomenon to witness. Additionally, doctors are now finding that singers have more circuit connections between the right and left sides of their brains than non-singers. Memorizing words (left brain function) and music (right brain function) could keep those nerve cells and synapses in excellent working order.

Dr. Gene D. Cohen of George Washington University kept track of a senior singers’ chorale in Arlington, Virginia. The singers’ average age was 80 (65 the youngest, 96 the eldest). Findings showed that the singers suffered depression less frequently, made fewer doctor’s visits each year, needed less medication, and increased their other activities. I can attest that some of my greatest memories are of forming and leading a choir at an assisted living facility and seeing with my own eyes how the songs from my elders’ era affected them; they laughed, cried and told stories about first hearing that song performed.

But, as Horn will agree, the most remarkable phenomenon that a choir vocalist experiences are the many “take your breath away” moments that come as a result of being one of many voices coming together in harmony. I’m sure many of you reading this have had your own version of these types of experiences: goosebumps on your arms, hair standing up on the back of your neck, bursting into tears (that would be me), and more. A 2004 study by Dr. Gunter Kreutz showed that singing in a choir–as opposed to simply listening to choral music–increases SIgA production (antibodies in saliva that help immune function) and other positive physical responses.

The even better news is that while we always strive to be the best choristers we can be, our voices don’t have to be “professional strength” to derive these myriad health benefits. Horn cites a 2005 study that showed that singing even at an amateur level was beneficial to people’s emotional, physical, and cognitive well-being. Before moving back to New York, I joined Nashville in Harmony, a talented and love-filled group of largely non-professional singers in Nashville, Tennessee. Being one of 150 voices banding together for the common good has brought me exhilaration I’d not felt in all my years of singing…and that’s a lot of years. Back when we recorded to tape.

Here we are at a 2016 rehearsal. The exhilaration is palpable: https://bit.ly/2HdNbfS

So please, sing. Sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out strong. (See what I did there? C’mon, who remembers Sesame Street? The Carpenters? Sigh.)

Find the original post at 

https://www.choraldirectormag.com/articles/vocal-pro/your-brain-and-singing-why-singing-in-a-choir-makes-you-happier/?fbclid=IwAR1AXNddSsjbhJv4227S3CAW9aO033XUlUnZF7xONlc97weJ2OY81xBrT98

Terrific Tuesday - ukulele orchestra of great britain fly me off the händel .

This is quite wonderful.  Thanks to Elaine for sending this along.  It all starts with a Handel piece of music and then each player adds his or her piece.  The resulting harmonies are delicious.  What great abilities to hear those pieces in that original Handel.  The musicians are not only stars with their ukuleles but doing a fabulous job of keeping their part of the partner songs going.  Could you do this?

Wonderful Wednesday - Ben Speer - A New Name in Glory [Live]

The joy on the faces of the singers is a treat.  We love singing this song too.  How about you?

Wonderful Wednesday - Broadway Riff-Off w/ Neil Patrick Harris

This is a whole new version of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better".  With all the fun of this performance, you can see the mutual respect for the talent each shows.  I can imagine how much fun they had rehearsing this.  Now, you enjoy!!!

Terrific Tuesday - Straight No Chaser - Ruined Disney songs

Talk about misheard lyrics!  These lyrics have been changed just for fun.  You really need to listen carefully.  Even with the funny words, the harmony is very lucious. 

Terrific Tuesday The Typewriter (a concerto for orchestra and solo typewriter)

In grade 3 I was in the rhythm band at Prince Charles School in Windsor.  I had the extraordinary privilege of playing the bird whistle.  It had water in it and when you blew in the bird's tail it tweeted like a bird.  It was a bit of a damp job. 

Now the star of this piece plays a very different instrument too.  

I wonder what great sounds he could get from a bird whistle. 

However, when our kids were young we went to see the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Orchestra.  They were amazing.  They played the Typewriter for Orchestra by the American composer, Leroy Anderson.  

The talented fellow at the typewriter was as entertaining as this guy.  

Magnificent Monday - An Ode to ETS Singers - Star (Smash Mouth cover)

As we approach our 10th anniversary as the Embro Thistle Singers, this song is so appropriate. We have wonderfully dedicated singers and our amazing Kristy. This is a group who is willing to learn and explore music that is challenging. They are truly ALL STARS!!