Trinity Newmarket Singers

 Trinity is hosting this special concert for the Christmas season, featuring our beloved soloist, Amelia, whose beautiful voice and warm and delightful presence we want to share with the community. I've bought my tickets, and even though I never make plans for the evening before one of my concerts, I'm planning to go to this concert because I'm sure I'll be uplifted, and I want to support this beautiful young singer, especially since people often ask if she's my daughter ;-) 

 Kevin's daughter, Angel, is a star.  There's a very nice article in Newmarket Today about her recent piano competition success. Congratulations, Angel! Congratulations, Kevin and Joanna!  Trinity is so proud of all of you, and blessed to have you in our church family.        Read the article here. 

 I love our bazaar! I look forward to it every year. At the same time, the Newmarket Farmers Market Christmas Market is happening at the community centre around the corner, so it's a really great time to find some unique gifts and special treats for myself too.     

 Everyone can sing. Babies sing before they speak. You can sing. Ever go to a sports match and hear taunting songs and celebrating songs belted out by young and old? We sang “Happy Birthday” to Soraya as our first song. Does that song have to be accurate, perfectly in key, enunciated with perfectly formed vowels? No! It’s fun and heartfelt, and a spontaneous expression of community support and affection with a melody that everyone knows. It bothers me when snobby musicians joke about how poorly we sing it, as if we’re even remotely interested in performing it at the opera, or for any other purpose than the one we use it for. I’m also a little sad when people don’t participate, and say that they can’t sing (gah! I understand where that maybe came from but disagree and it make me sad, mad, frustrated) Paul McCartney has given us so many wonderful melodies to share, stuff that anyone can sing. Hey Jude is my favourite example. Those na-nas! They go on forever and everyone can have fun...

Last week's theme of Keeping Love Alive was fun and I was thinking of doing that again, but I heard the song I Got You by Devon Cole on the radio and was inspired to add it to my Songs for Comfort and Support (that's a link) playlist, and to share that this week. The playlist ended up being about friendship and people you can count on when you're down, loyal friends, and God. I guess the two lists could be combined. They're about love, devoted and steadfast connection, from both sides: how do I give love and how do I know I am loved?  I felt supported by my sing-along friends. It was so nice having someone else's baking for our nibbles! Thank you, Leslie :-) I had forgotten that Leslie told me she'd bring her pumpkin muffins. I was a bit frazzled yesterday (well, all week, actually) and quickly thawed some apple muffins to bring, and arrived later than I planned, and then didn't make tea. But, everyone was gracious and we had a wonderful afternoon, singing ...

Another wonderful afternoon! I was inspired by some planning I was doing for my choir (the York Region Community Choir). I was looking at wartime songs to use for sing-alongs at a performance next week, when I realized that I could add them to a playlist I had. The playlist is "Songs for Keeping Love Alive". We hadn't used it before, so it was new to everyone.  We started with a couple of songs from the WWll era, songs about love and faithfulness surviving a separation. Then, we had a few songs about how a man can show his love for a woman, and how couples can stay together, what keeps a couple going forever (having fun, we agreed). Looking at the lyrics of love songs is always fun. Sometimes, it can be a little embarrassing, funny, and mostly relateable. Something I had intened to sing but forgot was Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree by Tony Orlando & Dawn. Next time! There are lots of songs on this playlist that we can do another time.  We talked a lit...