Trinity Newmarket Singers

We are ready for Halloween!  My theme today was Halloween. I found a couple of playlists of Halloween music on Apple Music, and we started with the one that is designated as a sing-along playlist. Apple Music Sing is a feature that I don't have on my devices, but there are playlists that are made for it, so all the songs on the playlist have scrolling lyrics. That's good enough for us.  We started with a song that we loved singing, but we wondered what made it a Halloween selection. The others were pretty obvious. I made a connection with newer songs about love being magical and the singer feeling like he's under a spell and two much older songs, by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. There were a lot of similarities. And, we noticed that those older songs are pretty hard to sing along with. Sometimes we think that new songs are tricky. We laughed about how we "know" lots of songs and can sing the chorus, but have no idea what the words in the verses are, maybe beca...

It was a lovely afternoon in lovely company!  The first afternoon café was very nice, but we really hope to see more people there next week. It's a good time of day for singing, and one hour is a perfect amount of time. Parking is a bit more difficult during the day, and we have to remember that we cannot enter the parking lot behind the church, the manse lot, because of the small children there. Leave some time to find parking, or park down by Riverwalk Commons, lots of spots there.  Today’s theme was instrumental parts of songs that we sing along with. "Songs with Instrumentals that we Sing" is the name of my playlist. Sometimes there’s a big brass fanfare or a drum fill or an electric guitar solo that’s so good that we sing that in addition to singing the words, and sometimes it’s the best part, where suddenly everyone is singing (they might not even call it singing, but it is!). Imagine a bar band playing Sweet Caroline. The whole bar sings the "ba-ba-ba!" ...

As we head into the darker evenings of fall and winter, we've decided to move the Sing-along Café to afternoons.  This move will also allow us to participate in the Christmas Pageant rehearsals which will start soon on Thursday evenings.  Thursdays for one hour, 2:00 to 3:00pm in the Fellowship Room, taking advantage of the comfortable seating and the big TV to play the songs with lyrics to sing along with.  I hope this will make it easier for more people to join us.   

I recommend you watch this video to help you learn our Prayer for Shalom.  It has the words, and you can see when different sections sing their parts, and they have a conductor to help them. Watch him too.     

We had a good evening of singing, but it would have been nice to have shared it with a couple more people.  We had the best theme of all: Singing! We did this theme last year, but it was different, and we talked about how every evening has a different vibe depending on who shows up. But, the world was different last year too.  We loved "How can I keep from singing." It makes me feel like our faith, and the hope that rises from our experience of Love is so awesome that our singing is something spontaneous, instinctual. We were disappointed that Chris Tomlin's response to the song was very self-centred, and about a personal relationship between just God and him. His need to sing praise was too limited, too specific. But we honestly didn't listen to the whole song because it kind of turned us off. Singing and faith should unite us, should make us feel connected to other people. These are powerful lyrics:   My life flows on in endless song, above earth’s lamentation. I ca...

Trinity On Main, the United Church in Newmarket, is presenting an author book talk with two books by children of Holocaust Survivors. Sunday evening at 7:00 on November 2nd, 2025.  I'm planning to go, and will have dinner on Main St. before the event.   There is no cost to attend, but kindly reserve your seat on Eventbrite.  The books will be available for purchase.  Here's a little bit of what I found on the internet about the books: Winter Light: Vivid and lyrical, Winter Light is a deeply moving memoir dedicated to all who are  coming from places of trauma. It is about the vast unknown territory of the human heart, where love and hope can rise above everything – in spite of the ghosts that still haunt you. About the Author: Grace Feuerverger was born and raised in her beloved city of Montréal surrounded by a multitude of languages and cultures inside and outside her home. She is professor emerita of education and ethnography at the University of Toro...

My usual practice to write a review of our Thursday singing nights, Sing-along Café, is on hold.  I haven't felt secure about this 'ministry' of mine. In my mind, it's a wonderful and important thing, but it's not taking off. And, I've been wondering if my music ministry at Trinity should move in a different direction.  I suggested adding a choir practice in this time slot, for a pop/contemporary Sunday choir, which I could run with a volunteer accompanist, since it is the traditional, usual time for church choirs. Another choir was not feasible, so that's not happening (yet/ I'm still hopeful). I have been asked to work with the drama club on the music for the Christmas Pageant again, and those rehearsals have moved from Wednesdays to Thursdays. So, I'm now wondering how to manage my Thursday nights with that added in.   One possibility is to start the Sing-along Café at 6:30, at the same time as the drama club. We could invite the parents/guardians...