Time and Change

The Youth Praise Team is also on hold now. Meghan has moved on to a job closer to her home and family, so we have to wait and see if someone new will come to us to bring back youthful music. You never know.

The Youth Group continues to meet on many Thursday evenings, so that's something. Call the office if you want more info.

I have joined the Adult Praise Team! It's perfect for me now. We sing once a month and only rehearse on the Sunday morning of our performance. I wish I had more time, but that's all I can handle for now. 

No Teen Choir, but Youth Drop-in and Praise Team are fun, too!

Teens can participate in the Praise Team:

High School and up singers and musicians can contact Meghan to find out about how to join the Praise Team and sing and perform Contemporary Christian Music on select Sundays.

Pre-teens and Teens can hang out on Thursday nights at Youth Drop-in.

For dates for 2015, see this church bulletin.

Contact the church by phone or email to get more info.

Youth Praise Team

While you're waiting for TTC to start again, why not join the new youth Praise Team!
Contact Meghan at church or email me and we'll let you know when they're meeting next. They're looking for musicians and vocalists.

TTC Starting Soon, Sign Up (We're waiting for you)

TTC will start up when we have a few people signed up. 

Sign up by contacting Dianne at the Church or emailing me (renatesdesk@rogers.com), or you can talk to Meghan at church or email meg@trinityuc.ca. Get some friends to join too. Everyone is welcome!

We'll contact you when TTC starts again! Hopefully, that will be soon :-)

Sundae Sunday: Welcome Back!

This Sunday, September 7th, is Sundae Sunday! After the service, we'll all make our own ice cream sundae creations with as much ice cream and as many toppings as we want!

Any donations collected will go to support our World Vision children.

Sundae Sunday is a way to celebrate the beginning of our season of programming for children and youth: Sunday School, TKC and the Youth Room, Junior Choir, Teen Choir, Youth Group, and the new Praise Team. We'll be talking about all the plans we have for these fun activities and more. There's going to be a new family program called Imagine, which is based on the idea of Messy Church! There's always a meal to share and crafts and activities that all members of the family can do, from the youngest to the oldest.  The first Imagine will take place on Friday, September 12th, from 6-8. 

Tuesday, September 9th is our first TTC, Trinity Teen Choir meeting. We'll be doing some singing (I think we have to sing "Shake it Off", my favourite song of the moment.) and some planning. We'll talk about what songs we want to sing this season. Heather and I will have some ideas, and we'll see what you want too. Remember to come to choir with songs you like to sing with! (Note added on Wednesday September 10th: TTC will start again after we have a few people signed up. Please sign up and we'll contact you when we start up again.)

New Praise Team

Starting in September, TTC will meet every other Tuesday to give us the opportunity to be in Meghan's new Youth and Young Adult Praise Team! The Praise Team will have a band format, with a big instrumental focus in addition to vocals. Both groups will meet on alternating Tuesdays, so you can simply come every Tuesday to sing and play fun, contemporary music all the time!

Come to Sundae Sunday for more details!

Have a Great Summer!

Well, it's almost the end of the school year and the end of our choir season. 

I wish you luck with your last assignments and exams at school!

And, I wish you all a...

Good luck with the new beginnings in September, too! 

Victoria's going to start High School at Newmarket High in September and Soraya will be living in Toronto and going to UofT. So, this was Soraya's last year with TTC. We're sad to say goodbye, but excited for you too, Soraya!

I'm looking forward to meeting new Teen Choir members in September! If you want to register, you can email me or Dianne at the office. The contact info is in the right panel of this blog. 

Sunday, June 8th- This Sunday!

We're singing this Sunday!

We'll be singing with the Jr. and Sr. Choirs: Give Thanks to the Lord.
We'll be singing our 2 songs at offering time. 10,000 Reasons and then Home.
We'll be singing Let it Go with the Jr. Choir during the BBQ!

Wear our usual blue jeans and black tops. It can be jean shorts or a jean skirt, and any black top, even a T-shirt. Everyone will be casual because it's the BBQ and there will be games and face-painting and stuff.

We're meeting at 9:30!
Jr. Choir is meeting at 10:00, so I have to be done by then.

It will be great to meet Meghan finally!

This will be our last time singing together this season.

TTC Singing on June 8th, Celebration Sunday BBQ

June 8th is the Sunday School BBQ Sunday, called Church School Celebration Sunday, or something like that.

It's the big day for Children and Youth and all their leaders and so Meghan, our new Youth Minister is going to be there!

We can welcome her properly with Teen Choir music!

We're going to sing 10,000 Reasons (singing about singing) and Home (to welcome her to her new church home).  Let's try to meet every Tuesday until then, and then we'll take a break until September! But, remember, you'll have the new youth room to get together every Sunday.

Not meeting for 2 weeks

We're taking a short break after our excellent performances on Easter Sunday.
Next TTC meeting will be Tuesday, May 6th.
See you then!

New Youth Minister Coming in July!

Great news!

The congregation voted this afternoon, unanimously, to appoint our new Youth Minister, Meghan Witzel.

Everyone is so happy that we're going to finally have someone to take Heather's place. (We really, really miss Heather! I really, really miss Heather.) We were told that Meghan is a wonderful, fun, young woman who sings and plays guitar! Victoria met her at a weekend retreat and agrees that she is amazing. There was a lot of excitement at the meeting. Hooray!

I'm thinking that the Teen Choir might want to do something to welcome Meghan in July. I know it's a hard time to get together, but maybe a few Tuesdays at the end of June would be possible. What do you think?
Last year we only met until the middle of May because of exams and end-of-year assignments. We could take a big break and then get back together. Let's talk about it on Tuesday. (Update: We can do it on June 8th! Let's try to meet as much as possible until then, just let me know if you can't make it because of school pressures.)

Found this groovy gif online:

2 weeks to Easter! Rehearsal for the next 2 Tuesdays is vital.

We have 2 Tuesdays to get our Happy and Big Yellow Taxi sounding great.

We've got to add claps to Happy and make it move.

If we could memorize our songs, that would be great.

Let's work on words and hands tomorrow.

April Fools Day Rehearsal Cancelled (not a joke, sorry)

April 1st, 2014:  last minute cancellation. Sorry!
Heather is out of town, and now more than half of the choir came home from school with too much studying and homework to do.
We will definitely meet next Tuesday!

Fun and Productive: A Great Night at TTC

Not only did we progress in all of our songs, but we also did some good planning and had time to sing for fun!

I loved the CCM song Emma suggested yesterday! Look it up! It's very catchy-dancey. Follow this link: Wake by Hillsong Young and Free

Last week we enjoyed singing along to Kina Grannis's The Fire! I'm loving Kina! Thanks, Emma for introducing me to this amazing singer!

Here's another recommendation from TTC: Coldplay's Atlas from Catching Fire.

We love all kinds of music and enjoy singing just about anything. It would be nice if there were a few more people to sing with.

If you know of a teen in Newmarket or Aurora, or anywhere near Main Street in Newmarket who'd like to sing with us, contact me through this blog, or email me, or email or call Dianne at the church, or just come on a Tuesday night at 6:30.

Happy March Break! Irish Music on Tuesday, March 18?

TTC had a break this week for March Break, but we'll be back at it next Tuesday, the day after St. Patrick's Day.

Any Irish songs you want to sing?

Irish bands include U2, the Pogues, and the Cranberries. There's Enya, Sinead O'Connor and Van Morrion, and Niall Horan (of One Direction) too.

And there's this:

Teen Choir Pancake Tuesday Dinner

Teen Choir Event!

Pancakes at church tonight!

We're meeting at 6:00, and we'll start singing whenever we finish eating.

Adults $7
Children $4
(are teens children or adults?)

We were Happy to sing in the sanctuary!

We sang this, and will make it our own for Easter! Clap along!

We're working on Big Yellow Taxi and it's already sounding like something TTC.

We enjoyed singing Say Something, with and without Christina Aguilera. It's so sad!

We listened to a few fun pop dance tunes of the Contemporary Christian stuff. Good fun.

And, we sang along to Safe and Sound. The lyric video is so cool!

Big Yellow Taxi

Frozen Sing-Along was Excellent! Back to Normal next Tuesday, February 11

Wow! What a fun night we had last night!

I'm so glad the snowstorm held off and we went down to Vaughan and came back very easily. It's hard not to love the snow today after that beautiful movie!

I think we sang the loudest and the best of all the people in the theatre (not that there were many people there)! We rocked. I loved it!

We got back a little after 9:00, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I was wired when I got home and couldn't go to sleep right away. I'm really glad it's a snow day today!!!

Next Tuesday, we're back to normal. We will be trying out our new internet connection! Can't wait to see if we can get YouTube videos to sing along with!

Heather has been learning a new song for us: Big Yellow Taxi. It's a cool old environmentalist song. We can think about singing it for Earth Day (April 22), which coincides with Easter this year (April 20). If you have any ideas for other good songs about Nature, or taking care of the environment, or Easter, rebirth, hope, transformation let me know.

Sing-Along Frozen!!! We've got to go.

We're planning to go to the Sing-Along Frozen at Colossus Vaughan this Tuesday!

It's a TTC field trip!

Since we're only 7 people, we can all fit in Renate's van and carpool down together.

CARPOOLING

So, get ready to sing some beautiful Disney songs as you watch the beautiful Disney magic on screen.
I have sung in movie theatres in groups before and it's so much fun!

Here's the plan:
5:30 Meet at church 
9:00 Pick-up at church
Choir fund pays tickets, choristers responsible for snacks.

Take a break tonight to study- Tues. Jan. 28, 2014

No Teen Choir tonight!
See you next week- maybe at the movies...

You Raise Me Up- York Region Community Choir

This is the same arrangement that we are using, so you can follow along.

Sunday, January 26th -Performing in Church for Rev. Heather

Sunday, January 26th is Rev. Heather's last Sunday.

We're going to sing for her, to commemorate all the wonderful things that Heather has done with us over the years as the Youth Minister at Trinity. Some things that stick out in my memory are the sleepovers at church, overnight trips to Muskoka and Ottawa, March Break and Summer Camps, Santa Claus Parades and Gingerbread House decorating. Rev. Heather was very supportive in the creation of the Teen Choir and to me personally.

We're going to sing
1. Undignified (because even when we're running around the church in PJ's in the middle of the night, and eating weird things with our pancakes, we still feel that Heather understands and loves us)
2. Thankful (obvious, but I think it's "up to us" to point out obvious things to our elders too.)
3. You Raise Me Up (obvious too, plus Rev. Heather brings God to all the members of the congregation, sitting awhile with them when " troubles come and my heart burdened be", and in general facilitates God's raising us up)

We're meeting with Emanda at 9:45 so we can rehearse with her.

We're wearing our usual "uniform": blue jeans and black tops.

We're singing before and after the Covenanting, so we have an important role. Let's be sure to sing our best and make sure the messages of our songs go out and reach people, give them and Heather some smiles and maybe some tears too.

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year!

We're preparing to sing at Rev. Heather's last Sunday, January 26th. 
We're learning You Raise Me Up! Yay! I love that song!
Can't wait to sing it with you!

We're also going to re-do Thankful and Undignified.

On Sunday, January 26th, please come a bit early, 10:00, so we can rehearse with Emanda. We'll meet in the Fellowship Room.

We'll wear our usual TTC uniform: blue jeans and a black top.

Christmas Eve We Sing!

It's Christmas Eve tomorrow!

We're going to sing Amen and Thankful tomorrow!

I can't wait to share those songs with everyone! I think they'll love them!
I especially love how beautiful you sound in the chorus of Thankful. You're going to impress everyone.

We're meeting with Emanda to go over Amen with her at 6:30 in the Fellowship room or in the music room, we'll see where she want us.

See you tomorrow at 6:30!

Looking forward to singing together again tomorrow! Tuesday, November 19th

Teen Choir is back to regular meetings tomorrow.
Let's sing!

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR TTC

Saturday, November 16th (9:30-noon)
on the church lawn
Santa Claus Parade 
TTC will sell hot chocolate and hot dogs to raise money for our World Vision child. 

Friday, December 20th (6:30-9:30)
in Trinity Hall
A Christmas Carol: Comedic Reading
TTC will sell refreshments to raise money for our World Vision child and possibly for our choir fund.

Tuesday, December 24th (7-8)
at church
Christmas Eve Service
TTC will sing Thankful and Amen

I found a recording of our Amen!

http://choralmusic.com/audio/amen_satb.mp3

It's slower than we'll do it, and too sweet, but it's pretty much the same arrangement. We'll have piano and guitar and I'm thinking, clapping at the end. We have a drum part written in our music, and I'll see if we can find someone to do it for us.

October 29th TTC Cancelled Sorry

Sorry to say that choir tonight has been cancelled. See you next week!

Sunday, October 20th Singing at Church!

We're going to be singing 
10,000 Reasons
Undignified
in church 
on Sunday, October 20th!
Choir meets at 10:00 in the Fellowship Room
We sing during Family Time
We can join the Sunday School downstairs right after

Thankful for this inspiring performance

We've decided to sing this song for Christmas. Josh Groban is awesome, but Todd is ours and awesome. Todd is a member of the York Region Community Choir, my adult choir in Newmarket. Listen to this amazing voice, fabulous performance. Todd owns this song.

As usual, we will look at what other people do with our song, and then we'll play with it and make it our own. I'm looking forward to seeing how Thankful  turns into a TTC song!

September 17th Review

Hey! We have a new member! Yay!

We're doing well making our own versions of Undignified and 10,000 Reasons. We'll work on adding a bit of harmony to them.

It was the first time a couple of us had ever heard 10,000 Reasons, but we picked it up very quickly. It's a really pretty song and has a very catchy chorus.

We started learning Amen and it went really well! We have 3-part harmony!

In addition to learning our performance pieces, we sang along with:
What I Wouldn't Do (Heather's version with guitar-cool)
Wake Me Up
Breathing Under Water

We took turns again with the cajon, and I think we're starting to get more comfortable with it.

At the end, we danced with:
I Need Your Love

I'm looking for a nice slow and pretty song for Christmas, something beautiful and impressive for us to sing with Amen. So far, I'm liking Thankful by Josh Grobin. There's an SSA version if your up to it.
But, I'm willing to hear other suggestions. Let me know if there's a Christmas song that you'd love for us to sing.

New season and new songs!

We are singing some fun songs this season.

Amen is going to be a good challenge for us, with several sections in 3 part harmony, and some fancy timing. I hope someone will be able to play the cajon with that. There's a drum part written for it.

Undignified will be fun for sure! It's so easy and repetitive, but we'll be adding some percussion, some harmony, and some moves!

I've been falling in love with the song 10,000 Reasons, and I think that it will be a good addition to our repertoire. Can't wait to hear Heather play it!

Tuesday, September 10th is our first day back!

Please come out to Trinity Teen Choir 
starting Tuesday, September 10th at 6:30!

We're going to sing and make some musical noise together. We sing mostly for fun, but also learn a couple of songs to sing at church a few times a year (2-4 performances/year TBD).

You can register (for free!) on site, or if you want to register in advance, that would be nice. Call or email the church office and speak to Dianne, or email me, Renate, at renatesdesk@rogers.com.

We need your (or your teenager's) name, a parent/guardian's name, and a telephone number and email address where we can contact you.

Let us know if you play any instruments and we can plan some jam sessions, and try to incorporate your instrument into our performance. 

We are looking into getting a cajon/box drum to add some extra "boom" to our sound. Sometimes, we have a professional drummer accompany us, but not every time, and we love the added rhythm. 

Summer of 2013: Here we come!

WE'RE OFF for the Summer!

(well, summative assignments and exams first, but...)

See you in September!

Keep singing!

TTC is taking a break so you can focus on school for a bit and then enjoy a relaxing and fun summer. We'll start up again once school starts in September. Watch for posts and announcements at church and on Facebook. 

Mother's Day: My momma loves me, she loves me like a rock

Jammin'

Don't forget to bring your instruments to choir tonight!

Hope you had a sweet Easter!

Jeremiah Joy to the World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV6kDiStK6U

Watch the video of our Joy to the World.
Great job, Teen Choir!

Easter Sunday- black bottoms and white tops

Easter Sunday, meet at 10:00 in the Fellowship Room, as usual, and then we might go into the choir room or upstairs to rehearse with everyone else.
Don't forget to wear black pants or a black skirt and a white top that's not a T-shirt: blouse, sweater, shirt, and plain white is best.
Sunday School will be good this time. For sure.