Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Day 21 - Toasts and Final words

17 toasts to the students of "Listening Live":

To Jonathan, trooper through thick and through thin.
When the going is rough, he holds up his chin.

To Nick, who shows kindness to all he does meet.
He even cares for his teachers, how sweet!

To Scott, who managed a feat most sublime.
He always slept late, but showed up (mostly) on time!

To Shafer, who has proven, without indiscretion,
A talent for finding the proper direction.

To Braun, who willingly rose to the occasion,
Delivering flowers at Antonino's ovation.

To Owen, who wears a mischievous grin.
He knows a secret--his eyes let you in.

To Chris, whose laughter can fill up a room.
He'll shase away feelings of sorrow and gloom.

Here is to Jasmine, who says "No, it's not!"
Without her, our class would have been lacking a lot.

Here's to Miss Filmore, a sprightly young lass.
Go running with her, and she'll kick your ass!

Here is to Jessica, who did not mind the gap,
But kept calm, carried on, and did not make a flap.

Here's to Miss Laura, who had a sore gum.
We are glad that she'll live 'til she's home with her mum.

Here's to Victoria, who likes a good laugh.
Without her along, we'd have had less fun by half.

Here's to Miss Smith, who needs lots of sleep,
But if she's cut short, she complains not a peep.

Here is to Grace, whose last name is Erie.
She is full of grace, and in her quiet way, cheery.

Here is to Maddi, first to wake in the morn.
She is modest and humble, n'er to blow her own horn.

Here is to Ingrid, who plays on the flute.
If you talk to her long, you will know she's a hoot.

Here is to Tani, a blossoming singer.
When she sings Covent Garden, we'll have flowers to bring her.


In one sentence, what was the most memorable musical moment from the past three weeks?


Jean Valjean redeemed
Just beyond the barricade
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Hearing the talented pianists performing concerti by both Beethoven and Britten.

I really liked hearing the songs of La Boheme and realizaing how closely linked they were to Rent (the musical).

Finally hearing the piece (SIegfried Idyll) I did so much research on.

Hearing Gangnam Style at the Pantomime/King's College choir. It was almost a transcendent experience. So beautiful!

"Stars" and "Bring him home" at Les Mis--best performances seen live of each!

Hearing the gong during the Gamelan workshop.

Getting choked up at the end of Les Miserables.

Hearing the Celtic music with the fiddle, penny whistle and bagpipes. I got the goosebumps!

Beginning of "Night Ferry." I was immediately on the edge of my seat.

Seeing "The Nutcracker."

I loved hearing "Night Ferry" and being able to see Anna Clyne, the composer.

Almost every moment in Les Mis was my favorite, but Enjorlas was the best!

My favorite musical moment was probably Les Mis--especially Fantine's death. It was so well connected to the audience.

My favorite musical moment was actually learning how to play the fiddle. It's not everyday that you're able to have musical opportunities like that.

My favorite musical memory was the opportunity to see Les Mis. The music was so powerful and the singing was phenomenal.

Day 20 - Back to London


My name is Jessica Edblom. I’m a senior Communication Studies major with a minor in Spanish at Luther. Last J-Term, I had the opportunity to travel abroad, heading down south to Argentina and Chile for my Spanish minor, and I absolutely loved it! There was no way I could pass up another change to travel abroad this year. I have always been curious about the music major whilst at Luther, and having dreamt about traveling to England all my life, there was no way I was going to pass this trip up. That being said, I have the honor of writing the last student blog post for Listening Live in London.

If you have been regularly following this blog, dictating our daily excitement in the UK, there is no denying that we’re had an incredible time. Between the variety of musical performances we attended, daily places we visited, and memories we made with friends, it is 3 weeks we won’t quickly forget. Needless to say, we’re all sad that our time here is so rapidly coming to an end. Today, we spend the majority of the morning and afternoon riding a train from Glasgow Central station back to London. The ride was very pleasant, about 6 hours of English countryside views. After we made it safely (and relatively on time) to London Euston, we walked a little ways to the Celtic Hotel. It’s a quaint bed and breakfast with homey rooms and tight winding staircases, which several of us girls struggled to get our suitcases up this afternoon. However, we settled in, and mainly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.

Once 6 o’clock came around, we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant called Carluccio’s to have one final group meal. The food was absolutely delicious, and everyone shared pasta dishes, bread, and wine. While we ate, the professors surprised us with individual poems written about each student. It was very sweet, and I especially enjoyed the poem about me, which highlighted how I failed to “mind the gap” just the other day. It was a great time, definitely a perfect way to round out the trip.

For those family and friends who have been reading these blogs each day, we hope these have provided you with a small glimpse into our adventures, and I’m sure you will get a more detailed recount when we arrive home tomorrow. So thank you, and see you soon!

Jessica Edblom

PS - shout out to my sister, whose 17th birthday is today. Hope you had a great day!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Day 19 - Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle

So I suppose starting out with introductions is the appropriate way to begin a blog post so here we go: My name is Jasmine. I play the cello. My favorite color is candy apple red. Favorite ice cream flavor is cake batter. I enjoy walks in the park and long luxurious bubble baths, as well as satiric literature. The bubble bath was a lie but I doubt that you're really that interested in my personal biography so I'll cut to the chase.

Today we went on a bus tour, lead by our driver, Patrick. We drove up to Luss, a small village off the shores of Loch Lomond, the largest body of water in England. The Loch is about 42 miles long and it even has a song written about it. We had a lovely sing along session on the bus as well as a rock rendition that I found very...interesting.

Anyway, after that we headed up toward Stirling castle, making a few stops along the way. Some of the more notable ones were the Doune castle and the William Wallace monument. My favorite part of the trip though, was definitely the Stirling castle. It was really beautiful despite the frigid temperature and the snow. I especially liked walking through the re-creation of the royal chambers. 

So yeah. That was our final day in Glasgow. Ended things on a high note for sure (see what I did there?). 

Day 18 - Learning new instruments and Spanish Civil War!


Hello from Listening Live! This is Ingrid and I am currently a junior at Luther. Although I am not a musicmajor or minor I am involved in varsity band and take flute lessons. I am an elementary education major and music has always been a part of my life. Enough about me, moving to the trip, today has been another music filled day. We spent the day learning different traditional folk instruments and attended another concert associated with the Celtic MusicFestival, Celtic Connections.

This morning we woke up and had a great breakfast in the bar of our hostel. We were offered the traditional Scottish food, Haggis, but many of us decided to stick with toast and cereal. After eating a delicious breakfast we headed up to the lounge to discuss what we thought of the concert the night before. Many of us enjoyed hearing traditional Celtic music, but at times we couldn’t figure out what was going on because most of the concert was in Gaelic. After class we headed over to learn some traditional folk instruments including fiddle, mandolin and ukulele.

I had the opportunity to learn fiddle. It was so fun. We learned the make up of the fiddle and spent time learning how to hold the instrument and what note each string was. We started out learning how to play hot cross buns and then when we became more “advanced” we learned twinkletwinkle little star. I loved being able to play a new instrument and take a class with people originally from Scotland.

After the class we ventured out in to Glasgow to find some lunch and do last minute souvenir shopping before heading back to the USA. We found the oldest pub in Glasgow and settled in for some fish and chips and a bacon buttie. I love the atmosphere here and Glasgow and although it is pretty close to London, the culture here is definitely different.

We met up with the class later to head the People’s Palace Museum. It showed the history of Glasgow from the war, to home life to what the people of Glasgow do for fun. We spent a while here learning about what makes up Glasgow and seeing what has changed over the years. The museum also had a conservatory where many of us took a chance to warm up and relax before heading back out into the cold.

Tonight we went to a concert called “Scots in the Spanish Civil War.” It consisted of many different artists who played songs that were either dedicated or written about the war in Spain. I enjoyed the enthusiasm from the audience and the excitement from the performers. The audience was very involved in the performance and it was fun to see how important this concert was to the Scottish audience.

And now we are sitting and reflecting on another great day in Glasgow. I am not looking forward to going home on Wednesday. It has been such a fantastic trip.





Sunday, January 20, 2013

Day 17 - to Glasgow

Greetings...blog readers! Nice to meet you. I'm Ally Fillmore, a sophomore studying art and communications. Lucky for you, I get to do today's blog post to make light of the crazy day that we just had. From forgetting a phone, not minding the gap, getting lost trying to find the station, train delays, today was a little unlucky for some of us. 

My day started around 6:30 am when I had to pull myself out of bed at the Nottingham Holiday Inn. We hopped on a connector train to Glasgow. When we got to the station where we were to switch trains, we got good and found that our next train was delayed...90 minutes later...Yey! The train!

The ride was gorgeous once all of our toes thawed after standing in all of the flurries. We all agreed that the countryside was amazing to see. The different places that we've been to seem very similar. Let's be honest, it's cool being abroad, but buildings are everywhere. It was nice to see what things are like outside of the cities. 

After miles and miles of sheep, snow, streams, countryside, and run down towns we made it to Glasgow. How do I know? I was greated by graffiti saying, "Welcome to Glasgow" as we pulled into the central station. Definitely a different crowd here, maybe it's just because it's a saturday night. 

We're staying in a hostel with all of the girls in one room and all of the guys in one room. Let's just say that it could be worse. After getting settled in, we had a Celtic concert to go to. Definitely a new experience. People speaking in Gaelic, bagpipes, mandolins, fiddles, the works. I loved it until we hit the 3 hour mark of the concert and I mentally checked out. Don't get me wrong, I loved it! But it was a long day! After a chilly walk back, we all crashed in our beds and listened to the glamorous sounds of the hostel. 

We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Ally


Saturday, January 19, 2013

Day 16 - Nottingham

    Hello to all of the friends and family reading the Listening Live blog!  My name is Braun Oldenkamp and Ill be reporting on todays activities.  I am a sophomore Music major, and I sing tenor in Collegiate Chorale and play cello at Luther as well as other clubs and activities around the college.  It has been an incredible experience to be on this trip and to have the opportunity to see so many wonderful performances.
    It was really quite nice to have a change of scenery this morning as we all woke up and got ready for breakfast.  While it was a great experience at our Earls Court flats, I think many will agree with me when I say it was really nice to shower in a hotel this morning!  We all had a nice breakfast at the hotel and set off on our own adventures for the day!  Im not certain what everyone set off to do when we parted ways after breakfast, but I know a few people went to a Robin Hood museum.  I have heard nothing but good things about that experience!
    I set off with Laura Peterson, Victoria Peters, and Ingrid Wangaard-Tjornehoj to see some of the local life.  We decided to walk through the city center and go to some shops.  We also ended up at the Victoria Centre, which is an indoor mall.  Dont worry mom, I only bought a pair of jeans!  After we explored that area, it was time to find something to eat for lunch.  The four of us stopped at a restaurant called Capocci.  As it turns out, we were the only customers in the whole place (theres a photo below of the empty restaurant).  We all enjoyed a nice meal there, and returned to the hotel to take a short walking tour to the castle with Dr. Joyce and Dr. Reed.
    We had a short break for more exploration before we went to the flat where the Luther students in the Nottingham program live.  Once there, we learned about the Pantomime that wed be seeing later in the evening.  A man named David was the one to talk to us about the pantomime.  He lives next door to the Luther Nottingham students and received the Spirit of Luther award in 2008.  David was a real treat, and we would see him later at the performance.
    When we left the flat the Luther Nottingham students lived in, we went to a place called Taste of Delhi which is an Indian restaurant (Ive included a picture of some of us seated at the tables).  We waited there for over an hour for our food, but we eventually had to leave to get to the pantomime on time.  Dr. Joyce stayed behind to get the food to go so we could feast at the hotel following the performance.  W arrived at the pantomime on time.
    A pantomime is defined by Wikipedia as a form of musical comedy stage production, designed for families, developed in the UK and mostly performed during the Christmas and New Year season.  Tonight we saw a pantomime about Robin Hood.  It was hilarious and entertaining for all of us, especially through the use of all of the popular songs we recognized.  Pantomime is audience responsive and interactive, at one point we were all on our feet dancing to Gangnam Style!  We all left the theatre in high spirits and went back to the hotel to have Pizza together.  Apparently there was some mix ups and issues at Taste of Delhi, so we ended up having Pizza ordered to the hotel.
    Now, as the snow falls lightly on the city of Nottingham, I say good night to you all.  I look forward to tomorrows journey on the trains to Glasgow.







Friday, January 18, 2013

Day 15 - Cambridge

Hi from the Listening Live crew. My name is Victoria Peters and I'm a sophomore at Luther studying to be a music history major. The trip has been a blast so far and our trip up to Cambridge today was no different.

We had to leave out flat at Earl's Court today, which was a bit bittersweet because it had been our London home for the past 2 weeks, but a change in scenery was needed. It was a hectic start to our morning, packing up our belongings and cleaning out our rooms as well as getting all 19 of us through the tube to Liverpool Street station. Unfortunately, our train arrived and left the station without being announced, so we had to take a later one up to Cambridge. It was nice to leave the city and see there was more out there and the countryside was lovely. We made it to Cambridge and met bus driver Bob who managed to cram all of our luggage into a very small bus and dropped us at Kings College. We then got a very insightful tour around the city and learned about the history of the colleges and university as well as all of the buildings around the city center. We all met as a class and went to a sung eucharist service at the Kings College chapel. The architecure was gorgeous and the boy choir sounded amazing. We then had a great group meal at the Green Man pub before heading off on a two hour bus ride to Nottingham. We all got settled into our hotel and went to sleep excited to explore Nottingham tomorrow! 





Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Day 14: Last full day in London and Britten Sinfonia concert


     As of 4:30 the entire has gone their separate ways for the past 5 hours on their last full day in London. With packing to do and an early departure awaiting, I set off to South Kensington Station to see what the Victoria and Albert Museum had in store with a possible trip to the Science Museum should time permit. 
     Let it never be said that the Victoria and Albert Museum is small. The Museum has 5 floors, the square footage of the largest mansions, and on a quiet day like today you can get your own house-sized space to yourself if you know where to go. The ground floor, having it's own garden I might add, contains about 95% of the sculptures to be found in the Museum. If those are not your thing you can see the 5'x15' arabian rug that dates back to about 1000 years ago. If you have more taste for paintings A) The National Gallery is in Trafalgar Square and you should really check it out, and B) The Museum has an entire room devoted to Rafael's paintings commission by Pope Leo X. These are about 10'x25' and are incredibly gorgeous in their detail. Unfortunately, it turns out that just about every time you see Jesus in the Cartoons, as they are called, his robes have faded from their original pink or lilac to white. In summary, the V&A is huge and a definite must see if you ever find yourself in the area.
     Tonight we return to the Barbaican for a couple Beethoven Piano Concertos and some other pieces and must return to get ready for our trip to the north. It has been a fantastic time here in London for the past two weeks adn while I loook forward to reasonably priced food, I will miss the city.  

Day 13: Brixton, National Portrait Gallery, Quiz Night!


Hello all! My name is Owen Metzger, and I’m a junior chemistry major with a minor in music. At Luther, I take private voice and piano lessons. I am also a baritone in Collegiate Chorale and a tenor in Collegium Musicum. This J-term course has provided me with a great chance to explore music outside of the Jenson-Noble community, and it’s been quite eye-opening!
Although Listening Live did not attend any music performances today, we were given plenty of chances to experience new aspects of London. After class, we traveled to the Brixton district of South London. Brixton is an ethnically diverse neighborhood with an atmosphere quite different from the areas which we have visited thus far. Those of us with less adventurous tastes found a café on the market street, but others enthusiastically reported back on the variety of their lunch choices. I much appreciated being able to explore a segment of London that is not specifically tailored to fit the expectations of tourists.
This afternoon, we attended the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square. As with many museums in London, admission is free, so the general environment was one of casual appreciation rather than determination to view every corner of the museum in one visit. I particularly liked the contrast between the two galleries. Both contain pieces dating back to the fifteenth century, but while the National Gallery’s timeline seems to end at 1900, the National Portrait Gallery has pieces that were created last year. This difference is accentuated by the architecture, which varies from grand and ornate to minimalist and modern, and the atmosphere, which was quietly deliberate in the National Gallery but relaxed and informal in the National Portrait Gallery.
Since there were no musical events scheduled, tonight was quiz night back at the flat. We were all called upon to put our knowledge of London culture and the course to this point to the test. My team won by a slim margin, but fun and laughs were had by all. We’re now preparing for our last full day in London, sad to be leaving this home-away-from-home behind, but excited to see what Nottingham and Scotland will bring.




Monday, January 14, 2013

Day 12: Three kinds of singing: Musical Theater, Folk Song, and Aria


   Kathy Reed here, reporting as the other Listening Live instructor.  The students have just handed in a writing assignment and we had a busy day today, so I'll take my turn at tonight's blog.
   After class this morning, we headed back to the Queens Theatre where we saw Les Mis,  this time for an informal discussion with Adam Searles, a singer/actor who played the role of Gavroche in the show for many years.  He told us about his training and experiences in theatre and TV, and most recently, in the new film of Les Mis.  He had some entertaining stories to tell, and good insight into what it is to pursue this kind of career. 
   From there, we went across town to the Cecil Sharpe House, the home of the English Folk Song and Dance Society.  Here, we had a workshop with the English folksinger Lisa Knapp; she gave us some background on folk song in general, and on the English collectors of folk songs, and best of all, she taught us several songs.  Needless to say, she was impressed with the voices in this group, and the ability to harmonize on the spot.  We have a new favorite, a "Wassail" song that warmed and energized us on this cold, rainy/snowy day.
   Finally, tonight we went to Wigmore Hall for a recital of Italian songs and arias.  After an initial disappointment at learning that the scheduled tenor was indisposed, we quickly fell in love with Antonio Siragusa, a charismatic and brilliant Italian tenor, with high C's to die for.  It was all the more impressive to learn that he had just sung a leading role at the Vienna State Opera last night, traveled to London to stand in for this concert, arriving at 4:30 for a one-hour rehearsal with the pianist, with whom he had never performed before.  Amazing.   Tomorrow he flies to Japan before returning to complete his run in Vienna.  Our own Braun Oldenkamp was drafted to bring the performers flowers at the curtain call, and he did so with aplomb.   
   I find myself looking forward to class each day with this group of students.  There are some distinctive personalities, and our discussions are thoughtful and engaged.  What a privilege it is to teach this course.



Day 11 - Bach Cantatas

It’s our second Sunday in London so we’ve now been here for eleven days!  We’ve been so busy taking in all the sights and enjoying musical performances that the time has gone by so fast.  Today was a little more laid back where we started off the day with class and went straight to a noon performance of Bach Cantatas.  The concert was only about an hour, but we got to see a different type of music performance with a much smaller orchestra and instruments from Bach’s time like an oboe d’amore.  After attending the performance, some people set off to do laundry while others stayed in to either read or hang out with others whilewatching a movie.  I think at this point in time, we’ve realized that we can slow down a little after we had been seeing the popular sights of London every day and feeling so tired at the end of the day.  Following our relaxing afternoon, we all set out for a group meal at 5:45 to a Greek restaurant on the river Thames.  We had a delicious two-course meal ordered by our instructors which included pita bread with different kinds of sauces for the first course and lamb meatballs, chicken kabobs, and spinach rolls for the second course.  We all enjoyed our time together laughing, telling stories, and getting to know each other a little more.  It was a great finish to our Sunday in London!  




Sunday, January 13, 2013

Day 10 - Free Day


Hello faithful readers!  My name is Chris Hughes and I am a junior vocal music major with a minor in communication studies.  I am a tenor in Collegiate choir and outside music activities I participate in Greek life.  This trip has been an absolute blast and it is great to study live performances in such an amazing city.
Today I went with a small group to the Warner Brother’s Studio Tour to see their current The Making of Harry Potter” exhibit.  We had to board a bus at 7:15 am that took us to the museum.  That seemed quite early at the time but when I got to the bus I saw that it was plastered with Harry Potter posters and I got very excited.  We arrived at the museum around 9:00 am.  We were able to see the actual sets, props, and costumes used in the movies.  I was so excited I was running around like all the little kids that were there.  The first room you walk into is the actual great hall from Hogwarts, it was like every child’s dream.  The next room was very large and filled with various sets; like the Gryffindor common room, Weasley’s kitchen, Dumbledore’s officeHagrid’s hut, and much more including props and costumes.  My favorite part was the scale model of Hogwarts that was used for the fly over shots.  I couldn’t believe the detail put into this miniature model.  They used actual stone bricks to build it.  The soundtrack from the films was playing and it really put you into the world of Harry Potter.  Going on this tour was like reliving my childhood and I highly recommend seeing this amazing attraction to anyone that travels to England.
I did not have any plans for the rest day after the tour.  Some classmates asked me if I wanted to go see the musical Wicked and I said “Of course!”  So I bought my ticket offline and ten minutes later we hopped on the tube.  The set for the show was very cool.  It was very intricate with lots of moving pieces.  My favorite part was Defying Gravity.  The girl who played Elphabastole the show in this song.  I don’t understand how she could be belting such high notes while flying around stage in a harness.  I just couldn’t get past the British accents because I had listened to the older soundtrack of the musical before.  I just kept expecting things to sound different.  All in all Wicked was pretty wicked and I’d love to see it again.





Friday, January 11, 2013

Day 8 - Les Misérables and more!










Hello hello hello good people from the states! This is your narrator, Tani German, a sophomore music and psych double major reporting from Earl's Court Road in London, England! I'm sure you've heard many of my fellow classmates exude their excitement and joy so far, but let me just say, as an enormous music lover, that this is one of the greatest trips of my life and it has been greatly influential. Right now I am studying to be a vocal performer and seeing all the people on stage so far has compelled me to at least try to make it as a singer, despite the slimmer chances. London reminds me of all the possibilities one can have for the future and it gives me hope, as I'm sure it does for many others.

Now, what influenced my love for London today?

Today started like a typical day - we had class from 9-11am, which many of us are still making an effort to get up for after all our late nights ;) We heard from our classmates Shafer and Jessica about Anna Clyne's "Night Ferry" and Benjamin Britten's "Piano Concerto" which we will be seeing tomorrow night. After class many of us divided into smaller groups and went about doing different things. A couple of people decided to take the afternoon off and stay back at the flat to relax and catch up on some homework. Another group of people decided to tour Kensington Palace and see some pretty fancy clothes of some of the Royalty. And then some people decide today was the day for shopping!  My group decided touring the Royal Albert Hall was a good way to start the afternoon.

Let me just say that I have never seen a more beautiful, Roman-inspired amphitheater hall. Everything about it was breath-taking and I was truly in awe of the architecture. The tour guide was full of information, including the building of the theater. As some of you make know, after the untimely death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria was devastated and wanted to commemorate his death. Not only did she declare that all the fencing be painted black for the mourning of Albert, she asked for a giant, gold encrusted memorial to be built along with the royal hall. In order to raise money, they built a HUGE building for a world exhibition called the Crystal Palace, which, sadly, is no longer there. Unfortunately that only raised enough money for the memorial and all seemed lost for the theater. However, a man whose name I seemed to have momentarily forgotten, believed that the show must go on! (har har). In order to get enough money for the theater, it was decided that the theater would sell its seats for a lease of 999 years for only 100 pounds. The seats were sold out to about 350 people, and those seats today cannot be sold by the theater without the permission of the owners of the chairs, who may have obtained this possession by the purchasing of the lease from others or inheritance. Either way, many of the seats still remain empty during the biggest shows!

I know, lots of history, but I thought a little bit of information never hurt anyone :) The theater tour lasted about an hour and was well worth it. Unfortunately that is probably the most many will see of it because the prices of shows can be pretty hefty. Right now Cirque du Soleil  is performing for a couple weeks (which is rare because most of the time they have a new show every night) and some of the seats were going for about 70 pounds (equivalent to about $112), and I think that was for the more cheaper seats. As you might have guessed, this place is very popular and special - the queen even has her own box, entrance to the theater, and waiting room. It also has one of the worlds largest organs, 1 short of 10,000 pipes, though we were unable to see it due to the setup of the current show.

I'm sorry I talked SO much about the theater, but it was one of my favorite places I've been so far!

After the theater we stopped at Harrods. I will say only this: you NEED a map or you will get lost. I swear, it's a maze made so the only way to get out is to buy something really expensive :P Also, I had the most amazing Cheesecake of my life there.

Harrods was a popular stop for people today, but what was even more abuzz was our musical performance we were about to see - the world famous Les Miserables. It was most definitely as great as everyone made it seem, for I had never seen it before. The stage was beautiful, the acting and singing were breath-taking, and some tears were definitely shed. Some of the students even stayed after the performance and got some autographs!

But now the day has come to a close and many of us are busy writing away in our journals before our first review of them tomorrow. Thanks for following the blog and all of our exciting journeys!


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Day 7 - Tower of London/Westminster Abbey and Haydn's "Creation"

Greetings from across the pond! My name is Scott Gerike and I'm a senior with majors in computer science and math as well as being very active in music activities. Currently I am in the trombone choir and ensemble and am taking trombone lessons as well along with singing Bass I in Collegiate Chorale. Aside from that, preparing for the real world has been keeping me busy lately so a trip to London is a nice break from that. So now onto what happened today....

Another day gone by. So after we finished up with class this morning, the group split into two and headed off to either Westminster Abbey or the Tower of London. There were only a couple of us that went to Westminster, but it was still a spectacular time. We were able to see the final resting place of countless influential people, including Newton, Handel, Dickens, Cromwell and almost all of the previous Kings and Queens. On top of that we were just able to look at all the stunningly beautiful architecture of the building.

Most of the group though went to the Tower of London, which contains a lot of British history inside. Part of this extensive history includes the ravens that are always inside the tower (because Charles II was told if the ravens ever left, the monarchy would fall). The attraction the Tower of London is most known for today though is the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewels are all of the regalia that is worn by the royalty during coronation ceremonies and other state functions. Along with the artifacts, the Tower is very intriguing because of all the well-known people who have been held and executed there.

After an exciting day, we finished up our night with another exciting concert. Tonight we were off to the South Bank Center to hear the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment play Hayden's Creation. This was made even more interesting by the fact that the orchestra only played with instruments that were from the Enlightenment period, meaning that the string instruments still used gut for their strings and brass instruments didn't have valves yet. Because Creation is an oratorio, the orchestra was accompanied by a chorus and three soloists singing in German. It was a great performance put on by a very energetic conductor and it was a great end to another phenomenal day here.  



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Day 6 - Gamelan and Nutcracker


Hello, everyone!  My name is Grace Erie - I'm a junior with a music major and religion minor.  I sing in Collegiate Chorale as an Alto I and take voice and organ lessons.  Other musical activities I partake in are playing organ and piano for church services in my hometown area, and I also play bass for the FOCUS music team at Luther (a student-led worship service that takes place on Sunday nights). Other instruments I play are piano, guitar, drums, violin, mandolin, ukulele, and a little bit of banjo.  Outside of music I enjoy photography, which this trip has given my plenty of photo-taking opportunities!

Today in class we discussed Gamelan music which originates in Indonesia, and we had a fantastic opportunity to actually participate in a Gamelan workshop and play a song together.  The sound we all created together with our various Gamelan instruments was a new and fantastic experience!  I really enjoy learning about music in other cultures, and this definitely emphasized that interest in me.  In the other half of our class, I had the honor of presenting on Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" with my fellow presenter, Tani.  We then got to see the ballet performed at the Royal Opera House this evening.  It was by far my favorite ballet out of all of the others that I have seen.  Everything was well done, and I'm always amazed at the thought of how much work these performers put into this production.  The set design and transitions were especially impressive!  And, of course, the orchestra did a wonderful job - everything was lined up and unified beautifully.  

Between class and the Gamelan workshop, we went to the Museum of London, which had many interesting exhibits on the history of the city - starting at the beginning of its history, and ending with life in London today.  There were a lot of things I discovered here that I never knew about before - for example, the great fire of London that occurred in the 17th century.  The thought of a 4 day fire is difficult for me to even begin to comprehend...

After visiting the museum we went to the Gamelan workshop which I mentioned before.  Our workshop leader is very gifted in this type of music, and it was awesome to be able to have her share that with us.  In case you are not familiar with Gamelan music, I recommend looking it up!  It is mainly composed of bell-like, percussion instruments that, together, collaborate into a unique and fantastic sound.  

Finally, I ended the afternoon with eating dinner with my classmates and friends at Stockpot, which served great food for a very reasonable price!  After eating we went back to the flat to get ready for "The Nutcracker" performance, which we followed up with stopping to get some very tasty Gelato.  

This experience has been overwhelmingly awesome, and I look very much forward to the next couple of weeks. Thanks for reading!