Budapest

The last week has been full of musical inspiration and growth.

One week ago Monday, Dr. Joiner came to BFA! Dr. Joiner was my violin teacher for 6 years; he was one of my primary mentors in college. He taught me so much wisdom about the violin, music, and integrating my faith into every aspect of my life.

Within an hour of getting off the plane, he jumped into action. I took him to my high school orchestra classroom; he pulled out his violin and played along, coaching throughout the class period. Those 45 minutes went incredibly fast. The kids in orchestra were soaking in his every suggestion. So was I.

J.O., my principal cellist, described her experience with him. “He’s like a little music wizard! He walks around, waves his arms, tells us what to do, and we sound better!” I agreed – there were things in the Tchaikovsky String Serenade that weren’t coming together no matter what I tried, but he gave the perfect suggestion and it worked! J.O. said, “When people have been doing music for so long, they just know the solutions that work.”

It’s true, but it also takes a good teacher to be able to communicate those solutions effectively. Dr. Joiner’s input in our high school orchestra was inspiring. In addition to orchestra, Dr. Joiner taught some of our lesson students. Marit and I were excited to have his input on these students!

Wednesday was our travel day. Emily, Hunter and I had a long road trip, and the rest of our crew flew. We drove so we could transport 4 cellos without having to buy extra plane tickets.It  took about 12 hours to drive from Kandern to Budapest.

Thursday and Friday were days packed with rehearsals. Our schedule looked something like this: Eat, rehearse, eat, rehearse, eat, rehearse, eat, rehearse, sleep. Though our students played their instruments more than they had ever played in their lives, we still found them practicing during break times. We practically had to drag them away from their instruments to eat meals! They were inspired and challenged as Dr. Joiner worked with them. Dr. Joiner, Marit and I took turns playing viola. We only had one viola student, so we provided reinforcement. I played viola for Grieg’s “Holberg Suite” (we only did the first two movements) and Bartok’s “Romanian Dances.”

On Saturday we had a short tour of Budapest, followed by a bit more rehearsal time and a game night.

Sunday morning we had a worship service with all the students. After a time of singing, students and teachers shared various things that God had been teaching them. It was a time full of good reminders as we heard testimonies and encouragement from the Scripture.

We had 2 performances that day. The first was at Hungary’s national cathedral, St. Istvan’s Basilica. There were glorious moments with the resonance within the beautifully decorated walls.

Bach Sanctus:

Our second performance was at the school. The whole concert went very well! The final piece for the strings was Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances. Bartok was a Hungarian composer. It was a strong ending to our part!

To read more about the choir part, read Allison’s blog. She and Marit and I had a running joke throughout the trip… choir vs. orchestra rivalries don’t die easily. But our kids are so much less talkative – orchestra is clearly better than choir! (just kidding… but only sort of!)