Dear family and friends,
The time has come for the first newsletter of 2012! Read inside Newsletter-025 to find out what’s new this semester, a brief overview of my time home at Christmas, and my financial needs for ministry here next year.
Quick link to making donations or supporting me monthly: http://worldventure.com/donate
Let me know what’s new for you in 2012!
Blessings,
Jill
Tone colors: The past few weeks the high school orchestra has been experimenting with speed, weight, and sounding point to create different sounds with the bow.
Last Friday, we played around with speed and weight (fast/heavy, fast/light, slow/heavy, slow/light). We determined that fast/heavy is the loudest, and slow/light is the softest. As for the two in the middle, there is a different tone quality. I asked the kids to describe the sound of fast/light. The students said, “It sounds airy and light.” Then I asked them to describe the slow/heavy sound, and one student said, “It’s like Mom.” When I asked this comical cellist to explain himself, he said, “For most people, Mom is the fast/light and Dad is the slow/heavy. But it’s the opposite for my parents!” I’m not sure if he was referring to their appearance or to their personalities…. we’ll leave that open to interpretation!
Bow changes: Yesterday I was working with a couple violin students on making smoother changes in bow direction. Top-notch violinists can make an endlessly smooth sound – it just sounds continuous. These particular students had more of a sound of slapping a wall before turning around and going the opposite direction. It reminded me of watching Olympic swimmers. They too have to change directions fairly quickly, but they don’t just slap the wall with an arm or leg to turn around; they instead to a graceful “flip turn.”
We compared a bow change to a flip turn. Instead of just keeping the bow rigidly straight, it can round out a bit at the frog to soften the bow changes. Thinking of the visual imagery of a swimmer seemed to help the students smooth out the often crunchy sound of a bow change at the frog.
My history-teacher friend Katrina asked me if I wanted to go see an Austrian musical with her (she grew up in Austria). When I found out it was Elisabeth, I realized I already knew the music because we had played an arrangement in Stadtmusik Kandern (community band). Katrina went to relish the Austrian history, and I went to appreciate the music and everything else. So today, I saw my first musical in German!
An example of melodramatic Austrian art, this musical is about the life of Elisabeth, or “Sissi,” the famed Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Though she is a real person and the musical does document some actual events from her life, it is largely fantasized and exaggerated.
This famous portrait of Sissi showed up in the musical!
Luigi Lucheni, Sissi’s murderer, narrates. The musical begins at his after-life judgement, during which he must account for his murderous deed. His plea: innocence – she wanted to die. He then tells the story of her tragic life and her love-hate relationship with death.
Sissi was born a duchess in Bavaria (now southeast Germany). Her sister was destined to be the Empress of Austria – she was to marry Franz Josef, the heir to the empire. But when the family went to meet Franz Josef, he fell in love with the free-spirited and beautiful Sissi and proposed to her instead. The wedding bells tolled a death of sorts for her – a death of freedom and a carefree way of life and into the cage of royalty.
Death is personified; he struts around as a fair-haired man with a seductive voice. During times of Sissi’s doom and depression (at her wedding, after her loss of freedom, after the loss of her first daughter), he tries to seduce her. They dance and come within inches of kissing. He also influences Sissi’s only son to commit suicide.
My friend Kristin wrote a blog post about death’s personified roles in fairy tales and literature. She noted that “death comes to all, but death comes to some who are young and some who are old, and some suffer in death and some go peacefully.” In the case of the musical Elisabeth, Sissi went to Death gladly, even lustfully, though it was the weapon of a mad assassin that actually took her. Her son, however, was like a puppet being controlled by Death, even in his suicide. The contrast seems to stand on its head; one would think that a person who commits suicide would be longing for death, while a person murdered would feel that Death had stolen life. Yet in this portrayal of the event, the son was actually longing for his mother’s love, not for death; he had been deprived of his mother’s comfort by the overbearing mother-in-law (Franz Josef’s mother). Sissi in her depression did long for death, but it took the needle file of Lucheni to give her Death’s kiss.
It was a fascinating musical; it gave me food for thought and helped me brush up on the history of the Habsburg Empire (thanks to Katrina’s help!). As she reminded me, Sissi’s son’s nephew was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the guy whose assassination started World War I.
Friday was the last Class Party of the year, and the last ever for the Seniors. With several students gone for away basketball games, the group was somewhat reduced, but they managed to create some ruckus.
The first organized activity was “friend making” – basically a re-named version of speed dating. Since most of the kids in the senior class know each other quite well, there wasn’t too much awkwardness. Then we had smoothies.
While we made and distributed the juicy refreshment, the seniors entertained themselves with conversations and spontaneous games of Ninja, Signs, and Bloody Knuckles.
The last organized activity was a competition to create the best outfit using a Gelber Sack (yellow recycling sack). Five teams came up with everything from a superhero to Jesus.
Overall, the evening turned out well. There were no major disasters and the kids mostly had fun without getting too bored. It’s a great bunch of seniors!
Kandern finally stayed cold long enough for some snow to stick. It’s beautiful!
Emily captured my amazing running outfit designed to withstand wind, cold, and bright winter sun. Tacky, you say? You just wish you could be this cool.
Emily let me borrow her GPS wristwatch so I could track pace, distance, and time. It was fun using it!
I was explaining natural half steps and whole steps (between E & F and B & C). Suddenly I realized I had drawn a couple birds!
The strangest things are motivational. Marit and I started a 45 day practice challenge – students try to get 45 days of practice before the Music Festival. If they make it, they get some kind of prize (exact contents yet to be determined, but they will probably include something edible). To chart their progress, I let them color in a box for each day practiced.
My youngest student declared: “I’m going to try to practice every single day!” A high school student enthused, “This is so exciting! I’m totally going to practice more just so I can color in my boxes!”
Recently I have discovered some new (or old but new to me) music. These selections come at the recommendation of music students, German church members, YouTube, and friends in various parts of the world. Thank you to all of you who have given me these musical recommendations! I hope that others reading this blog can benefit as well.
1. Mosaic. This band is one of my new favorites. With lyrics saturated with Scripture, rich vocal harmonies, and uneven meters thrown into at least one song, this music is both spiritually enriching and musically novel. Check out #7 “Seek the Lord” to hear the meter vacillate between uneven quadruple (3+3+2+2), common time, and uneven quintuple time (3+3+2+2+2).
2. Phil Wickham. The lyrics from his “Heaven and Earth” CD put into words the longing in my heart for Heaven. These longings are often tied with my experience of God in nature, so somehow his music touches me deeply, despite somewhat unoriginal chords and song structure. The upside of unoriginal chords is that I can teach them to the guitar class!
3. Gungor. As one of Emily’s favorite bands, I’ve been hearing a lot of them lately. If you click the link, you’ll see the band playing in the forest. It’s an appropriate setting for a song about how the earth and nature belong to God. I like their sound – they use creative instruments.
4. Kari Jobe. A friend recently gave me this recommendation. Her lyrics speak to the tough times of life and how we can rely on God during the painful times. Her music sounds like an honest cry from the heart to know God more.
5. Leeland. Thought-provoking lyrics lead me to a reflective time of worship. I haven’t listened to much of them yet, but I plan on investigating more!
6.Lecrae. He’s a Christian rapper, speaking truth into tough places. This guy speaks powerful words. There are so many twists, turns, plays on words – you have to listen to each of his songs several times to really grasp the full meaning!
7. Matt Papa. Solid lyrics, sometimes inspired by John Piper. From my limited listening, he seems to have a mission-minded focus with a background of good theology.
8. Josh Garrels. Folk-ish style with an exciting testimony of God’s grace in his life. You can download an album for free!
9. “Somebody that I used to know” by Walk Off the Earth. How many hands can you fit around 1 guitar?
10. “Cello” by Udo Lindenberg, featuring Clueso. A German song about a cellist. Just watch the video; you might find it funny even if you can’t understand the cheesy lyrics. And for the record, I think German is a beautiful language, not all guttural and harsh like most people say. There’s a great deal of poetic potential in the textures of the consonants, and there can be a natural rollicking rhythm in speech which easily translates to songs. Just listen to a little more Clueso to hear it.
Some of my other favorites are Jars of Clay, the Gettys, Jon Foreman, Jenny & Tyler, Meredith Andrews, Tenth Avenue North, and Shane & Shane.
What else are you listening to? Add a comment!
Last Thursday was Stadtmusik Kandern’s “Jahresversammlung,” or “Annual Meeting.” The community band is a “Verein,” which is like a club. This was my first time attending the meeting. It was interesting to see all the ins and outs of how the band is run.
We all showed up to the back room of a local restaurant in full uniform (not my favorite outfit, since it involves wearing a bright red tie and a gray suit coat). A few spouses and non-musicians invested in the band also attended as observers. We began the evening by playing a march. Then everyone settled down with drinks for the official part.
President Manny gives a speech at one of our previous concerts. Note the red tie.
Several different things happened during this time:
From a previous concert. Euphonium player on top left: best attendance. Euphonium player next to him: 2nd best attendance. Horn player boy in center left: 3rd best attendance; also is the son of 2nd euphonium player.
At the end, we played another march. The (albeit small) audience applauded so enthusiastically, we played them another piece. Encores are traditional in all German ensemble performances, but this one seemed a bit superfluous even for German culture. The band outnumbered the audience! So to thank them for their appreciation, we played the Baden anthem. Emily says it sounds like a drinking song; decide for yourself!
This semester, there are 5 students in high school orchestra. It started out as 2 violinists and 3 cellists, but then we added a violinist and lost a cellist so now it’s 3 violinists and 2 cellists. It’s a fun group, quick to learn music and eager to play together.
We decided to have a “cabinet,” like student council but for orchestra. The violinist on the left is the secretary. She makes copies for me and keeps a set of spare parts in case anyone loses their music.
The cellist on the left (below) is our social chair. He’s in charge of making sure orchestra is fun by planning social events, recruiting members, and keeping the morale of the group up. I’m pretty sure this pose was his idea.
The cellist on the right is our president. Her job is to keep the social chair in line.
Intermediate Orchestra has 10 members this semester! There were a couple students missing from rehearsals last week due to illness and orthodontist appointments, but here are a few snapshots from the group.
Beginning band (aka flute/trumpet beginner duet) is off to a good start for the semester. We are working on a trio arrangement of “Joyful Joyful” as well as music from the Essential Elements book. We discussed the difference between ties and slurs; as I drew the examples on the board, they noticed that they looked like faces. They added a few embellishments to my musical illustrations. They also enjoyed purposely mispronouncing “slur” as “slurp.”
I’m working with one more group this semester – Suzanne Micheals and I are teaching the students selected for the ACSI Honor Choir event in Vienna this Spring. There will not be a string element of the festival this year, but I will be attending to glean some ideas and inspiration from the festival conductor, as well as being an advocate for a string component of next year’s festival.
Why is it that I do what I do, teaching orchestras and small groups of students? Why are private lessons not enough for budding musicians? Why do I want the string players in schools around Europe to have this chance to play together? Why the ensemble? “Ensemble” comes from the French word meaning “together.” Playing music is much more enjoyable when you get to share your experience with someone else. Struggling through a difficult passage alone can be disheartening, but when you have a friend with you, you don’t give up so easily. There is also something thrilling about being a part of something bigger than yourself, creating music as a team. One musician alone can be impressive, but a group of musicians playing in unity can be powerful as it gives voice to the range of human emotion.
Though we attempted to fix the machine last week, Emily’s load of laundry got stuck with 1 minute left in the cycle. We decided we should get some professional help to solve the “C2” riddle (water not pumping out).
Last Thursday I went to Bissinger, the local electric store that sells washing machines. They previously fixed our oven when it malfunctioned. In talking with the lady in the store, the problem sounded like a simple fix. There was just a little hose to drain the water, and another filter to the left that most likely needed to be cleaned in order for it to drain properly. So I went home and followed her instructions. There was a lot of gunk in the filter, so Emily and I figured the problem was solved.
Well, Emily ran the spin cycle on some of her wet clothes from her previous attempt at laundry, and the machine once again stopped and stubbornly said, “C2.” I fiddled around with it some more and ended up with water all over the kitchen floor. Clearly we needed professional help.
Top: "Girls have a right to their computers, too" Dad says: "Now come on, it's yours! You can program it!"
This morning I repeated my trip to Bissinger and explained the situation. The lady wrote down my information and said Mr. Bissinger would call my house when he could come. So this afternoon, he came over and took apart the entire washing machine and discovered that the pump was old and broken. He replaced it with a new pump, and now the machine works!
Today I’m thankful for clean laundry and a dry kitchen floor.
