Hello friends! Sorry for the not-so-creative title. We've been very busy, and thus I've been unable to post for awhile. This also has created a jumble of thoughts to write about...
First - Students continue to be great in all aspects of the tour. I've really enjoyed continuing to work with the North High students of course, and have been really really excited to get to know my new South High students for this tour! As I wrote that last sentence I realized something else - I very rarely think of them as North or South students... they have bonded to become one very talented, very funny (see end of post), very wonderful group of students. It's like they've been together for years!!
Second - Our concert the other night - Because of the technical demands of Godzilla, and the needs of setting up an 80+ piece concert band on a stage, I had the opportunity to work with Peter, the Auditorium Master of the concert hall. I serve as the Auditorium Manager at North High, a position that I enjoy very much (although I really want to go for a title change now!). I like having the opportunity to create a great performance space for the many school, community and professional groups that use the Auditorium at North. I also have been known to be a little sensitive when a group requests something out of the ordinary (like a projector for a Godzilla presentation). Add to that the stress of such a large group getting set up on stage, rolling in cases and equipment, and, oh yeah, we would REALLY like to have the grand piano please and not the small digital piano you set up already... well, you get the idea.
But here's the great thing... While Peter was initially a bit nervous and short about the whole thing, all it took was taking the opportunity to reach out to him a bit. Taking an interest in what he does, showing appreciation for what he was doing for us, being careful to follow his instructions. He soon started going out of his way to make sure EVERYTHING was perfect. And Peter - It was! It was a pleasure working with him - an Aud. Master/Manager bonding moment. And like so many other moments on the trip, it showed that while we have many differences between Germany and US, we have MANY MANY more similarities!
(additional note on the above) Aud. Crew Tech. Friends - Peter was very very proud of his new light board. the ETC Ion console. It just came out last year from the same people who brought us the Congo Jr. It looks very similiar but uses a different philosophy of lighting design. Both boards are really really great. This one just works differently than ours (think Mac vs. Windows). Peter has now had the board for 26 days. He's been counting! :)
Third - Our students (and staff) were very moved by the resounding applause and appreciation shown at our concert. My hope is that our students permanently record that moment in their brains and remember it as they continue their lives as consumers of music. I hope they go home and go out to live music concerts of all kinds and show that same kind of appreciation for music (and for all art, for that matter). That is definitely something we can learn from our German friends!
Fourth - The blending and appreciation of old and new. Throughout our tour we have had the pleasure to see very very old archtecture and artwork (the castles, the old town section of Bietigheim-Bissingen) as well as very new (the Mercedes-Benz Museum) and a great combination of the two. The picture below is of the horse sculpture found just down the street from the Musikschule in B-B (the one that is in a 700 year old(ish) castle!)
Finally - Oh yeah, the humor... The video at the bottom of this post is courtesy of several students who put on a multi-act performance for us in the second bus, doing all sort of fun choreography, syncronized dances, "whack-a-mole" impressions, and so on... This is an oldie but a goodie... Mr. Turkey!
