IrishOboe

Forgive me.  Has it been more than a week since I wrote?!  Given that it is 12:45am and I haven’t been getting much sleep now doesn’t seem like a good time either, but I just bought a new CD and have to listen to it and I’m wired, so it seemed like a good time to blab about my life.  Let’s hope the typos don’t make it unintelligible.

Throwing chronology aside, this has been another week of amazing concerts.  As I wrote last time, my favorite two performers from Eastman came the same week to give concerts.  Last Friday (April 20^th) I met with Jimmy and Nigel and we had dinner before going to the concert together.  Paul O’Dette is amazing, and it was an incredible concert.  I’m not sure there was enough variety to keep the other two entertained, but they were very nice about it.  BTW, that was the day I had my German test I whined about.  I got the top mark (just barily) so there’s some more proof not to listen to what I say.  However, not knowing the end of the book is coming back to bike me in the course I’m taking now.  More that proof tests don’t mean a thing.

Argh, I see that even though I wrote last Thursday it was only about Thursday and not the rest of the week!  I could be typing until it’s time for church . . .  Let’s see if I can write in brief.

Last week Schola classes started but Inlingua was not yet back in session.  This was the perfect opportunity to get lots of work done, but amazingly the days slipped away, but for wonderful reasons.  God continues to pour His blessings out on me in this season of my life.  Some new people have joined Bible study and have some really interesting things to say.  We’re reading through and discussing the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  Bud finally has his revenge, I guess.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about suffice it to say that as a young teen I skipped catechism class frequently to rehearse music for the service.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of good stuff in it.  Forgive me for being a skeptic, but I do tend to distrust any systematization of Christianity for the simple reason that if it was so important to why didn’t Jesus do it?  Okay, that and the fact that often the people most obsessed (that’s obsessed, not simply interested in) with theology seem to bear the least fruit, but I should be philosophizing at 1am.  Is that a word?

Short version:  Bible study good – praise God!  Schola classes: auch gut.

Last Saturday was so good I can’t write in brief.  To start off the day Jimmy got me up early (I was planning to cut our plans since the concert went so late the night before) and we went to the Basel zoo.  Zoos might be more fun with nephews, but we had fun being kids and deciphering the German names for the animals.  Thanks to NMKB for the German language tapes with the animal song.

After the zoo I met with Randall Cook at his apartment to work on Baroque oboe reeds (Frau Wiesmann suggested an overhaul in my read equipment).  We hit it off.  Besides it being natsukashii to be greeted by a Papillion-related dog, his place was packed with old books and he had huge, old desk covered with oboes and tools.  Feeling at home we chatted about everything.  One cannot properly relate what happens in good conversation and company, but I’m sure you’ve had moment and times when you’ve found someone who sees things as you do in on topic or another.  That might help explain why I so easily let him take a knife to my Baroque oboe.  He reamed out the bore and also the C-key hole.  It’s a new instrument!  I couldn’t play his reed well, but even with my old one I could tell the difference.  Later I had a short meeting with Frau Wiesmann and she gave me a reed and I feel like a new person playing a new instrument.  It’s in tune and plays easily and I can actually relax while I play and it sounds decent.  How wonderful!  Even if you don’t play an instrument you must know how it is to work with the wrong tools and then get the right one.  Makes such a difference!

Back to my meeting with Mr. Cook.  It was so encouraging to talk with him because he is known as the best at what he does and he both started into early music late and he plays more than one instrument!  In fact, not only does he play and make Baroque oboes, he plays and teaches fidel (or is it vielle in English?) at the Schola.  Not only that, but he offered to teach me!  I had my first lesson yesterday (April 27) and it went as well as one could expect for not practicing in ten years.  Who knew those ten years of violin experience would come in handy?  It was the most interesting exercise in childhood associations, being in a lesson with a stringed instrument in my hand.  Talk of rosin, bow strokes, tuning in fifths.  It was another life!  We played duets together and that allowed me to take my mind off of my bad intonation and listen and imitate the sounds he was making.  It’s such gorgeous music!

Let’s see, back to life.  Sunday (22^nd) Mr. Stephan Stücklin preached a pretty good sermon and I lost myself in a fit of giggles over the hymn “Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled my Soul.”  I mentioned this during birthday call to Dad and we (including Heather and Mom) had a laugh about St. Paul’s choir days and “schlocky” hymns.  Dad’s signal that he found a hymn schlocky was to say (in dotted rhythm) “the wonderful the wonderful” which is out of some hymn we mercifully haven’t sung yet at BCF.  Now not only will I giggle at a cheesy chord in church I will now picture my Dad saying “the wonderful, the wonderful.”  I’m doomed.  But hey, I used to not be able to sing a praise song without tears of anger and sadness streaming down my face, so God may fix my giggle problem, too!

After church a bunch of us (always a different bunch, praise God – I hate cliques) went out to lunch then threw a Frisbee around in the park.  It felt so good to run around barefoot in the grass, though I was quite arm-sore the next day.  Enjoying the weather as we tossed that plastic disk around I looked at my brothers and sisters at BCF and noticed that they all have great, big, wonderful smiles.  It’s ear-to-ear and nose-to-chin, and eyes sparkling with friendliness and joy.  That, my friends, makes me happy.

After a few hours of Frisbee we crashed at Stephan’s and chatted and played cards until dinner, which Avron and Stephan made (I washed up – always the best deal).  Of course such a enjoyable day with conversation, people you care about, and games made me miss my family.  It’s easy to stay so busy with good things that I don’t really know I’m missing the wonderful gift of time with family.  I miss and love you all.  Maggie P. or bust in just a few short months!

While I was having a wonderful Sabbath the family was not so fortunate.  The airport bus they were on while taking Stephan for his flight to Paris was in an accident.  Some lady didn’t see the bus and pulled out in front of it.  Praise God Tamino was uninjured and Stephan only got whiplash, but Anu was hurled down the isle and hit her head.  Nothing serious was found at the hospital, but she is having a hard time recovering.  I’m relieved that I was able to help her with Tamino despite my schedule.  Stephan had to go to Paris anyway and that left poor Anu alone.  Please pray for her complete recovery.

One hour and one week done.  Is brevity in my vocabulary?  I guess so “an impossible style of writing” might be my definition.  This week (23-27) my German 3 class started, but I won’t write about it yet.  I’ve decided to drop some of the classes I was auditing so that I’ll have time to practice so I can get into the school and then take them for real.

Random germ:  I was so proud Tuesday when I helped a lady with the trams she asked if I was from Holland.  She was surprised to hear I was American because my accent didn’t sound it.  She has no idea what a complement that was to me.  I can hear Sasha saying “have a cookie.”  Hm, maybe some blini instead?

Yikes, all the inside jokes come out at indecent hours of the morning.  Wednesday was my dear fathers birthday – Happy Birthday!

Friday (27^th) I heard the Schola Orchestra for the first time.  Jimmy came with me to the concert, and I’ve never heard C.P.E. Bach sound so exciting before.  I watched the violinists a lot trying to get clues . . .

It was a very enjoyable concert and well played, but of course the best part was Kris Bezuidenhout.  He actually came out during intermission and we chatted a little.  He remembers me and even the pieces we played together and he’s as sweet as ever even though he’s treated like a god here.  He played Beethoven’s concerto no.1 in c-major and it was impeccable: perfect, expressive, and played with complete ease.  It was an amazing performance, but I couldn’t help wish I could listen to just him alone.  I remember him doing such amazing things with tone color and phrasing that just doesn’t fit so well when you’re playing with an orchestra.  Lucky for us he played an encore: a Beethoven sonata that had everything I was looking for and more.  He is so brilliant.  Each note is so clear and has a purpose.  It is coming from something and going somewhere and the next note come just exactly where it’s crying out to make its entrance.  Every phrase is filled to bursting with tension and each note is placed to keep it spinning until the resolution is finally granted just when it’s almost too late and not too soon.  He sings a song and cries out emotion and it pulls at your heart.  I almost cried and my neighbor did cry.  When he records the Beethoven sonatas I will buy it right away.  I wish you could hear him.  I think I’ll be ordering his Mozart CD even though I prefer Beethoven.  If Kris can make me love Mozart then you know he’s really got something.

I went to some of his master class today, which was sadly poorly attended.  Lucky for us Kris played a lot when trying to make his point.  The student performer was good.  His playing sounded proficient and expressive and a lot like classical music.  Then Kris sad down and the world came to life.  He talked about getting the focus of the sound on every note, and what a difference it made.  He suggested phrasing for optimal shock value, and it made us laugh out loud in delightful surprise.  He too talked about the importance of slow practice while thinking of every tone and articulation.  He also talked about fast practice of slow pieces to make sure the whole phrase has shape and direction.  Then there are the tone colors.  How can he get so many out of a mechanical instrument?  It’s simply amazing.  I’m sorry for blabbing, but I just can’t say enough.  I could listen to him all day.  Go buy one of his CDs!

Tonight was another concert, and this one I went to with Stephan.  It was put on by a girl at the schola, and was quite enjoyable.  It started 15 minutes late and Stephan said “It’s musician time.”  Who dose that remind us of?  ;) The first half was medieval alta capella music (shawms, doodle sack, trombone and percussion), which I quite enjoyed.  Ian Harrison is quite a virtuoso.  How can he get such a range out of an instrument with no keys???  The second half was a jazz group playing their take on a few medieval tunes.  I enjoyed it, but I know so little about jazz I found myself wondering from the music unless I could hear the medieval tune or something caught my attention, like when they broke into this bazaar modern music bit complete with screeching and all sorts of strange sounds that modern composers are apt to use.  It was easy to pay attention and interesting to follow.  I guess Eastman and all its new music had more of an influence on me than I realized.  Though I really couldn’t follow most of their pieces, they played an encore that was totally improvised.  Knowing that beforehand really helped me appreciate what they did.  The piano did his thing alone, which was nice, then the bass came in with a line and after a few hearings the drum and piano were in playing the line and filling it out (in rhythm and harmony).  It took me half the piece to figure out that line, and that was just the rhythm!  The saxophone was improvising all many of crazy stuff I couldn’t comprehend above it, but it was all I could do to sing along the bass line in my head while they played all kinds of crazy contrary rhythms against it.  And this is all improvised!  Still, it was far too late for a concert: 9-12.  I’m not the only one who gets silly at that hour.  The most serious conversation we had was about my last post on the Tissot advertisement.  He might sound American, but this is one Swiss guy.  He seriously defended the slogan right up to the time I stepped into my tram.  Freedom?  Oh, we can do without.  Maybe if it was a Swiss tradition it would be more important.  Oh wait . . .

Sorry Stephan, I had no witty retorts for you tonight, so I’m resorting to cheep shots on my blog.  Fire away!

Argh, it’s nearly 3am and I’m not tired.  After a certain point my body gets confused and thinks it shouldn’t be sleeping.  Why couldn’t the concert have been at 8?  Sorry again for the random nature of this post.  Hopefully it is entertaining in a different sort of way.