International Night

We had our three hour class (last one) with Andrea Ostertag today. Brian Burnett predicted they'd have me down on the floor a lot and boy was he right (plus leaping, turning, twisting, spinning, etc.) I think she exercised every muscle in our bodies. It was exhausting, but a very good experience. The good part is that she wore out every muscle about equally, so nothing really stands out as hurting.

We did a variety of trust exercises involving guiding a person through space using just hand or finger touch. I mean REALLY moving - fast, slow, high, low you name it. The morning concluded with us performing choreography of a painting. Creating a relationship between music and visual arts is something I find interesting and it was good to have such a concrete experience of it

I've often thought I would like to retake a level. The International Summer Course experience is like retaking level 2/3 movement and a little level 1 basic (no recorder whatsoever.) Soili today, in the course of one of her brilliant lessons, covered the basic accompaniment techniques of the barred instruments with great efficiency.

I was really impressed at the International Night concert with the skill and creativity that the various national groups applied to the use of the Orff instruments in their performances. The concert included many example of folk music and dance from around the world. Many of the groups gave us the opportunity to get up and dance with them. Even though I was pretty tired and hungry when I went, I am so glad I attended.

One note for those of you who might come: the brochure says bring wind and string instruments. I thought maybe there would be some chamber music opportunities or something so I packed my flute and four different recorders and dragged them over here. I didn't touch them once. In another post I will share more of the fruits of my hard won experience here in Salzburg.

Incidentally, this instrument is in the showcase at the Institut. It purports to be part of the Anklung Gamelan, but I saw no such instrument at Dr. Han's. It is entirely made of bamboo. I am very curious about it.

I had a late dinner with four delightful folks from Finland. As I suspected, they said it is tiring for ESL people to speak in English all day, but they were very gracious, and included me in their conversation. It wasw a lovely dinner.