To pick up where Christina left off, today, we tour of Madrid extremely comprehensively. We saw the Palacia Real and took some time to get out and stretch there. The palace, impressive in size (much of it cannot even be seen from the front though being it was built on a ridge), can been seen on this link:
http://ahastudyabroad.org/Members/ameyer1/palacio-real-and-fountain.jpg
This is not one we took (no uploading of pictures right now, sadly), but maybe soon.
After the bus tour, we went to Musea Del Prado, the classical art museum and walked around with guided tours. It was fascinating to see Goya (exhibition of), Velasquez, and many, many more. Many of us were shocked by a few - such as Saturn Eating His Children - a title that more than one painting by more than one painter held. Most of the art was either inspired by mythology or Christian tradition. Throughout the tour, a few of us realized our inability as viewers to ¨read¨ classical paintings. I’m sure some course work will come from this.
The last thing I must mention is our concert. I admit, I went into tonight after last night moderately discouraged, but when we arrived, my attitude changed. We played an outdoor venue at the Universidad de Alcalá that, quote from Rich, ¨Sounded as good as Orchestra Hall.¨ It was really a multi-tiered courtyard constructed with Roman arches and the whole classical bit… a bunch of symmetry. And the sound! Wow… we could hear and be heard. It had a healthy amount of reverberation, but yet, not so much the articulation was lost. The crowd began small, but as our music spilled over the walls, our crowd grew substantially and they seemed to really enjoy it. Music so beautifully connects people and draws us all together.
And more later (it´s 3am right now! But the internet is free because of a kind hotel attendant!)
Blessings…
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Parks, castles, and rain in Spain's plain
A lot has happened in the past 48 hours, so I'll try to give the highlights without going on for pages.
The orchestra arrived in Spain on Monday morning. After checking into our hotel, Josu (our guide for the trip) gave us a quick rundown of Madrid and then we were set loose for the afternoon.
My first afternoon in Madrid got authentic quite quickly. Instead of going out to eat lunch, a group of us headed to the local grocery store for baguettes, fruit and chocolate. With a Spanish speaker in the group, we even braved the next door charcuteria (deli) for meat and cheese. It took us 10 minutes to walk to the nearby Parque del Retiro (and 10 minutes to decide whether the sign in Spanish *really* meant "Don't walk on the grass"), but we finally settled down on a bench in the shade for a delicious picnic.
After lunch, we wandered around the park. The Parque del Retiro is a huge park in the center of Madrid--a lot like Central Park in New York. Some of the awesome sights we stumbled upon included an amazing rose garden (all in bloom, because it's late May), a crystal-palace-like building next to a lake with a fountain and black swans, and an old-fashioned palace. Being musicians, we immedietely perked up upon hearing sax music, which was coming from a street musician playing next to a large square lake. We visited the imposing colonnade that was opposite said sax player but decided to leave when three policemen got off their motorbikes and started talking to the man sitting behind us on the stairs.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was worth the walk.
On Wednesday we were off to Segovia. We got off the bus, walked down the main street and bam! we were in front of one of Segovia's most famous landmarks--a Roman aqueduct. We received a tour through the winding streets to the top of the hill. Segovia is a beautiful little city, famous for its Romanesque churches and awesome carved wall decorations called graffito. The other main attractions are the city's cathedral and castle. I didn't tour the cathedral, but I did tour the castle, known as the alcazar. It's a real fairy-tale castle, with tall round tours and a deep moat. The most exciting part of the visit was probably walking up a very small spiral staircase to the top of the main tower--and then having a horde of Spanish school-children come rumbling down the stairs towards me. We stood still and I heard many voices say "lo ciento!" (Excuse me!) as they climbed down past us. The view from the top was magnificent; we could see the green surrounding countryside and even had a birds-eye view into the stork nests that sit on top of the trees in front of the castle.
Wednesday was also the day of our first concert. And herein lies a tale of (minor) woe. It was rainy. And cold. Our concert was supposed to be outside. We had a rain site at a local hotel, but unfortunately we were not able to rehearse, due to management concerns. The last time the orchestra had played together (and probably the last time many of us practiced) was Friday.
It wasn't the ideal concert situation, but we got dressed, warmed up, ran a few spots and then gave the concert. It's hard to judge the audience's reaction, but several pieces seemed to go over well and despite the general stress and inevitable missed notes, I think the concert went smoothly and sounded good.
That about wraps it up for now. In about ten minutes I'll be getting on a bus with the rest of the orchestra for a tour of Madrid and a visit to the Prado (!!!!!), before we head out to our next concert site later this afternoon.
Until next time, Adios!
Note: I really wanted to include pictures in this post, but don't have anywhere to download them right now...hopefully I'll be able to post some later. *crosses fingers* Also, I am not a Spanish speaker, so I apologize for any horrific mispellings that may have occurred in this post. I'm mostly using my ear and phonetics.
The orchestra arrived in Spain on Monday morning. After checking into our hotel, Josu (our guide for the trip) gave us a quick rundown of Madrid and then we were set loose for the afternoon.
My first afternoon in Madrid got authentic quite quickly. Instead of going out to eat lunch, a group of us headed to the local grocery store for baguettes, fruit and chocolate. With a Spanish speaker in the group, we even braved the next door charcuteria (deli) for meat and cheese. It took us 10 minutes to walk to the nearby Parque del Retiro (and 10 minutes to decide whether the sign in Spanish *really* meant "Don't walk on the grass"), but we finally settled down on a bench in the shade for a delicious picnic.
After lunch, we wandered around the park. The Parque del Retiro is a huge park in the center of Madrid--a lot like Central Park in New York. Some of the awesome sights we stumbled upon included an amazing rose garden (all in bloom, because it's late May), a crystal-palace-like building next to a lake with a fountain and black swans, and an old-fashioned palace. Being musicians, we immedietely perked up upon hearing sax music, which was coming from a street musician playing next to a large square lake. We visited the imposing colonnade that was opposite said sax player but decided to leave when three policemen got off their motorbikes and started talking to the man sitting behind us on the stairs.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was worth the walk.
On Wednesday we were off to Segovia. We got off the bus, walked down the main street and bam! we were in front of one of Segovia's most famous landmarks--a Roman aqueduct. We received a tour through the winding streets to the top of the hill. Segovia is a beautiful little city, famous for its Romanesque churches and awesome carved wall decorations called graffito. The other main attractions are the city's cathedral and castle. I didn't tour the cathedral, but I did tour the castle, known as the alcazar. It's a real fairy-tale castle, with tall round tours and a deep moat. The most exciting part of the visit was probably walking up a very small spiral staircase to the top of the main tower--and then having a horde of Spanish school-children come rumbling down the stairs towards me. We stood still and I heard many voices say "lo ciento!" (Excuse me!) as they climbed down past us. The view from the top was magnificent; we could see the green surrounding countryside and even had a birds-eye view into the stork nests that sit on top of the trees in front of the castle.
Wednesday was also the day of our first concert. And herein lies a tale of (minor) woe. It was rainy. And cold. Our concert was supposed to be outside. We had a rain site at a local hotel, but unfortunately we were not able to rehearse, due to management concerns. The last time the orchestra had played together (and probably the last time many of us practiced) was Friday.
It wasn't the ideal concert situation, but we got dressed, warmed up, ran a few spots and then gave the concert. It's hard to judge the audience's reaction, but several pieces seemed to go over well and despite the general stress and inevitable missed notes, I think the concert went smoothly and sounded good.
That about wraps it up for now. In about ten minutes I'll be getting on a bus with the rest of the orchestra for a tour of Madrid and a visit to the Prado (!!!!!), before we head out to our next concert site later this afternoon.
Until next time, Adios!
Note: I really wanted to include pictures in this post, but don't have anywhere to download them right now...hopefully I'll be able to post some later. *crosses fingers* Also, I am not a Spanish speaker, so I apologize for any horrific mispellings that may have occurred in this post. I'm mostly using my ear and phonetics.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Leaving in 7 Hours
Well... 7 hours and counting. Everything seems to be packed (or at least near the bag it needs to somehow fit into). I just hope my alarm clock works.
The last few weeks has been quite a blitz to get all of the music together; there are many little ensemble issues that we are working on, but overall, it seems as though we're ready. That, and I think everyone is ready to get off campus for a while and experience the Spanish culture.
Campus is buzzing because of graduation and the Orchies are especially excited tonight (and moderately stressed trying to move out of the dorms and pack for a 15 day trip at the same time). But alas, by two o'clock (or so) tomorrow afternoon everyone will be on their flight and likely happy to sleep the entire way to Spain.
Until tomorrow (or someday moderately soon)...
The last few weeks has been quite a blitz to get all of the music together; there are many little ensemble issues that we are working on, but overall, it seems as though we're ready. That, and I think everyone is ready to get off campus for a while and experience the Spanish culture.
Campus is buzzing because of graduation and the Orchies are especially excited tonight (and moderately stressed trying to move out of the dorms and pack for a 15 day trip at the same time). But alas, by two o'clock (or so) tomorrow afternoon everyone will be on their flight and likely happy to sleep the entire way to Spain.
Until tomorrow (or someday moderately soon)...
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