Humble Beginnings
Christmastime in Berlin has reminded me that it is not about the Christmas decorations (especially those revolving around Santa, reindeer, or other characters). While it is nice to have a decorated tree, lights hanging on the wall, or red and green placemats, that is not what Christmas is about. These things definitely help it feel more like home and help combat homesickness during the holidays, but I need to remind myself that I do not need these items. The idea of the Christmas tree came to my mind when I was thinking about this. It starts as a basic pine tree. There are lots of those in… Read more >>
A Dynamic City
Can you see the awesome effect the sun has on the Fersehturm (T.V. tower)? I've heard it called the "kreuz effect" because the architecture of the tower makes a cross when the sun hits it just right. I saw this one day when I was sight seeing with one of my team members. I turned around and there it was shining brightly for everyone to see. I also like how from almost every angle you can get the cross on top of the Berliner Dome in the picture. This city changes so fast from construction going down the street to new restaurants opening over the weekend. There is so much happening and so much… Read more >>
A Freshman Again
Friday will mark being in Berlin for three weeks. During this time I have been introduced to so many new things and experiences. At first I thought living in a new city and taking the train system would be scary, but maps and wonderful team members have made it much better. Before heading to Berlin, I expected the first couple of weeks to feel like a vacation because I was in a foreign land. However, this has not been the case. I have been trying to decide what it feels like and I finally came to the conclusion that it feels like freshman year of college all over again. I had a great freshman… Read more >>
Conducting my sadness
Recently, I have been thinking of my conducting class in graduate school. It was two weeks of practicing every night to train my brain to cue choral and orchestral parts, listen to all the sounds at once, and show the meaning of the piece through my body. Talk about being exposed! I had to do all these things at the same time and try to show the powerful emotions in Faure’s Agnus Dei movement from his Requiem. For those of you not familiar with classical music here is a recording to give you an idea (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1FKoPO-S2w). It took concentration to follow my markings of… Read more >>