Tiny Planet

I can't believe that I JUST found this photo app! It turns your photographs into either tiny planets or rabbit holes and is pretty cool! You have to take a panorama shot and the edges of your picture should be on the same plane for it to work well. Here are some of my tries. The first one is one from two years ago in Innsbruck, Austria when I was teaching there over the summer and the second one is from this past Fall's UNO Space Day. (I need to finish writing that blog post!) Since I'm headed to San Francisco, I expect I'll be trying it out some more over there!

Field Trip to Salzburg

 

Salzburg, Austria - one of my most favorite cities in the world! I love it because it's charming, friendly, touristy, and most of all: MUSICAL! I've spent the past five weeks teaching music in the UNO Innsbruck program and on Wednesday, July 31 had the tremendous fortune to take both of my music classes on an afternoon field tip to Salzburg.

We left with  a packed lunch and our bus took us through incredibly beautiful Alpine valleys all the way there. When we arrived, we walked into the old town and met Professor Josef Wallnig at the Dom. Prof. Wallnig is a conductor and opera coach at the Mozarteum. Constanze Mozart had always wanted a music university in the city where her husband had been. When she married von Nissen, Constanze lived right in the middle of the old town. The Dom was closed for the moment because of preparations for the Jedermann play (held every evening at this time in the Domplatz).
So, he took us into the Residenzplatz - where the lovely horse fountain is and talked to us about the Dom and surrounding buildings. He mentioned that long before the original Dom was built (in 774), the area of the square, underground, had been an outstanding Roman place of worship and before that a Celtic place of worship. The Celts had been in the area first and had established salt mines. The mines around Salzburg have been in use for 7,000 years! The history of the Dom is incredible. It suffered from MANY fires and was rebuilt each time.

view of the Dom from Prof Wallnig's rooftop

Next, professor Wallnig took us to his apartment / house. He told us that it had been in his family for over 150 years and that it was here that Leopold Mozart came occasionally on business and often for the merchant theatre that happened in the area.

Just across the street lies the original Cafe Tomaselli. Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart (link is very good biography, right at one hour) used to come to this café and take coffee often. At the time, it was not ladylike for woman to be at cafés so Anna Maria, the mother and Maria Anna "Nannerl" we're notable to come. At a later time, Wolfgang's widow Constanze was given a written note from her doctor allowing her to have coffee for her digestive ailments.

Prof. Wallnig led us to the next floor where he gave us some water and elderberry juice. I noticed there was an Alpine hammered dulcimer, a guitar, a harpsichord, framed sheet music, a book from the late 1700's about Salzburg, and many old gorgeous, refined and interesting pieces of furniture. Then, he said it was time to work and gave out two bird water gurgling flutes, one wooden flute, and various small percussion instruments to members of my class and lined them up. They were nervous and giggly :-)
He told us that there was a tiny sinfonietta, the "Cuckoo" and that they were going to accompany him as he played the piano! I will try to upload the hilarious video once I get it! :-) :-)

Dr. Wallnig and my class perform!

It was joyful, fun, and HILARIOUS and there was lots of laughter!

After this, we went up to the rooftop where we had a SPLENDID panorama of the city! Unbelievably cool!
My students asked the professor a few questions and he talked to us about the festivals in Salzburg and his role in the Salzburger Festspiele. He gives pre-concert talks for all of the operas and sometimes gets to fill ion conducting! Many of his students are involved in the chorus, operations, or minor roles.
We then said our goodbyes and met our tour guide Brigitte who plays a type of folk flute and sings. She took us inside the Dom and talked to us about how it had been rebuilt several times and its architecture.


main altar of the Salzburger Dom

She also discussed the four small chamber organs up front near the main altar area under the dome. Having been there before, I had figured I had to do with small events and perhaps some polychoral music, but it was actually more to achieve a quadrophonic sound in the round. In fact, because the cathedral was just "the cathedral" for the archbishop etc. and not named after a saint or Virgin Mary, the main, large pipe organ in the rear was used only for entrances and exits of large services or for special guests. The smaller four organs up front were used for regular services, in Mozart's time, one have had strings, one winds, one brass and timpani and one soli /choir etc.

Each often had an organist and it was impossible to see each other so there had to be someone behind each organ keeping the pulse. There was also actually a fifth organ where the lowers altar is now. The four organs and various instruments - right under the main dome (73 meters) created a massive and quadraphonic sound.

We scurried off to catch the opening procession of the Jedermann play and then made our way to Mozart's Gebursthaus.

Here, we heard about Mozart's family, saw music examples from Leopold and Wolfgang and saw Mozart's clavichord. Most of the original furniture that had been in the other Mozart house (where they moved when Wolfgang turned 17) had been sold after Mozart's death. Constanze wrote a note and left it on the clavichord saying that upon this instrument, chosen for its softer dynamic, Wolfgang composed mostly at night and had written his final four pieces.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clavichord

Our guide then walked us across the river where she told us a little about Herbert von Karajan. She told us of his large number of recordings and the story of hos he was supposedly to have helped determine normal CD length of 74 minutes due to his not wanting to interrupt a Beethoven's 9th symphony recording. Here's the snopes on that: Undetermined: http://www.snopes.com/music/media/cdlength.asp

Herbert von Karajan

We ended with a walk through the lovely Mirabell gardens.

 

What a fabulous day!!
Salzburg, I WILL BE BACK!

Beautiful Alps on the way to and from Salzburg

Bell, Bells, Beautiful Bells! - The Grassmayr Bell Foundry in Innsbruck

I woke up this morning to the glorious sound of church bells ringing all over Innsbruck! All of the Alt Stadt (Old Town) churches and the Dom St. Jakob (the cathedral) were ringing wildly, announcing morning mass. As I sat in the cool breeze, pondering whether or not I should actually venture to get up, I breathed in the sounds of the bells and wondered about their stories and about bell ringing in general.

Dom St. Jakob, Innsbruck July 2013

Here in Innsbruck lies the Grassmayr Bell Foundry where, since 1599, bells of all shapes and sizes have been cast and sold. In the beginning of my time here, I visited the foundry.
 

Moved by the unending desire to create a ‘Stradivarius among bells’ ….

(© Peter and Johannes GRASSMAYR)



Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck  July 2013



The largest bell in Austria is the New Pummerin at 44,380 lbs. It is the “third largest swinging bell in Europe after the 23,500 kg (51,810 lb) Peter in Cologne Cathedral and the 22,700 kg Maria Dolens in Rovereto, Italy” (Wiki). This Rovereto Campana della Pace is located on the top of a small mountain and tolls every evening 100 times for the fallen in all wars. I hiked up to his bell in 2010. In Austria, you hear bells at several times during each day, chiming the hour or announcing a mass or another event. Every Friday, bells ring at 3:00 p.m. to remember Christ's suffering and death on the cross.

Campana della Pace, the great Maria dolens bell of peace in Rovereto, Italy (2010)

The largest bell from the Grassmayr foundry weighs 10 tons. Every evening at 5:00 p.m. in Telfs/Mösern in North Tyrol, this Peace Bell Friedensglocke  sounds for peace in the Alps.

 

The oldest bell in Austria was cast in 1200 and is from St. Martin am Ybbsfeld. Three hundred years later, Bartime Grassmayr , a bronze worker, set about on his travels tin Tirol to practice his skills and ended up in the art of bell-making. As Bach's musical inscriptions began with Solo Dei Gloria, so did Bartime's journals of his travels. The Grassmayr family has since worked together for over 400 years to stabilize their family company throughout historical events.

Molten metal is poured. Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck July 2013

Today, it is Peter and Johannes Grassmayr who continue the family's tradition locally. Their craftsmanship team consists of sculptors, casters, musicians, metalworkers, carpenters and electricians. In at least 100 countries, their bells can be heard and they still have a lively and international business going on today. In addition to taking commissions and casting new bells, they have developed materials that go along with manufacturing bells, ringing systems, and bell upkeep. The company is also widely known for historic bell restoration.

Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck
A craftsman works to carve the outside of a new bell, July 2013

The foundry takes special care to tune their bells and if they are more than 1/16 of a half step “off”, the bell must be cracked and they must start all over. How frustrating! Bells sit at least a month in a cast before being removed to test. The last steps include the decoration of the outside of the bell. Grassmayr bells have a unique ribbed design and are capable of producing many notes. The tones last a VERY long time as well. They continue to make all kinds of bells, including church bells (inside and out), bowl bells, cowbells, and long-sounding orchestral bells. The foundry keeps its exact process secret, although it includes mixing horse manure and clay and molasses! The specifications of a new bell’s shape, desired tone, and size are cut into an outline, then modeled in this clay mixture over a brick foundation.

Metal is poured into this device which holds the shape of the new bell as it is formed, keeping its curve
perfectly aligned. Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck July 2013

Bells are each christened and blessed. I had heard of that for a ship’s bells, but not in general. They are “exorcised, washed with holy water, anointed with the holy oil of the sick (outside) and chrism (inside) and given a name.” - http://romanmiscellany.blogspot.co.at/2007/05/baptism-of-bells.html

Small bell yard at Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck July 2013

The Grassmayr foundry also has an adjoining Bell Museum, managed by Christof Grassmayr. He is a war veteran who endured a ten-year prohibition of bell-ringing of any kind. There is a fascinating article by John Werfring about this silent time and bell cemeteries.

http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/museum/462085_Die-triste-Zeit-der-Glockenfriedhoefe.html

The shop of the Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck July 2013

More About Bells and Bell-ringing?
- Campanology
- Bell Casting / Bellfounding
- Change Ringing
- List of Heaviest Bells



Innsbruck

Innsbruck, Austria - a gorgeous city surrounded by snow-capped Alps, the capital of the state of Tyrol, a superb cultural center! The Inn river flowing throughout the center of the city provides the most awesome breezes and scenes in addition to relaxing settings. I LOVE IT!


Innsbruck was inhabited by the time of the early Stone Age and populated continuously since pre-Roman times. It's on the earliest and easiest route through the Alps which today is known as the Brenner Pass. It's pretty safe to assume that the Brenner Pass is one of the most breathtaking scenic train rides on our planet! In fact, I'd venture to say that it's pretty dang hard to take a bad picture here. You'd have to really work at it! :-)

Emperor Maximilian the 1st lived in Innsbruck in the end of the1400's. I'm not a history buff, AT ALL, but I like that because he surrounded himself with scholars and artists and therefore the city has become a lasting cultural center filled with art, architecture, and musical tradition! There is an Alten musick (early music) series, a Promenadenkonzerte (main palace square and promenade concert) series, a Tanzsommer festival, an organ master concert series, several festivals (including a New Orleans Festival that begins tonight!) and so much more! Schloss Ambras (castle Ambras) was built by Ferdinand II the archduke of Austria and that is where the early music series is held.

To the right is the beautiful and somewhat curious Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). Built in 1500 by Maximilian I, it's decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper-plated tiles. Now, it's a landmark where people get married!


Aside from the historical notes, a cool thing about Innsbruck is the lovely Inn river itself! The color is unusual and I have not seen any rivers or lakes this color except for here (see below).

What I've learned is that the color is due to glacial flouring (or rock flouring). That is when fine, fiiiiiiiiiiine particles of rocks are coming from glacial erosion and the grinding of bedrock. These particulates get into the water and end up being suspended, unable to settle into sedimentary layers right away. Sometimes, the water appears cloudy (glacial milk) and sometimes it's very clear, but turquoise, blue-green, or light green! ROCKS ARE COOL!  Another interesting tidbit our tour guide mentioned (few weeks ago) is that there are different flowers on either bank of the Inn river due to the northern and southern Alps differing in material. To the north, they are composed of limestone and to the south, they are mostly granite based.

Here is a link to my Facebook album of Innsbruck pictures - so far!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100341925929517.1073741827.2613080&type=1&l=e1f0b32cfe

I am teaching for the UNO - University of New Orleans Innsbruck Program, a stellar program in its 39th year with tons of class offerings, students from several universities, and a reputation for excellence! We partner with UGA in the program and faculty are from both UNO, UGA, and can be from other universities as well! It is one of our several fantastic opportunities for students and faculty to explore the world!

Places I've Been!

After my first "retro-post" covering my trip to South Korea in 2010, I began to wonder exactly how many times I have traveled outside of the United States. While I have always had an acute philosophical sense of time passing, Life still sort of slips up on me at times. Perhaps it does to us all. I was filing and organizing things in the music office at St. Paul's over the weekend with some lovely choir ladies and chatting with them at lunch about travels we'd had and that we wanted to make. I have been a great many places, but there are tons more I would love to explore! A partial list of those will probably be my next post. Here, there are a few details and some memorable stories, but the rest is just a list! :-)
Most of my trips have been choral performance tours, choral and orchestral workshops, and dissertation-related studies. Many of these have been reduced, partially-funded, and in the case of the England cathedral residencies: fully-funded. Sometimes, I've stayed with families and sometimes solo. I am very lucky indeed. I have also planned and penny-pinched for the rest :-) I always think of travel as part of the School of Life and as I like school..........and work in a university...........I need to continue to travel.........always..........wouldn't you say?  :-)

1990 Germany & Austria This was a fabulous two-week, packed performance tour with the Charleston Symphony Singers Guild (Emily Remington, conductor). It was my very first trip out of the country and it completely changed my life! I had gotten my first job in high school to be able to help raise money for myself to go and my parents funded the rest as a graduation present. Some of the cities we visited and sang in included: Mannheim, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Kempten, Vienna, Salzburg (as part of the Salzburg Music Festival w/ Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy), Innsbruck, Hall im Tirol, Ulm, Friedrichshafen, Lindau, Augsburg, the amazing Wieskirche, and Munich. Some of my favorite memories are from Kempten and Ulm.

When we arrived in Kempten, I remember we were exhausted and it was late in the afternoon. I think everybody took showers and naps. When I awoke, it was evening twilight and chilly. I leaned out of our window onto the small town square below and just took a deep breath of the fresh air. As I looked out into the quiet and calm scene, a noise came from a small door on the side of the church. A little old man walked slowly across the square and took out a giant set of keys. He opened a box on the side of the stone wall and made a turn with his hand. Then, one by one, tiny hanging bulbs began to light.....slowly, until they lit up a string of lights around the square. The little man watched them, one by one, as I was watching, and when everything was lit, he closed the box and walked away. It was a beautiful, peaceful moment.

In Ulm, we were visiting the Ulm Minster, which has the tallest spire in all of Europe. It was about closing time and our choir began to sing. We performed "Holy, Holy, Holy" by Maxcine Woodbridge Posegate. It wasn't a very difficult piece, or a known pinnacle of choral literature, but the stacked chords and continuous dynamic intensity made for a moment of glory and it is one of my very favorite sacred pieces. Everyone stopped to hear us. I had never been in a place like this before and never imagined music could feel that alive in the very air we breathed. It was astounding and I was forever struck with a fever for sacred choral music written for such spaces!

1990 England  Salisbury Cathedral residency w/ Trinity Episcopal Cathedral choir in Columbia, SC, directed by John Haney. A small group took a van to Cardiff, Wales afterward, 1990 This trip was less than a week after my return from the above Austria/Germany trip! We sang evensong every day and stayed in the boychoir house. I remember that they had what I would call "straw ticks" for beds and there were a few pencil drawings behind a few of them. One of my favorite memories is of us sitting on the grass outside Salisbury cathedral and looking up at the enormous stone facades, lit by starlight and spotlghts around the side. It was a special and rare experience. Another memory is walking alongside the Avon river (Hampshire). The cathedral staff had provided bag lunches for us and inside were boiled hotdog sandwiches with butter. The ducks were very excited that day at their unexpected feast. Below is a famous painting of Salisbury Cathedral by John Constable (1776-1837).

1992 England  St. Paul’s Cathedral residency with Trinity Episcopal in Columbia, SC  1992 St. Paul's was amazing!! Getting to spend extra time in the building and below it was a treasured experience as was singing evensongs during the week and mass on Sunday. It was on this trip that I began to enjoy organ concerts and repertoire. We got to see partsof the cathedral gthat ordinary tourists do not see. During this trip, I finally saw The Phantom of the Opera and Cats. I also discovered English cider and that I liked it.....a lot!

1995 Poland & the Czech Republic with the Emory University Choir, where I had just finished my Masters degree in conducting. We began our tour in Prague for about four days. I loved the pedestrian places in Praha and the bridges. The Industrial Revolution had not been good to the face of the city and its environs, but it was still georgeous. I also loved Wenceslaus Square and the street musicians. Our group took a train from Prague to the beautiful Liberec where we observed a choir rehearsal and performed. Then, on to Czestochowa to see The Black Madonna at the Jasna Gora Monastery. through the Tatra Mountains (they were SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!) to Krakow, Poland. We visited Auschwitz the next day and I was completely overwhelmed. It was raining, cold, and dreary. Being in such a dreaded place of death and seeing what took place there was chilling. We took an overnight train back to Prague.

1996 France, Austria, Germany (stayed at a dear friend's apartment and had a blast while they were there and then took care of their place while they were away). We visited Freiburg and the Schwartzwald. After my visit, I took trains back through Switzerland & Germany to Austria to meet the USC choir for their Austria/Germany tour.

England  Yorkminster cathedral residency with Trinity Episcopal in Columbia, SC. This trip was a blast because several different Trinity choir generations mixed for the trip and I had friends from two different degree programs! We stayed in the stable house, where the jockeys stayed, about a mile and a half outside the walled city of York. LOTS of Viking history here and archeological interests. I saw a hedgehog in the grass for the first time! Each night, we would go to the horse pasture after dinner and give the horses sugar cubes

:-) We took over the local pub and made a lot of friends. We also were given special seats at a service at Yorkminster and the Queen herself attended. The music was GLORIOUS! I'm going to have to dig up my picture of the Queen mother in her green hat in her car. The picture below is of the tremendous minster.

1997 Austria & Italy: USC Concert Choir (as an alum) trip, over New Year’s. It was FOUR degrees on New Year's Eve and we were on the streets of Vienna drinking champagne. At the stroke of midnight, radios and TVs on large screens broadcast the pummerin - the gigantic bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral - you can hear it at this link www.stephansdom.at  Then, everyone began to dance Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz. Check out this YouTube of Ricardo Muti conducting it...interesting facial expressions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woWJqKznCSc The streets were packed with people dancing, exchanging small toy pigs (it's a Viennese tradition as well to exchange Glucksbringer, or lucky charms such as these) and then toasting. Some people began to toss bottles and champagne glasses on the ground. It echoed all around and sounded as loud as fireworks.

1999 England & France: USC Jazz band and Jazz choir to London and Paris to perform Duke Ellington’s Sacred Service. We sang in Notre Dame! One funny thing (well, NOW, it's funny), was that our group went to a restaurant underground for lunch one afternoon before leaving Paris for the village of Honfleurs in Normandy. The floor had tree roots all over it and the trees were growing right up through the top floor and out above it. I ordered French onion soup because I thought "we're in France.....so I should try French onion soup..." As one of the waitresses brought our foods, she tripped. CUE slow motion - a flying, swirling, disc of hot melted cheese and onion and bread flew across the way and landed directly upon my kneecap and molded itself onto my jeans. O U C H !! I have to say that I did sort of scream because it hurt so much and was so dang HOT. The worst part was having to get back on a hot bus for hours and smelling like stank onion.

1999 Bulgaria – My first trip to this magnificent country! It was at the end of a very hard spring semester and much was going on in my life as a whole. I was actually quite down about it all, but signed up for the choral workshop through what is now the Varna International company. It was a workshop to study the choral music and historical styles of American, Bulgarian, French, and Russian music. Larry Wyatt (The USC in SC), Helene Guy (Paris Conservatoire), Boris Tevlin (Moscow Conservatory), and Marin Tchonev (Bulgaria, the choir of Morski Zvutsi) were the clinicians. I loved my experience so much that I created a proposal to teach a course the following year! In another post this summer, I will expound on my beloved Bulgaria!

2000 - Bulgaria – choral workshop, stayed to teach a week afterwards

2001 - Bulgaria – choral workshop, orchestral workshop, taught, then Rome afterwards

2002 - Bulgaria – orchestral workshop, taught, then Greece afterwards. After exploring Athens for two days straight, I walked to the pier and hopped on a boat to Paros for a week. I stayed in a small B&B, walked all over the island, and spent a whole day horseback riding from one end of the island to the uninhabited area on the other side and along the beach. I got BAD sunburn, but had a BLAST! :-)

2003 - Bulgaria & Scotland – I will write more on Scotland later this summer as well. I had quite an adventure. It began with my arriving in Aberdeen and staying six miles outside of the city. The next day, I walked into town, all over town, and walked back! WHEW! There was a giant cow munching grass outside my hotel (The Water Wheel) window. There were TONS of people with my EXACT same hair color in Scotland! I rented a car and spent a week driving all over northern Scotland via single track roads, crossing the Cairgnorms, and including the Isle of Skye. I got lost a few times, didn't make reservations, and almost ran out of gas. It was so much fun!!!

2004 - Bulgaria – orchestral workshop. This time, I stayed for a month, visited schools (including a folk high school in Varna), interviewed some conductors for my dissertation, and I got food poisoning about five days before I came back. I watched Ronald Reagan's funeral service from my apartment bed and ate ice chips I made from apple juice.

Bulgaria & Romania – took my students to participate in Brahms Requiem workshop. About seven of us took a van to Bucharest for a day and a half. Then, we took a train through the gorgeous Transylvanian Alps to the Medieval town of Sighishoara where Vlad Dracul was born. 2007 I will do a separate blog post on this over the summer. So....that makes THREE that I hope to remember to do!

South Korea  & the DMZ - “Fam” tour, January 2010  See previous blog post! :-)

Austria & Italy - In 2010 I taught music for the UNO Innsbruck program. For three weekends, I took train trips to Italy (weekend #1 - Bressanone/Bolzano, weekend # 2 – Rovereto, weekend # 3 - Padua/Venice), and for the final weekend my friend Kavita and I went to Salzburg and had a BLAST! I hope to teach for the Innsbruck program again. I will probably blog about a little of this trip and my weekend adventures! This picture is from my glacier hike!

Brasil & Argentina – July 2011 Spent three weeks working on a book with my colleague. In Brasil, I visited Curitiba, Blumenau, Jaragua do Sul, and Iguaçu. I visited the Argentine side of Igazu and the surrounding small town. Separate post, but that one might be about photography. I had a blast! I drank espresso and red wine and LOVED them for the very first time. I also learned to make pear risotto, understand some Portuguese, and ate pine nuts as giant as Brazil nuts. I was collaborating on a book project - which will be finished THIS SUMMER with my colleague maestro Daniel Bortholossi. The "88" butterfly below is from the Argentine side of the Iguazu falls natural reserve. The falls on both side were magnificent!!!

Mexico – 6 cruises (1 self, 1 w/ friend,  1 summer, 1 Nov., 1 w/ Mom, 1 w/ Jefferson Chorale) I’ve been able to see historically significant Mayan ruins at Uxmal, Chichen Itza, and Tuluum. I've been ablt to do so many because I had the great fortune to work with a wonderful company that helps plan choir trips and festivals. They sometimes need a judge for a group, based on national standards and sometimes they needed an escort for a group and called me. I am indebted to my friend Dawn N. for these opportunities! :-)

There! So, that's all I can think of a yap about for now. Wow, now I have tons more to blog about. I think I like blogging  :-) I will probably do a separate post on each one of these trips!!!!! So many terrific experiences!

Cheers!