Fruchthalle Choir concert with USAFE band

Hopefully, I will find videos of this online soon.  The concert was only yesterday, but AFN (American Forces Network) was videotaping our choir's Fruchthalle concert with the USAFE (U.S. Air Force - Europe) Band.  Here is a picture to prove that this did indeed happen.  This comes directly from the US Air Force Europe Band website.  Can you see J and I?  I'll give you two hints:  I'm in the back row, and J is two people away from me...



I heard rumors that the guy next to me and I were on close up on video.  I don't know why, but I had a lingering suspicion this would happen.  Without intending to, I often end up on camera at large events.

The band was incredibly good!  Later, I learned that it is a prerequisite to have a Master's degree in music to even be considered for US military bands.  Not only that, but if you get accepted, you then have to go through regular boot camp and start at the lowest rankings possible.  Despite all this, it is still tough competition to get in!  Talk about the music performance industry being cut-throat! 

More interesting facts were that one of the trumpet players in this band and the piano player for the band are both married to choir members.  Not pictured here are the conductor, and three singers.

For me, I truly hope I can post at least one of the songs we did on this blog in the near future.  The entire concert is supposed to be streamed online in the near future.  It was also a cool feeling to be on the performing side of a concert band again.  I haven't been in 10 years, when I was in college.  I still got the stage butterflies right before getting on stage.

At the end of the concert, when the choir left the stage and the band did an encore piece, I noticed in the front row at least three 3-star generals from the air force!  I have never seen that many high-ranking officers in one spot before.  Up to this point, the most I had seen was a 2-star Army general with several colonels in one group.  Word on the street was that the generals were not there at the beginning of the concert, but were flying in from somewhere else in Europe and happened to make it to the concert in time for the second half.  I cannot imagine having a schedule that busy.

In other news, this is my first post using my brand new laptop!  It runs on Windows 8 which, once you understand the whole reconfigured desktop, is really just like all other Windows operating systems with things moved around a little bit.  I intentionally got a quad processor computer with a mid-range radeon graphics card and 750GB of hard disk.  I plan on it lasting me at LEAST 4 years if not more.  Ideally, I will condense my other two computers onto this one.  That's a lot of pictures, videos, and genealogy records...  So far, I like the laptop.  It's got a wider keyboard, which I already enjoy, and the speed and graphics are pretty slick.  It Skypes better than either of my previous computers, which is also good.  I haven't pushed it for performance yet, but I will get a chance soon.  If I get anxious, I can also upgrade the RAM quite a bit.  It's just a question of how soon I will choose to do so.

Hopefully, my next post will have video footage of the concert.

Snowflakes and Songs

This past week has had some interesting events.

First off, it has snowed about once every other day.  Now, J and I being from Minnesota, there's little competition.  The temperature has rarely fallen far below freezing, and the 1" snowfalls typically melt within 24 hours.  It does make for some pretty snowfalls and scenery, and we did learn that they actually have snow plows here (I was quite skeptical of this given the high prevalence of cobblestone streets).

Here is a video of one of the puppies I walk.  He was trying to catch snowflakes during our walk.  Yes, it was this puppy's first winter.  I thought it was quite cute!

Another thing about this week is that J and I have four, count 'em, FOUR choir concerts THIS WEEK!  This is pretty intense for what I am used to with choirs.  This is primarily because J and I are a part of the small group choir as well, which also performs extra concerts this time of year.  Now, to keep things in perspective, this is also high season for the choir.  There are really only four concerts in two weeks, but the small choir tacks on two more.  After this, they will take the rest of December and most of January off, I am told.  Our next concert after December won't be until possibly April or May.

J and I had a concert this past Tuesday and today.  We have two more tomorrow, that we know of.  Here is photographic proof of our small choir concert on Tuesday.  The pictures were taken by her co-workers who attended.

The concert today was interesting.  First, it was in a small, modern looking church.  Second, it was freaking cold in there!  The pews had heat vents beneath them, but the altar area was completely unheated and the cold air seemed to seep in through the huge stain glass window backdrop.  Every choir members' feet were borderline numb by the end of the concert.  Third, I learned a few things about German culture.

About the German culture I learned tonight.  Stateside Americans may not appreciate how big Christmas is in Germany.  Halloween is an imported holiday in Germany, only really celebrated by the current generation for the past 10 years or so.  Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Germany, for obvious reasons.  Around the Autumnal Equinox, a harvest season of sorts is celebrated with "Herbsmarkts."  The next thing after that is Christmas season.

Christmas is truly celebrated as a season here.  Christmas Markets or Weihnachtsmaerkt open as early as late November and go to as late as early January in some places.  This whole time, most town squares are filled with small stands selling Glogg, Gluehwein, candy, chocolate, clothing wares, roasted chestnuts, and other food.  They also have little dances, miniature choral and instrumental concerts, and ornaments everywhere.  Every stereotypical Christmas thing being described in old Christmas carols pretty much is the norm in these markets.

At the concert J and I sung today, most of the music was modern/non-traditional music with Christmas themes.  However, we did two encore pieces.  Both were traditional German Christmas carols.  One of them, Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen, English translated as Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming, I was familiar with in many church choir settings.  The other, O du froehliche, I was by far unfamiliar.  The small, older congregation seemed to know all of the lyrics for all three verses for both of the songs by heart.  They even started crying at the end of each song.  This was the first concerts I had ever performed in where the audience started crying out of appreciation of the music.

What did I learn?  Christmas means a lot in Germany.

J and I attended an Episcopal Service last Sunday.  Seeing as I'm Roman Catholic and she's Presbyterian, we think it may be a good compromise in the future for children down the road.  On base, we liked the time of the service, 10:30am, and all of the members, however few there were, welcomed us very warmly.  J and my skills as singers may be offered during Christmas time as the congregants was hoping to have a small Christmas music program.  With only about 20 congregants that we know of, the pickings are truly slim.  We hope to attend service there tomorrow, so we'll see if the opportunity presents itself.

In other news, look out world!  I plan on purchasing a new laptop possibly by the end of next week.  We have it picked out, but I want to wait another week to make sure that we can save up to afford it.  I'll update you on this event should it happen as planned.