Day 15: June 28, 2016
Today was a whole day of traveling. We wake up bright and early to grab breakfast and then we drive from Edinburgh to Stranraer to board the ferry back across the North Channel back to Northern Ireland.
The ferry ride was more rocky than the ride to Scotland and I felt unsteady on my feet. The ferry has nice amenities: movie theatre (free), arcade, restaurants, massage services...it was very comfortable. However, on the deck, the motion of the boat was less noticeable, so I did spend a considerable amount of time outside, despite how cold and windy it was, just because I felt less nauseous leaning on the railing. It probably has something to do with the fresh air.
Other than going on deck, we spend most of our time playing card games. We’ve finally managed to play enough Euchre matches and tournaments to the point where none of us really want to play anymore. Well, none of us except for Eric, who plays Euchre on his phone when there isn’t an actual Euchre game going on.
After the ferry, we get on the bus for another 2 hours to Dublin, where we stop at Taylors Three Rock for our last supper. Here, we’re served delicious Irish food and treated to a show of an Irish band and 6 Irish dancers.
Irish people, from what I’ve noticed, really love clapping (whenever we play Irish tunes at concerts, the audience claps to the beat), and we clapped often to the beat of the tunes played by the Irish band. The dancers pulled some MYA people to dance with them and it was fun to see Joelle get spun around and for Natalie to show us some twirls.
The band is comprised of three members: one guitarist who also sings, one percussionist (term is used loosely) who also sings, and a “wind” player, who played the bagpipes and the penny whistle for us tonight. We also find out that he makes his own bagpipes…how cool is that?
The band asks for song requests and Neil yells out “Whiskey in a Jar.” They also play “Bang, Bang Rosie” and other traditional Irish tunes. They also find out that we’re musicians and ask us if any of us want to play with them. None of us brought our instruments into the restaurant, except for Alex, who was paranoid that the changing temperature and humidity in the bus (that it would get hot) would hurt his clarinet. We made fun of him for bringing it in, but all of us were cheering and clapping and telling him to go onstage to play.
So Alex has a jam session with the band and it’s supercool. They perform U2’s “With or Without You” and they give Alex three or so opportunities to solo. Then they ask Alex to play an excerpt of something and then Chris yells out Yiddish Dances, so Alex plays a few lines from Yiddish Dances.
After the really fun dinner, we return to DCU and it feels like we’ve only just started our tour, since this was the first place we stayed at…which is a little sad because it was the last day and it’s still shocking to think that these 2 weeks have flown by so fast.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Monday, June 27, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 14
June 27
The whole MYA group takes a group near Edinburgh Castle and then we have 4 hours to roam. First, we go get lunch at Nandos, which is this restaurant specific to the United Kingdom. Eric and I try out all the hottest sauces by dipping chips (French fries) in each of them, and they’re actually not that spicy.
Our group then splits up because some of us want to try haggis while others don’t want to and so they spend more time wandering while I go with some people to find a restaurant that serves haggis. Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste bad at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve ate weird things like liver before, but the taste of haggis wasn’t unpleasant at all. It’s very rich so anything more than two bites is too much, and I would never want to eat this often, but it’s not that gross.
We then get some ice cream, where I try this flavor called “Scottish tablet” which tastes a lot like caramel and toffee. We stop at some souvenir shops and gape at the TV because it’s showing a concert of this band of Scottish bagpipes that call themselves the “Red Hot Chili Piper” and because none of us are able to actually play bagpipes, we were mesmerized by the fact that noise is being made even when the bagpiper is breathing. We enter Edinburgh Castle and walk until we reach the restricted area, where you need to pay to continue inside the actual castle. It costs 16 pounds per person and we are all broke, so we just take pictures in the “free” area, and then wander around. We meet up with Sean, a chaperone, and we walk around some more, finding a candy shop where lots of us try bricks of macaroons, tablets, and fudge. Eric buys this candy that’s a lot like those Valentine’s Day sweethearts hard candies. It looks like broken pieces of chalk and it actually writes on chalk because Eric tested it out and rubbed out “MYAC” on the cobblestones!
As we’re wandering around, we see a streetperformer who is doing juggling acts with fire. He puts humor into this performances (it’s a little dirty but it flies right over the heads of little children), but it was entertaining and his impressions of jugglers from different countries (Irish, German, American, British) were also funny.
We load the buses and head towards our hotel. After spending 2 nights in a hostel, everything has been so wonderful, and today we spent the night in the same hotel chain as the one we stayed in Glasgow, Premier Inn, and I just want to say that it’s wonderful to have soft beds with no bugs, wifi in the rooms, and workable, hot showers that don’t turn off every 8 seconds.
Ethan and I go for a walk because he wants to see this tower that apparently has 287 steps. I didn’t really want to stay in a hotel and I wanted to walk around a bit, so I agree to go with him. I was dumb enough to trust him without looking up a map to get directions on how to get there and I was also not thinking and didn’t bother to even ask him for the name of the tower. Ethan also is pretty bad with directions and has a bad sense of direction in the first place. Anyways, so apparently he hears directions from our tour guide to take a left, go on a big street, and then go straight. So we leave the hotel, take a left, go on a big street, and as we’re walking, we notice that things are getting more residential and the buildings are no longer stores, but apartments.
So yeah, we’re lost, we don’t have wifi so we can’t look up a map now, and we don’t even know the name of our destination so we can’t ask anyone about it. We end up walking around, passing by the University of Edinburgh, and then walking back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, we do make it back in time for dinner and at the table, I look up the tower and realize that it’s a tower that I actually found really cool and would have loved to go to. Oh well.
We had freetime at the hotel before curfew, which is 10pm because we have to wake up really early tomorrow to go back to Dublin.
The whole MYA group takes a group near Edinburgh Castle and then we have 4 hours to roam. First, we go get lunch at Nandos, which is this restaurant specific to the United Kingdom. Eric and I try out all the hottest sauces by dipping chips (French fries) in each of them, and they’re actually not that spicy.
Our group then splits up because some of us want to try haggis while others don’t want to and so they spend more time wandering while I go with some people to find a restaurant that serves haggis. Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste bad at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve ate weird things like liver before, but the taste of haggis wasn’t unpleasant at all. It’s very rich so anything more than two bites is too much, and I would never want to eat this often, but it’s not that gross.
We then get some ice cream, where I try this flavor called “Scottish tablet” which tastes a lot like caramel and toffee. We stop at some souvenir shops and gape at the TV because it’s showing a concert of this band of Scottish bagpipes that call themselves the “Red Hot Chili Piper” and because none of us are able to actually play bagpipes, we were mesmerized by the fact that noise is being made even when the bagpiper is breathing. We enter Edinburgh Castle and walk until we reach the restricted area, where you need to pay to continue inside the actual castle. It costs 16 pounds per person and we are all broke, so we just take pictures in the “free” area, and then wander around. We meet up with Sean, a chaperone, and we walk around some more, finding a candy shop where lots of us try bricks of macaroons, tablets, and fudge. Eric buys this candy that’s a lot like those Valentine’s Day sweethearts hard candies. It looks like broken pieces of chalk and it actually writes on chalk because Eric tested it out and rubbed out “MYAC” on the cobblestones!
As we’re wandering around, we see a streetperformer who is doing juggling acts with fire. He puts humor into this performances (it’s a little dirty but it flies right over the heads of little children), but it was entertaining and his impressions of jugglers from different countries (Irish, German, American, British) were also funny.
We load the buses and head towards our hotel. After spending 2 nights in a hostel, everything has been so wonderful, and today we spent the night in the same hotel chain as the one we stayed in Glasgow, Premier Inn, and I just want to say that it’s wonderful to have soft beds with no bugs, wifi in the rooms, and workable, hot showers that don’t turn off every 8 seconds.
Ethan and I go for a walk because he wants to see this tower that apparently has 287 steps. I didn’t really want to stay in a hotel and I wanted to walk around a bit, so I agree to go with him. I was dumb enough to trust him without looking up a map to get directions on how to get there and I was also not thinking and didn’t bother to even ask him for the name of the tower. Ethan also is pretty bad with directions and has a bad sense of direction in the first place. Anyways, so apparently he hears directions from our tour guide to take a left, go on a big street, and then go straight. So we leave the hotel, take a left, go on a big street, and as we’re walking, we notice that things are getting more residential and the buildings are no longer stores, but apartments.
So yeah, we’re lost, we don’t have wifi so we can’t look up a map now, and we don’t even know the name of our destination so we can’t ask anyone about it. We end up walking around, passing by the University of Edinburgh, and then walking back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, we do make it back in time for dinner and at the table, I look up the tower and realize that it’s a tower that I actually found really cool and would have loved to go to. Oh well.
We had freetime at the hotel before curfew, which is 10pm because we have to wake up really early tomorrow to go back to Dublin.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 13
June 26
We have this morning until 1:15pm to explore Glasgow. However, at 1:15pm, we need to be down at the buses in concert attire to go to our last performance at University of Glasgow.
It’s definitely a relaxed morning because we take a walk towards Buchanan Street. There are rows of shops and we end up stopping by this Scottish store to buy junior bagpipes but we all have difficulty even inflating the bag…However, we did get to see how a bagpipe is supposed to be played and as wind players, we’re all fascinated by the bag and the double reed that lies inside the bagpipes.
We stopped to eat dinner at this burger joint called Bread Meat Bread but we were short on time and this was a sit-down restaurant, and there were 9 of us ordering, so it ended up we put down the money, the guys got a headstart on heading back to the hotel because wearing a tuxedo has a lot of parts, and the girls were supposed to stay and wait for change. However, they never really gave us back change and kept looking at us weirdly as we were sitting there, and it was 11:50 and we still weren’t getting change back, so we decided to just leave. All of us run back and we do make it down at the lobby in concert attire by 1:15. We’re also not entirely sure how tipping works because the receipts are a little different, so perhaps the extra 5 pounds we put down was just taken as a tip?
We play at a chapel in University of Glasgow. We first set up, then talk through our program tonight, and then we have 2 hours of nothing until the concert starts with jazz combo. We all feel a little worried that we didn’t rehearse, especially because though our performance of Nimrod went well last night, we just need to rehearse as an ensemble in general and there is always so much we could do better at each concert. I wander around campus by myself and pass by some jousters before finding the Huntarian Museum, complete with all sorts of historical, natural, and scientific artifacts.
I then run back to the chapel, run around the building a few times trying to find the entrance that is unlocked, and make it back in time to set up and walk out to the chapel to hear jazz play.
The stained glass is beautiful and the acoustics are lovely. It felt surreal knowing that this was jazz’s last performance, but they did a very good job. Then it was our turn to go. So as Dr. D had told us yesterday, today we perform Academic Festival Overture conductorless. And we played it well last night so we’re cautious and alert, but it starts off well as Owen gives the downbeat. Everything is going smoothly and sure we are counting, but we’re listening even more. And then it hits the section around rehearsal I where it’s a quiet section and then suddenly there’s a pause because no one knows who is cueing who. David (1st chair cello) looks to Owen (concertmaster) for the cello cue, but Owen isn’t even playing. Alex doesn’t know when to come in because he’s looking at David for the cue, and so there’s this grand moment of silence and we are all freaking out. Then Nick starts playing his bassoon quarter notes and everyone gets back on track and we end smoothly. Perhaps the pause wasn’t obvious to the audience members who didn’t know the piece, but to all of us performers, because we were panicking, it seemed so long and ominous.
The concert goes well after that. For me personally, I was more intune yesterday on Nimrod than I was tonight, but other than that, our performance went well, we delivered a reasonable amount of encores, and then we were off and back to the hotel.
The realization that this was our last performance of the tour hit me really hard. For me, it also means my last performance with MYA as a high schooler, and since I’m not music majoring, the opportunity for me to perform in a such high-caliber ensemble will be very rare. I was very close to crying during Nimrod (also because Nimrod is also a very familiar piece that I know by heart), and I definitely was quieter during the concert and for a little bit afterwards.
After we get back to the hotel, we all crash Alex’s room and they sightread Mozart’s Octet Serenade (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn), which was quite something. Obviously they were sightreading, but tuning was pretty bad and over the course of that hour, improved a bit.
After dinner, we go back up to Alex’s room, but then later go across the hotel to the Baby Grand Bar and Grill where jazz is playing because I saw a video of Dr. D playing the bass at the bar via Camille’s snapchat. Sadly Dr. D wasn’t playing (he played one song and we missed it), but we got to see Neil sing, and also hear some awesome pieces.
We have this morning until 1:15pm to explore Glasgow. However, at 1:15pm, we need to be down at the buses in concert attire to go to our last performance at University of Glasgow.
It’s definitely a relaxed morning because we take a walk towards Buchanan Street. There are rows of shops and we end up stopping by this Scottish store to buy junior bagpipes but we all have difficulty even inflating the bag…However, we did get to see how a bagpipe is supposed to be played and as wind players, we’re all fascinated by the bag and the double reed that lies inside the bagpipes.
We stopped to eat dinner at this burger joint called Bread Meat Bread but we were short on time and this was a sit-down restaurant, and there were 9 of us ordering, so it ended up we put down the money, the guys got a headstart on heading back to the hotel because wearing a tuxedo has a lot of parts, and the girls were supposed to stay and wait for change. However, they never really gave us back change and kept looking at us weirdly as we were sitting there, and it was 11:50 and we still weren’t getting change back, so we decided to just leave. All of us run back and we do make it down at the lobby in concert attire by 1:15. We’re also not entirely sure how tipping works because the receipts are a little different, so perhaps the extra 5 pounds we put down was just taken as a tip?
We play at a chapel in University of Glasgow. We first set up, then talk through our program tonight, and then we have 2 hours of nothing until the concert starts with jazz combo. We all feel a little worried that we didn’t rehearse, especially because though our performance of Nimrod went well last night, we just need to rehearse as an ensemble in general and there is always so much we could do better at each concert. I wander around campus by myself and pass by some jousters before finding the Huntarian Museum, complete with all sorts of historical, natural, and scientific artifacts.
I then run back to the chapel, run around the building a few times trying to find the entrance that is unlocked, and make it back in time to set up and walk out to the chapel to hear jazz play.
The stained glass is beautiful and the acoustics are lovely. It felt surreal knowing that this was jazz’s last performance, but they did a very good job. Then it was our turn to go. So as Dr. D had told us yesterday, today we perform Academic Festival Overture conductorless. And we played it well last night so we’re cautious and alert, but it starts off well as Owen gives the downbeat. Everything is going smoothly and sure we are counting, but we’re listening even more. And then it hits the section around rehearsal I where it’s a quiet section and then suddenly there’s a pause because no one knows who is cueing who. David (1st chair cello) looks to Owen (concertmaster) for the cello cue, but Owen isn’t even playing. Alex doesn’t know when to come in because he’s looking at David for the cue, and so there’s this grand moment of silence and we are all freaking out. Then Nick starts playing his bassoon quarter notes and everyone gets back on track and we end smoothly. Perhaps the pause wasn’t obvious to the audience members who didn’t know the piece, but to all of us performers, because we were panicking, it seemed so long and ominous.
The concert goes well after that. For me personally, I was more intune yesterday on Nimrod than I was tonight, but other than that, our performance went well, we delivered a reasonable amount of encores, and then we were off and back to the hotel.
The realization that this was our last performance of the tour hit me really hard. For me, it also means my last performance with MYA as a high schooler, and since I’m not music majoring, the opportunity for me to perform in a such high-caliber ensemble will be very rare. I was very close to crying during Nimrod (also because Nimrod is also a very familiar piece that I know by heart), and I definitely was quieter during the concert and for a little bit afterwards.
After we get back to the hotel, we all crash Alex’s room and they sightread Mozart’s Octet Serenade (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn), which was quite something. Obviously they were sightreading, but tuning was pretty bad and over the course of that hour, improved a bit.
After dinner, we go back up to Alex’s room, but then later go across the hotel to the Baby Grand Bar and Grill where jazz is playing because I saw a video of Dr. D playing the bass at the bar via Camille’s snapchat. Sadly Dr. D wasn’t playing (he played one song and we missed it), but we got to see Neil sing, and also hear some awesome pieces.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 12
June 25, 2016 (just so I don't mix up dates)
Eric and I have currently beat Hannah and Alex twice and because we’re so obnoxiously clueless when we play, this was an extreme blow to their pride and so they’ve been demanding rematches. Eric and I play them again and we lose to them, making the score now 2-2 and both groups tied.
We drive to the docks at Stranraer and on the bus ride, we start a new Euchre tournament. Annika and I play Hannah and Eric and we continue our game on the ferry. Eric gets seasick but he forgot to take his medicine before he got onto the ferry, so he took it as the ferry started moving. Thankfully he didn’t puke. After the game, we go out to the deck to take pictures and get some fresh air, and out on the dock, the rocking motion of the boat is less noticeable.
Afterwards, we play some more card games, wander the ship, and then the 3-4 hours have passed and we arrive in Scotland! As I’m getting off the boat, there was this sharp pain that would radiate out from my right shoulder blade, and by the time I got to the coach bus, it was unbearable and I caved and asked Clara for Advil, even though I turned down her offer only 10 minutes prior. The bus ride from the dock to Glasgow was very scenic because it was along the coastline for much of it, but I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus (the left side had a great view) and my right arm hurt so much that I couldn’t take pictures. It was about a 4 hour drive and 2 hours into it, people started dozing off.
We get to the hotel and we have some time to relax before we have to head out. I use this time to take a hot shower to try to relax my shoulder muscles, which eases the pain somewhat. After spending two nights in a hostel, it is such a relief to be able to take a burning hot shower. All of us change into concert attire before dinner, and then we drive to the Glasgow Community Center Hall for Concert #8.
Since we’re in Scotland now, we aren’t playing our Irish songs anymore and we pull out Barber’s Adagio and Elgar’s Nimrod. We only set up when we get to the venue and we don’t rehearse, which makes us all really nervous for Nimrod especially, since it’s been more than a week since we’ve rehearsed that piece.
We were told that the concert wasn’t really publicized, and it really wasn’t publicized because only 15 people showed up in total. However, the acoustics were nice, the jazz played well, we played our best, and everything sounded good. Nimrod went surprisingly well; tuning was pretty good, probably because everyone was listening especially hard for intonation and balance because we were all nervous about performing this piece without getting a chance to play it through. Dr. D gives the pep talk about how it’s not how many are in the audience, it’s who’s in the audience, and that he’s proud of us because we still played our best despite the low turnout.
Afterwards, we have some time until curfew, which is later (11pm) because there is nothing scheduled for tomorrow morning so if we want, we can sleep in until 11am or even a little later.
Eric and I have currently beat Hannah and Alex twice and because we’re so obnoxiously clueless when we play, this was an extreme blow to their pride and so they’ve been demanding rematches. Eric and I play them again and we lose to them, making the score now 2-2 and both groups tied.
We drive to the docks at Stranraer and on the bus ride, we start a new Euchre tournament. Annika and I play Hannah and Eric and we continue our game on the ferry. Eric gets seasick but he forgot to take his medicine before he got onto the ferry, so he took it as the ferry started moving. Thankfully he didn’t puke. After the game, we go out to the deck to take pictures and get some fresh air, and out on the dock, the rocking motion of the boat is less noticeable.
Afterwards, we play some more card games, wander the ship, and then the 3-4 hours have passed and we arrive in Scotland! As I’m getting off the boat, there was this sharp pain that would radiate out from my right shoulder blade, and by the time I got to the coach bus, it was unbearable and I caved and asked Clara for Advil, even though I turned down her offer only 10 minutes prior. The bus ride from the dock to Glasgow was very scenic because it was along the coastline for much of it, but I was sitting on the wrong side of the bus (the left side had a great view) and my right arm hurt so much that I couldn’t take pictures. It was about a 4 hour drive and 2 hours into it, people started dozing off.
We get to the hotel and we have some time to relax before we have to head out. I use this time to take a hot shower to try to relax my shoulder muscles, which eases the pain somewhat. After spending two nights in a hostel, it is such a relief to be able to take a burning hot shower. All of us change into concert attire before dinner, and then we drive to the Glasgow Community Center Hall for Concert #8.
Since we’re in Scotland now, we aren’t playing our Irish songs anymore and we pull out Barber’s Adagio and Elgar’s Nimrod. We only set up when we get to the venue and we don’t rehearse, which makes us all really nervous for Nimrod especially, since it’s been more than a week since we’ve rehearsed that piece.
We were told that the concert wasn’t really publicized, and it really wasn’t publicized because only 15 people showed up in total. However, the acoustics were nice, the jazz played well, we played our best, and everything sounded good. Nimrod went surprisingly well; tuning was pretty good, probably because everyone was listening especially hard for intonation and balance because we were all nervous about performing this piece without getting a chance to play it through. Dr. D gives the pep talk about how it’s not how many are in the audience, it’s who’s in the audience, and that he’s proud of us because we still played our best despite the low turnout.
Afterwards, we have some time until curfew, which is later (11pm) because there is nothing scheduled for tomorrow morning so if we want, we can sleep in until 11am or even a little later.
Friday, June 24, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 11
Today was a free day with no concert, and so after breakfast, we had time until 12:30pm to explore Belfast on our own (in groups though, of course). My group left relatively early and started walking in the general direction of Titanic Quarter. We also stopped at the Victoria Square to see the dome ceiling and at Belfast Waterfront to take some photos of the Lagan River, and we made it to our destination. We had walked pretty far at this point (at the end of this trip, we had walked a total of about 4 or so miles), and so while the group turned back, Eric and I ran to see the SS Nomadic, the sister ship of the Titanic, and then we ran back to catch up with the group as they headed back towards the hostel.
We went to St. George’s Market (it was on the way back), and met up with many MYA people as well. It was a farmer’s market and there were stalls for everything: antiques, fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry, meat, jewelry, clothing, paintings, books…
We wandered around until 12pm and then as one large group, walked back to the hostel. There, we got onto our coach buses and took a bus tour of Belfast, which took us around Belfast. In West Belfast, we stopped at a Peace Wall and signed our names and wrote quotes in permanent marker, along with many others who did before us. We stopped quickly at Titanic Quarter to stretch our legs for 10 minutes (where we all just mobbed the gift shop and ended up not buying anything), and then went down to City Center and also saw Queen’s University.
We had freetime basically for the rest of the day. Before dinner, we passed the time playing Euchre and after dinner, we walked back to Victoria Square to wander around, visit some stores, visit the top of the square, which was a lovely aerial view of Belfast, and then we played some Euchre before walking back to the hostel. I think Euchre is consuming our lives, but it’s fun, and the only equipment it needs is a deck of cards.
Tomorrow we get on a ferry and travel to Scotland!
We went to St. George’s Market (it was on the way back), and met up with many MYA people as well. It was a farmer’s market and there were stalls for everything: antiques, fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry, meat, jewelry, clothing, paintings, books…
We wandered around until 12pm and then as one large group, walked back to the hostel. There, we got onto our coach buses and took a bus tour of Belfast, which took us around Belfast. In West Belfast, we stopped at a Peace Wall and signed our names and wrote quotes in permanent marker, along with many others who did before us. We stopped quickly at Titanic Quarter to stretch our legs for 10 minutes (where we all just mobbed the gift shop and ended up not buying anything), and then went down to City Center and also saw Queen’s University.
We had freetime basically for the rest of the day. Before dinner, we passed the time playing Euchre and after dinner, we walked back to Victoria Square to wander around, visit some stores, visit the top of the square, which was a lovely aerial view of Belfast, and then we played some Euchre before walking back to the hostel. I think Euchre is consuming our lives, but it’s fun, and the only equipment it needs is a deck of cards.
Tomorrow we get on a ferry and travel to Scotland!
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 10
Today we drove 2 hours from Londonderry to Belfast. We entered Ulster Hall (where we played Concert #6 tonight) and unloaded our instruments, before grabbing lunch at nearby cafés. It’s a little disorienting seeing prices here because since they’re now in pounds, and pounds are worth more than both euros and USD, everything looks cheap, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s really not that cheap.
We had rehearsal for an hour this afternoon with the Irish baritone, Peter Corry. Obviously as a baritone, he had a different vocal range from Paul Byrom who was a tenor, but at the same time, I think his style was not something that was super appreciated by us and he could have connected notes a little more? Regardless, rehearsal went okay I guess, thankfully we didn’t have to play Rocky tonight (because the trumpet parts in the beginning are super inconsistent and they always frack and the whole orchestra worries about that part), and instead we played Academic Festival Overture, which is even better because the hall has wonderful acoustics.
After orchestra rehearsed for an hour, jazz combo rehearsed with Corry and a lot of us walked around the hall (it used to hold boxing matches) and some of us played Euchre (card game). Then we headed to our hostel. After living in nice college dorms and hotels, a hostel was super … uncomfortable, to say the least. We did have to ask the front desk for towels (there were limited towels), pay 50pence for a bar of soap, and our room is absolutely tiny and 4 people are in my room (two bunkbeds) and we share an extremely small bathroom and shower. There are no tables at all and we have a mirror and sink directly in the room. I guess we don’t have it awful because some rooms have to share bathrooms.
Again, like with the last hotel, wifi doesn’t work from the rooms and you have to go to the lobby to access it (in the previous hotel, only the ground floor wifi didn’t work and I happened to be in the ground floor…which meant I was sneaking out in the lobby past curfew to quickly post pictures to facebook). Other than that, and the showers being basically a room with a showerhead, and no curtain, and therefore no place to put a towel, it is manageable. Definitely not comfortable though.
Dinner was some meh Indian food (which is silly to think that we’re eating Indian food while in Ireland), but at least the chocolate cake was good. We then (in concert clothes) went to Ulster Hall, the orchestra stayed in the dressing rooms and waited back there while jazz performed, and then at intermission, orchestra went up and played.
During the wait backstage, some of us in orchestra started a Euchre tournament and Eric and I (the two people newest to the game and thus not very good at playing) were randomly paired together (we essentially drew partners out of a hat), but despite our dysfunctionalness, we still managed to win one match! So we’re up on the bracket (the bracket will continue for the rest of the trip…it’s how we kill time, namely busrides and boring waits).
Concert first half goes well. So Academic, Hovannes, and Hoedown. Then when Corry comes on stage, no one knows what piece we’re supposed to play when Dr. D gives the downbeat, so all of us are scrambling to flip to Phantom of the Opera and play. It’s a disaster. And then the songs are kind of meh, and afterwards, Dr. D gives so many encores that sure it’s fun to play Irish songs and all these encores, I guess, but at the same time, it was perhaps a wee bit too much and the audience just was tired and ready to leave.
Tomorrow we have a free day and no concert, so we’ll be exploring Belfast. We’ll spend one more night in this hostel before we head for Scotland!
Oh yes, voting for whether UK should leave or stay in the UK was today from 7AM-10PM. Results will come out tomorrow. I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about it, but as we're driving in Northern Ireland, I've noticed all these billboards and signs saying either "Leave" or "Stay" and some even list reasons for their respective sides.
We had rehearsal for an hour this afternoon with the Irish baritone, Peter Corry. Obviously as a baritone, he had a different vocal range from Paul Byrom who was a tenor, but at the same time, I think his style was not something that was super appreciated by us and he could have connected notes a little more? Regardless, rehearsal went okay I guess, thankfully we didn’t have to play Rocky tonight (because the trumpet parts in the beginning are super inconsistent and they always frack and the whole orchestra worries about that part), and instead we played Academic Festival Overture, which is even better because the hall has wonderful acoustics.
After orchestra rehearsed for an hour, jazz combo rehearsed with Corry and a lot of us walked around the hall (it used to hold boxing matches) and some of us played Euchre (card game). Then we headed to our hostel. After living in nice college dorms and hotels, a hostel was super … uncomfortable, to say the least. We did have to ask the front desk for towels (there were limited towels), pay 50pence for a bar of soap, and our room is absolutely tiny and 4 people are in my room (two bunkbeds) and we share an extremely small bathroom and shower. There are no tables at all and we have a mirror and sink directly in the room. I guess we don’t have it awful because some rooms have to share bathrooms.
Again, like with the last hotel, wifi doesn’t work from the rooms and you have to go to the lobby to access it (in the previous hotel, only the ground floor wifi didn’t work and I happened to be in the ground floor…which meant I was sneaking out in the lobby past curfew to quickly post pictures to facebook). Other than that, and the showers being basically a room with a showerhead, and no curtain, and therefore no place to put a towel, it is manageable. Definitely not comfortable though.
Dinner was some meh Indian food (which is silly to think that we’re eating Indian food while in Ireland), but at least the chocolate cake was good. We then (in concert clothes) went to Ulster Hall, the orchestra stayed in the dressing rooms and waited back there while jazz performed, and then at intermission, orchestra went up and played.
During the wait backstage, some of us in orchestra started a Euchre tournament and Eric and I (the two people newest to the game and thus not very good at playing) were randomly paired together (we essentially drew partners out of a hat), but despite our dysfunctionalness, we still managed to win one match! So we’re up on the bracket (the bracket will continue for the rest of the trip…it’s how we kill time, namely busrides and boring waits).
Concert first half goes well. So Academic, Hovannes, and Hoedown. Then when Corry comes on stage, no one knows what piece we’re supposed to play when Dr. D gives the downbeat, so all of us are scrambling to flip to Phantom of the Opera and play. It’s a disaster. And then the songs are kind of meh, and afterwards, Dr. D gives so many encores that sure it’s fun to play Irish songs and all these encores, I guess, but at the same time, it was perhaps a wee bit too much and the audience just was tired and ready to leave.
Tomorrow we have a free day and no concert, so we’ll be exploring Belfast. We’ll spend one more night in this hostel before we head for Scotland!
Oh yes, voting for whether UK should leave or stay in the UK was today from 7AM-10PM. Results will come out tomorrow. I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about it, but as we're driving in Northern Ireland, I've noticed all these billboards and signs saying either "Leave" or "Stay" and some even list reasons for their respective sides.
50 Shades of Green: Day 9
Today we took a tour of Londonderry and explored the city a little bit. Derry (also known as Londonderry) is also called the Walled City and so naturally, we explored the walls and all the historical landmarks. On the wall, sometimes the ladies in the past would wear their new clothes (their “Sunday best”) and walk around in them on this part of the walls on Sunday, and then outside the walls, fishermen would put out fishing nets to dry against the wall, and therefore this part of the wall was known as the catwalk. I kind of ruined the joke because I commented “it’s a legit catwalk” to some friends right before the punchline was revealed. Whoops. It was still clever, regardless.
Derry does have a lot of history to it. There is the Peace Bridge and the Peace Flame (which we saw lit up after our concert in GuildHall). Additionally, there is a statue of two hands and given the current state of things, there is a rainbow flag (LGBT flag) waving between the two hands. Our tour guide ended the tour at GuildHall and she sang a few verses of Danny Boy for us in the Cathedral and her singing was pretty good and Dr. D got teary-eyed.
We then had time to explore ourselves and so we went to an authentic Irish restaurant and ordered some food, then we roamed, found an ice cream store because you can’t not have dairy in Derry, and then walked around some more, I took lots of pictures, and then everyone met back up to go back to the hotel, change into concert clothes, eat dinner, and drive back to Guildhall for a soundcheck/rehearsal/warmup and then our performance.
This was probably the best performance we’ve given. Things were in tune and played right. Also, the acoustics were so wonderful in the hall. I still can’t get over how the audience always claps when we play Irish tunes (Like “Irish Washerwoman” and “Wearing of the Green”) and I still laugh and smile each time, as I’m playing the flute, which is a little difficult to do.
Derry does have a lot of history to it. There is the Peace Bridge and the Peace Flame (which we saw lit up after our concert in GuildHall). Additionally, there is a statue of two hands and given the current state of things, there is a rainbow flag (LGBT flag) waving between the two hands. Our tour guide ended the tour at GuildHall and she sang a few verses of Danny Boy for us in the Cathedral and her singing was pretty good and Dr. D got teary-eyed.
We then had time to explore ourselves and so we went to an authentic Irish restaurant and ordered some food, then we roamed, found an ice cream store because you can’t not have dairy in Derry, and then walked around some more, I took lots of pictures, and then everyone met back up to go back to the hotel, change into concert clothes, eat dinner, and drive back to Guildhall for a soundcheck/rehearsal/warmup and then our performance.
This was probably the best performance we’ve given. Things were in tune and played right. Also, the acoustics were so wonderful in the hall. I still can’t get over how the audience always claps when we play Irish tunes (Like “Irish Washerwoman” and “Wearing of the Green”) and I still laugh and smile each time, as I’m playing the flute, which is a little difficult to do.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 8
Today we had a leisurely morning because we left at 11am. This meant that after breakfast at 9, Alex, Annika, and I decided to practice our tin whistles. Eric, Hannah, and Nick went with us as we tried to find the hot tub, but when we failed, we parked down outside the hotel (a good distance away) near a stream and sat on a bench and started learning more songs. We worked on intonation so we’re definitely more in tune than we were before, and our next step is fixing our air flow. One lady (we think it was a concierge person) came by and asked if she could take some pictures of us to put on the hotel’s website (HAHA) and then Dr. D and Mrs. D walked by later to take some pictures of us as well.
We then got on the bus for a 4 hour ride. First stop on our way to Derry was Drumcliffe, which is this very photogenic cliff, and then it has a church and next to the church is the grave of Yeats, the Irish poet. We decided to take the Riverwalk trail, which honestly was just a short path alongside this river that took us about 10 minutes to walk round trip. We are all getting a bit antsy because none of us have been getting exercise and have spent most of our waking hours sitting down, whether on bus rides, meals, or playing music. So though the trail helped somewhat, and we all really just wanted to be walking instead of sitting down, it wasn’t long enough and we thought we would hit a scenic spot to take nice photos, but we never really did, so it was a little disappointing. The river and the pictures we did take though were lovely and the trees shading the path were very picturesque and Eric kept wanting photos of him in it, which resulted in many very nice photos that also had Eric’s smiling face in them.
After heading back on the bus, we drive for 2 or so hours and then we stop at the cliffs. We saw the cliffs from a distance (we saw the water) and we got progressively excited as we neared. This was honestly the highlight of the day and the trip so far (sorry Yeats) because for the whole trip we were hoping to get to see the famous Irish cliffs, and we were (or at least I was) a little worried that we might not actually get to see them.
We stopped at Mullaghmore Head and got down to take pictures. I pulled out the piccolo to play a few Irish tunes and Meredith was an awesome photographer and took some nice photos. Soon, everyone sees Peter as he’s randomly kneeling on a cliff. From our location, it does not look safe at all, but pretty soon everyone is walking and trying to go onto that location and walk down on the rocks, even as Dr. D is worriedly calling out “no one go on the rocks!” But Dr. D eventually caves and comes down with us, and oh gosh it is just so beautiful. Seeing the dark rocks and the white waves crashing into them, and the beige porous rocks contrasting with the dark mussels stuck to them, it’s such a powerful scene. The wind was blowing and it was quite cool, and all of us got wonderful photos.
None of us wanted to leave and it was a sad trek back up the cliffs and back to the bus. The last leg of the bus ride was really rough and it did rain for some time (but when does it not rain in Ireland??). I try not to sleep on bus rides just because it doesn’t help jet lag, I’m afraid of missing some scenery, I like looking at the countryside, and also because I don’t want pictures taken of me. However, I did doze off for 20 or so minutes collectively, and Annika managed to get some pictures of me. Whoops.
Arriving at the hotel, I am for the third location, roomates with Meredith (we’ve settled into a comfortable routine with each other though and I’m infinitely grateful that she is a sound sleeper and puts up with me staying up late because I’m uploading photos to Facebook and writing blog posts), and the rooms are nice, but the one small meh factor is that the rooms are all metal keys and there is only one key per room. It makes it more inconvenient to go back to the room, and one person has to be in charge of the key, preferably the more responsible one. Actually the major downside is that wifi doesn’t work in any of the rooms, and it is barely functioning in the lobby, but hey, that means most of us were off our phones!
Before dinner, many of us played card games in the lobby (everyone gravitated to the lobby for the wifi, but with so many people on, the wifi just stopped working altogether). After dinner, some of us had to find an ATM to exchange money, and so we ended up walking around town and exploring a bit. We pass by Emil and Camille, who tell us that the ocean is a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We don’t believe them because we wander around and don’t find the ocean. We walk down a neighborhood and this dog has put its head through the bars of the fence and 5 minutes later, we look back and the dog is out of the gate and running around. So this starts a 10 or so episode of us trying to figure out how to get the dog back into the gate and we eventually realize that the gate is held closed by this large log leaning on the gate doors, so we open the gate by removing the log, the dog eagerly runs in, and then we close the door and leave.
We then meet up with a bunch of the chaperones, and we all walk down this path because we see the ocean in the distance.
It’s a long walk, but we do make it eventually, and take pictures of the sunset and the traintracks (and there was a field of sheep and they were baaaaing so loudly and Clara and I took so many pictures of them).
We watch the sunset over the ocean and it is so beautiful. The lighting created a silhouette effect and lots of us were taking pictures of each other (new profile pictures?? Today was definitely the day to take amazing new profile pictures, between the cliffs and the sunset over the ocean).
Obviously it’s past curfew (curfew is 10pm, we got to the ocean at 10pm) but hey, we were with chaperones so it is 100% okay. I teach Joe how to skip stones and so many of us just stand there sifting through the rocks to find some smooth pebbles to skip. Emil and Eric are really good, and I think Neil (new jazz director) had 9 or so skips, which is crazy.
When we get back to the hotel, it’s almost 11pm and we just sit down in the lobby because we are too pooped to walk to our rooms. The walk did everyone good. Everyone has been antsy because of the lack of exercise, and I know that we will all sleep very soundly tonight. It’s past midnight and I need to sleep. Goodnight and stay tuned for tomorrow’s post and pictures!
We then got on the bus for a 4 hour ride. First stop on our way to Derry was Drumcliffe, which is this very photogenic cliff, and then it has a church and next to the church is the grave of Yeats, the Irish poet. We decided to take the Riverwalk trail, which honestly was just a short path alongside this river that took us about 10 minutes to walk round trip. We are all getting a bit antsy because none of us have been getting exercise and have spent most of our waking hours sitting down, whether on bus rides, meals, or playing music. So though the trail helped somewhat, and we all really just wanted to be walking instead of sitting down, it wasn’t long enough and we thought we would hit a scenic spot to take nice photos, but we never really did, so it was a little disappointing. The river and the pictures we did take though were lovely and the trees shading the path were very picturesque and Eric kept wanting photos of him in it, which resulted in many very nice photos that also had Eric’s smiling face in them.
After heading back on the bus, we drive for 2 or so hours and then we stop at the cliffs. We saw the cliffs from a distance (we saw the water) and we got progressively excited as we neared. This was honestly the highlight of the day and the trip so far (sorry Yeats) because for the whole trip we were hoping to get to see the famous Irish cliffs, and we were (or at least I was) a little worried that we might not actually get to see them.
We stopped at Mullaghmore Head and got down to take pictures. I pulled out the piccolo to play a few Irish tunes and Meredith was an awesome photographer and took some nice photos. Soon, everyone sees Peter as he’s randomly kneeling on a cliff. From our location, it does not look safe at all, but pretty soon everyone is walking and trying to go onto that location and walk down on the rocks, even as Dr. D is worriedly calling out “no one go on the rocks!” But Dr. D eventually caves and comes down with us, and oh gosh it is just so beautiful. Seeing the dark rocks and the white waves crashing into them, and the beige porous rocks contrasting with the dark mussels stuck to them, it’s such a powerful scene. The wind was blowing and it was quite cool, and all of us got wonderful photos.
None of us wanted to leave and it was a sad trek back up the cliffs and back to the bus. The last leg of the bus ride was really rough and it did rain for some time (but when does it not rain in Ireland??). I try not to sleep on bus rides just because it doesn’t help jet lag, I’m afraid of missing some scenery, I like looking at the countryside, and also because I don’t want pictures taken of me. However, I did doze off for 20 or so minutes collectively, and Annika managed to get some pictures of me. Whoops.
Arriving at the hotel, I am for the third location, roomates with Meredith (we’ve settled into a comfortable routine with each other though and I’m infinitely grateful that she is a sound sleeper and puts up with me staying up late because I’m uploading photos to Facebook and writing blog posts), and the rooms are nice, but the one small meh factor is that the rooms are all metal keys and there is only one key per room. It makes it more inconvenient to go back to the room, and one person has to be in charge of the key, preferably the more responsible one. Actually the major downside is that wifi doesn’t work in any of the rooms, and it is barely functioning in the lobby, but hey, that means most of us were off our phones!
Before dinner, many of us played card games in the lobby (everyone gravitated to the lobby for the wifi, but with so many people on, the wifi just stopped working altogether). After dinner, some of us had to find an ATM to exchange money, and so we ended up walking around town and exploring a bit. We pass by Emil and Camille, who tell us that the ocean is a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We don’t believe them because we wander around and don’t find the ocean. We walk down a neighborhood and this dog has put its head through the bars of the fence and 5 minutes later, we look back and the dog is out of the gate and running around. So this starts a 10 or so episode of us trying to figure out how to get the dog back into the gate and we eventually realize that the gate is held closed by this large log leaning on the gate doors, so we open the gate by removing the log, the dog eagerly runs in, and then we close the door and leave.
We then meet up with a bunch of the chaperones, and we all walk down this path because we see the ocean in the distance.
It’s a long walk, but we do make it eventually, and take pictures of the sunset and the traintracks (and there was a field of sheep and they were baaaaing so loudly and Clara and I took so many pictures of them).
We watch the sunset over the ocean and it is so beautiful. The lighting created a silhouette effect and lots of us were taking pictures of each other (new profile pictures?? Today was definitely the day to take amazing new profile pictures, between the cliffs and the sunset over the ocean).
Obviously it’s past curfew (curfew is 10pm, we got to the ocean at 10pm) but hey, we were with chaperones so it is 100% okay. I teach Joe how to skip stones and so many of us just stand there sifting through the rocks to find some smooth pebbles to skip. Emil and Eric are really good, and I think Neil (new jazz director) had 9 or so skips, which is crazy.
When we get back to the hotel, it’s almost 11pm and we just sit down in the lobby because we are too pooped to walk to our rooms. The walk did everyone good. Everyone has been antsy because of the lack of exercise, and I know that we will all sleep very soundly tonight. It’s past midnight and I need to sleep. Goodnight and stay tuned for tomorrow’s post and pictures!
Monday, June 20, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 7
Today we hopped on the bus for a 6 hours, leaving Cork for Westport. The 6 hours were pretty bad. I was definitely sleepy, but I didn't want pictures of me while I'm sleeping to exist, and I wanted to take in all the scenery (though the Irish countryside has very little variation unless you look closely enough), so I tried to fight off the drowsiness (though I'm sure I dozed off for the last half hour or so). It was made easier because I'm still fascinated by cows and this bus ride brought a lot of cow sightings. Also I really enjoyed how picturesque the countryside looked because here, instead of wood and wire fences, there were stone fences that divided up the grass into squares, a lot like quilt squares. We did get so bored that we played a slapping game that Eric taught us involving cards. So you know the boredom is bad when we have to resort to playing slapping games. However, most of the bus was sleeping for most of the bus ride.
We stopped at Blarney to do some shopping, get lunch, take a bus break (including bathroom stop), and take a picture of the whole MYA group in front of the medieval castle there. Of course, we gravitated towards the instrument section and as wind players, we ended up buying tin penny whistles, some song books, and then playing "The Last Rose of Summer," "Irish Washerwoman," and the "Minstrel Boy" (three songs that we already know because we play them in the Irish Suite). Even though all our whistles were in D, they were slightly out of tune so trying to play all together was a little rough. But we did it and we performed "Minstrel Boy" for Dr. D! (We meaning Alex, Eric, Shawn who is a chaperone, Annika, and myself). The sad news is that the tin penny whistle is banned from every hotel room because our roommates don't want to hear it, and it is banned automatically from buses because hearing that godawful shrieking in such a small confined space when we're all stuck with each other is not pleasant at all.
Buuut, if there's anything worth getting from Ireland, the tin penny whistle is the most fitting item.
We arrived at our hotel and we see these black vans parked out that look a lot like Secret Service cars. People joke that the president is here, and it turns out, Joe Biden is coming! We file into the hotel, get our rooms and unload our luggage, and then later we see more cars come, 5 german shepard dogs on leashes (sniffer dogs) being walked around the parking lot and on the hotel grounds, and apparently, Joe Biden is flying in tomorrow...but we leave this hotel tomorrow! Dang we missed him by a day. It would have been so cool to have been able to see him though.
Our Concert today (#5) was at the Town Hall Theatre Westport. It's our first formal concert in a long time and we haven't played Academic Festival Overture and Misty Mountain and other songs for so long, that rehearsal goes a little rocky, our playing is a little shaky, and we're not that all confident on our ability to deliver a good performance.
So we play Academic first, and it goes fine, perhaps a little rocky because we haven't played it in a long time and haven't been rehearsing these past few days either, and then I suddenly have to go pee. The rest of the program is absolute torture because Dr. D has put in every single slow song we have that doesn't require a singer. So sitting through Barber's Adagio, Mvmts 1 and 2 of Misty Mountain was a struggle, Minstrel Boy" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me" from Irish Suite, Irish Tune from County Derby (aka Danny Boy), Imperial March, and Sousa's Washington Post March was pure torture. And then the audience stood up at the end so we gave an encore. First it was "The Irish Washerwoman," then it was "The Rakes of Mallow," and finally it was "The Wearing of the Green." Yes, we gave 3 encores. MY BLADDER.
But aside from my own personal issues, this concert was very cool. During the Washington Post March, I think the clarinets had some rests, so they used that to clap the beat, then Dr. D turned around and motioned for the audience to clap, and so for the entirety of the song, the audience was clapping the beat and when so many people are doing that in sync, it's a very powerful feeling because you feel the beat pulse through your body. It was heartwarming to see them enjoying the Sousa march. Also I think Dr. D said we were taking all the repeats for that song, but then none of us did (there was a minor almost-trainwreck that happened at a repeat where some people repeated but most didn't), but ah well.
The audience members collectively "ooohed" and "ahhhhed" each time Dr. D mentioned the name of an Irish tune, and it did feel good knowing that we were playing something that they were used to hearing. "The Wearing of the Green" was our last encore and after Dr. D introduced the name, the audience "ooohed" and then when Dr. D raised his baton, the lights shining on us turned green, and we played the final piece bathed in green light. The lighting this whole concert was a little hard on our eyes because our music was dark and when the light was green, everything was neon green but our music was still a dark grey...but nonetheless, it was a cool concert indeed.
We stopped at Blarney to do some shopping, get lunch, take a bus break (including bathroom stop), and take a picture of the whole MYA group in front of the medieval castle there. Of course, we gravitated towards the instrument section and as wind players, we ended up buying tin penny whistles, some song books, and then playing "The Last Rose of Summer," "Irish Washerwoman," and the "Minstrel Boy" (three songs that we already know because we play them in the Irish Suite). Even though all our whistles were in D, they were slightly out of tune so trying to play all together was a little rough. But we did it and we performed "Minstrel Boy" for Dr. D! (We meaning Alex, Eric, Shawn who is a chaperone, Annika, and myself). The sad news is that the tin penny whistle is banned from every hotel room because our roommates don't want to hear it, and it is banned automatically from buses because hearing that godawful shrieking in such a small confined space when we're all stuck with each other is not pleasant at all.
Buuut, if there's anything worth getting from Ireland, the tin penny whistle is the most fitting item.
We arrived at our hotel and we see these black vans parked out that look a lot like Secret Service cars. People joke that the president is here, and it turns out, Joe Biden is coming! We file into the hotel, get our rooms and unload our luggage, and then later we see more cars come, 5 german shepard dogs on leashes (sniffer dogs) being walked around the parking lot and on the hotel grounds, and apparently, Joe Biden is flying in tomorrow...but we leave this hotel tomorrow! Dang we missed him by a day. It would have been so cool to have been able to see him though.
Our Concert today (#5) was at the Town Hall Theatre Westport. It's our first formal concert in a long time and we haven't played Academic Festival Overture and Misty Mountain and other songs for so long, that rehearsal goes a little rocky, our playing is a little shaky, and we're not that all confident on our ability to deliver a good performance.
So we play Academic first, and it goes fine, perhaps a little rocky because we haven't played it in a long time and haven't been rehearsing these past few days either, and then I suddenly have to go pee. The rest of the program is absolute torture because Dr. D has put in every single slow song we have that doesn't require a singer. So sitting through Barber's Adagio, Mvmts 1 and 2 of Misty Mountain was a struggle, Minstrel Boy" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me" from Irish Suite, Irish Tune from County Derby (aka Danny Boy), Imperial March, and Sousa's Washington Post March was pure torture. And then the audience stood up at the end so we gave an encore. First it was "The Irish Washerwoman," then it was "The Rakes of Mallow," and finally it was "The Wearing of the Green." Yes, we gave 3 encores. MY BLADDER.
But aside from my own personal issues, this concert was very cool. During the Washington Post March, I think the clarinets had some rests, so they used that to clap the beat, then Dr. D turned around and motioned for the audience to clap, and so for the entirety of the song, the audience was clapping the beat and when so many people are doing that in sync, it's a very powerful feeling because you feel the beat pulse through your body. It was heartwarming to see them enjoying the Sousa march. Also I think Dr. D said we were taking all the repeats for that song, but then none of us did (there was a minor almost-trainwreck that happened at a repeat where some people repeated but most didn't), but ah well.
The audience members collectively "ooohed" and "ahhhhed" each time Dr. D mentioned the name of an Irish tune, and it did feel good knowing that we were playing something that they were used to hearing. "The Wearing of the Green" was our last encore and after Dr. D introduced the name, the audience "ooohed" and then when Dr. D raised his baton, the lights shining on us turned green, and we played the final piece bathed in green light. The lighting this whole concert was a little hard on our eyes because our music was dark and when the light was green, everything was neon green but our music was still a dark grey...but nonetheless, it was a cool concert indeed.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 6
It is June 19, 2016 and though I'm getting better at converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit, euros and USD, kilometers and miles, time zones are such an abstract thing that though I know that Ireland is 6 hours ahead of CST, these post times are in CST, not Ireland time, and it's weird.
Anyways so today we head out to the Cork Mid-Summer Festival. It is raining, a steady drizzle that occasionally strengthens to rain, but remains fairly constant. The sky is an icky sad grey and thankfully there's a shell that the orchestra can huddle under, very tight cover from the rain, but the turnout isn't so great...more like 30 people (at max) came to watch us play. The security guards said that normally this festival is so packed, that they have to turn people away. Perhaps it was the combination of rain, it being Father's Day today, and it being a Sunday morning in a country where Catholicism is huge and Mass is a big deal, that caused the low turnout.
Regardless, it was still fun. There were these two guys dressed as birds (storks perhaps?) who were goofing off and cawing at everyone (pictures on facebook album). There were still food stalls and so of course we all ate delicious food that was also not expensive, win win all around! The park we were at had a playground that is by far the best playground I've ever seen and even us teenagers were goofing off and having fun. The park had a pond and near the edge was a sign with a life buoy and the sign read "A stolen buoy is a stolen life." Ireland is actually really safe. At the beginning of our first concert (the one with Paul Byrom), the concert began with a quick reminder of where all the exits were. I don't know if this is made even more important by the Orlando and Berlin shootings, along with all the crazy things that have been happening, or if it's usually this safety-conscious, but yes, I've been noticing and really appreciating how safety-conscious everything is. It's so well-thought-out and it always surprises me in a good way.
Also Ireland is way cleaner than the US. Just...the streets aren't dirty, the bathrooms are fine...I don't know. The portapotties at this park were cleaner than the ones I've seen at the US and all the streets I've seen in Ireland are cleaner than those of the US. I'm really liking what I've seen of Ireland so far.
Jazz combo performs and in this empty lawn, we play ninja and clap loud to make up for literally no audience.
After that, we are dropped off in downtown Cork where we walk around and visit some shops. We go into Penney's, which is a department store. It has raincoats for those of us who didn't bring one, and other clothes and shoes and household items. We stop at a sports outlet for some people to look at sports jerseys (cause Euro Cup is happening right now), and also walk into a candy store, where I find Willy Wonka chocolate bars! But they cost 3.5 euros and I'm not paying that much for a bar of chocolate. Oh yes, and we pass this park that's called Bishop Lucey Park which is funny because it's almost my name...but the park looks pretty. I didn't get a very good picture of it because Eric kept photobombing. My picturetaking has definitely calmed down (I took 780 photos the first two days, but have brought my daily photo count down to around 300 or less. A lot of the photos are pictures of other people that I take for them and then privately send to them, and of each scene, I take two or three to make sure I have a few to choose from. So I'm really not taking that many photos at all.)
We then head back to the University and we have 45 minutes until we go eat dinner. Everyone basically chills, I go out and run around and try to explore a bit, and I do see some nice small streets, but I didn't run very far because I'm out of shape and I had little time to run, and so I ended up running the way to the dining hall, taking a left, running in campus and then out of campus, and then running outside of the campus, and then basically looping back to this arch that I've already seen at least 5 times from our walks to and from the dining hall for dinner.
After dinner was again on our own time, and so we just crashed someone's apartment and hung out until curfew at 10pm. Curfew is always very early, but none of us want to stay up and out of our dorms past then because we're all just so exhausted. Despite most of us sleeping well (I am the exception along with select others), and despite the fact that most of us nap on all the bus rides (again I'm excluded from this category), we are a tired bunch and none of us protest the early curfew.
June 19, 2016
Saturday, June 18, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 5
Today we played in the Shandon Street Festival. We had a very easy morning because we only had to be ready by 11am, as opposed to the 8-9am.
We played at the Shandon Street Festival today and we set up in front of Firkin Crane. Our formation is a bit odd, with basically violins standing on the stairs, winds on one side, violas and cellos on the other, but we do somehow manage. We're given 1.5 hours before we perform to roam, and with free tickets to go up to the belltower, some of us decide to go up there now. Walking up the stone stairs is challenging because the stairwell is so narrow, at some points, only one person can barely squeeze through. So imagine, as people go up, others are trying to come down and it is just hard. We're given headphones so that we don't go deaf from the bells and then we start walking up stairs.
First we hit the bell-playing floor, and there are 8 bells (one octave) and each is controlled by pulling a string. With the strings labeled 1-8 and a songbook that lists the numbers, we ring out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Amazing Grace." We fail trying to decipher the "sheet music" for "Star Wars" and later when we're up on the top, we hear someone trying to play The Sound of Music's "Favorite Things." Oh, and from the bell-ringing floor, the chiming of the bells is very faint.
We climb up more flights, hitting the floor where the bells are situated and thus requiring headphones to be on. Due to the traffic jam of people trying to go up and down and the stairwells only allowing one person in width, it mean that the bell floor was very tight and as some of us stood precariously close to the clapper (the part of the bell that swings, located in the middle and looks like a pendulum), we really prayed that none of us would get hit.
At the topmost floor, the view was breathtaking (I was also breathing a little heavily as I walked up the stairs). We saw all of Shandon and Cork laid out in front of us and we saw Firkin Square, with all the chairs and stands set up! To try to get some good pictures, I crawled (sort of) onto the sides, and though it was a little windy, I didn't fall over the edge or drop my phone. So all is well.
After that, we did have some time left before our performance, so we visited small stalls and food stands.
Performing was fun today because with today's performance, we have finally played through all of the songs in Irish Suite. And these rollicking songs are fun and I saw the faces of the audience light up as they recognized all the tunes. Every time we play Irish music, the audience gets so into it and some of the older people (especially older women), start crying. Every concert we've played so far, this has happened.
We played Sousa's Washington Post and Dr. D clapped and got the audience to clap, so that was a nice touch because it felt like the audience was more engaged then.
Afterwards, we were in Shandon until 5pm so we had full rein to walk around, watch MYA Jazz perform, and eat more food. This was a street festival outdoors and there were tents for food vendors, souvenir sellers, wildlife petting, and so many things.
We visited the Cork Butter Museum (yes, it's a museum about butter because butter is a big deal in Ireland and Irish butter just may be one of the best things ever) and we were all ready to pay the 2 euros, but the museum person said that the music we played was so lovely he was told not to charge us. Wow wow. But the museum was very informative...did you know that around 1000 AD, different tribes would conduct cattle raids because cows were that important? I may have a borderlining-on-obsession with cows, but they're also important to the Irish! And thus begins my slow transformation into an Irishwoman.
Among the sugar I ate today was a lemon and sugar crepe, a churro that I dipped in the honeycomb ice cream I also ate, and some of Eric's candy floss (cotton candy). Protip: sharing food is very advised because it's cheaper and you can try more things that way.
I've given up on updating photos on here. I do post 40 or so pictures each day (of the 400 or so that I take) on my facebook under the album 50 Shades of Green, so do take a peek at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1749778885303195.1073741841.100008133005252&type=1&l=f58f570de4
We played at the Shandon Street Festival today and we set up in front of Firkin Crane. Our formation is a bit odd, with basically violins standing on the stairs, winds on one side, violas and cellos on the other, but we do somehow manage. We're given 1.5 hours before we perform to roam, and with free tickets to go up to the belltower, some of us decide to go up there now. Walking up the stone stairs is challenging because the stairwell is so narrow, at some points, only one person can barely squeeze through. So imagine, as people go up, others are trying to come down and it is just hard. We're given headphones so that we don't go deaf from the bells and then we start walking up stairs.
First we hit the bell-playing floor, and there are 8 bells (one octave) and each is controlled by pulling a string. With the strings labeled 1-8 and a songbook that lists the numbers, we ring out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Amazing Grace." We fail trying to decipher the "sheet music" for "Star Wars" and later when we're up on the top, we hear someone trying to play The Sound of Music's "Favorite Things." Oh, and from the bell-ringing floor, the chiming of the bells is very faint.
We climb up more flights, hitting the floor where the bells are situated and thus requiring headphones to be on. Due to the traffic jam of people trying to go up and down and the stairwells only allowing one person in width, it mean that the bell floor was very tight and as some of us stood precariously close to the clapper (the part of the bell that swings, located in the middle and looks like a pendulum), we really prayed that none of us would get hit.
At the topmost floor, the view was breathtaking (I was also breathing a little heavily as I walked up the stairs). We saw all of Shandon and Cork laid out in front of us and we saw Firkin Square, with all the chairs and stands set up! To try to get some good pictures, I crawled (sort of) onto the sides, and though it was a little windy, I didn't fall over the edge or drop my phone. So all is well.
After that, we did have some time left before our performance, so we visited small stalls and food stands.
Performing was fun today because with today's performance, we have finally played through all of the songs in Irish Suite. And these rollicking songs are fun and I saw the faces of the audience light up as they recognized all the tunes. Every time we play Irish music, the audience gets so into it and some of the older people (especially older women), start crying. Every concert we've played so far, this has happened.
We played Sousa's Washington Post and Dr. D clapped and got the audience to clap, so that was a nice touch because it felt like the audience was more engaged then.
Afterwards, we were in Shandon until 5pm so we had full rein to walk around, watch MYA Jazz perform, and eat more food. This was a street festival outdoors and there were tents for food vendors, souvenir sellers, wildlife petting, and so many things.
We visited the Cork Butter Museum (yes, it's a museum about butter because butter is a big deal in Ireland and Irish butter just may be one of the best things ever) and we were all ready to pay the 2 euros, but the museum person said that the music we played was so lovely he was told not to charge us. Wow wow. But the museum was very informative...did you know that around 1000 AD, different tribes would conduct cattle raids because cows were that important? I may have a borderlining-on-obsession with cows, but they're also important to the Irish! And thus begins my slow transformation into an Irishwoman.
Among the sugar I ate today was a lemon and sugar crepe, a churro that I dipped in the honeycomb ice cream I also ate, and some of Eric's candy floss (cotton candy). Protip: sharing food is very advised because it's cheaper and you can try more things that way.
I've given up on updating photos on here. I do post 40 or so pictures each day (of the 400 or so that I take) on my facebook under the album 50 Shades of Green, so do take a peek at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1749778885303195.1073741841.100008133005252&type=1&l=f58f570de4
Friday, June 17, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 4
Today we had to get up early and be ready to go at 7am. With our luggage all packed up, we hopped onto our coach buses and headed to Tralee for an outdoor concert. We set up in the middle of an square in the tow,n with the last two rows of winds up on a platform.
Tralee is definitely very quiet compared to Dublin and you could tell from a peek inside one of the malls, from all the closed shops and empty rooms, that Tralee is more rundown.
The streets were lovely and it was a sunny day (so sunny that it was such a relief for our eyes to wear sunglasses during our performance...and some of us got sunburned). The outdoor buildings were painted different colors, mostly pastel, and Tralee was definitely a town worth visiting.
Jazz band played first and we stood there watching and other townspeople came to watch. One Irish man to the right of me was bobbing his head and tapping his foot to the beat, and during the break between songs, he turns to me, points at the jazz ensemble, and says "very good, very good" in a thick Irish accent that I could barely understand. Oh yes, Irish accents are lovely but they are a bit hard to understand, and it's impossible when the speaker is talking fast. The jazz combo played "Mercy Mercy Mercy" and the tenor sax (Damien) and Neil (the new jazz director) almost had this battle with music because they basically played a duet that was all improv, and it was so cool not only because they were talented and the riffs they cranked out were crazy cool, but also because they just got so into it, and you could also see that they were really feeling it, and it's that sincerity that really sold everyone on their performance. It was so fun to watch them play and though jazz can be boring, that certainly was anything but dull!
You can find a recording here (the beginning was cut off, sorry!): https://archive.org/details/IMG5254
It was a 4.5 hour trip to Tralee, which I had entertained myself by taking photos, staring out the window at all the road signs and the incredible mountainside/countryside scenery (most of the people on the bus was fast asleep but I can't sleep when the sun is out), and moving up to sit next to Sara and talk to her a bit because up front had better vantage points for taking photos and it was cooler so it would be less likely that I got lulled into drowsiness. Also on this leg of the journey, I became very comfortable with converting between km per hour and miles per hour, using 5k is approximately 3.1miles as my conversion factor...my halfmarathon training (and thus frequent exposure to 3 miles / 5 km / 6 miles / 10 km ) has done some good!
After we played in Tralee, we hit the road for a 2.5 hour bus ride to Cork. We'll be staying three nights in Cork at the University College Cork. The housing is exceedingly nice; the rooms are apartment-style with 4-6 people sharing an apartment. Each person has their own room and bathroom, and there's a common lounge area that is shared that includes a balcony, kitchen, and couches. Comfortable indeed.
We had dinner right when we got there and then had freetime until 10pm which was curfew. 10pm may have been curfew and may have been on the earlier side, but we have all just been so exhausted (lots of people just sleep on all the bus rides), no one is complaining about the 10pm curfew and if anything, we're probably going to sleep even earlier than that.
Tralee is definitely very quiet compared to Dublin and you could tell from a peek inside one of the malls, from all the closed shops and empty rooms, that Tralee is more rundown.
The streets were lovely and it was a sunny day (so sunny that it was such a relief for our eyes to wear sunglasses during our performance...and some of us got sunburned). The outdoor buildings were painted different colors, mostly pastel, and Tralee was definitely a town worth visiting.
You can find a recording here (the beginning was cut off, sorry!): https://archive.org/details/IMG5254
It was a 4.5 hour trip to Tralee, which I had entertained myself by taking photos, staring out the window at all the road signs and the incredible mountainside/countryside scenery (most of the people on the bus was fast asleep but I can't sleep when the sun is out), and moving up to sit next to Sara and talk to her a bit because up front had better vantage points for taking photos and it was cooler so it would be less likely that I got lulled into drowsiness. Also on this leg of the journey, I became very comfortable with converting between km per hour and miles per hour, using 5k is approximately 3.1miles as my conversion factor...my halfmarathon training (and thus frequent exposure to 3 miles / 5 km / 6 miles / 10 km ) has done some good!
After we played in Tralee, we hit the road for a 2.5 hour bus ride to Cork. We'll be staying three nights in Cork at the University College Cork. The housing is exceedingly nice; the rooms are apartment-style with 4-6 people sharing an apartment. Each person has their own room and bathroom, and there's a common lounge area that is shared that includes a balcony, kitchen, and couches. Comfortable indeed.
We had dinner right when we got there and then had freetime until 10pm which was curfew. 10pm may have been curfew and may have been on the earlier side, but we have all just been so exhausted (lots of people just sleep on all the bus rides), no one is complaining about the 10pm curfew and if anything, we're probably going to sleep even earlier than that.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 3
(pictures will be added much later. if you're impatient, you can visit my facebook album for this trip)
Afterwards, we were dropped off at Christ Church Cathedral (where we played Concert #1 that evening with Paul Byrom, an Irish tenor) and were allowed to disperse and get lunch while we were at it.
Annika, Clara, and I ended up stopping at a coffee shop to load up on caffeine...and I ended up getting a double shot of espresso which was a really bad idea because it made my hands shake (and thus taking pictures from this point was made even more difficult).
We walked around and ended up seeing and hearing some street musicians and wandering cobblestone streets. All the buildings are different colors and styles; modern glass buildings alongside the River Liffey, large estates in the embassy area, red brick apartments with doors in every color, gothic-style churches and cathedrals, and colorful storefronts, some ornate and others more rundown.
Afterwards, when everyone met back at The Christ Church Cathedral, we did a soundcheck in the Cathedral to get used to the acoustics (aka our second rehearsal with Paul Byrom that was more just a runthrough of everything) and then we headed back to DCU (Dublin City University, where we have been staying) to get dinner and change into concert clothes.
We left our instruments all locked up at the church and we were all a bit apprehensive about it, but ... who would rob a church? Everything was okay, all equipment was there when we came back.
Jazz ensemble does the pre-concert but since it's raining outside, they play inside the cathedral. Then orchestra played. Academic Festival Overture, Misty Mountain Mvmt 2 (Double Fugue), Copland's Hoe Down, The Last Summer (with Paul Byrom), Go the Distance (with Paul Byrom), You Raise Me Up (with Paul Byrom), Remember Me (with Paul Byrom) (who apparently his father-in-law wrote), and then jazz ensemble headed back on stage while orchestra headed to the back.
After theirs, we gave an encore performance of Derby County, and then the audience all stood up so Dr. D played another movement from Irish Suite, and the audience stood up again, and so Dr. D played another movement. There were several audience members crying and it was a rellief to see that they liked the music.
The concert was over at 10pm and we got back to DCU at 11pm. We are exhausted out of our minds. Poor Emil, he had the hardest job. He is the only trumpet in jazz and he's 1st chair in orchestra, so he was playing this whole concert...and we have a lot of trumpet solos in our pieces. And the movements that Dr. D happened to choose to play for the encore were also trumpet-heavy.
That's it. Tomorrow we have to have our luggage packed by 7am because we're driving to Cork!
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
50 Shades of Green: Day 1 and 2
Flight left at 3:50pm, but our group got into the check-in line for luggage at 11:30am. We waited in line for so long because there were no employees at the check-in kiosks and then, because there were quite a few of us dispersed throughout a long long line of people traveling to Dublin on the same plane as us, waiting for everyone to finish checking in took some time.
All 8 of the female winds were assigned Mrs. D as a chaperone and as we slowly made our way through security (where there were also several police dogs pacing and sniffing around), we finally get to our terminal and are given some reign to wander before boarding began.
On the plane, despite all of us realizing that our seats are basically scattered randomly throughout the plane, I end up sitting next to Ethan, so at least I don't feel awkward if I were to sit next to someone I don't know.
Per usual, I don't sleep on the plane ride and end up watching movies and reading Sense and Sensibility to pass the 7 hours. I intersperse those hours with gazing out the window (I was not only lucky enough to land a window seat, but also a window seat really close to the wing...which leads to the following few of the many "wing" photos I took). When it was nighttime, I peered out the window and I was amazed that stars were still visible: tiny pinpricks in the sea of black. Sadly, only a few are visible on the photo I took (along with the moon that is that ugly blob of light in the top right).
Landing seemed to be really bad on my pressure-sensitive ears, but from comparing notes to other people, it appears that pressure perception is subjective, because Eric vehemently argued that take off was far worse. We landed around 5:55am Ireland time.
Customs was super fast (I ended up forgetting to fill out and hand in my landing pass...whoops...but I still got through customs just fine...) and baggage claim wasn't too chaotic either.
Afterwards, we head out to our coach bus and drive for 40 or so minutes to a service station where we got breakfast and then hit the road for Glendalough.
To get there, we traveled through lots of small towns. Due to a combination of everyone being very exhausted and cranky, I think we all irritated each other. I was taking pictures of many things (sometimes I get camera-happy and just take lots and lots of photos), and the running joke is that I'm taking all the photos (too many sometimes) but at the end of the trip, everyone will be asking for them. Also I was (and still am) fascinated by how GREEN everything in Ireland is. Oh and later on in the day, I was amazed at how big the vegatation is here...so I was somewhat of a broken record today, gasping at how big and green everything was...but that also does lead to the title of this "adventure" and the title of the facebook album I've created to go along with them (the facebook album essentially contains all the photos on this blog, plus some perhaps, but larger and more easily accessible to those on the MYA tour).
Taking photos on the bus is hard, and not only because the bus is moving. Often, the reflection of my bright blue phone case or of people sitting behind or in front of me would show up in the photos. Here are some of the less awful photo failures.
We finally reach Glendalough, where we see several churches and priest homes, as well as the towers. (More info will come later in edits...it's getting late).
[photos are up on facebook, they will be up on this post later!]
Afterwards, we head to Dublin City University. It was raining and for the 2 hours, all of us dozed on and off because we were just so exhausted.
Upon arriving, we go to our dorms, rehearse with the Irish tenor Paul Byrom for tomorrow's concert, and then go back to get dinner and wander at our own leisure until 9pm curfew.
All 8 of the female winds were assigned Mrs. D as a chaperone and as we slowly made our way through security (where there were also several police dogs pacing and sniffing around), we finally get to our terminal and are given some reign to wander before boarding began.
 |
| A guy going in another group tour (hence his shirt) who is reading a book titled The Story of Ireland. After seeing him and his group all sporting their matching green Ireland shirts, I didn't feel so bad about our MYA matching green backpacks...in fact, I quite like them because they help me find where I'm supposed to go. |
 |
| The bassoons |
 |
On the plane, despite all of us realizing that our seats are basically scattered randomly throughout the plane, I end up sitting next to Ethan, so at least I don't feel awkward if I were to sit next to someone I don't know.
Per usual, I don't sleep on the plane ride and end up watching movies and reading Sense and Sensibility to pass the 7 hours. I intersperse those hours with gazing out the window (I was not only lucky enough to land a window seat, but also a window seat really close to the wing...which leads to the following few of the many "wing" photos I took). When it was nighttime, I peered out the window and I was amazed that stars were still visible: tiny pinpricks in the sea of black. Sadly, only a few are visible on the photo I took (along with the moon that is that ugly blob of light in the top right).
Customs was super fast (I ended up forgetting to fill out and hand in my landing pass...whoops...but I still got through customs just fine...) and baggage claim wasn't too chaotic either.
Afterwards, we head out to our coach bus and drive for 40 or so minutes to a service station where we got breakfast and then hit the road for Glendalough.
To get there, we traveled through lots of small towns. Due to a combination of everyone being very exhausted and cranky, I think we all irritated each other. I was taking pictures of many things (sometimes I get camera-happy and just take lots and lots of photos), and the running joke is that I'm taking all the photos (too many sometimes) but at the end of the trip, everyone will be asking for them. Also I was (and still am) fascinated by how GREEN everything in Ireland is. Oh and later on in the day, I was amazed at how big the vegatation is here...so I was somewhat of a broken record today, gasping at how big and green everything was...but that also does lead to the title of this "adventure" and the title of the facebook album I've created to go along with them (the facebook album essentially contains all the photos on this blog, plus some perhaps, but larger and more easily accessible to those on the MYA tour).
Taking photos on the bus is hard, and not only because the bus is moving. Often, the reflection of my bright blue phone case or of people sitting behind or in front of me would show up in the photos. Here are some of the less awful photo failures.
We finally reach Glendalough, where we see several churches and priest homes, as well as the towers. (More info will come later in edits...it's getting late).
[photos are up on facebook, they will be up on this post later!]
Afterwards, we head to Dublin City University. It was raining and for the 2 hours, all of us dozed on and off because we were just so exhausted.
Upon arriving, we go to our dorms, rehearse with the Irish tenor Paul Byrom for tomorrow's concert, and then go back to get dinner and wander at our own leisure until 9pm curfew.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Ireland & Scotland
I'll be heading to Ireland and Scotland on tour with the MYA Orchestra! We will be gone from June 14-30. Posts will go up each day later on in the evening (Ireland is 6 hours ahead of CST).
Stay tuned!
Stay tuned!
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