6/3/10 Thursday

Thursday 6/3/10

Today was our trip to Canterbury.  We all met in Greenwich  early in the morning.  This is the furthest they’ve asked us to travel on our own in order to meet up with the group.  Scott comes down in the morning all proud because he’d found a more effective method of getting to Greenwich than suggested by Nathan, our choral assistant.  (again with all the interesting directions).  Pretty soon, we had an entire group following Scott.  He always knows where he is going and I think people have come to expect that.  We got separated at one of the train stations and everyone started freaking out because they lost Scott (at least that was the story that was relayed to me later).  We arrived on our bus  for a very uncomfortable ride.  It was so stinkin hott on that thing.  I did not know what the deal was.  It was sooo bad that I thought about asking for a partial refund.  There is no way that the air blowing on us was AC air.  It was like luke warm!  

We finally arrived and Scott had already made a list of the places we could visit.  He catogorized them by price: free, cheap-er, and cheap.  We both really wanted to see the Normal castle and that was really the only thing we had time for anyway.  So we set out and stumbled upon it.  This thing was built during the 11th century!!!  Of course, it is only in ruins now having served it’s purpose as a royal residence, a storage facility, and the home of a gas tank.  I thought it looked pretty cool still.  Scott and I walked up this spiral staircase that had one of those darn gates that prevent you from reaching the top.  I decided it might be fun to climb over it and continue walking up the stairs. I grabbed the gate and anchored my feet on the rocks of the wall a little bit.  Scott wasn’t shouting his praises at my choice of activity so, I got a little nervous that I couldn’t do it and such and started to climb back down. There were some rot iron spokes clawing over the top but, I fit right through.  Scott documented this event of course.  The view from the top of the stairs was quite lovely. 

Scott and I wanted to check out the Canterbury museum.  We found it and it turns out that there are remnants of an ancient Roman home below the ground floor of the museum.  Totally amazing!  Too bad we didn’t have enough time to actually go into the museum. As we were walking back into the main part of town I saw this cool alley way.  I like narrow and interesting looking alley ways...during the day of course!  I decided we needed to walk through a particular one and behold, there was a lovely bridge and a grassy park area!  Scott and I felt as if we stumbled upon hidden treasure. 

We met up with the group to tour Canterbury Cathedral and St. Augustine’s Abbey.  Our tour guide at the cathedral was incredible and was able to captivate our attention for about an hour and a half.  With a combination of fun facts, historical facts, myths and folklore, and comedy, I actually felt that my money was well spent in deciding to take a guided tour even though we technically didn’t make the decision because it was part of our program.  but, anyway, there were some memorable things about that tour the biggest thing is that this church was the spiritual home for the legendary Thomas Beckett (and the destination for the pilgrims in the famous story “Canterbury Tales”).  We began our tour talking about the facade of the building and how it’s grown from it’s original romanesque structure to the gothic structure.  There is a plaque on the floor in remembrance of the “Fire Watchers” who stood on top of the roof of the church and threw bombs off and preserve this “mother of all Anglican cathedrals”.  The next memorable bit was this inner walkway outside the chapel.  We learned that through time the church began to function as a boys school.  There were midieval handprints and games carved into the stone by these children.  We were also brought to the place where Beckett was supposedly slain and told the rather groosome story.  When we went into the crypt, I was disappointed that I was unable to capture the beauty of this space.  It felt like the most reverent part of the cathedral all dimly lit and silent.  Not that those elements are necessary for reverence, obviously, but this was a much more still place than the chapel section.  There is a chapel that was a gift for French refugees to come worship in.  They continue to do so till this day and they only rarely open the doors to outsiders.  We walked up the stairs and looked at the shrine for the final burial place for Beckett (because he had three different burial places in that one cathedral).  There were stories of miracles occurring when the sick and afflicted made the journey to his burial place.  They would touch or kiss his shrine and be miraculously healed.  They would pray and kneel around the shrine so often that there are indentations in the marble.  Pretty incredible.  

-lady follows us around

-we go to the St. Augustine's Abbey

-enjoy the ruins 

-met up for boat rides

-went to evensong and barely made it in time

6/2/10

Logan and I decided, while chatting on facebook last night, that we (including Scott) should wake early, get out by 9, get tickets to see the play “All My Sons” and watch the London Tower Bridge raise for a boat to go through.  It lifts about 1000 times a year and they always schedule these lifts.  Well, we didn’t get out by 9...it was more like 10 so, we missed the bridge lift.  Jessica decided to join us and she and Logan ran off to the British Library while Scott and I ran to the London Tower Bridge to use our little passes we got from climbing the monument.  I laugh, still, at this monument.  It was like...how can we get tourists to pay us more money?  OH...I know, build this “monument” and make them pay to climb 311 stairs.  Anyway, we got to the bridge and had about an hour before “All My Sons”.  They had this really cool little movie explaining how and why the bridge was designed and built.  It was honestly much more exciting than I anticipated.  I was really hoping that these footpaths would be open to the air. How exhilarating would that have been 46 meters above the Thames?  Well, it wasn’t open to the air.  There was, however, plenty of information to read about the bridge and it’s relationship to London.  They also had some Victorian games set up which were not unlike other games I have played.  My favorite was this sort of horse shoes game where you have rope circles and pegs to throw them over.  There were five pegs set up in the shape of a box and I got the peg with 25 points (the most you can get) two tosses in a row. :) Beginners luck probably.  I just remember the few times I played horse shoes as a girlscout in the park in Disco by my grandparents house.  I was never very good at that.  They also had a long display of some of the world’s greatest bridges.  I would like to see the world’s oldest wooden bridge in Sweden some day.  I was happy to discover that the Golden Gate is indeed displayed there.  Did you know that the Golden Gate is the most popular bridge to jump off of to commit suicide.  Sad!  Maybe the Brits have it right in enclosing the foot path. 

I think the most interesting part of the bridge was to learn about Victorian engineering.  It was rather clever.  We could see this displayed in particular in the engine room.  I won’t bore you with that stuff.  If you’re really curious after seeing the pictures...look it up online to read about it :)

Finally we made our way to the theatre for “All My Sons”.  Scott and I made it back just in time.  Probably 42.3 seconds before the lights dimmed for the show to begin.  I splurged and bought a 2nd row seat for 31 pounds.  yikes.  I justified this decision because this play is the only thing in London that has 5 star reviews right now.  After seeing the show, I can confirm that this rating is well deserved.  We sat down to an open curtain and one of the most incredible sets I’ve ever seen.  There was this sort of New Orleans style farm house and a front yard, lawn furniture and all.  They had actual grass on the stage people!!!  It was an incredible story written by Arthur Miller about an American family during WWII.  The father sold bad parts to the airforce and all the planes went down killing 21 pilots.  This is a story of lies and deception and the dynamics of a family that shape how we view the world.  There were some incredible scenes between the father, Joe, his wife and his son Chris.  I felt as if I was looking in on private conversations that were actually happening.  There commitment was so intense that it sucked me right in.  I was so captivated I had little thought to critique or analyze.  I simply listened and experienced this moving story.  There were only a few stage choices that threw me out of the story for a brief moment. There was a conversation going on between the mother and her dead son’s sweetheart.  Chris and Joe sat by listening to the girl talk intently while I felt it would have been more effective for them to converse separately and chime in after their ears purked up for some reason or another.  Does that make sense?  Another scene came in the second act.  The mother made grape juice for a family gathering and the neighbors kept coming in and out.  Members of the family would pour a glass for these visitors and they would never take the glass or if they did, the wouldn’t drink from it.  I was like...what’s the point of the grape juice if you don’t really use the prop...it’s distracting more than a tool.  These critiques are little to be concearned about however.   The show was incredible.  I haven’t given a standing ovation for any show since I got here but this was truly incredible.  I stood and held back my tears.  I was absolutely astounded. 

Our next adventure was to look for a place to dine.  Jessica and Logan wanted Thai food.  Scott and I suggested sushi and everyone seemed game for that.  We were looking for a sushi place when Logan came up with the brilliant idea to ask the people in this Chinese resturant.  I thought, yea thats a good idea.  Let’s ask other resturants where we can find their competitors.  haha good idea.  We stumbled upon a Thai resturant that looked pretty posh and decided we could splurge on some quality food.  It was a treat indeed.  I ordered a red curry chicken dish and brown rice.  We had lively conversation, which we always do with Jessica and Logan.  We talked about social standards and our present social dynamic in the program.  Jessica and I really get along.  We are independent women with strong minds thus, we don’t get all touchy about things.  It’s refreshing to be able to be honest with her and have it so well received.  Scott decided that we all needed to try this sweet mango rice dish.  It was absolutely heaven sent!!! It reminded me of this wet/ spongy yellow cake my Aunt LuAnn makes.  Rice with mango slices smothered in coconut milk was DIVINE.  

We then headed out to become cultured even further by seeing the opera “Tosca” presented by the England National Opera.  I was less than pleased when we got to our seats.  Since Scott and I are in charge of bathroom clean up, getting tickets after class and before concerts is a low priortiy.  Thus, we wind up getting whatever ones are left.  I used to think that they built theatres so well that there weren’t “bad” seats.  That was before I sat in the far right of the upper balcony in the London Colluseum.  The front of the balcony blocked my view of half the stage.  The other half of the stage was blocked by the large head of the man in front of me. BoOoo0o0oo.  I managed to just enjoy the first act anyway.  I laughed at the jokes and enjoyed the music.  This piece feels very grandiose yet, I feel like all opera is that way. Big and dramatic....that’s kind of the point.  I asked the attendants how long before the show began they would continue to seat the audience.  This attendant knowingly said, “right up until the show starts, the house is full”.  I thought...a) how do you know it’s actually full? did you have a little meeting with all your little usher friends and found out that the house was packed and to not let people switch seats.  probably.  I’m thinking, sometimes people don’t even show up to the opera they got tickets for!  I asked if I could stand on the sides of the balcony where at least I could get a full view...again, the answer was no probably because of all the lighting equipment nearby.  I so coveted the members of our group who had seats in the front row of the balcony.  During the first interval, I asked some of my front row friends if there were any open seats during the first act and as it turned out...there were! Scott and I nabbed those right up.  There was zilch leg room but the view was sooooo much better.  This is what happens when Michelle gets aggressive.  :)

I was quite impressed with the ease with which the baritone sang.  Opera singing and acting requires serious stamina.  These guys go on without mics and sing for every last seat in that colluseum.  It’s incredible.  Sitting in the balcony allowed me to just listen and try to picture the story using the expressiveness of the singers as my guide.  I was impressed that both Tosca and her lover, Mario, could project and portray such powerful and deep emotions using only their voices.  I’ve heard recordings of operas but never attended one live (Phantom of the Opera certainly does not count!) so this was quite the experience for me. 

6/1/10

Today we had a lecture from Paul Spicer, the conductor of the Finzi Singers.  We listened to him all day. Quite literally.  Here's my notes from the day:

-Helen Wadell had an influence on Howells

-psalms of the wondering scholars begin with a quote from Wadell

-spirituality, a sense of other, inspiration taken from earlier music, popular focus of work in the early 20th century dispite the fact they are athiest

-sacred and secular rub shoulders through text

-dulomere??? cold and stillness of winter, the birth of jesus to intensify the image, in a poem

-Howells setting of this poem, sense of remoteness painted in sound

-listening to this piece

-Orthodox worship “ppl look at worship as consciousness of heaven come down to earth...howells and English visionary composers are trying to create this

-music paints a sense of wonder by basses starting low and other voices build until the soprano descant creating an etherial

-synesthesia: mixing of senses

-this music is the equivalent of stained glass windows for a more sophisticated audience

-when Vaughn williams came in Glauster cathedral with his fantasia, fused the old and new

-for some composers, Gregorian chant created the distance, Williams used the English Hymnal to create eclesiastical distance and a psalm with his own music

-the mass in G minor, it was to bring a whole new world of tet and musical feelings, like the Oxford movement, catholic revival...stress higher standard of church worship

-Finze was a free thinker, not a church goer which is interesting bc the church music he wrote

-”religion should be like a weather clock” something about fixing north south east and west...blowing in the wind instead

-what speaks to him about the music is the raw emotional power, spirituality and sensuality, allows the humanist to contact this music

-sostinato***

“misa sabrenenses” Howells

-20 minutes, set in paragraphs, 7 bohr (sabranences is the nuber seven in latin)

-raw power hung on the coat hanger or ------

-creed, drama of the resurection leading oto the words “and his kingdom will have no end”, most power of English music!!!

-the heart of the matter is visionary

Lewis forman said: “the agnostics at prayer” and pieces he listed as the pieces that created this

-how shall I sing thy magesty...a singers tune

-Christ triumphant...another singers tune, great range

-RS Thomas 1913-200 Welch Poet

-a writer he’s set as a composer more than anyone

-”but” is the word that turns it all around, there are these “but” moments in the text and a but moment in the songs

-”alive” to celebrate the dioscese in Birmingham

-he conducts the Birmingham conservatory choir

Dyson and Howells

-was called the town of 100 trades

-harmed the envoronment there...it became very industrial

-alliteration lyrics for Dyson’s memorial for his father, fitness of a marriage of words and music

-listening exercise....alliteration one, drudgy and fitting for the text and the setting in which he grew up

Dyson’s Cello Sonata is soooo beautiful!!!

Howells was the first to recieve radium treatment?  !

G-D a perfect 5th, canterbury pilgrims, signed this way often....how would I sign?

He scripted the last 2-ish hours of his lecture and moved so rapidly through it that I could barely type what all he was saying.  My favorite thing about this experience was to learn from Mr. Spicer who is an expert in the composers Howells and Dison.  He has written books about them and knows so much about their lives and the history of the world surrounding the writing of specific pieces that really informs the way we listen and absorb the music.

-tuesday = class all day

-Paul Spicer lectured us....all day!

-saw the play London Assurance with Logan

-before the show started we had some time to kill...we sat and listened to these Andrew Sister wanna be's

-we asked what it took to perform there :)  they said talent...I said "you're looking at it"

-called the BYU health center to get a job and promised to send in a resume

-tried to go to that open mic musical theatre bar

-guy followed us...i think...awkward

-place was booked so we boogied home

5/31/10

-left from the Liverpool station sooo early in the morning.  Like 6:30!

-interesting characters on the bus

-lonely ride...blogged a bit but slept most of the time

-Arrived at the Victoria bus station and who was waiting there for me??? Scott.  with a gift in hand.  He loves me.

-we decided we needed to have some fun.

-the monument, harmons, jeans for Scott

-found a blues bar and went back

-Johnny and our new friend utalized that open mic night and did a swell job!

-bought cokes and got the best seats in the house

-went back to sleep because we had an early morning the next morning

5/30/10

-sunday, church which turned out to be stake conference

-sunday dinner was salmon

-played uno

-watched Mobsters and Mormons

5/29/10

-LIVERPOOL

-breakfast of a muffin and some milk and we hit the station

-when we arrive in Liverpool we hit the TATE first.  Who knew they had a TATE Liverpool?  

-Picasso gallery was amazing

-lots of surrealist art which really excites me!  I love love love surrealism

5/28/10

-saw Luke's guitar teacher playing

-got huge cups of hot coco

-walked around a bit, hit up top man, Luke's favorite shop

-Luke goes home teaching so, I hang out with Luke's mama and sister, we girls talk shop