5/26/10

Tonight we saw the Holst singers perform in the Temple Church.  Come Jesus Come was such a powerful work.  I got the sense that these singers really understand what they are singing about.  They can feel just as well as the audience the pleading in the opening lines of the piece "come, come, come Jesus, come".  We talked about this piece in class and there was some discussion of how the music aids the text in the pleading prayer to the converging of the different parts on the second page.  I think that maybe the converging voices represents the praying/ pleading individual growing nearer to the Savior or perhaps drawing nearer to his rest.  Such would be the case if the individual was dying.  I also noticed that as we get further into the piece we loose the energy and dynamic contrast from the beginning.  The blend also seems a bit more lazy.  I'm thinking that this may be an intentional reflection of the text speaking of weariness and a longing for death but, then we move into a rejoicing/ dance like section which is full of live and energy.

The concert was interspersed with cello solos which was an absolute delight.  I want to study what it is about stringed instruments that really just seem to penetrate right to the heart.  Interestingly enough, the cordae tendonae pull down on the valves that bring blood from the atriums to the ventricles.  These valves play a major part in creating the pressure necessary for the heart to pump.  Well I digress.  I just wonder if these strings vibrate at a frequency similar to the frequency of low stringed instruments.  It might sound "way out there" but something really happens to me when I hear beautiful cello and violin music.  I nearly cried as the cellist played his first piece, Bach's "Cello Suite no. 1".  This is a well loved piece featured in diamond commercials and car commercials.  It is a lovely piece that, aside from it's pop culture use, can stand it's own among great suites for solo instrumentalists.  I was overcome with emotion hearing this piece in this setting.  It took my breath away. Sadly to say, after the initial effects wore off, I wished the cellist played into his instrument more.  It just felt sort of lack luster by the end.

The Holst Singers came back on with a few German motets that I felt lacked performance qualities like musical nuance but it did have beautiful clarity of tone.

"Sing Ye to the Lord" I felt had great performance quality on the part of the conductor and the choir.  There were some fun stylistic things going on such as trills.  I was impressed by the agility of the choir in the melisma lines; the kind of agility we heard in the London Bach Choir.  By the time we reached the climax of the melismatic-ness in the first section of the piece, things were a mess.

Overall, I was impressed to see this group move from rehearsal mode to concert mode shortly after.  The gave an emotionally charged concert.  

5/23/10

Today I attended the Sung Eucarist at St. Paul's Cathedral.  I had a unique experience doing so.  I travelled there alone which left me time to contemplate my surroundings and the nature of the Sabbath day.  This sounds a little silly but, I've had little alone time since arriving in London and it was nice to have some time to reflect on my blessings and to prepare my spirit for the day.  I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of Francis Grier's service "Missa Spiritus Sancti".  Now, I say it was a pleasure because it was really neat and contemporary and interesting however, by the time the sound reached back to where I was sitting, it sounded like it had gone through a food processor.  It seemed like a very moving work with drama.  There were drums and other percussion instruments played.  I thought, what is the purpose of this work?  Is it to delight the senses? Was it written specifically for large cathedrals like St. Paul's in mind?  I felt that this music might have been more appropriate for a concert setting but I enjoyed hearing something different.

5/24/10

Our day began a little later in the morning with a BBC singers rehearsal.  We met at the appointed place.  I read the Standard (free news paper) on the tube.  I really have come to enjoy that paper.  There is lots of interesting information about politics, local art/ music scene info, and pop culture alerts.  When we arrived at the studio, I was feeling pretty excited to see what they are made of.  The building looked pretty bland from the outside.  Come to find out that this was only the BBC music building and the amount of music coming out of that building and reaching all over Great Britain is really impressive!!!  I wonder if BBC was in it's hayday in the 60's and 70's more than it is now.  You look at all the pop culture stuff they've produced and it is well loved.  My question is, are people listening to the BBC Singers today?  I would like to see the statistics of that!

The rehearsal was a long one indeed.  

5/27/10

I sit here at a train station near Manchester.  My heart has been racing all morning.  Maybe because I’m nervous to be traveling alone and getting lost.  Maybe because I’m nervous I’ll mess up.  I let on to be very confident and independent, which I am, but this is the first long journey I’ve planned out all on my own.  I have orchestrated parts of my travels in the past but this time, it’s all me.  I arrived at the rail station about 15 minutes after my train took off.  A few things held me up in the tube station. There were some delays on the trains, I helped a girl with her suitcase, and I saw a child crying in the corner alone because she didn’t know where her daddy was.  I stopped to comfort her and see if there was anything I could do.  It’s pretty feasible that a parent could loose their child in one of those tube stations that connects to a rail station.  There are so many people commuting and traveling, especially since it’s a bank holiday here in England.  I worried for her and touched her arm asking if she was ok.  She said through her tears something about her daddy.  Only moments later, I heard a voice say “she’s ok” as her father came up with her mother and baby in a stroller.  She was just a little confused.  Poor little thing.  So, I explained my hold ups to the woman at the counter and everything seemed to work out just fine!  I didn’t have to pay any penalty fees or anything.  Blessed day!  I think I’m still just all shook up from the craziness.  It’s comforting to know that I can ask almost any stranger here for directions or help and they are all so kind and willing to explain things.  I have a pretty good sensor for who I can talk to.  Don’t worry mom and dad, I’ve only asked young female strangers for directions and nothing else.  I really feel pretty safe traveling around in England.  People get all worked up about muggings and violence but, I’ve found the English to be quite pleasant.  Perhaps thats because I’ve been spending most of my time in the nice parts of London.  South Ken isn’t exactly the roughest neighborhood.  We have one neighborhood bum.  He sleeps in the same place every night on some cardboard.  I’d like to have a chat with him sometime.  I think he’s got it made.  He has a warm bed every night...at least in the summer months...he doesn’t pay taxes and he always has food to eat, at least from what I’ve seen.  I don’t envy that he doesn’t have running water.  I suppose he could bathe at the lake in Hyde Park.  

I finally arrived at exactly half past 2 as expected.  I hopped off the train a little nervous and not knowing what to expect.  I would be seeing a close friend that I hadn’t contacted in 2 years.  Luke is the first close friend to come home that I’ve been able to see.  I found my way to the train exit and explained why I had the wrong ticket and such.  He let me through the gates no problem.  I look up and there I see Luke!  I felt SO excited! More excited than I was when I landed in England even!  I love the people in my life very much.  I practically skipped/ jumped over to hug him.  I was relieved to see him all smiles.  I know that the first few days home from the mission can be a really depressing time but Luke seemed genuinely excited to have me there.  I gave him a big squeeze which, he confirmed later did make him feel a tad uncomfortable.  I think it’s partially a British thing and partly a RM thing.  Maybe both.  Anyway, it felt great to finally be there.  I must have chatted to him at about a mile a minute telling him about my trip there, my travels in London, things about BYU, and trying to catch him up on our friends and pop culture.  I think the “catching up with pop culture” thing is pretty futile.  I just told him what I found to be the best new movies and songs. Anyway, we walked around Southport.  It felt like we were both visitors.  Luke said to me, “this is such and such street...I think”.  We walked down the promanade and the pier which jutted out into what looked like a sandy version of the salt flats in Utah; sand and puddles of muddy water.  Fun!  Lets go hang out at the beach...I mean...uhhh. 

We made our way back through town and to his home.  It was fun to walk by the bustling down town area.  There was plenty of live music because of this Southport Jazz festival!  FUN!  We made our way back for some dinner and to get settled in for the night.  Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers are just lovely people and so inviting.  We chatted about BYU and our families and our faith and of course we played a round of taboo.  I love that game.

5/25/10

Have you ever read “The Canterbury Tales”? Well, today I have a tale about not going to Canterbury.  We all set off to meet at the tube station and then walk to where our coach would pick us up.  We walked here, there, and everywhere.  From, I think it was somewhere near Temple station, up to Big Ben, across that bridge, and back down to the London Eye.  Funny thing was, we could have just crossed a different bridge right across the Thames from the eye.  This sort of thing seems to happen regularly.  We pick a less convenient station or we wind up back tracking.  It doesn’t ever really frustrate me... it just makes me laugh.

We all boarded our bus and I was feeling pretty ready to set off on this adventure!  Canterbury is a hot spot for Crusade history which was a very interesting time.  We waited...then waited some more...then finally we realized the coach started smelling like exhaust.  We were told to get off the bus which was fine to me.  We were right in front of the London Eye at this point and there was a grassy field right next to the river that was just calling my name.  We got out and took some pictures.  Scott asked our friend Heidi what she thought of first thing this morning.  She said something like “my breakfast was delicious”.  I said, “I woke up this morning and the first thing I said to myself was ‘I am so glad I’m not wearing a burka’”.  Scott laughed and I felt pretty witty.  It’s true though!  The weather was so lovely that I simply had to do some cartwheels in the grass!  We waited a few minutes while all our supervisors tried to get everything under order.  It was decided that because we couldn’t go see Canterbury, we would just have another free day to play around London. It was also decided that they would give us 40 pounds to go see a show which thrilled me to pieces! I could really get used to this whole not working playing all the time thing...but then I realize that I would soon run out of funds.  Nathan got everyone tickets to ride the Eye which was pretty cool.  Surely not 17 pounds cool but cool nonetheless.  It was mostly just fun to be in the little bubble and watch how everything worked...it’s pretty genius.  We even watched a 4 minute, 4D movie before hand that was so cool we had to see it twice...more bang for our buck that way!!

Our friend Robert Crapo joined us on our adventures today.  As we walked in the direction of the tube station I saw a group of young people packing up some instruments.  I saw what looked like a jazz combo and asked them “are you guys still playing?” They said they were about to take a little break but...they decided to play another song.  The three of us stood there and listened for a few bars and then Scott asked me to dance.  He must have read my mind!  This band was just jammin and I was really feeling the need to dance!  So, we did!  Scott swung me around and we did some cool moves...so cool that we gathered more of a crowd than the actual band.  They kept playing for a while and Robert said that people were stopping and giving the band money.  Even the band members thanked us for dancing haha! I have been wanting to panhandle for two weeks now!  Scott and I could totally just swing dance for money...we just need the right outfits.  I tell you, there was quite a crowd.  Should have gotten pictures of that!

We made our way to Picadilli Circus to find out about some shows.  We walked for about a half an hour to the Royal Theatre (I think that was what it was called...around here everything has something to do with royalty).  We got student seats in about the 10th row center for 25 pounds!!! Fan-jolly-tastic!  Robert, Scott, and I then made our way through Covant Garden which is a deceptive name for this indoor/ outdoor shopping mall.  Thats all it is really...unless I missed something!  ha.  We walked around there and I found this vintage toy shop.  I was hoping to get some miniture doll furniture for the dollhouse that my grandparents made for me.  I’ve been working on that VERY slowly.  I think it will be a lifelong project.  We didn’t buy anything and decided to try out the London Museum.  That was fantastic!  I learned about what it was like to live in London in the thousands of years before Christ.  Can you imagine?  How did these people communicate with each other? What language did they speak?  Luckily we had Robert there who is a linguistics major.  He said that the English language developed around 15,000 years ago!  Shnikies!

6/6/10

-slept until 10:00...missed church :(

-wanted to go to St. Pauls

-had a leasurly morning instead and a big brunch

-went to Winsor (I forgot that I've seen Winsor castle before haha until I was there and recognized the outside)

-saw really cool things like the miniture doll house (nothing close to what I'm aiming for)

-knight of the garder and hallway

-more of those fire place face protectors

-ate at this irish pub

-late for evensong so we walked around a bit and thought about doing the "long walk"

-found this church I went to with Liberty in 2007!  Fun to be there again.

-drowned our sorrows in icecream for missing the evensong

-met up with our friends and came home

6/5/10

Tonight we heard the Croydon Philharmonic Choir sing Haydn's "Creation".  It started off as a typical concert but slowly developed some character as the soloists began to sing.  I was impressed with the technique of the soprano although I felt that her communication suffered as a result.  There was a particular segment that really interested me...the bit about Adam and Eve.  The conductor decided to be true to oratorio style and have sort of a "scene" develop between the soprano and baritone soloist.  I found that it was more distracting than serving the music.  It seemed to come from nowhere.  This was a choral society that impressed me more than the other choral society we listened to.  I was engaged in this concert and impressed that although the woman's section was more than twice the size of the men's section there was a pretty decent balance.  

-huge breakfast

-abbey road

-camden road market

-attempted swimming in the serpentine

-Cadogan Hall to hear Croydon Philharmonic Choir sing Haydn's Creation

-clubbin that night babay

-rush to get plane tix