25 Random Things About Me....

This seems to be the latest rage on Facebook. Never one to flout convention, forthwith is my contribution to the craze.

1. I have two of the coolest kids on the planet.

2. I like food. I like to cook it, I like to shop for it, I like to eat it. That being said.....

3. I loathe and abominate goat cheese because....

4. I used to own and show pygmy goats. Goat cheese smells like them. While I loved the goats, the smell was a bit overpowering.

5. I hate anything that goes around my wrist. This includes, but is not limited to: bracelets, watches, hospital IDs, tight sleeves, etc.....

6. I have an oddly shaped pinky toenail on my left foot. They never know what to do about it when I go for a pedicure.

7. I like my gin & tonic in a 7-11 Big Gulp tumbler. I don't fool around with small cocktails. I go for the swimming pool size.

8. I absolutely adore Queen. I could write a doctoral dissertation about them, I swear.

9. I once got a speeding ticket because of my adoration of Queen. Volume cranked too high, foot too heavy on the gas. In no way, shape or form has this staunched my undying devotion.

10. I am hopelessly addicted to knitting and have an unfortunate predilection for expensive and luxurious fibers.

11. I own a Mac. Always have, always will. End of story.

12. I use Sibelius, not Finale. Always have, always will.

13. I married my piano instructor.

14. I was admitted to music school on probation. I think they were mad about #13.

15. I am still married to him. So there!

16. I am trying to learn German, but I'm not very good at it. I don't care. It's fun to learn something new!

17. When I am working on a piece, I can lose hours at a shot.

18. I keep the "Music for Children" volumes on my nightstand for a little light reading before nodding off.

19. I have pierced ears.

20. I could have played string bass in 6th grade, but opted for the French horn instead. My mother and I had a big argument about this because she said playing the French horn wasn't "ladylike." Now I ask you. Is there ANYTHING about me that's ladylike? I picked up the viola at the age of 21 and haven't played the French horn since.

21. I taught myself to play the alto recorder when I was 9, and when I got to Orff Level I, the soprano was completely new to me.

22. I bit my nails for over 35 years and suddenly in the summer of 2006, for no reason and without realizing it, I quit. I looked down one day and SHAZZAM!! I had fingernails!

23. I am a hard core Episcopalian. I love high church, incense, hymns and dressing up in a cassock and cotta.

24. My Orff friends are my rock.

25. I am a pretty affable person, but if there is ANYONE in the whole wide world that I would have no problem hitting in the face with an undefrosted Sarah Lee chocolate cream pie, it would be my high school choral teacher. No ifs, ands, or buts. Consider yourself warned, Kenny!!

Rock Star!

It's true that Barack Obama is a celebrity of sorts. The Obama mania that has swept the States is also in evidence in Austria, but of course, it's hard to tell since the Austrians tend to be restrained in their displays of enthusiasm. I'm sure that they have no idea of what to make of me....

The ex-pat community here in Salzburg is a close-knit one. They are truly wonderful people and they are making my time here so enjoyable. Since I am not really the same age as the more traditional students, it's nice to find friends who are in the same phase of life.... that is....middle age! A lot of my ex-pat friends have cool Austrian spouses. I've met some American students and some of the teachers at the International School. It's a nice community!

Of course, we are thrilled about Obama's election and so my friend Mary Ann organized an party at Hotel Stein, one of THE most chic places in Salzburg. The management was kind enough to set up a large screen TV and the presecco flowed freely. Mary Ann had spent the afternoon decorating, so there was red, white and blue everywhere. There was even a big "Obama" banner! Unfortunately, we didn't have the life size cardboard cut-out of the man, but we made do. The media was there, taking pictures and interviewing people. It was a great party and the goodwill was palpable. We cheered, sang, and toasted the new president and some of us continued the party until well into the evening.

I slept until 10:30 the next day, entirely missing my class. When I finally made it back to the Institut on Thursday, I discovered that I was a star. Apparently my interview and picture were in the Salzburger Nachrichten (the local paper!).

It's nice to be American!

International Evening

As you can see from the blackboard, International Evening was held on January 22 at the Orff Institut. We put together a multi-media extravaganza that featured song, dance and play from around the world. It was a lot of work, but the result was worth it.
Here's the program:

Thailand - Long Drum March: We started in darkness and Toey began with a call and response bringing everyone to the instruments. It was loud and exciting and a great way to begin!

China - New Year's Dance: Fabia told a story about how some of the New Year's traditions came to be and then there was a lovely dance with firecrackers!

Japan - Ochilocka Hoi and Nabe: Two traditional Japanese nursery rhymes. The audience participated.

"Let's Go Swimming!" : This is how we got from one continent to another. It's a great song. Here's a picture of us brushing our teeth. If I can figure out how to link the tune, I will!



Iran - An improvisation by Mastaneh on the santur, and an arrangement of a traditional piece "Majnoon Naboodom" by Mandana. I think this was an audience favorite with good reason!



Turkey - Arsevi led us in a traditional nursery rhyme, which I can't even begin to type. It was about a fisherman in a rowboat. She added drums and a hand jive for additional fun

Columbia - A lovely 4 part arrangement of Prende La Vela. We have three people in the Special Course from Columbia, and a fourth one who is in the Masters program. We sang this one in the dark with votive candles. It was very effective.

America - Since we are really fortunate to have a jazz bass player in the group, he jammed and I led the audience in an ostinato. It was fun!

Portugal - Rui sang a song that was the cornerstone of the people's revolution in 1974. Not a single shot was fired, instead the people placed red carnations in the barrels of the soldiers' rifles.

Catalunya - This was REALLY fun. Each city in Catalunya has its own day of celebration. There are parades and festivities of all kinds, and a feature of these festivals are the giants. Here's a picture of the real deal:



And here's a picture of Marta, Tresa and Cathy painting the head of our "giant." (I dusted off my 4-H skills and made a dress out of some Ikea sheets) I think our giant ended up looking a bit like Mr. Bill.



Spain - Tresa, Arsevi, Virginia and Marta did a traditional stick dance from Aragon while I tried desperately to keep up with Pedro in a recorder duet to accompany. It was great fun!

Italy - Virginia got to let all her inhibitions out in a rousing rendition of the "Tarantella."

The entire evening was a great success and we were happy with the result. Of course, we were all exhausted the next day....

It's Raining Phlegm! ..or...The Downside of Mistletoe

My only real acquaintance with mistletoe is confined to the curious custom (which originated in Scandinavia) of kissing someone of the opposite gender at Christmastime under a branch of mistletoe. In my case, it was never real mistletoe. It was a petroleum based product in the shape of the real thing. It probably explains why I have never been so fortunate as to be kissed under the mistletoe. And why I don't recognize the real thing when I see it.
Mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant that feeds on trees. The trees on the boulevard to the Orff Institut are heavily infected and they have the appearance of something that you would see in a Dr. Seuss book. Big balls of evergreen foliage everywhere. I naively thought at first that these tree balls were a lovely traditional European holiday tradition. DUH!  The tree to the right only seems to have one mistletoe problem. Imagine the picture with at least ten more and you'll get the idea of how the trees on the boulevard look. SO festive!

The other day when I returned to my apartment, I was unzipping my boots when I noticed a rather large globule of what looked like...um.... well... mucus on the toe. Now being an elementary music teacher, I am quite used to the sight of drippy green candles oozing from kindergartners' noses, but I don't generally end up with them on my articles of clothing. I solemnly took a tissue and removed the offending item. 

The Austrians generally are a neat and tidy people. I say generally because smoking is popular here as it is in most of Europe and it is not unusual to find cigarette butts littering the streets. There is also a state employee whose job it is to clean up the cigarette butts. That has to be a thankless job, I'm sure. So I was rather mortified to find the sidewalk to the Institut strewn with what appeared to be vast quantities of nasal expulsions. It truly was incomprehensible to me that the native population was now carelessly spreading germs in such an unseemly fashion.

And then....... PLOP!!!! A globule fell on my coat. EWWW!!!! Then another! 

 I looked up to see that it was raining phlegm from the trees. The greenish mistletoe berries ripen and leave the mother plant. They are sticky and slimy and green. This, boys and girls, is how mistletoe spreads. So the next time a kindergartner leaves slug tracks on your sleeve, remember: 

It's not mucus, it's just reproducing mistletoe!

Holy Lackablogpost, Batman!!

Wow!!! Talk about a serious time out. Sorry about that. Things got pretty hectic around the holidays.
First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... late. I astoundingly did not make any New Year's resolutions, although my friend Henrikje and I had fun looking over our horoscopes (in German of course). I liked what mine had to say. I won't say what it is until maybe next year. We'll see how much of it comes true!
Before the Christmas break I had an orchestra concert. One of the things that I really wanted to do when I came over here was play some chamber music and play in an orchestra. The orchestra at the Mozarteum is much too young and competitive for me, but the University orchestra is just right. I feel kind of like Goldilocks. Just right! I'm not sure who all exactly is in the orchestra, but it's a variety of ages, mostly older adults with a variety of occupations (my stand partner is an OB-GYN) and we all love to play. I was especially excited about the concert. I just sat there on the stage thinking "Holy viola, Batman! I'm playing in an orchestra in SALZBURG!" It really doesn't get any better.
I spent the holidays with my friends in Nuremberg. It was a good time, although the weather was grim. For awhile there we said that we couldn't wait for the sun to go down because then we wouldn't have to look at the gray drippy weather. There wasn't any snow to put us in a holiday mood, so we compensated with a sun lamp and lots of sekt. We watched tons of movies, some of them dubbed into German and some with subtitles. We read books, listened to music, shopped, played with cats and in general had a calm and happy holiday.
New Year's Eve was a bit different than the States. They shoot off fireworks at midnight the way we shoot them off on the 4th of July. Since my friends have a beautiful panoramic view out of their upstairs window, we were able to see the fireworks all over Bavaria. OK. Maybe not ALL of Bavaria, but it was a good show nonetheless. The air was thick with the smell of ammonium perchlorate and after awhile the fireworks all blended together in a blue haze. Of course the haze hung on until the next morning when it was.... you guessed it.... gray and drippy.
I came back to Salzburg last Wednesday in time to teach my first class at the English Center. My students were Paulina, age 3, Anton and Luca, age 5, and Clara, age "5+1/4." There's a rather complicated way to say that in German which I fortunately understood. Actually, they speak about the same level German that I do, so it was all good.
I haven't taught that age group in a while, but I remember how much energy they have. Yikes! Here's what we did:

The Hello Song
Hop, hop, stop
Hop on One Foot Nanny Goat (I threw this in because they were wound up)
We read Chapter 1 from "Frog and Toad All Year." In this story, Frog and Toad go sledding outside.
I had flash cards with the names of winter clothing. We played some games.
We made up a song about dressing to go outside in winter. I played the guitar.
We made a craft project called "Me in My Coat." Draw your face on a paper plate, glue it to a construction paper coat and glue cotton balls around the edges of the plate for a hood.
Snack time!!!!

The class was deemed a success because no one had run screaming from the room! Apparently that's what they usually do. The moms were able to sit in the cafe and enjoy some conversation and coffee, but they did admit that they were really curious about what we were doing in there because it was so quiet. We also ran OVER in the time department.

By the time the dust had settled, everyone was happy, everyone had notes, there was a new student registered for my Friday class, and I was offered two more classes to teach!! 6-10 year olds and a mother and baby class.

How fun is that????