Hey everybody,

I'm pretty much sick in bed today, but I decided to take some time to check e-mail and such. Yesterday a few of us went to one of the free clinics set up by the Chávez administration and were treated by a Cuban doctor. They took some blood to rule out the really nasty diseases and had the test results back in half an hour. We were told that it was just a flu, but we were all glad to hear that it wasn't something worse.

Anyway, for now we're mostly resting and waiting for our fevers to break.

Venezuela - End of Festival to Coroni

Well, it's been more than a few days since I've been able to blog, so I'll just post some of my memories: (Sorry, still no pics!)

At the final night of the Festival, SPC won an award for best song: "Si somos americanos," a song celebrating the shared heritage of all Americans, from the northernmost villiage in Canada to the southernmost tip of Tierra Del Fuego. Our director's own composition, "Let America be America Again" got only a lukewarm response, but it was cut down from 20 minutes of choir and brass ensemble to the last 6 minutes accompanied by keyboard, so I expect a better response when we sing it in its full form in Caracas.

Another of the groups that performed that night was Sies Seis, a Venezuelan vocal jazz group. I'm definately going to find a way to get one of their CDs, because it's exactly the type of music I listen to. I already know of a couple German a cappella groups, but this is the first time I've been able to find a South American group in this style. All their songs were in English or scat, but I hope they have some in Spanish too.

Yesterday we stopped in a small town to see the Festival of St. John the Baptist. Crowds of people in red were in the streets dancing and chanting "eh áh" (apparently an African word). At each intersection, four people carrying an alter with St. John as a boy made the sign of the cross, and people threw rice, lentils, and confetti.

After a couple of days on the road, we're relaxing for a few days in Coroni, a small beach town. I've got a bit of a cough, so I'm taking the day off to relax instead of going on one of the day trips. Last night there was another fantastic group of drummers. They were mostly just kids, but I couldn't manage to count most of the rhythms they played. We sang a few african songs and they played along lightly. Then we sang "Si Somos Americanos" and we had some problems. Some drunk guy misunderstood the point of the song and started chanting "Viva Venezuela." Doug tried to explain it too him, but he didn't want to hear it.

Usually Sergio explains our songs before we sing them with a particularly long speach before that one, and now I see why. Though many latin americans protest that they too are Americans, they've come to expect that estadounidenses use the word americanos solely to refer to themselves.

I'll try to get photos up later today using another computer, but that's it for now!

Venezuela - Days 1-3

This is the first time I´ve had access to a computer since I left, so I´ll try to catch everyone up on what´s been happening:

The Seattle Peace Chorus flew via Houston, so during our layover we gave a practice concert at a local church, which gave us a delicious dinner. Back at the airport, we passed the remaining time singing along to a guitar, violin, and flute that various members had brought along. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:59PM, but when we got there the sign informed us that our flight had been delayed until midnight.

When we arrived at the Caracas Airport we had another, shorter layover, and I had my first taste of la comida venezolano. I ordered una tortilla con jamón y queso and was surprised that the word "tortilla" in Venezuela does not mean a type of flat bread like it does in México, but an omelete, like in España. We also traded songs with a children's choir called "Sonata" that was going to the same choral festival.

We got on our final plane, which took us to Isla Margarita, and a bus took us from the airport to the hotel. After we had a bit of time for swimming and dinner, we performed at the first of several nights of concerts in the festival. There was some sort of audience-choice awards for the evening, and "Seattle Peace Chorus" won second place. "Sonata" won third, and an amazing women's choir from Cuba took first. They had an entire song about how they were not going to sing or dance the congo, but hidden underneath the the avant-garde choral sounds were recognisable conga rhythms and a bit of choreography.

I warmed up my Spanish ear on the flights by watching The Bridge to Terabithia and The Kid en español. I finally managed to work up the courage to speak some Spanish at dinner. I decided to sit with a choir from Marida that was about my age. I haven´t felt so tounge-tied in my life! It took me a good 15 seconds to remember "Tengo dieciocho años," and even longer just to say the number seven in Spanish rather than German. This morning Justin (the only member of our choir close to my age) and I tried again with better results.

Both the Houston concert and our first concert on Isla Margarita have been well recieved. Last night a guy named Andreas(?) told me that he especially enjoyed "Shenandoah," because it reminded him of a group he had sung the song with. I´m surprised that our hit song seems to be "This Little Light of Mine." In Houston four girls started dancing in the aisles, and we had the whole audience on their feet at our last concert.

I'll write again soon, and hopefully be able to post pictures!

Homesickness

I think I've finally figured out why I've been bored this weekend. There's plenty to do, but sometimes I just don't feel like doing it. Yesterday I tried calling some friends and realized that most of you are either in Germany or Spain.

Goin' is one syllable

Well, so much for daily updates! I had no idea how busy I'd be here. It really shouldn't have been a surprise, but I'm constantly doing something.

Monday, Wednesday:
Theory 4
Eurythmics 4
Solfege 4
Lunch
Acting
Voice Class
Recording Techniques
Voice Lesson/Coaching
Dance

Tuesday, Thursday
Choir
Lunch
Music History
Jazz Choir
Composer's Forum/Convocation
Musical Theatre
Recording Techniques

Friday is another Theory/Eurythmics/Solfege bloc, another Musical Theatre, and a Composition Lesson, then the rest of the weekend is free. However, four days a week I have classes almost continuously until 7 or 8 at night, not including homework and practicing.

The students here have bonded so quickly too. After the first day of classes I felt completely comfortable with my "group," which is mostly vocalists and a pianist from Milan, Italy. I'm also good freinds with about a half-dozen other people, and I'm still getting to know more people every day.

I think I'll start by describing a couple of my classes in each blog, so here's a couple that come to mind:

Jazz Choir is fairly self expanatory, but it's a lot of fun. There are four guys (two voice majors) and about twenty girls, jamming to "Everyday People," "Sir Duke," and a couple of others, including "Survivor," by Destiny's Child. Everyone thinks it's hillarious that the guys have to sing it too, but I'm more worried about the vocabulary. Every time I see goin', I end up pronouncing it "GO-in," when it should be something more like "gohn".

In recording techniques, we each brought in a sample of text to record. Most brought in poetry or song lyrics, though Johann read a Nazi-resistance speech. One of the Jazz Choir guys had forgotten, so he decided that he was going to read the lyrics to "Survivor" aloud. He didn't have the same problem I did, but he proved to me that no matter how hard we try, goin' isn't going to sound natural coming out of a white guy's mouth. I have to give him credit, he read it without cracking up and even added some emotion to his delivery. The rest of us were cracking up from the recording booth, but he couldn't see or hear us.

We also found out about some people's habits, as their whistling, tongue clicking, and murmuring were amplified into the control room before the recording began.

I'm having a lot of fun here, but I'm looking forward to the rest of a relaxing weekend before classes start again on Monday!

CMU: Days 0 and 1

This summer I am attending Carnegie Mellon University's Pre-College program, majoring in Vocal Music, with a Music Composition minor. I arrived on Friday the 10th, which I'll call Day 0, because today is the official start of the program.

All this week has been busy, with so much to do and so much to pack before I leave. I got on the plane yesterday at about 6 o'clock and was surprised to find myself in first class! It was the most comfortable flight I've had, except when the earphones the company provided gave me a shock. The in-flight movie was Failure to Launch, which I thought was appropriate, considering that I was leaving home early rather than late.

I deplaned at Dallas/Ft Worth Airport and got on their tram to get to terminal B. A few stops down, I realized that I had left my garment bag in the plane's coat closet! I got off and asked which gate I had arrived at (terminal D), then got back on a tram going the opposide direction. A couple of stops from terminal, a tram on that line broke down, so I got back on the other track and went all the way around in the opposite direction.

By this time,I was getting panicky, so I looked up the airport's number and was connected to the proper gate. They told me that if I didn't come for my suit, they would turn it in to lost and found, where I could reclaim it. I neeeded that suit for Carnegie Mellon, so I told them I'd try to make it. Intending to talk to the people at the departure gate desk, I got off at terminal B, but the desk was completely empty.

On my way there I had seen signs saying that I could walk to terminal D from there, but I had only 15 minutes before the plane would leave. I resolved to give myself 5 minutes to get there, leaving myself time to get back and some extra time just in case. I had to run both ways, but I made it back in time, though I was drenched in sweat.

It was a long and crowded bus ride from the Pittsburgh airport, but I met another early-arriving student, Ethan, and his cello. A couple of returning Pittsburghers gave us an overview of the city, and we checked into the residence hall.

There were about a dozen of us, and so far we've stuck together. Most of the other people came with their parents, so we've formed our our group for meetings and such. I expect that to change a bit when classes start, as we get to know the people in our groups.

Speaking of groups, the students break down into schools, and are further divided by major. People
are generally roomed with others from the same school, but floors have different groups.

• Music: voice and instrumental. Many people are taking minors in other instruments. I'm studying voice, with a composition major.
• Architecture: I've only met one of these, so I think the program is fairly small
• Art: Again, I've only met a couple
• Drama: of the 400+ people here, 120 are taking musical theater, while a few others are taking general drama
• Game Academy: a new program. I'm told it focuses on designing games more than making them
• AP/EA: This program allows students to take two college classes. At the end of the semester, they can choose whether to include it on their transcript. There are a lot of people here doing this too, including one of my roommates.

Today has been mostly about checking in and meetings, and tomorrow looks like it's more of the same. On Monday I take a music theory test, but after that it looks like the summer will really begin!

I hope to keep in touch over the summer, especially with my friends in Germany. Feel free to e-mail me, or just give me a call. I'm being especially careful about my phone's volume, so you won't be interrupting!

Finals

It's been a while since I've updated this. I don't feel any need to apologize for it, I just haven't felt the need. I'm still trying to figure out why Thursday worked so incredibly well despite being one of the busiest days I've had in months, so I figured I should start typing:

My finals on Thursday were in English, Chem, and Choir. Most people would be worried about Mrs. Colclough's Chem final, but not me. To me, there are two components to sciences and mathematics: the patterns that you learn throughout a semester, and the memorization (in this case, the history of chem and polyatomic ions). The patterns come naturally to me, and I only had to fill about half of one side of the gigantic note card provided.

English and Choir, on the other hand, were projects, and I was behind on both.

English involved reading a poem aloud in class (off a piece of paper) and telling a bit about about the author. I was supposed to have a written part turned in by last Friday, but instead I picked my poem the night before. Once I found the poem though, I know exactly how the perform it:

The Singers
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

God sent his Singers upon earth
With songs of sadness and of mirth,
That they might touch the hearts of men,
And bring them back to heaven again.

The first, a youth, with soul of fire,
Held in his hand a golden lyre;
Through groves he wandered, and by streams,
Playing the music of our dreams.

The second, with a bearded face,
Stood singing in the market-place,
And stirred with accents deep and loud
The hearts of all the listening crowd.

A gray old man, the third and last,
Sang in cathedrals dim and vast,
While the majestic organ rolled
Contrition from its mouths of gold.

And those who heard the Singers three
Disputed which the best might be;
For still their music seemed to start
Discordant echoes in each heart,

But the great Master said, "I see
No best in kind, but in degree;
I gave a various gift to each,
To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.

"These are the three great chords of might,
And he whose ear is tuned aright
Will hear no discord in the three,
But the most perfect harmony."

For choir I chose "King of the Road," but I couldn't keep the words in my head. It's not a problem I usually have, but I'd learned the melody three months ago from a version of the song sung in German. (I didn't know the German words either of course) I finally sat down and tried to learn the words on Monday, but by Wednesday evening I was only remembering the words half the time. On the other hand, I remembered every bit of the "broom-ography" (as Reuben called it) even though I had only thought of having a broom on Wednesday night!


But these were all challenges that I knew I was going to have when I woke up that morning. The real fun didn't begin until just before Chemistry, when I got ahold of Eric. Eric is the Lead in a Stadium Barbershop Quartet (Stephanie and Reuben are also in it, for those of you who didn't see us that night), and when I talked to him I realized that I hadn't made sure he knew what Shakabrah was and that we were performing there. When I explained it, he said that he was meeting a friend at the airport and would have to see if he could make it.

The guy carrying the melody would have to see if he could make it?!? I may hae overreacted, but I really wanted to put this group on stage. I was frantic, but I managed to put off thinking about it until I had finished the test. I ran through the list of all the people that were performing at Shakabrah, and anyone else that might be able to learn the piece quickly. I even considered calling a friend from PLU and seeing if he had any plans for the evening. In the end, I decided my best bet was Ricky. I knew he would be there, he had the vocal range and quality for it, and he could sightread.

I spent lunch working on a project for math, but afterwards I hung around the his next class until he got there. Stephanie had explained the situation to him already, so all I really had to do was hand him the music.

I think that it was at this point that things got even more complicated, though I didn't realize it yet. I had circled "Lead" on the sheet music, and Ricky asked me, "So you're singing lead?", to which I responded, "No, you're singing lead."

After choir (I got a perfect score, but it was an empty victory: twice I forgot the words and just froze onstage) I checked in with Ricky (yes, he had learned it) and headed for knowledge bowl. There were some transportation issues, which meant that Jenny was stressed, which did nothing for my own stress level. Between matches, I called Eric (he could come after all), my mother (to get transportation for Eric), and my grandmother (to confirm transportation for me and three other people). We won, (so what if it was just against Foss and Clover Park! It's been a while since my team has solidly won a game) and I arrived at Shakabrah five minutes before my sheet said to be there. (wow, that's a lot of parentheses)

Unfortunately, the time on the sheet was wrong, and everyone had been wondering where I was for at least the last ten minutes. Apearently, Ricky thought that I wasn't coming either, but once I arrived he was completely calm about it. Mrs. Wilhoft on the other hand, was in pre-show histarics, and I was very glad to be whisked away to practice.

The other three had made a couple of changes to the song while they were waiting. They made about four bars staccatto and added a ritardando to one of the phrases. It was an odd time to be making changes IMO, but I went along with it and we sang it once through before we were hurried to our seats for the start of the show.

Eric showed up a few minutes later. I checked my list and saw that there were two more acts before ours, so I grabbed the music and ran out between acts to show him the changes. I had just finished telling him about the staccatti when we were pulled back inside: the acts before ours had been canceled and an MC had started on the Drama Club announcements while someone when to fetch us.

I told the others on the way up that both Eric and Ricky had earned the right to sing with the group, Ricky had the presence of mind to correct the MC that we were now a "Barbershop Quintet," and off we went!

It had been a few months since I'd performed barbershop, so for me it was all new again: the pitch blown, the first chord hummed, the rush as you realize that the five of you have breathed together, come in together, and that the notes you've worked hard on have come together to make chord after chord in perfect harmony and synchronity.

The rush lasted the rest of the evening, and I wasn't the only one to feel it. Eric kept asking everyone if we sounded good. No matter how many other people had told him so, he had to hear it from everyone he knew there. What surprised me though was that Ricky asked if he could join us. I saw no reason why not, and the more I've thought about it the more I realize that we could do with one more person. I'll bring it up with everyone else on Monday, but I can't see it being a problem, aside from having to balance one more person's schedule.

I don't have the energy right now to describe all the wonderful acts, but I'd like to give a big bravissimo to everyone who participated and a puzzled look to my councelor.

One more thing I would like to bring up is that in my euphoria I didn't hesitate at the unexpected opertunity to improv a sequel to Spencer's and my "Muh-nah-muh-nah" act from two years ago. We had only about five minutes to prepare seperately, but it came out as good (if not better) than the original. I'd forgotten that I really do enjoy improv, I'm just not very good at coming up with themes for improv games.

It's 2 AM and I'm tired. This is why I don't update more. G'night all. (or should that be good morning?)

-Chops