Wow, it has been a long time since I updated this blog. Sorry for the delay everybody!
I’ll try to keep this as concise as possible while at the same time getting you all updated on the significant events of my life recently.
First of all, Scott is here! It’s really great to hang out with him again, and he has certainly brought a lot of energy with him (as always)! So that was last Thursday.
Friday: I can’t remember. I know in the evening we had a rehearsal, which I seem to remember going fairly well. I think we also stopped by at the Lighthouse for some dessert.
Saturday: Ok, this day I remember. Saturday Megan and I went to Windhoek for a rehearsal with Afroshine and the band at the Warehouse Theatre. Garth and Michelle went up in Garth’s car and Romano and Dollar came with Megan and I in the car that I rented. It was actually a really cool drive. I’ve done it a couple times now having been on the two previous Africa tours, but it’s a different experience when you’re not on a big tour bus. It’s especially interesting seeing the desert slowly transform into the semi-arid terrain that covers much of the country. It’s also especially frustrating getting stuck behind huge trucks that can only go 80 km/h on the super skinny highway. But it’s also super fun driving on the wrong side of the road – it’s a bit of a mental adjustment, but really not bad at all. We also saw three giraffes, six warthogs, and tons of baboons! We got off to a bit of a later start than we wanted, so it was already getting dark when we got in. But we managed to navigate through town and met up with Garth and Michelle before checking into the Aerobush Lodge (which koko members from the last Africa tour should remember). After we were all settled we went into town for some dinner with Garth’s brother, Jerome, who was a very nice fellow.
Sunday: This was the day of the rehearsal. We went to the Warehouse Theatre at 10am to meet up with the band. The Warehouse is basically just a bar/concert venue kind of like the Starlite Room or the Sidetrack Café was in Edmonton. The band were all nice guys who picked up the music very quickly. The rehearsal was supposed to go until 2pm, but we were done by 12:30pm, so we met back up with Megan and Michelle who had been wandering the shops all morning and had some lunch. After that we met up with Afroshine’s eccentric but cool French producer, Chris, because the guys wanted him to hear the song that I wrote for them. It seemed like Chris really liked the song, and what was supposed to be 5 minutes to play him the song, turned into almost an hour of practice and harmonization and tinkering. I think if we had stayed any longer he would have had us start recording then and there. I found out afterwards that Chris used to be Santana’s producer! But, by this time it was getting well into the afternoon and we had to go or drive most of the way in the dark. In the end, about the last hour and a half of the drive were in the dark, but we got to see a really beautiful sunset, and the traffic wasn’t bad so it was all good. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back though.
Monday: Monday was the beginning of Megan’s last week in Swakop so in theory we should have started doing all kinds of touristy, adventury type stuff. In theory, communism works. What we really did was pretty much nothing. I returned the rental car, and I think we got some groceries. We also had a rehearsal in the evening, but for the most part we just relaxed. It was nice though, after a couple busy days.
Tuesday: On Tuesday we visited Haageneni (sp?) Primary School and MYO. People who were on the last Africa tour will remember Haageneni as the school that we performed at during the sandstorm (the one where we arrived white but left golden). Michelle had had a bit of a correspondence going on with a girl at the school and wanted to visit her and bring her a book, so this was our chance. We went and visited a bunch of the classrooms, and you’ll be happy to hear that they all remember Kokopelli very fondly. Even before we said anything some of them started yelling “Kokopelli!” when they saw my jacket! So, we left some sweets and pencils and stickers with the teachers to give out, and then Michelle met up with her friend in a very heart-warming reunion. One of the teachers even put us to work – she had an origami book, and she wanted to see if we could do something simple to teach the grade 5’s. We ended up showing them how to make cranes! In retrospect, I’m pretty sure the teacher just saw that Michelle was Asian and thought, “She MUST know how to do origami!” After that we went over to Mrs. Venter’s for another lovely lunch, and then went to visit Engelhardt at MYO. MYO (Mondesa Youth Opportunities) is an after-school program for gifted children, and does some really great things for these kids (Lex worked there for a year, so I’m sure she could tell you the whole story). While we were there Engelhardt was teaching a hip-hop dance class. It was really fun to watch as some of the kids were really good dancers. Also, Engelhardt had made up the whole routine himself! I was very impressed. We also talked to Lindsey for a while (she’s an American who’s been working for MYO for a couple years and singing in Mascato) and she told us some more details about how thinks work at MYO.
Wednesday: We (Megan, Scott, Michelle, and I) went quadding in the dunes! This was something I had never done before, and I know it supposedly ruins the ecology of the dessert, but it was so much fun! And besides, the ecology in the places that we drove had long since been destroyed. The only disappointing part was that we were stuck with one very slow woman that we had to keeping waiting for. She was very nice, but very, very slow. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go again with only fast people. Later in the afternoon Megan roped me into going horseback riding, which I wasn’t especially opposed to, but didn’t go so well for me. I would recommend going if you have been riding many times before and are used to extremely uncomfortable British-style saddles, but for me, it was pretty horrendous. I was kind of peeved because it was just the two of us, and we had two experienced guides, but when I was having problems and asking questions, the only person answering was Megan! I got virtually no guidance from the “guides” whatsoever, and they seemed to just assume that I knew what I was doing. Oh well, Megan did enjoy it, and it was mostly for her benefit anyway, so it was fine.
Thursday: In the morning Megan and I drove (so nice having access to a vehicle now that Scott is here!) to Walvis Bay to climb Dune 7 (tallest sand dune in Namibia). Unfortunately, when we got there it was way too windy to climb. But, while we were in Walvis Bay, we went down to the waterfront to book a pelican cruise for Friday (we did this cruise on both African trips, but Megan had obviously never done it before and I thought she would really enjoy it). So we did that and then drove back home to Swakop and had lunch at Mrs. Venter’s, where I also got fitted for a Mascato uniform for our concert on Friday night (more on that in a second)!!! In the evening we had a rehearsal with all the old people to practice the music for the concert (most of which I [and Megan!] will be faking my [our] way through). Also, it was Engelhardt’s birthday yesterday, so we got him a couple little things and a cake and drove him home.
Friday (today): Today we went on the cruise. It was lots of fun what with the pelicans, seals, and dolphins. It was kind of nothing new to me, as the guides recycle the same jokes and the whole trip is far more scripted than it appears the first time around. But it was still lots of fun, and Megan really enjoyed it. When we got back into town we went with Scott to the Village Café for some lunch, and I’ve just been blogging ever since. Tonight we have a concert with a university choir from Pretoria, which promises to be quite good. Unfortunately, the choir was in Windhoek yesterday, and were having a group picture taken, when someone grabbed a bunch of their bags and took off in a car. And, as luck would have it, in one of the bags taken was all they’re passports and money!!! So they apparently have spent the whole day at the embassy trying to figure out what they’re going to do. But the show must go on, so hopefully their spirits will be raised somewhat.
But now I have to iron my pants for the concert!!!! More to come later.
Continued . . .
Friday Evening (post-concert): So Megan and I just performed in our first (and for Megan, probably her last) Mascato concert. We just opened the concert with four pieces – the real attraction was the University of Pretoria Youth Choir. Don’t let the word “university” throw you – they’re actually all 14-19, but the choir is run through the university. But, just by listening to them you may never guess that they weren’t a university group, because they were fantastic. They actually reminded us a lot of Kokopelli! They did some familiar repertoire too. Tomorrow night we’re going to have some sort of social event with them, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to share some tunes in a less formal environment.
Coming up: Apart from the event with the choir tomorrow, the main events that we have upcoming are the Afroshine concert in Windhoek, a Mascato performance in Walvis Bay, and Megan’s departure. On Sunday we’ll be headed up to Windhoek again early in the morning for another rehearsal for the Afroshine concert in the day, and then the concert itself at night. Then, on Monday morning (8am!) Mascato is performing in Walvis Bay for a government function, which will be attended by the President of Namibia! And finally, on that same Monday, Megan will be leaving from Walvis Bay airport at around 1pm. So, after the concert we’re probably going to try to make it up Dune 7, since we didn’t get the chance the other day. And then Megan will be off the Spain for the rest of the summer!
-Joel.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Ants (again), Afro Shine, and . . . ACTION!
So by now, I'm pretty much over the ants - I think we've struck somewhat of an alliance, at least in theory (kind of like the Soviets and the Chinese during the Cold War). Megan on the other hand . . . well I guess she would have to be the United States, but then, if the ants were China, that would make me the Soviet Union, which means she hates me even more than she hates the ants!!! Oh well, at least she recognizes that I exist (take that China until Richard Nixon's visit in 1972!).
Anyway, I've had quite an exciting week. On Monday, Megan and I worked with Richi's (from Mascato) choir. They are quite a new group and are pretty green, but they're coming along nicely. It was very helpful having Megan there to demonstrate some of the female voice stuff that I just can't do. We taught them Velile! For those that know the piece, they couldn't really get the clap on 4, but rhythm and movement tends to come more easily to Canadians that Namibians . . . just kidding. On Monday night we had a visit from Garth and Michelle, who had some exciting Afro Shine news. Afro Shine is going to be playing a big concert on June 29th in Windhoek and they want me to play guitar for them! This is a really cool opportunity, so of course I said yes.
On Tuesday we went to Mrs. Venter's house for lunch, which was nice as always, and then hit up town for some internetting and shopping. Megan wanted to get some books because she's been going through about 11 or 12 a day. Unfortunately, the small bookstores here in Swakop don't seem to carry authors "cool" enough for Megan, so we got a 1500 piece puzzle instead! We also picked up some clothes at Mr. Price - Megan got some jeans and a sweater for $30 CAD, and I got a pair of black choir pants for about $10 CAD. In the evening we had a short Afro Shine practice. Another little project that I've had for myself was to write a song for Afro Shine. Their style is extremely different from mine, so I thought it would be a good challenge (plus it would be super cool to say that Afro Shine sings one of my songs). So I did it! I sang it for them and they really liked it. We're going to make a rough demo of it and send it to their producer and hopefully it'll get recorded!
On Wednesday we sort of ran out of food. Well, we didn't exactly run out of food, but we blew a fuse in the kitchen on Tuesday night and couldn't figure out how to fix it until Marie got home, so we couldn't cook anything. Plus, we don't have a functional can-opener. So, we went into town, had some lunch at the Light House and picked up a can-opener (which was exceedingly hard to find, and now all is well.
Today we walked a lot. First we walked into town for some internetting and lunch at Village Cafe. Then picked up some food for dinner. Then bought a giraffe bowl from the wood market that Megan had been eyeing up. Then walked home. Then walked to Richi's school choir rehearsal to work with them again. Then we walked home. It was well over two hours of walking. Tonight Afro Shine is coming over for another rehearsal, and, I think Scott will be getting in (as long as he is up to the 4-hour drive from Windhoek)!
-Joel.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Windhoek and the Week that Was (alliteration!)
Unfortunately there was a change of plans and MacDonald never came for tea. Trust me when I say that I was as disappointed as you are now.
Friday morning Engelhardt and I left Swakop at around 9am for Windhoek. We were packed like sardines into a tiny van called a “coombi”. It was no bigger than an average North American mini-van but there were 16 of us all squeezed in. Apart from being intensely uncomfortable, the only incident of note during the 4-hour journey was getting stopped by the police for speeding. But the really surprising part was when a couple people got out of the back of the van with open beers! (Keep in mind, it was about 11am at the time.) Apparently having open alcohol in a moving vehicle is perfectly legal in Namibia, as long as it’s behind the front seat. Even Engelhardt was surprised that they were consuming it right in front of the police though. In the end though, the speeding ticket made for a much needed pit stop. I was unaware that one’s rear end could be both numb and in agony at the same time. Oh well - live and learn I guess.
When we got into Windhoek we took a taxi to Engelhardt’s friend’s house. Engelhardt has known Elizabeth for years from having house-sitted for her when she lived in Swakopmund. She is an American, with a 10-year-old adopted South African son named David. The house was beautiful, complete with swimming pool, hot tub, and two pedigree golden retrievers. After settling in, Engelhardt and I went into town, specifically to the polytechnic university to find Marcelino (former Mascato exchange chorister). Marcelino gave us a tour of campus and we even ran into another Mascato member studying in Windhoek, Barverly. Engelhardt then had a rehearsal to go to, as his audition was on Saturday morning. When Engelhardt was finished, we bid adieu to Marcelino and met up with Elizabeth and David for a very nice meal downtown.
On Saturday, Engelhardt went into town early for his audition. He said that he felt like it went pretty well and that he got good feedback from the judges. After his audition Elizabeth, David, and I met up with Engelhardt and Marcelinas (composer of !Gawigu, not to be confused with Marcelino) for lunch. Marcelinas has some great stories to tell about his experiences as a musician, and he’s becoming quite well known as a composer, which is great and well deserved. After lunch we headed back to Elizabeth’s for a quiet afternoon and pizza for dinner. Engelhardt also got the result of the audition – unfortunately he didn’t get it. In fact, apart from one person, the only people who were successful were students at the college of arts, and the judges were the teachers from the college of arts! As a side note, the results of the auditions have now been called into question since it seems that the judges so obviously favoured their own students, and Engelhardt might get to re-audition!
Sunday was a pretty quiet day. We were in limbo a little bit because we had to buy train tickets back to Swakop, but weren’t really sure when the ticket office would be open. Also, almost all the stores are closed on Sundays so there wasn’t much to do. We did make tacos for lunch though, which was fun.
The train trip back was somewhat interesting. It was certainly nothing like Hollywood’s portrayal of an African train journey, but then, Hollywood’s portrayal of anything African is usually either completely wrong or about 50 years out of date. The carriage was old and a bit dirty but totally unremarkable in any other way. Luckily, we had quite a lot of space to stretch out because the train was quite empty, and Elizabeth had upgraded our tickets to “business class”. (She was generally extremely generous and wouldn’t let us pay for any meals either!) What I was really wondering though, was how could this journey possibly take as long as the schedule indicated? Apparently, we were supposed to leave at 7:55pm and arrive in Swakopmund at 5:20am. How does a 4-hour car ride translate into a 9 and ½-hour train ride? Well, I guess the answer is that the train has a tendency to either stop or go backwards for hours at a time! When we got going, we would be going at a respectable pace, but it never seemed to last long before we would jerk to a stop for what seemed like no reason at all, and just stay stopped for hours! In the end, we arrived in Swakop at around 7:20 – two hours late, and having slept for no more that an hour at a time. All in all though, I would take the train over the coombi any day. Just being able to move if you were uncomfortable made up for the 7 and ½-hour difference in travel time.
When we did finally get into town though, I went home to get some real sleep, but poor Engelhardt had to go to work! I felt so bad for him. We met up at Mrs. Venter’s for lunch though and then went to run the rehearsal for the new Mascatos. Engelhardt was going to teach the girls and I was going to teach the guys. But for the first half of rehearsal there was only one guy there, so we just all rehearsed together. When a couple more guys showed up I led a sectional for about 20 minutes.
Right at the end of the rehearsal I got a call from the classically trained Soprano I/pig-squealer extraordinaire herself, Megan! She’s been traveling through South Africa and Namibia with a small tour group for the past week or so and was making a two-day stop in Swakopmund. So we met up at the internet café and I showed her around town a little bit. We also had a great dinner at the Lighthouse – I had the oryx, she had the springbok, both were delicious.
On Tuesday, Megan had some activities planned with her tour including quadding and sand-boarding (both of which I informed her are extremely hazardous to the delicate ecosystem of the Namib desert. She didn’t care.) For some reason she also felt the need to jump out of a plane. I’m not sure what the motivation is there, but she seemed quite pleased with herself. After all that foolishness, we bought some groceries and made ourselves a delicious dinner – chicken with caramelized garlic, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables.
Megan left with her tour early Wednesday morning, but she’ll be back for two weeks on the 15th (same day Michelle arrives). On Wednesday afternoon Engelhardt, Linus (who arrived back in Namibia while I was in Windhoek), and I teamed up to teach Linus’s choir “Hold Me, Rock Me” and “Zulu Mama”. It’s nice having Engelhardt and Linus there to sort of ease me into a role of actually running a rehearsal. I’m also trying to think of some other easy western music, preferably a cappella, and preferably which I would know, to teach them. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
Thursday was a mostly quiet day. I went into town to go to the internet café. Then Mrs. Venter picked me and took me on a couple errands. Afterwards we went back to Mrs. Venter’s house where MacDonald has been working hard creating the memoirs of the choir’s trip to Germany. For anyone who was in the choir when Mascato visited Canada, you will remember the books that we got at the end of the trip with accounts of each day written by the choristers. Well, Mascato does this for every trip, and compiling, editing, and typing all of these entries is a huge job. Later, MacDonald and I went out for pizza and we had tea at my place afterward (finally, tea with MacDonald!).
Friday I was over at Mrs. Venter’s again, helping MacDonald a bit with the memoirs, and trying to catch up on my blog. It was really hot on my walk over to Mrs. Venter’s and it was still quite early in the morning. They’ve been saying that the East Wind is coming for about the past two weeks, but now I’m starting to believe them. (The East Wind is a phenomenon similar to the Chinook winds that we receive in Alberta sometimes, but since we’re in the desert, we don’t just get hot weather, we get sandstorm. For those who were on the tour last summer, I’m sure you remember the sandstorm during our performance at Haaganenni [sp?] school.) In the afternoon we had two choir rehearsals – one for the new Mascatos and one for the old Mascatos. In the first one, I led an alto sectional. It was a bit of a challenge trying to demonstrate correct vocal technique while singing in my falsetto. I think in future I’ll just demonstrate an octave lower. It’s funny how without even thinking about it, I’ll just start parroting some of the techniques that I’ve learned over the years with Scott and Bruce (and other clinicians and such). Bruce’s “vowel sleeve” in particular has come up many times when trying to create a more unified sound. In the second rehearsal, we had a men’s’ sectional led by Theo. It’s certainly different from a Kokopelli men’s’ sectional. There were a couple times when I thought fights were going to break out (I’ve heard Koko actually was like that back in the day – something about defending Jenica’s honour . . .). But I was informed afterwards that it’s always like that, and it’s mostly in good fun just to keep things lively.
Today, we have another rehearsal, as well as a rehearsal for the musical. Afterwards, I’m going to stay over at Garth’s house in Walvis Bay. Megan and Michelle are both arriving at Walvis Bay airport tomorrow, so now I can just get a ride with Garth, rather that have Mrs. Venter drive me all the way out there.
Btw, it is very hot and windy today. I think the East Wind is here!
-Joel.
Friday morning Engelhardt and I left Swakop at around 9am for Windhoek. We were packed like sardines into a tiny van called a “coombi”. It was no bigger than an average North American mini-van but there were 16 of us all squeezed in. Apart from being intensely uncomfortable, the only incident of note during the 4-hour journey was getting stopped by the police for speeding. But the really surprising part was when a couple people got out of the back of the van with open beers! (Keep in mind, it was about 11am at the time.) Apparently having open alcohol in a moving vehicle is perfectly legal in Namibia, as long as it’s behind the front seat. Even Engelhardt was surprised that they were consuming it right in front of the police though. In the end though, the speeding ticket made for a much needed pit stop. I was unaware that one’s rear end could be both numb and in agony at the same time. Oh well - live and learn I guess.
When we got into Windhoek we took a taxi to Engelhardt’s friend’s house. Engelhardt has known Elizabeth for years from having house-sitted for her when she lived in Swakopmund. She is an American, with a 10-year-old adopted South African son named David. The house was beautiful, complete with swimming pool, hot tub, and two pedigree golden retrievers. After settling in, Engelhardt and I went into town, specifically to the polytechnic university to find Marcelino (former Mascato exchange chorister). Marcelino gave us a tour of campus and we even ran into another Mascato member studying in Windhoek, Barverly. Engelhardt then had a rehearsal to go to, as his audition was on Saturday morning. When Engelhardt was finished, we bid adieu to Marcelino and met up with Elizabeth and David for a very nice meal downtown.
On Saturday, Engelhardt went into town early for his audition. He said that he felt like it went pretty well and that he got good feedback from the judges. After his audition Elizabeth, David, and I met up with Engelhardt and Marcelinas (composer of !Gawigu, not to be confused with Marcelino) for lunch. Marcelinas has some great stories to tell about his experiences as a musician, and he’s becoming quite well known as a composer, which is great and well deserved. After lunch we headed back to Elizabeth’s for a quiet afternoon and pizza for dinner. Engelhardt also got the result of the audition – unfortunately he didn’t get it. In fact, apart from one person, the only people who were successful were students at the college of arts, and the judges were the teachers from the college of arts! As a side note, the results of the auditions have now been called into question since it seems that the judges so obviously favoured their own students, and Engelhardt might get to re-audition!
Sunday was a pretty quiet day. We were in limbo a little bit because we had to buy train tickets back to Swakop, but weren’t really sure when the ticket office would be open. Also, almost all the stores are closed on Sundays so there wasn’t much to do. We did make tacos for lunch though, which was fun.
The train trip back was somewhat interesting. It was certainly nothing like Hollywood’s portrayal of an African train journey, but then, Hollywood’s portrayal of anything African is usually either completely wrong or about 50 years out of date. The carriage was old and a bit dirty but totally unremarkable in any other way. Luckily, we had quite a lot of space to stretch out because the train was quite empty, and Elizabeth had upgraded our tickets to “business class”. (She was generally extremely generous and wouldn’t let us pay for any meals either!) What I was really wondering though, was how could this journey possibly take as long as the schedule indicated? Apparently, we were supposed to leave at 7:55pm and arrive in Swakopmund at 5:20am. How does a 4-hour car ride translate into a 9 and ½-hour train ride? Well, I guess the answer is that the train has a tendency to either stop or go backwards for hours at a time! When we got going, we would be going at a respectable pace, but it never seemed to last long before we would jerk to a stop for what seemed like no reason at all, and just stay stopped for hours! In the end, we arrived in Swakop at around 7:20 – two hours late, and having slept for no more that an hour at a time. All in all though, I would take the train over the coombi any day. Just being able to move if you were uncomfortable made up for the 7 and ½-hour difference in travel time.
When we did finally get into town though, I went home to get some real sleep, but poor Engelhardt had to go to work! I felt so bad for him. We met up at Mrs. Venter’s for lunch though and then went to run the rehearsal for the new Mascatos. Engelhardt was going to teach the girls and I was going to teach the guys. But for the first half of rehearsal there was only one guy there, so we just all rehearsed together. When a couple more guys showed up I led a sectional for about 20 minutes.
Right at the end of the rehearsal I got a call from the classically trained Soprano I/pig-squealer extraordinaire herself, Megan! She’s been traveling through South Africa and Namibia with a small tour group for the past week or so and was making a two-day stop in Swakopmund. So we met up at the internet café and I showed her around town a little bit. We also had a great dinner at the Lighthouse – I had the oryx, she had the springbok, both were delicious.
On Tuesday, Megan had some activities planned with her tour including quadding and sand-boarding (both of which I informed her are extremely hazardous to the delicate ecosystem of the Namib desert. She didn’t care.) For some reason she also felt the need to jump out of a plane. I’m not sure what the motivation is there, but she seemed quite pleased with herself. After all that foolishness, we bought some groceries and made ourselves a delicious dinner – chicken with caramelized garlic, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables.
Megan left with her tour early Wednesday morning, but she’ll be back for two weeks on the 15th (same day Michelle arrives). On Wednesday afternoon Engelhardt, Linus (who arrived back in Namibia while I was in Windhoek), and I teamed up to teach Linus’s choir “Hold Me, Rock Me” and “Zulu Mama”. It’s nice having Engelhardt and Linus there to sort of ease me into a role of actually running a rehearsal. I’m also trying to think of some other easy western music, preferably a cappella, and preferably which I would know, to teach them. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
Thursday was a mostly quiet day. I went into town to go to the internet café. Then Mrs. Venter picked me and took me on a couple errands. Afterwards we went back to Mrs. Venter’s house where MacDonald has been working hard creating the memoirs of the choir’s trip to Germany. For anyone who was in the choir when Mascato visited Canada, you will remember the books that we got at the end of the trip with accounts of each day written by the choristers. Well, Mascato does this for every trip, and compiling, editing, and typing all of these entries is a huge job. Later, MacDonald and I went out for pizza and we had tea at my place afterward (finally, tea with MacDonald!).
Friday I was over at Mrs. Venter’s again, helping MacDonald a bit with the memoirs, and trying to catch up on my blog. It was really hot on my walk over to Mrs. Venter’s and it was still quite early in the morning. They’ve been saying that the East Wind is coming for about the past two weeks, but now I’m starting to believe them. (The East Wind is a phenomenon similar to the Chinook winds that we receive in Alberta sometimes, but since we’re in the desert, we don’t just get hot weather, we get sandstorm. For those who were on the tour last summer, I’m sure you remember the sandstorm during our performance at Haaganenni [sp?] school.) In the afternoon we had two choir rehearsals – one for the new Mascatos and one for the old Mascatos. In the first one, I led an alto sectional. It was a bit of a challenge trying to demonstrate correct vocal technique while singing in my falsetto. I think in future I’ll just demonstrate an octave lower. It’s funny how without even thinking about it, I’ll just start parroting some of the techniques that I’ve learned over the years with Scott and Bruce (and other clinicians and such). Bruce’s “vowel sleeve” in particular has come up many times when trying to create a more unified sound. In the second rehearsal, we had a men’s’ sectional led by Theo. It’s certainly different from a Kokopelli men’s’ sectional. There were a couple times when I thought fights were going to break out (I’ve heard Koko actually was like that back in the day – something about defending Jenica’s honour . . .). But I was informed afterwards that it’s always like that, and it’s mostly in good fun just to keep things lively.
Today, we have another rehearsal, as well as a rehearsal for the musical. Afterwards, I’m going to stay over at Garth’s house in Walvis Bay. Megan and Michelle are both arriving at Walvis Bay airport tomorrow, so now I can just get a ride with Garth, rather that have Mrs. Venter drive me all the way out there.
Btw, it is very hot and windy today. I think the East Wind is here!
-Joel.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've got a huge entry all ready to post that should update everything that I've been doing for the past week, but I forgot to bring my memory stick to the internet cafe!
But I'll just give you a quick update of the event of the past couple days. Saturday night I stayed over at Garth's house in Narraville. Dollar came over and made paap (African porridge) and mutton, and we watched August rush. I stayed over at Garth's hous because Megan and Michelle were both flying in to Walvis Bay airport at almost exactly the same time, and this just made the transportation about a hundred times easier. So Megan and Michelle are both here now!
Today, Megan and I are going to be meeting up with Richi from Mascato to help with his primary school choir rehearsal.
That's all for now - time is money!
I promise to post that big update tomorrow though.
-Joel.
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've got a huge entry all ready to post that should update everything that I've been doing for the past week, but I forgot to bring my memory stick to the internet cafe!
But I'll just give you a quick update of the event of the past couple days. Saturday night I stayed over at Garth's house in Narraville. Dollar came over and made paap (African porridge) and mutton, and we watched August rush. I stayed over at Garth's hous because Megan and Michelle were both flying in to Walvis Bay airport at almost exactly the same time, and this just made the transportation about a hundred times easier. So Megan and Michelle are both here now!
Today, Megan and I are going to be meeting up with Richi from Mascato to help with his primary school choir rehearsal.
That's all for now - time is money!
I promise to post that big update tomorrow though.
-Joel.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Another “A” Assonance? Absurd!
I think I may have run out of witty thing to say. And really, that just makes me not want to write a blog entry as much. A suppose there might be a few people out there who really just want to know the monotonous details of what I do in a day, but at least for myself, I prefer if the story has a little spice. For now tough, I'm pretty much spiced out (you can tell I'm close to empty when I find assonances intensely amusing).
So here's what's new. Tomorrow (or by the time I post this, last Friday) I am going (I went) to Windhoek. Engelhardt has an audition where if he's successful he will get to perform as a soloist with an orchestra in a big concert! Sounds like a great opportunity. I heard his audition pieces yesterday and they're quite impressive. One of them he does entirely in falsetto - it went up to a high E or a high G or something. Either way it was really high. I think he's got a decent shot, but then, I don't know what kind of people are also auditioning.
Yesterday I wrote out all the alto parts for the musical on Finale and made sound files for the choristers to practice with. Today I copied them all onto CD's. Mostly pretty boring stuff, but I'm happy to do whatever I can to help. But, one very exciting thing that came out of it (to me at least) - I had been putting off learning how to use the Speedy Entry tool on Finale. At Grant MacEwan I learned how to do it with a MIDI keyboard, but lacking a MIDI keyboard here, I was forced to figure out the other way (I certainly wasn't going to use Simple Entry for all that music [I'm guessing this all means something to about three people]). Anyway, now I am fluent using the Speedy Entry tool, which should make for far more efficient use of Finale in the future.
I also showed Mrs. Venter the part that I had written for the musical. She really likes it! So I think we're going to use it. Hopefully I'll get to write a few more of these little parts - I just need to sit down with Mrs. Venter and the script and figure out exactly what we need.
As I said earlier, tomorrow I'm going to Windhoek. Engelhardt's picking me up at 7am. Which meant last night that I had one day to break my sleep cycle of sleeping about 9pm to 1am and 5am to 10am. So I had to stay up, no matter how tired I felt. I read my book for a while - Poisonwood Bible - very enjoyable in spite of the "Oprah's Book Club" sticker on the front (there, that was a little witty). Around 10pm I couldn't read anymore, and had nothing to do. Then it occurred to me - I've been meaning to arrange "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell for jazz choir for the longest time. So I got to work on that! It was indeed a challenge (to transcribe) as Joni Mitchell's melodies are all over the board, plus the form of her progressions are all over the place. But then, the thing that really blew my mind. There was one rhythm that just didn't seem right no matter what I tried to do. Then I suddenly realized - it was a 7/8 measure. It runs out she's dropping eighth notes all over the place in this tune. But the part that blows my mind is that the groove in that song is so tight that I never noticed it. Usually when a song has a random 7/8 measure it's done as a jarring effect of sudden asymmetry, and is usually meant to be noticed. But in this case, it's as if Joni just decided that she didn't want to have eight eights notes in that measure and when rolling merrily along only having played seven. Anyway, after that revelation I really got going on the arrangement. I went to bed at 12am and got up at 7am, and finished the arrangement by 11am. Hopefully the cycle is broken for good.
Now I'm just over at Mrs. Venter's, having just finished copying the CD's I mentioned earlier. MacDonald is on his way over for tea! That should be exciting!
-Joel.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Musical
I’m a little worried about this musical that we’re putting on in September. The choir has been working on it for over a year, but because of various distractions and other commitments, we’re still pretty much at square one. When Jen was over here last year, she wrote a ton of great arrangements of the Karl Jenkins pieces that the musical is based on. The choir has partially learned all of them but are still a very long way from being ready. Plus, the choir has quite a few new members this year who are quite inexperienced, so they’re all just starting this music now! On top of all of that, these Jenkins pieces are just for interludes and “dance” sequences between scenes – there’s also a bunch of music during the actual text part, which hasn’t even been written yet! And if that wasn’t enough, the script hasn’t even been finalized yet!!!
Anyway, tonight I started writing some of the music that is going to be going on during the text part. This is actually a great opportunity for me to hone my composing skills! I don’t want to work too far ahead right now because I first want to check with Mrs. Venter that I’m on the right track. I also have to figure out what songs will work with guitar accompaniment (because I’m no actor) and write the parts. I certainly have my work cut out for me (which is good, I like being busy). I think though, we need to aim to have all the Jenkins pieces learned and memorized with confidence and all rest of the music at least written and partially learned by the end of June. There’s still a bunch of “choreography” and “dance” still to learn, but if the music is solid we’ll have a good foundation going forward.
Anyway, tonight I started writing some of the music that is going to be going on during the text part. This is actually a great opportunity for me to hone my composing skills! I don’t want to work too far ahead right now because I first want to check with Mrs. Venter that I’m on the right track. I also have to figure out what songs will work with guitar accompaniment (because I’m no actor) and write the parts. I certainly have my work cut out for me (which is good, I like being busy). I think though, we need to aim to have all the Jenkins pieces learned and memorized with confidence and all rest of the music at least written and partially learned by the end of June. There’s still a bunch of “choreography” and “dance” still to learn, but if the music is solid we’ll have a good foundation going forward.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ants, Ants, and Anticipation (appropriately annotated as an assonance)
Yesterday the ant problem in my apartment reached a new level. Prior to yesterday, I had noticed that if I were to drop a crumb or two on the counter when making a sandwich, I would be greeted within a few minutes by a couple tiny ants (about ¼ the size of your regular, run-of-the-mill [no reference to pre-industrial economies intended . . . keep reading, you’ll get it] ant at home) would come and help themselves. Not a problem, I thought to myself. I can keep this place tidy, I thought. And, I thought I had kept the place tidy. But yesterday morning when I went to the kitchen where I had left the (mostly clean) dishes from the little party the night before, the ants had had an industrial revolution in my sink! Hundreds of rural ants had immigrated to this newly bustling metropolis and had started numerous assembly lines. Unfortunately for the ants though, by choosing the sink as their urban centre, they had designed their own watery grave. For anyone who’s seen the movie “I Am Legend” (I just saw it on the plane-ride over here), it was kind of like the scene where Will Smith goes nuts right before the woman and child show up, except, instead of an SUV, I had a washcloth.
Anyway, more on the ants as the situation progresses. Remember, the Chinese had their attempts at an industrial revolution stifled for decades, and look at them now!
Today I got up bright and early (yay for stopping my terrible sleep cycle!) and went over to Mrs. Venter’s house to help in the office along with Engelhardt. All I had to do was make photocopies of about seven or eight pieces of music, thirty copies each, for the musical (in case you don’t know, Mascato is putting on a musical in September which is pretty much the only thing anyone is thinking about right now). Now, back in Canada, this would be about a ten-minute job. But back in Canada, we have fancy photocopiers that pretty much do everything for you. Here, not so. Can you imagine if our directors had to staple every piece of music individually, by hand, as well as perform all other administrative duties, all on a budget of $0 (or whatever they felt like spending out of their own pocket)? But anyway, after a couple hours of work in the morning, Engelhardt and I went to Linus’s high school choir’s rehearsal to talk about their performance at the competition in Windhoek last weekend (I think “reflection time” is something Engelhardt picked up in Canada). They got a gold ranking, which is the highest you can get! It doesn’t mean that they won, because two other choirs also got gold, but it means they did very well. During the rehearsal, Engelhardt mentioned that at some point I would be working with them. But the problem was, he started listing off all my “credentials” – how I had a diploma in composition, and had sung in Kokopelli for many years, and was going to be a music teacher, and so on. It kind of freaked me out, because now they’re going to be expecting big things from me. BUT, I also realize how silly that is because a: I came here to do things like work with choirs so why am I complaining, b: I am going to be a music teacher so I had better get used to it, and c: I probably have more to offer a group like this than I even realize yet. So, I think the sooner I get into to it and start doing this kind of stuff, the better I’m going to be by the end of it. And that’s kind of the point of the exchange program, right? Duh. Mrs. Venter also said that she was going to have me work with the new boys who have just started with Mascato this year, so yeah! Bring it on!
-Joel.
Anyway, more on the ants as the situation progresses. Remember, the Chinese had their attempts at an industrial revolution stifled for decades, and look at them now!
Today I got up bright and early (yay for stopping my terrible sleep cycle!) and went over to Mrs. Venter’s house to help in the office along with Engelhardt. All I had to do was make photocopies of about seven or eight pieces of music, thirty copies each, for the musical (in case you don’t know, Mascato is putting on a musical in September which is pretty much the only thing anyone is thinking about right now). Now, back in Canada, this would be about a ten-minute job. But back in Canada, we have fancy photocopiers that pretty much do everything for you. Here, not so. Can you imagine if our directors had to staple every piece of music individually, by hand, as well as perform all other administrative duties, all on a budget of $0 (or whatever they felt like spending out of their own pocket)? But anyway, after a couple hours of work in the morning, Engelhardt and I went to Linus’s high school choir’s rehearsal to talk about their performance at the competition in Windhoek last weekend (I think “reflection time” is something Engelhardt picked up in Canada). They got a gold ranking, which is the highest you can get! It doesn’t mean that they won, because two other choirs also got gold, but it means they did very well. During the rehearsal, Engelhardt mentioned that at some point I would be working with them. But the problem was, he started listing off all my “credentials” – how I had a diploma in composition, and had sung in Kokopelli for many years, and was going to be a music teacher, and so on. It kind of freaked me out, because now they’re going to be expecting big things from me. BUT, I also realize how silly that is because a: I came here to do things like work with choirs so why am I complaining, b: I am going to be a music teacher so I had better get used to it, and c: I probably have more to offer a group like this than I even realize yet. So, I think the sooner I get into to it and start doing this kind of stuff, the better I’m going to be by the end of it. And that’s kind of the point of the exchange program, right? Duh. Mrs. Venter also said that she was going to have me work with the new boys who have just started with Mascato this year, so yeah! Bring it on!
-Joel.
MacDonald the Bahai and Party Time
Yesterday I sat in on a rehearsal Mrs. Venter was having with some of the younger and newer members of Mascato. When people initially join the choir they often have virtually no musical training, so she starts with them from scratch. Since they were all new members I hardly knew any of them – I recognized a couple, but Rosaine was the only one I knew by name. But then, about halfway through, someone very familiar showed up. It was the Queen of England himself, MacDonald! For those that don’t know, when Mascato came to Canada three years ago, MacDonald stayed at my house.
After rehearsal, MacDonald and I went over to Mrs. Venter’s house for tea and rusks. After that, MacDonald and I went for dinner at Ocean Basket for some feesh and cheeps. Last summer, MacDonald had been telling me about how he was becoming a Bahai, which is a religion that I knew very little about. On top of that, MacDonald has been known to tell a tall tale or two in his time (alliteration much?), so I wasn’t sure how much I believed him. However, right at the end of the tour, he introduced me to his former English teacher and mentor, who was, herself, a Bahai, originally from Iran, who fled during the revolution (Bahai’s are brutally persecuted in Iran nowadays). After this, it seemed that MacDonald’s story might actually be viable. Well, now it seems that MacDonald is a full-fledged Bahai, and was telling me a bit about his new religion during dinner. It’s quite interesting – they believe that Moses, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Krishna and so on were all prophets of the same God. Moreover, they believe that while it is the duty of mankind to seek out God, God is actually an unknowable entity, and God will only reveal himself gradually through the prophets that he sends. Now, I’m not about to become a Bahai, but it sounds like a fascinating religion, and to his credit, MacDonald did make some strong points.
Today, I made my first solo trip into town to post a couple blog entries. I also wanted to stop in at Mr. Price, but it was so full that they weren’t letting anyone else in. Note to self – don’t go to the shops on Saturdays. Around 2pm Mrs. Venter came by to take me to rehearsal. It was supposed to be a rehearsal for new members and old members together, but unfortunately, the choir is having a bit of a post-tour lull, so there were very few old members there. After the rehearsal, Garth and Dollar mentioned to me that they might stop by at my place. Then, there was a whole bunch of talking going on in Afrikaans, but it seemed that plans were being set into motion. Before I knew it, half the choir was coming over to my house for a party! (Though I suspect a lot of the new girls only wanted to come because the Afroshine boys were going – one of them actually asked Dollar for his autograph!) Anyway, after stopping for some snacks at the Pick ‘N Pay we got the party going. It was interesting to see how the girls all went straight for the kitchen and started preparing food. I tried to help a little, but it was clear that I was just in their way. The party didn’t go late at all because a lot of people had to get back to Walvis Bay, but it was still fun to have everyone over and just hang out. Garth and Dollar stayed a bit later and we just hung out and talked. Apparently I’m playing a gig with Afroshine on July 13th! I just hope they’re not expecting too much from me.
-Joel.
After rehearsal, MacDonald and I went over to Mrs. Venter’s house for tea and rusks. After that, MacDonald and I went for dinner at Ocean Basket for some feesh and cheeps. Last summer, MacDonald had been telling me about how he was becoming a Bahai, which is a religion that I knew very little about. On top of that, MacDonald has been known to tell a tall tale or two in his time (alliteration much?), so I wasn’t sure how much I believed him. However, right at the end of the tour, he introduced me to his former English teacher and mentor, who was, herself, a Bahai, originally from Iran, who fled during the revolution (Bahai’s are brutally persecuted in Iran nowadays). After this, it seemed that MacDonald’s story might actually be viable. Well, now it seems that MacDonald is a full-fledged Bahai, and was telling me a bit about his new religion during dinner. It’s quite interesting – they believe that Moses, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Krishna and so on were all prophets of the same God. Moreover, they believe that while it is the duty of mankind to seek out God, God is actually an unknowable entity, and God will only reveal himself gradually through the prophets that he sends. Now, I’m not about to become a Bahai, but it sounds like a fascinating religion, and to his credit, MacDonald did make some strong points.
Today, I made my first solo trip into town to post a couple blog entries. I also wanted to stop in at Mr. Price, but it was so full that they weren’t letting anyone else in. Note to self – don’t go to the shops on Saturdays. Around 2pm Mrs. Venter came by to take me to rehearsal. It was supposed to be a rehearsal for new members and old members together, but unfortunately, the choir is having a bit of a post-tour lull, so there were very few old members there. After the rehearsal, Garth and Dollar mentioned to me that they might stop by at my place. Then, there was a whole bunch of talking going on in Afrikaans, but it seemed that plans were being set into motion. Before I knew it, half the choir was coming over to my house for a party! (Though I suspect a lot of the new girls only wanted to come because the Afroshine boys were going – one of them actually asked Dollar for his autograph!) Anyway, after stopping for some snacks at the Pick ‘N Pay we got the party going. It was interesting to see how the girls all went straight for the kitchen and started preparing food. I tried to help a little, but it was clear that I was just in their way. The party didn’t go late at all because a lot of people had to get back to Walvis Bay, but it was still fun to have everyone over and just hang out. Garth and Dollar stayed a bit later and we just hung out and talked. Apparently I’m playing a gig with Afroshine on July 13th! I just hope they’re not expecting too much from me.
-Joel.
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