Handbell Traveler

Top of the Rock

2008-05-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Danny and Joe at the Russian Tea Room just before going to Carnagie Hall to hear Jessye Norman.
This is our last morning in New York, and one of the things I wanted to do was go to the Top of the Rock, so here we are. This is the observation deck of Rockerfellar Center -- 70 floors up from the ground. You can see just a smidge of Central Park at the right of this picture. We could see the whole park (which is really huge) from up there as well as all the rest of Manhattan.

Here's Joe from the other side of the building. The building with the angled top is the CitiCorp Center. Wouldn't want to be on the top of that!
Here's the altar area of some cathedral -- I don't remember which one.

The New York Botanical Gardens. These are just a few of the tulips in bloom.

A view of the conservatory at the NYBG. It's one of the largest in the country -- this is just a glimpse.

New York City in May

2008-05-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

New York has been exhausting and cold, but fun so far. "Wicked" on Wednesday night was just an incredible spectacle of sets, songs, and great voices. The story doesn't really follow the book very closely, but that's OK since the book was pretty weird anyway.

This is printed just above the exit doors.

This is Trudy Sherwood, one of the members of our troup, standing inside the rim of a 9' Steinway inside the drying room. It was about 95 degrees in there, and the rims stay there for about 6 months.

This is an illegal picture from inside the factory. We weren't supposed to take any photos in the factory except in specific places (like inside the drying room above), but I did it surreptiously as we walked around. These are lids for 7' Steinways.

Last night was Jessye Norman and Mark Markum at Carnegie Hall.

The tulips are in full bloom in Central Park. Also, cherry trees, dogwoods, pears, and others that I can't identify. Even this great picture that Joe took doesn't show how big the beds are and how many different colors there were.

More later.

Going to Nassau

2008-02-14T20:35:00.001-08:00

Well, it's really happening. I'm going to Nassau in just over two weeks, and I'll be there for two weeks.

For those of you who don't already know, I've been engaged to rebuild a Steinway piano for the Bahamas National Children's Chorus to use in their programs.

More later.

Blackberry winter

2007-04-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is just to prove that it's blackberry Winter around here. This bush is just off of our back deck.

Here are some of the actual blackberries. There aren't enough to even try to eat, but you can see that one of them is ready. I ate twoof them when taking the pictures. Very wild and seedy, but still real blackberries.

We need to get out in the yard today to do some work, and part of it may be pulling up this bush. I'll probably save it, though, until the berries all ripen.

More New York City

2007-04-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some more shots from New York City.

I wasn't sure just what this was supposed to be, but it was certainly interesting. A sort of traveling sculpture of men in the 30's building Rockafeller Center.

The famous Citicorp Building. I didn't manage to get a picture of the top of it, but this is the one with the huge slanted roof that you may have seen before. It's about 60 stories high, and right after they built it, snow would collect on the slanted part and then come sliding off it to crash 60 stories below. I wouldn't want to have been there when it happened!

Here's a link to a good picture of it.
http://www.pjhealy.com/oldweb/nyc/citicorp.htm

One of the many cathedrals in the city. I can't remember which one this is.

A shot from the show "Wicked" about the Wicked Witch of the West. It was quite a spectacle.

I had to go into the F A O Swartz toy store since I sort of stumbled upon it. This is a giant keyboard that kids love to jump around on. The keys light up and produce a tone, so you can actually play a scale.

I guess one of the things that F A O Swartz is known for is stuffed animals.
And more stuffed animals. They had just about every kind of dog in big bins like this, and some cats, too.

Don't you just want to crawl in there with them?

And some really big animals, too. notice the giraffe. This lion and his mate are full size.
The main reason I took this picture was to try to get a shot of the full sized mastodon in the background. It's the brown hump behind the cow and horse. It goes all the way to the floor -- about 14 feet.

A strange sort of bicycle.
One of the buildings I went into down near Wall Street. This is the US Customs House. It's just a museum now, but this muraled ceiling was one of the most fastinating things there and it is beautifully painted.
A gravestone from Trinity Church on Wall Street where the bells are. The earliest one I could find was 1731. I think this one is 1774 or so.

A shot from another show. This is "A Prairie Home Companion". I had a great seat in the balcony. This is Garrison Keillor doing his Lake Woebegone monologue.
The inside of Trinity Church. (Sorry these are sort of out of order. It's hard to keep them straight.)
Another picture from the bell room. You can see the huge clock hand outside the window, and the street in front is Wall Street.

This is from the back side of Trinity Church. They have a pedestrian bridge that connects the church to this building, and the church parish hall and offices are in here. I think the church probably owns the building and leases the space to businesses. They do a lot of that, and they're said to have a billion dollars in the bank.

That's all for now.

New york City

2007-04-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

OK. Here's something different.

This is the way I posted photos on my trip to Europe a year ago and everyone interested seemed to be able to get it.

This is Herald Square and one entrance to Macy's. Did you know that he was the one who started pricing things just a few cents under a dollar? ($15.99 instead of $16)

Times Square -- one of the busiest places in the world.

Snow under the overhead train.

A few of the bell ringers at Trinity Church on Wall St. This set of 12 tower bells is the largest in the country, and its $1,000,000,000 cost was given by a single donor.

Notice the window behind them...

This is it from the outside. The bell room is behind the clock face. The actual bells are in the next story up behind the two tall windows.

After they finished ringing I enticed the "bell Captain" to take me up into the actual bells. This is one of them. You can see part of the wheel that's attached to the bell on the right side of the picture. The ropes that they pull go around the wheel, and the whole bell rotates to be rung in a very specific pattern with the other bells.

These are just a few of the steps you have to climb to get up to the ringing room.

This cruel, very steep flight is the last thing before getting to the ringing room. By the time you get there you're really breathing HARD to try to catch some air.

This is one room in Steinway Hall where they sell Steinway pianos. The pictures (which covered EVERY WALL) are all of famous pianists who play Steinway pianos.

A bronze cast of Arthur Rubenstein's hands from a display case in Steinway Hall. Actually kind of creepy.

The Empire State Building.

From the Broadway Show "Curtains" that I saw on Thursday night. I was in the front row. Those of you who've ever watched "Frazier" will rocognize Niles.

Pictures within the Steinway factory itself would have been the most interesting, but they're not allowed.

While there, other than being in class all day, I went to see:

A Prairie Home Companion

Spamalot

Wicked

Curtains

Beauty and the Beast

and did a LOT of walking and subway riding. I didn't make it to the top of any tall buildings which I love to do, but I certainly saw a lot of them. I have pictures of them, but they just don't show up well enough to be worth publishing here.

Here's my parting shot from the airplane as I was leaving NYC. Probably doesn't mean much unless you've been there or looked at it on a map. After I took this I realized that I was still in the time on the flight where electronic devices are not allowed. Nobody fussed at me and we didn't crash!

I didn't get to do several things that were on my list, so I guess I'll have to go back.

I'm home

2006-03-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

My flight landed this evening at about 5:45, so I'm home now, have had a great hot shower -- the first good one in 2 weeks -- have petted and loved on my great dog, and am going to bed. My watch is still on Paris time, and right now it's reading 4:30 am, which is exactly what time I got up this morning. I had a few naps on the plane,, but you know those aren't very satisfying.

Last Paris day

2006-03-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

This is the plaque beside the front door of the American Church which tells us that it was the first American Church founded on foreign soil. I bought a DVD about the church and its history that was just released yesterday while I was there, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I read somewhere that the church was actually meeting during Napoleon's time and he allowed the congregants space in one of the palaces. The church building was erected around 1837.

I was very warmly received there, and everyone seemed to really enjoy my playing as part of the service. After the service and a nice lunch in the neighborhood, I gave a class to about 10 people on handbell techniques. It was intimidating having Fred Gramman and Bonnie Wooley in the class since they both have been involved in bells far longer than I have, but I was able to show them a few tricks that soloists use that they weren't sure about. It also never hurts to review and compare techniques. Anyway, I felt like the class was successful, and we had a lot of fun together, and I was honored to have been asked to do it. Thank you Bonnie and Fred for being such gracious hosts and for the opportunity to work with each of you.

After the class, Bonnie and her friend Corrine drove me around Paris for a while to see stuff. They said this was some kind of old government building and dead people are buried in there. That was good enough for me.

This is in the Louvre again. We didn't go back -- I just found this picture. I was fascinated by these massive paintings and couldn't help but wonder how long it took to produce them, how much paint did it take, what do they weigh, how would you hang a thing like that, and other questions. If you laid these things down it's larger than any two rooms in our house. There were two more of them on the other side of the room, and the little sign in French called them "large format" paintings. Well I guess so!

Still Sunday morning

2006-03-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

I stood in the middle of the Champs Elysees to take this. It's early Sunday morning so not much traffic just now. Recognize the landmark ahead? We saw it briefly one night earlier this week, but it was blowing heavy rain and freezing cold so we didn't spend much time there or get to go up on top which is supposed to be a sight to behold. Bonnie was nice enough to take me on a short sightseeing tour this afternoon, and one of the main things I wanted to do was to take an auto tour around the Arch d Triomphe but I didn't even suggest it because we were all so tired from the late concert last night and early morning today. Next time.

This is the American Church in Paris where I played this morning. It's beautiful, it's old, it's the first American organization established outside American soil, and it was GREAT to be there. I played three pieces and I was so very honored that Fred Gramman played the piano for me. Those of you in the music world probably know what an honor that was.
Not a word of French was spoken during the service, and I knew every part of the service as if it had been one in Pensacola. I was so very relieved that I could speak to anyone there in my native tongue. If you look closely in the very bottom right hand corner you can see the top of the Eiffel Tower.

I had a short amout of time to walk around before it was time for me to show up at the church, so I walked down to the Eiffel Tower since it was just a few blocks away. What an incredible thing!

Sunday morning

2006-03-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

After getting to bed finally at 1:00 am last night, we got up at 6:00 am to make sure that Joe and Lessie could leave the apartment by 7:00 which they managed to do. I left the apartment at 8:30 to make my way down to the American Church in Paris. the weather was absolutely beautiful today, but quite cold so i put on my long underwear, heavy coat, gloves and ear muffs. I did stay warm, but had to keep moving to do so. I figured out the subway system to get close to there with no problem, and walked for about 20 minutes from the subway station. On the way I saw:

this sculpture on the middle of a bridge leading across the Seine.

This humongous ( and I mean really humongous) building with a glass roof called the Grand Palais. Bonnie tells me it's an exhibition hall that was built for one of the World's Fair exhibitions (she's never been in it...).

This thing called the Petit Palais (little palace) which is really huge and not petite at all. I'm told that it's incredible inside, but I didn't have time to see it.

Deleting older posts

2006-03-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

One more quick thing.

This blog only allows a certain amount of web space, and pictures take up a lot of it, so I'm having to delete older posts to make room for new ones. I say this because I got a request last night for posts before March 1st, but I'm afraid that they're gone.

This is a picture of the famous Hotel de Ville. Looks very French, doesn't it?

Sunday morning

2006-03-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

It's 7:00 am now, and Joe and Lessie just left headed to the airport. I worry about them making it OK since they had three large bags and a carry-on to manage through the subway and then the train to get there. At least it shouldn't be too crowded since it's early on Sunday morning. I have to do much the same thing tomorrow morning, but I'm going to take an expensive taxi because I'll have 3 bags and a carry-on to manage by myself.

This morning I play for the Sunday morning service at the American Church with Fred Gramman on the piano. That's pretty exciting. It's a big gothic church and very pretty, but not so big that I'll get lost. I'll try to get some pictures. The problem with these places is that they're dark, and unless you get pretty close to something it just doesn't show up.

This is from the church last night. I entreated Joe to go to the front to take some pictures of me with this backdrop while I was playing, but he didn't want to do it. This is the adult handbell choir. They've only been playing for about 2 years, and are doing very impressive things with level 3 handbell music. Bonnie hopes to move them up a notch, and I think they're ready for it. This picture came out pretty well, but it doesn't show just how cold they all are.

It's just getting light enough outside now so that I can see that it's going to be a beautiful day today. Probably still pretty cold, but that's OK if it just won't rain. I've got to take the subway down to the church, so I'm going to leave a little early to walk around some. It's very close to the Eiffel Tower and many other spectacular sights.

Saturday night concert

2006-03-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's 1:00 am now, and we've got to get up early tomorrow morning so this will be short.

The concert tonight was in a beautiful, old church, and all went extremely well. We had a very nice crowd, and they seemed very appreciative of everything. I was one of four "acts" on this program, but I did play more than anyone else. There was an adult handbell choir, a junior handbell choir, and a small vocal ensemble, and the program went from one to another of the groups with me in between. That's actually a very relaxed way to do it and I really enjoyed being a part of the whole.

The only problem was that it was cold -- I mean really cold. This is a stone church building with a stone floor which just sucked all the heat out of everything -- including us! The heating system made so much noise that they had to turn it off for the program, and you could feel the heat go as soon as they did that. Everyone sat with their full coats, gloves, hats, and scarves on and we were still cold. This was the first concert I've ever performed where I didn't get really hot! In fact, I didn't get hot at all, just barely warm.

I've decided that there's nothing between France and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence. We made it down to the center of the city this afternoon, but it was so cold and windy that you couldn't walk around outside. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been raining, too. Ah well, everyone here tells me that Paris does have nice weather occasionally -- just not now.

Here's a picture of the main piramid entrance to the Louvre. We spent a lot of yesterday in there while the sun was shining outside. I wish I could adequately describe just how enormous this place is because what you see in the picture is just part of one section. It really just goes on and on and on. And to think it used to be a private dwelling.

Got to sleep now.

Computer again

2006-03-11T03:17:00.000-08:00

The computer has been down for about 24 hours because I didn't have an adapter plug for it. I had been borrowing one, but it left with its owner for the weekend.

Concert tonight, then Sunday services tomorrow at the American Church -- big beautiful place. More later. Gotta run now.

This is a picture of the real self portrait masterpiece by van Gogh from the Orsay Museum. It was just hanging there within reach like so many others.

Saw the Mona Lisa yesterday at the Louvre. Fantastic place. Pictures later.

Back to work -- sort of

2006-03-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

This morning I have a rehearsal with Fred Gramman down at the American Church in preparation for Sunday morning services where I'm playing. Fred is one of the best known and most respected composers in the handbell and choral music field, so I'm quite honored that he has asked me to play and that he will accompany me. That's a very exciting door to open.

Tonight I will rehearse here with Bonnie's handbell group. Here meaning here really. She has a handbell room in this apartment with 5 octaves of bells, tables, pads, and everything needed for a full handbell choir (plus some extra instruments -- it's a VERY full room!) I'll try to get a picture later.

I'm actually going to sit in on one of the pieces that her choir plays and then I'll be playing 8 pieces on solo bells during the concert Saturday night.

Just pictures.

2006-03-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

More general Paris pictures.

Finally, the Eiffel Tower

2006-03-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, i finally got it to upload. We were there last night in the driving rain and cold and it was actually closed,so all we got was this look. Still pretty spectacular. This picture is a little blurry, too. Sorry.

2006-03-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is a very famous landmark called Sacre Couer and it's the highest place in Paris. You can't tell from this picture, but the views from up here are stupendous. They would let us take any pictures inside the cathedral, but it's filled with beautiful mosaics. The stone on the exterior is supposed to self-clean each time it rains -- which is all the time! It should be very clean after this week.

After the excursion we were all starving and exhausted and stopped by a sweet shop/bakery right next to the apartment, and .... we couldn't stop. This is what we bought.

This is how we looked just before we ate, and i really wish I had a picture of us afterwards. Yuck! We all were sick and went to bed.

This is Bonnie. We're staying in her apartment while she stays with he friend in another part of the city. She was home for a very short while today to teach a voice class here at her home.

Blog Problems

2006-03-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

This blog program is having problems that I can't control. Some of you can't get to it, and occasionally I can't post. Hopefully, it will clear up soon.

More rain in Paris

2006-03-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

This morning we walked down the street beside this apartment building, Faubourg St. Denis (I think) to explore and get breakfast. It's a fun, mixed-use street full of all kinds of shops which are mostly food vendors of one kind or another. It was great fun, and maybe one of the best parts of the day. We picked out a selection of miscellaneous foodstuffs and brought them back to the apartment to eat. I didn't take the camera for some reason on this foray, but will do so tomorrow.

Eventually we did get out to Notre Dame. The whole cathedral is simply stunning inside and out, but unfortunately, it's so dark and huge inside that pictures just don't work well in there. I got this good one as we were crossing the street away from it. See the famous flying buttresses?

Here's an image of the front with Joe and Lessie. It's hard to imagine just how enormous this thing is or how intricately carved the whole thing is. They had the bell towers closed off for renovations, so we didn't get to do that -- one of the things I really wanted to see.

This is the Orsey Museum where we spent most of the afternoon. Another massive structure that is very interesting architecturally. Oh year, and it's FILLED with famous and recognizable art.

Then there's the Eiffel Tower, and as you can see, it was dark by the time we got there. Not to mention very cold and raining. All this after a very frustrating time with the public transportation system, a fight with a French waiter after dinner, then more frustration and a wrong-way ride on the train trying to get home, and being rained on every time we stepped outside. At this point I feel like if I left Paris tomorrow and never came back it would be OK. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Well, it looks like my pictures won't upload until I delete some of the earlier posts, and I'm too tired to fool with it now. I'll put them up tomorrow.

Paris first day

2006-03-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is some kind of grand arch that's close to the area where we're staying. It's not THE arch, just one that I happened upon on a walk around the neighborhood. They seem to really like them here.

Joe and his sister, Lessie, got here yesterday at about 5:00 pm. I met them at the train station, and brought them back to Bonnie Wooley's apartment where we're staying. Thank you again, Bonnie, for being so generous with your living space.

We did manage to get out last night, but it was raining and very windy and cold, so not the best weather to wander around town. In fact, it's about the worst weather, and we almost froze. Still, we managed to make a glancing blow at Notre Dame (it was closed by then) and then got on a tour bus to get out of the rain, but the windows were so fogged over that we really couldn't see out. It was all pretty funny, really, but at least we weren't being rained on.

We figured out the Metro and will be able to get around without too much trouble, so I'm sure we'll be out and about again soon. I don't think it's raining so much today, but there's no sun that I can see.

That's about the only picture I took yesterday because I didn't want to get the camera wet. I did manage to recharge my phone for Paris, and the new number is: 06 70 91 09 44 Not that I expect anyone to call, but you could if the need were to arise.

This is back in Novi Sad. I had been working on the piano and was just finishing up when a class came it to rehearse. They sang for me and I took a picture of them and was going to upload it here, but I lost it somehow, so to heck with it. After I took their picture the instructor nicely asked if I wanted her to take one of me. I of course said yes, and this is it.

Here's a notice I found on the Blogger site and it answers some questions I've had about why some people couldn't get onto the site.

"Monday, March 06, 2006
Some users are currently getting "403 Forbidden" errors when viewing their blogs, and "Permission Denied" errors (or variations thereof) when publishing. We're restarting some machines right now and things should be working again very soon.Update: This has now been fixed. If you still encounter problems, please clear your browser's cache and cookies, then give it another shot."

2006-03-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

This is what Novi Sad was looking like the morning I left, and I think it took the locals by surprise because they say that they usually don't have snow this late in the season. Yeah, Right!

It actually was very beautiful and fun to walk around in because the snow was in big flakes that drifted down instead of blowing in your face.

This is a shot out the car window on the way to Belgrade. We had to drive along very slowly because of all the slush on the road which, I'm sure, got on our driver's nerves because they love to go fast and scare you to death. Still, he was very careful, and I appreciated that. We were in a good car, too, (recent model year Mercedes) and I appreciated that, too. My bells were in the front seat and a lecturer from England and I were in the back seat so we felt quite royal being chauffered along. I almost did the royal wave to the peasants, but decided that that would be too much.

Then we got to the Belgrade airport, and here's what we were looking at. Not a reassuring sight. Everything went well, though, and now I'm here in Paris.

This is my first Paris picture. I haven't the slightest idea what it is and don't really care. It just looked very Parisienne. More later once I find out a few things.

More Novi Sad

2006-03-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

The billboard behind me is about the piano competition (they call it the Memorial). This is in downtown Novi Sad. I really wanted MY name of a billboard...

Guess what kind of apples these are. This is from one of the hundreds of booths in an ourdoor market. It's huge, but there are not that many different things there because there will be another booth just like this one just a few feet away selling the same things. It's weird how repetitive it is. Still fun to walk through and browse because it's so foreign, but I didn't try to buy anything because none of the people working there understand any English at all.

This is in the "Green Room" just before the concert in Novi Sad. Several of the students who got to experiment with the bells that afternoon brought me this HUGE bar of chocolate. They were very sweet and gave me this and a picture of the two of them.

More about last night's concert

2006-03-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

I keep getting two main comments about the program.
1. We've never seen handbells and they're fascinating and musical
2. You've broken new ground by the way that you talk to the audience

Concerts are very serious affairs here, and when an artist comes out to play he/she does just that -- play. No talk, no interaction other than through the instrument. Those of you who've seen my concerts know that they're just the opposite by the way that I talk to the audience and get them to laugh. Also, it's not like I went to Julliard to study handbells, then entered and won multiple competitions (there aren't any that I can find), and have then played and recorded with major orchestras the world over. I'm just the local joe who can do something that entertains people, and what I do is more of an "act". I also like to do that because I like to see it happen when I attend a concert. If the artist will speak to us then I'm much more attuned to him/her and much more interested in the program.

Last night's audience was quite shocked, apparently, when after the first piece I came around in front of the bell table to talk to them. Then I started making jokes with the interpreter and that cracked them up. Once, early in the program, I said what was a short sentence in English, but the interpreter went on and on in Serbian to say the same thing. When she finished I said, "Are you sure I said all that?" and they laughed for the longest time. In the States that would have merited a giggle, but here it brought the house down because they had never had that happen before.

I also did the "phone call from Mom" gag, and they've been talking about that all day. I had my accompanist call my phone right in the middle of "Minute Waltz", and I stopped as if I was trying to find the sound in the house. In the meantime, everyone in there (and they ALL have phones in their pockets) was mentally saying either, "Oh, my god, I hope it's not mine" or "how rude that someone didn't turn off their phone". Then when it turned out to be mine the laughter went for so long and loud that I thought I might not get to finish the show. When finally it calmed down and I said, "Hi Mom" it broke them up all over again.

At the end of the show they went into that European type of applause where they all clap at the same time (I think that's really good), and after we played the encore the applause wouldn't stop so I stepped down into the audience to start talking to and greeting people. That still didn't stop them, so I just walked on out through the audience waving royally as they shouted and cheered. Several people said to me afterwards that I left just like Santa Claus. What a hoot!

I'm trying to get some pictures to upload, but with no success. I don't really have any of the concert anyway because I was pretty busy. One man there did record the entire thing in video on his PDA which he showed me later. He's going to try to send it to me after I get home. He's my contact in Vienna, by the way, and very interested in having me play there. Also, the public radio station recorded the concert in audio and they're supposed to give me a CD.

I'll get some pictures up soon, I hope. Thank you to all of you who have written back to me about the concert. It was such a terrific experience that I'm still in "afterglow".

The Novi Sad Concert -- a quick report

2006-03-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

The concert tonight was the most complete success imaginable!

How can I say this in a modest way...ummm....OK, I can't. THEY LOVED ME.

The hall was packed, the audience was screaming after pieces were finished, I played very well except for a few mistakes that I hope were covered up and un-noticable, my accompanist was great, and my interpreter worked with me very well. Some funny things worked and some fell flat, and some new ones cropped up that broke everybody up. I've had a lot of comments about my playing and how unusual it all is, and I've had a lot of comments about how well I "worked" the audience and made them like what I was doing through my interactions with them.

I'll do more later on this, but here is a verbatim, written comment from my interpreter that is very precious.

"Dear Danny,
This concert was joy to my ears, my eyes, and to my soul. All of a sudden time did not matter at all during the concert. Where to, after you?
I thank you from my heart.
Zlatica
Novi Sad, March 4, 2006"

I'm so touched by this that it makes me cry.

Novi Sad sidewalks

2006-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

This guy was out on the street playing for money. I gave him some and then took several pictures, and he wouldn't look at me while I was doing it. He's not looking at anyone else or anything else -- just not at me. I don't know why, but maybe his profile is his best shot.

Here's what downtown looked like this afternoon. Zillions of people walking around. All the cafes along the streets set out their chairs on the sidewalk so you could sit, order one cup of coffee or a glass of water, and stay there for hours. A favorite Novi Sad pasttime.I'm going back to the music hall in just a few minutes to do final set-up for the concert tonight. There's a lecture in the hall that's supposed to go until 6:30, then it's mine until after the concert. We'll see. Sasha and I don't plan to try to play all the way through anything, but we just want to get a good mental picture of where we'll be entering, standing, bowing, or running for cover if they don't like us. Wish us luck. I think "Mom" is going to call somewhere during the show, so don't anybody else call me.

Did I mention that I bought a phone for use over here? I think I tried to write that, but it was one of the many posts that somehow just got lost in space and I gave up. Anyway, the number is 064-4577878, and I get FREE incoming calls. Of course, you'll have to pay the international charges from your phone, but, hey, that's not MY problem.

Final rehearsal

2006-03-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

Sasha and I had a rehearsal this afternoon -- our last one before the concert tonight, and because the master class session before me ran long we only had time to go straight through each piece. We both said that if we had one more day or maybe even one more rehearsal that we could really come together as a duo, but we're very close now, and I think everything will be just fine for tonight.

During the rehearsal a group of students from the school sat in to listen and take pictures, so I invited them up afterwards to try a bell. They LOVED it. I'm going to have volunteers from the audience participate tonight random ringing. We'll see how that goes.

I don't remember why I'm laughing so hard in this picture, but it was taken by one of the students while we were rehearsing. Dorian says that I laugh all the time anyway, so maybe it's just a natural shot.

The competition program book

2006-03-04T03:01:00.000-08:00

This is the program book for the entire piano competition, symposium, and music festival. I don't know if you can tell how thick it is, but it's a pretty big book that lists everything and everybody.

Here's the page showing my program for tonight. Dorian was pushing me to send in the program a long time ago, so to keep him happy I listed a ton of things (some of which I had not even learned yet and some of which I never did learn) and told him I would announce the program choices from the stage. So, this is showing a LOT more than I'm planning to play tonight. I'll do a fair amount of talking, too, as usual, and I'll have an interpreter. That will be a first for me, and I'm very interested to see how it will work. It's probably going to kill all my joke lines but maybe I can make a joke out of that, too.

This is my bio page in the program book.

Practicing day

2006-03-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

I'm back in my cute hotel room now after an exhausting day of rehearsal. It is SO much work to begin from scratch with a new accompanist -- even a good one like Sasha.

This is a bust of Isadore Bajic himself who founded the music school here 100 years ago.

Weeks and weeks ago I spent hours putting together an accompanist's book for him with everything just so including marking pens and an introductory letter, all in a three ring binder. Well, the binder didn't get here until about 3 days before I did, and it literally looked someone had run over it with a truck. Two of the rings were smashed and wouldn't close all the way and only the uppermost one was really holding the music, so the pages were continuously hanging in a wrong way, as well as being hard to see and almost impossible to turn on time. I told Sasha that I'd run by the bookstore and get him another one, but that turned out to be not very easy. In the two bookstores that I found the salesclerks had never heard of a 3 ring binder, but they offered to sell me a clipboard or they showed me a 2 ring binder. We finally did manage to find the 3 ring kind, so now he can turn pages like a real person. The poor thing thought that I had sent it to him like that for some reason which he didn't understand. I took a picture of the crushed notebook but then lost it from this page somehow, and it takes too long for them to upload for me to want to do it again.

This Novi Sad Cathedral in the very certer of town. The music school is just two blocks to the left. Look at how many people are out and walking about. It's almost always like this -- even in bad weather.

Guess what very important room this is.

The "Gala Opening Concert" with two piano concertos is tonight at the Synagogue -- a former Jewish church that was so desecrated by the Nazis in WWII that the Jewish people donated it to the city for use as a concert hall and built another church for worship.

Bells "in hand"

2006-03-02T15:35:00.001-08:00

Here's Danny right after the bells arrived.

Alexander -- alias Sasha -- and I had a great rehearsal tonight. Things are still a little rough around the edges but it's going to come together OK.

And here's part of a poster on the board at the music school and something that we don't get to see very often. I really wanted them to have posters about me and handbells posted all over town, but, alas, it is not to be. I think I'll get Dorian to make up a poster for me to bring home. For that matter, I could just do it myself after I get home. Who would know if the Serbian was correct or not? Hmmm. Something to ponder.

2006-03-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

Bells are here! Bells are here!

2006-03-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

I just got word that the bells have arrived in Novi Sad!!!!

I'm scheduled for a real rehearsal with the pianist at 8:00 pm. I'm way too tired for that, but it can't be avoided.

Here's a picture of the hall where I'll be playing. It's not very clear and maybe I can get a better one later after I've set up the bells. Anyway, the acoustics are very good in there and it's just about the perfect size for handbells. It will probably hold about 200 people. The piano we'll be using is the 7' Steinway that I completely restored the last time I was here. There's a much larger concert hall in town where the symphony concerts will be held, and I'm happy not to be playing there because it's just too big. Here it's going to be great, and the house will probably be packed and that always makes things more fun. There's nothing worse than playing in an auditorium that will seat 500 when only 25 people show up. Does that sound like the voice of experience?

Bells in Belgrade

2006-03-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

We just got word (that’s me and the team of people who are trying to retrieve my bells) that they’re in Belgrade at the airport. That’s the good news. A taxi is being dispatched to go for them, but customs officials may let them go unless I personally show up for them. That’s the bad news. I really don’t want to go because it will be a wasted 4 hours or so that I could put to good use here either working or sleeping.

My pianist and I just finished an hour long walk-through of all the music I intend to play with me mostly singing my part. We didn’t actually go through every measure, but hit the high spots and places where changes occur, and we’ve planned an actual rehearsal for this evening at eight. One way or another the bells should be here by then.

Right now I’m having a late lunch at ARHIV Restaurant where all the participants in the festival and competition will be eating (and where the competition is picking up the tab – if we eat elsewhere we are expected to pay for it ourselves). I’m having sopska salata bez luka which is tomatoes and cucumbers and maybe a little onion in oil and vinegar with some shredded soft cheese on top. The main course will be chicken brest in blackberry sauce, and I really don’t know what that will be like. They have prepared an English menu for us, so I can choose what to eat without guessing, but some of the wording is pretty funny. The last item in the main course section is “Vegetarian Meat”.

This morning at another restaurant (the competition breakfast place since this one is not open then) I had corn flakes in warm milk. Not what I was expecting, but it was really good. I wanted some fruit with it, but they didn’t have any.

The computer still can’t get on-line in my room, so right after lunch I’ll go back to “Opera” for a caffe and some transmitting.

The chicken just arrived, and here’s what it looks like. The little round things are potatoes, and there’s a bundle of carrot sticks tied together with something edible that I can’t identify. Also green beans, white rice with kernel corn, and broccoli. The chicken is roasted and stuffed with spinach and sitting in a little pond of blackberry sauce that’s not really sweet, and, of course, there’s fresh, hot bread. It’s all quite delicious, and way more than I can eat, and not really on my diet.

There’s a small Wendl & Lung grand piano in the room, and a young man was playing it (badly) last night. I don’t know anything about that brand and have never heard of it. Has anybody in the music world heard of it?

Danny in Serbia – Bells in France

2006-03-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

A government building. Mercury is on top -- naked.

Novi Sad cathedral with snow on the roof.

As Evelyn wrote to say, “….at least you know where they are, and won’t find them in a few months in the lost luggage department in Dothan, AL”. I just hope they don’t bring them to me in a bushel basket with fragments missing.

We know from many calls to the airport in Paris that the bells are there, but they haven’t been able to get them here because flights to Belgrade have been cancelled because of bad weather. I think today is Thursday, and they have promised to have them in Novi Sad by Friday afternoon. Great. I’m going to work with my pianist today and just hum along as he plays so we can have some semblance of a rehearsal. These people are very serious about their music and aren’t interested in “oh, you know your part and I know mine and we’ll just throw it together before the concert”. Neither am I, but I’m probably more likely to take that attitude than they are.

I’ve been having lunch and dinner almost every day with Dorian and another of his guest artists who is a very famous pianist, Sergei Babayan. You probably don’t recognize his name (I didn’t and asked if he was here to enter the competition – Dorian was aghast), but he’s the artist in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music and travels the world playing concerts and solo recitals. He’s playing “the Prokofiev Second” as they say it with the Vidin Philharmonic on the Gala Opening Concert on Friday evening. As they write it here “program: klavirski koncerti S. Prokofjeva, Sergei Babayan, klavir (SAD)” The laureate from the 2004 competition is also playing a concerto on the same program, but I forget which one.

Then the next evening I do my “dog and pony show” and I’m a little nervous about the comparison. If I get laughed off the stage believe me, none of you will ever know!

2006-03-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is another Serbian Orthodox church. I haven’t been inside it yet, but will try to soon and get some pictures if they’ll let me.

And here’s a sign of…something. Does Las Gajas translate to Las Vegas? I think so. This is on a window of a casino in downtown Novi Sad. It's the only such thing that I've seen so maybe the law only allows one -- or maybe the Serbian mafia. I haven't been in it and don't plan to. I can lose money in many more enjoyable ways.

That's all for now. I'd have a good time here if I knew my bell set was OK and would get here soon. It's not like I can just go borrow from someone.