h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This has been a very emotional weekend for me. So, please excuse my self-indulgence while I tell you about it. A whole lot has happened - rest assured, dear reader, no matters of life and death - so I'll divide it up over several posts.




Actually, on re-reading - it really is very self-indulgent - so feel free to skip bits.

END OF SCHOOL YEAR

First of all, I can now no longer keep it a secret that I started a course in church music this time last year and have now finished the first lot of exams. At the end of the course, if I manage all three years, I will be qualified to accompany a church service on the organ and conduct a lay church choir. It has been great fun, even if I have had to spend every spare minute practising the piano or the organ, waving my arms about learning to conduct, or just swotting up on strange liturgical practises.

Piano and organ I have definitely passed, as we have been told our results; the written exams are still to be announced, but I can't imagine I failed anything - it was all fairly simple at this stage.

The school year finishes on 30 September, so with the conducting and liturgy exams yesterday, that was the end of the first year.

On Thursday evening, I had my last piano lesson and the teacher told me that it was my last lesson with him and he was leaving the school. This was quite a shock and left me reeling. I didn't have a chance to say goodbye as the school's director came in just then because they had a meeting together and at the same time someone had just driven into my car which was standing on the carpark below, and the driver was waiting down there for me to come and exchange details........

So I was still reeling on the Friday from this news and - with two weeks' holiday for the autumn half term ahead quite at a loss as to how to practise, not knowing what my next teacher would expect.

EXHIBITION

I had taken Friday off work - ostensibly to revise for the last exam on the Saturday (yesterday).

However, there was an exhibition in Mannheim that I wanted to see, which was closing on Sunday (today).

I drove up the B9 which goes parallel to the Rhine - a beautiful drive in the wonderful September sun.

The exhibition was called "Musikwelten" - Worlds of music. It was a display of musical instruments from all eras and countries, which, of course, was multi media - you could look at conches and bones with holes in and clay whistles and at the same time listen on your headphones to the sounds they made.

I entered the first "room" - a semi-circular wall with a pseudo-3D seascape and in the middle of the picture were printed the words "This is my church, this is where I heal my hurts, for tonight, God is a DJ". The semi-circular wall filled my entire field of vision and the quote took my breath away. Unfortunately, somehow, they didn't provide the music to go with it over the headphones, but I heard the Faithless track in my memory so clearly, after reading that, that I was knocked quite breathless. It was also a very English moment. The sea, the voice of Maxi Jazz.....

The rest of the exhibition was not terribly amazing. It literally was a selection of whistles, pipes, drums and various developments on the lyre - sometimes the accompanying music on the headphones was rather oddly chosen (30s ragtime in the room where they showed Shaman masks and fire dances from Borneo ?!?!?) There was another English moment - in the room where they displayed instruments from the ancient Japanese court, you got Brian May playing the (British) national anthem over the headphones.

I could go on, but I wanted to describe the whole of the weekend. Choir practice on Friday evenings, but I only stayed for a few minutes because we had theatre tickets for that evening.

SATURDAY MORNING - ARCHAIC ACADEMICS

On Saturday morning, as I mentioned above, it was the last day of music school for this year, and we still had 2 exams. Choral conducting - well, as a beginner, this wasn't too difficult, but I still managed to forget everything I had practised and all the little comments I had planned to make. I don't think it was bad enough to fail, though.

The liturgy exam was oral. This is an examination method which seems really medieval to me - but it has continued in Germany in universities and schools to this day. Again, I don't thing I was so bad that I could have failed - in fact I met the teacher later and he said it was all OK.

Between the exams and the comings and goings, there was the official announcement that the piano teacher was leaving and changes to the timetable etc etc. Some of the girls were in tears. One girl in particular was really upset, maybe because she is also in the Cathedral choir and they had just had a really long rehearsal and were due to go straight on to another one from school.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

In one of the villages nearby, the new church musical director for our deaconry (is that the right word - about half a dozen parishes) had called all the church choirs together for a discussion afternoon, a bit of a singsong and an evensong service.

The discussion was fairly fruitful, and the "getting to know each other better" was even more fruitful, and, of course, singing together with 90 experienced choristers was most uplifting, especially as we had the No. 1 organist from the Cathedral there to accompany us. The church was richly decorated for harvest thanksgiving.

SATURDAY EVENING - The highlight

I got a lift from there back to Speyer just in time to get myself a ticket for the evening's concert in the Cathedral - the one that my classmates had been rehearsing so hard for. The performance was of Elgar's "The Kingdom".

The woman next to me (a music teacher and musician whom I respect and admire and have sung with many times before) commented at one point upon how beautiful the music was. Because of everything that had happened since Thursday, I was already in quite a state of emotional agitation, but to hear a work like that in a place like that was an indescribable experience and really reduced me to a pool of . Fortunately, I had been warned that I would be needing a packet of tissues. They hadn't said it started in the first bar of the first movement, though!

And they hadn't finished with me yet. As an encore, they sang "Jerusalem" and asked the audience to join in. (Totally weird, singing this with a German crowd). Having spent most of the day singing, my neighbour and I were in full voice, so we belted it out to let off steam. Result - one more wet tissue.

On the way home, I had to walk through Speyer's main street. People were sitting outside cafes and everyone was in a good mood. It was a wonderful end to the evening.

>SUNDAY MORNING - a walk in the Black Forest.

Today we went on an 8km hike in the Northenmost tip of the Black Forest (not far from here) with some friends - a couple about the same age as us. They are going through emotions of a different kind, as her mother is very ill and has practically decided not to carry on living. They were grateful for someone to walk and talk with - and we finished up with an excellent lunch on the outskirts of Karlsruhe. I had to bottle up my own experiences as their worries really are concerns of life and death, so now I am unburdening myself on anyone who has taken the time to read this journal.

I promise I won't be writing another one for a while.

I know they say that the sense of smell is the strongest connector to emotions, but for me it has always been music. That's some weekend, one of those that will stay with you for ever.

A series of uplifting moments.

TRiG.

It sounds great, all told! A weekend to remember, certainly.

Sounds like a lot to take in, but a very rich exprience!

TC, I take my proverbial hat off to you. I admire your tenacity and choice of subject, and wish you well. Sounds like a very emotional weekend and you have my sincere respect.

Well done.

MMF

Thanks everyone. When I got in on Saturday evening, I was leafing through a calendar we have with advice on what to do in which phase of the moon. Some of it makes sense, some seems rather esoteric. It said that emotions run high at full moon, which, of course, was on Sunday. This may have enhanced the whole internal turmoil situation. Did anyone else find themselves reacting particularly strongly to anything this weekend?

That was a good weekend, TC. I always think it is good to get the most out of every minute.

I always admire the way you manage to squeeze so much out of a weekend, Gnomon. I must admit, I am quite exhausted after all that!

Congratulations for taking on being a student again! This will keep you young. And when you're finished that stage, conducting will.

Thank you for sharing TC - I really enjoyed hearing about all this. Very uplifting, and as other's have already said, you'll have these marvelous memories to bring out and relive in future years.

It's been hard not mentioning the course on h2g2 because it really has become a huge part of my life, but I didn't want to say anything until at least I had got through the first lot of exams. I am really lucky not having anything else to do (Well, apart from a full-time job, that is) - I don't know how the kids manage. The usual age for the course is about from 15 - 18, which is when they really have so much to do at school.

Having classmates of that age is great fun, and we all get on really well.