An ode to the year gone, where 'ode to' means 'much abbreviated analysis of'.
I travelled to Canberra, met new people, had a great time. The first few months were awesome. I conducted, wrote music, helped direct some kids in Lord of the Rings, and played hacky sack. My artistic skills were being used more than ever before. I learnt about Steiner and his philosophies for teaching - an introduction. Visited the National Gallery, the National Library and jammed with some jazz guys at ANU.
Then we travelled around Australia, 21 of us, teaching in schools, driving everywhere, and that was awesome too. I was in an accident though - a truck sideswiped our van coming over a bridge. Nobody was hurt, but my friend who owns the van was extremely upset. Sadly, the van, which had been her home for years, wasn't salvageable. Over the year, my relationship with my girlfriend suffered. We kept in touch and kept trying. The tour ended in the tiny NSW town of Uki (yoo-kye, rhymes with pie) where the school had only about 50 kids, or some such tiny number. I could see Mount Warning from my hosts' house.
Then the choir went overseas! First stop Taiwan. Wow, travelling with musicians, being hosted by local families, strict schedules of performances and teaching grade 1 and 2's, scenery and activities, everything new and interesting. And tiring! By the time we got to Beijing, everyone was tired and/or sick. That's where Mags and I went on a break. Later, she sent me an email saying she didn't want to get back together. The tour continued in Russia, 3 days of train travel to Moscow, then Europe. After Russia, Europe was welcome, a little less scary without angry train guards. Latvia was full of beautiful food and the capital city was my first experience of a European 'old town' - usually found in the city centre. Estonia was a wonderful experience, the language, lovely people, the culture that has survived years of oppression by various other countries. Finland, astonishing architecture of St. Petersburg, choirs galore in a 'Singing World' choir festival, Germany, Autobahns! Then the stunning mountains of Austria, passed through them on our way to Lake Balaton in Hungary. We stayed there for a while, rehearsing and preparing for the hectic performances we had coming up, re-working the Ring Bearer play (LOTR) and perfecting our choir pieces. Here, I finally revealed to the choir my secret project of making a piece for everyone. Some enthusiastic people started to sing them. Budapest, one of my favourite cities of the tour, and a heaven-sent week rehearsing with an inspiring conductor of a Waldorf choir. He made me think strongly about the way I was singing. He made each note important, every nuance crucial. Also, his choir was heaps of fun! Venice - could've spent ages in Venice, canals, bridges, tiny shops. Driving through Italy, one hairy moment when a truck tried to merge in front of me without looking. Almost had a heart attack, but he acknowledged his mistake as I drove past. Drove into Switzerland across the mountains. A week teaching year 10s and 11s, sleeping in the classrooms. A week in Germany teaching workshops - finally, my years of German study were used!! Discovered that I have much more German to learn... our hosts were awesome and clicked perfectly. Another week in Switzerland, sleeping in a yurt in the front yard. Then finally - the week off! Like every good road trip, loaded the car with awesome people, great music, drove through Geneva and into France. Stayed a few days in the peaceful Taizé monastery. Drove through France with no co-driver, making some 8-hour days of driving for me. Medieval Carcassone, walled city of wonder, then the Camino trail into Spain, walking around 24 kms every day, then ferrying the cars back and forth each night to catch up with us. No wonder I was exhausted... finally arrived in Pamplona in the middle of a wild festival celebration with loud crackers going off every 30 seconds, brass bands, people everywhere, cute streets and wide alleys. A couple more cities in Spain, Bilbao and San Sebastian. According to the local people, this area is Basque, not Spanish. The Basque want independence from Spain. A magnificent concert in Bilbao, one of our best ever. Driving through France again to Cherbourg, where the ferry workers were on strike. Most of the choir made it to England except the four drivers, who had to return the cars. We had an extended stay in the picturesque French seaside town Roscoff. Poor us! We languished there awhile, with our red wine and our hotel rooms, until the ferry to England could be managed. England shocked me in so many ways, mostly the crazy hedgerow lanes which the locals would zoom along as though nobody could possibly be coming the other way! New cars in England - I drew the short straw for the luggage van, but it wasn't so bad. Having only one person to talk to was a nice change from six! Staying in Totnes we saw Dartmoor, I had a professional massage for my hard work driving on the Camino, and we spent time rehearsing my pieces for performance in York..... on the way to York, we visited the astounding Wells Cathedral. And in York - the WORLD PREMIERE of my choir piece, Night Walk, and four of the name pieces... I could've died with happiness! Kids loved us at this school. I met a guy from Bendigo living in York... stayed with a friendly teacher named Helen. Two days driving North took us to Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland - incredible scenery, almost no trees, windy, cold, sea all around, heather and heath, peat bogs, ancient civilisations (5000 years old!) ... and small but appreciative audiences. And Scottish accents. A divine week staying in a house with no hosts, myself and 3 others cooking and looking after ourselves for once... driving back to Heathrow airport we passed through the quaint town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed by the sea, could have spent longer there. Well finally England was done and we flew to India for two weeks. The noise! The car horns! The bikes, the tuk-tuks, the colours! The spices! A delightful week teaching recorder in Bangalore with Dutch hosts, the local school small and dirty, but enthusiastic and fun kids. Best train trip ever North to Hyderabad (fearing the worst) where we had entree, mains, and dessert presented to us without expecting any such thing. Hyderabad, our last stop for the tour. We stayed in deceptively luxury-looking houses, which turned out to have sporadic water and electricity services - 3 days without a shower was pretty rough! My most intensive teaching week of the year, I taught a minimum of 4 classes every day, including singing, recorder, music theory, and two improvisation classes. Rohan bought some proper fireworks at a market which he let off on the last couple of nights. They were huge! And impressive! Everyone was really worn down in the last week, it was stressful and horrible sometimes, but for me, I was on a high teaching these classes I really enjoyed, and I got great feedback from people in the classes telling me how good they were. On the last night, a massive performance of The Ring Bearer to an auditorium which could hold up to 2000 people (probably about 600 attended) cemented a successful week and year.
Leaving India was painful, a series of goodbyes as we farewelled some choir members staying longer in India, then some people left us in Kuala Lumpur, then everyone else parted ways in Sydney. I made my way home to Melbourne, came home with Dad to Kangaroo Flat...
...and have been here since.
November and December have passed quickly. Catching up with friends, family, Christmas cards, cleaning my room, composing, thinking, doing chores for my parents, one of my bands did an album launch in Melbourne which I played at. Trying to keep fit, trying to keep in touch with various people. Life. You know.
For me, it's been a great year. It's given me a lot to look forward to and countless experiences I can treasure forever. But I think a drawn-out breakup across 5 countries took its toll, as did a year of working with people who weren't completely satisfied with their decision to come on tour, not to mention a brilliant but often stressful director, who told us at the end of the tour how difficult she found us to work with. She certainly had a mammoth task, and I'm glad it wasn't me doing all the organising.
Well, goodbye, 2012. You weren't the end of the world. And hopefully, you were the start of new and exciting things in my life. I'll miss you, a bit.
I travelled to Canberra, met new people, had a great time. The first few months were awesome. I conducted, wrote music, helped direct some kids in Lord of the Rings, and played hacky sack. My artistic skills were being used more than ever before. I learnt about Steiner and his philosophies for teaching - an introduction. Visited the National Gallery, the National Library and jammed with some jazz guys at ANU.
Then we travelled around Australia, 21 of us, teaching in schools, driving everywhere, and that was awesome too. I was in an accident though - a truck sideswiped our van coming over a bridge. Nobody was hurt, but my friend who owns the van was extremely upset. Sadly, the van, which had been her home for years, wasn't salvageable. Over the year, my relationship with my girlfriend suffered. We kept in touch and kept trying. The tour ended in the tiny NSW town of Uki (yoo-kye, rhymes with pie) where the school had only about 50 kids, or some such tiny number. I could see Mount Warning from my hosts' house.
Then the choir went overseas! First stop Taiwan. Wow, travelling with musicians, being hosted by local families, strict schedules of performances and teaching grade 1 and 2's, scenery and activities, everything new and interesting. And tiring! By the time we got to Beijing, everyone was tired and/or sick. That's where Mags and I went on a break. Later, she sent me an email saying she didn't want to get back together. The tour continued in Russia, 3 days of train travel to Moscow, then Europe. After Russia, Europe was welcome, a little less scary without angry train guards. Latvia was full of beautiful food and the capital city was my first experience of a European 'old town' - usually found in the city centre. Estonia was a wonderful experience, the language, lovely people, the culture that has survived years of oppression by various other countries. Finland, astonishing architecture of St. Petersburg, choirs galore in a 'Singing World' choir festival, Germany, Autobahns! Then the stunning mountains of Austria, passed through them on our way to Lake Balaton in Hungary. We stayed there for a while, rehearsing and preparing for the hectic performances we had coming up, re-working the Ring Bearer play (LOTR) and perfecting our choir pieces. Here, I finally revealed to the choir my secret project of making a piece for everyone. Some enthusiastic people started to sing them. Budapest, one of my favourite cities of the tour, and a heaven-sent week rehearsing with an inspiring conductor of a Waldorf choir. He made me think strongly about the way I was singing. He made each note important, every nuance crucial. Also, his choir was heaps of fun! Venice - could've spent ages in Venice, canals, bridges, tiny shops. Driving through Italy, one hairy moment when a truck tried to merge in front of me without looking. Almost had a heart attack, but he acknowledged his mistake as I drove past. Drove into Switzerland across the mountains. A week teaching year 10s and 11s, sleeping in the classrooms. A week in Germany teaching workshops - finally, my years of German study were used!! Discovered that I have much more German to learn... our hosts were awesome and clicked perfectly. Another week in Switzerland, sleeping in a yurt in the front yard. Then finally - the week off! Like every good road trip, loaded the car with awesome people, great music, drove through Geneva and into France. Stayed a few days in the peaceful Taizé monastery. Drove through France with no co-driver, making some 8-hour days of driving for me. Medieval Carcassone, walled city of wonder, then the Camino trail into Spain, walking around 24 kms every day, then ferrying the cars back and forth each night to catch up with us. No wonder I was exhausted... finally arrived in Pamplona in the middle of a wild festival celebration with loud crackers going off every 30 seconds, brass bands, people everywhere, cute streets and wide alleys. A couple more cities in Spain, Bilbao and San Sebastian. According to the local people, this area is Basque, not Spanish. The Basque want independence from Spain. A magnificent concert in Bilbao, one of our best ever. Driving through France again to Cherbourg, where the ferry workers were on strike. Most of the choir made it to England except the four drivers, who had to return the cars. We had an extended stay in the picturesque French seaside town Roscoff. Poor us! We languished there awhile, with our red wine and our hotel rooms, until the ferry to England could be managed. England shocked me in so many ways, mostly the crazy hedgerow lanes which the locals would zoom along as though nobody could possibly be coming the other way! New cars in England - I drew the short straw for the luggage van, but it wasn't so bad. Having only one person to talk to was a nice change from six! Staying in Totnes we saw Dartmoor, I had a professional massage for my hard work driving on the Camino, and we spent time rehearsing my pieces for performance in York..... on the way to York, we visited the astounding Wells Cathedral. And in York - the WORLD PREMIERE of my choir piece, Night Walk, and four of the name pieces... I could've died with happiness! Kids loved us at this school. I met a guy from Bendigo living in York... stayed with a friendly teacher named Helen. Two days driving North took us to Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland - incredible scenery, almost no trees, windy, cold, sea all around, heather and heath, peat bogs, ancient civilisations (5000 years old!) ... and small but appreciative audiences. And Scottish accents. A divine week staying in a house with no hosts, myself and 3 others cooking and looking after ourselves for once... driving back to Heathrow airport we passed through the quaint town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed by the sea, could have spent longer there. Well finally England was done and we flew to India for two weeks. The noise! The car horns! The bikes, the tuk-tuks, the colours! The spices! A delightful week teaching recorder in Bangalore with Dutch hosts, the local school small and dirty, but enthusiastic and fun kids. Best train trip ever North to Hyderabad (fearing the worst) where we had entree, mains, and dessert presented to us without expecting any such thing. Hyderabad, our last stop for the tour. We stayed in deceptively luxury-looking houses, which turned out to have sporadic water and electricity services - 3 days without a shower was pretty rough! My most intensive teaching week of the year, I taught a minimum of 4 classes every day, including singing, recorder, music theory, and two improvisation classes. Rohan bought some proper fireworks at a market which he let off on the last couple of nights. They were huge! And impressive! Everyone was really worn down in the last week, it was stressful and horrible sometimes, but for me, I was on a high teaching these classes I really enjoyed, and I got great feedback from people in the classes telling me how good they were. On the last night, a massive performance of The Ring Bearer to an auditorium which could hold up to 2000 people (probably about 600 attended) cemented a successful week and year.
Leaving India was painful, a series of goodbyes as we farewelled some choir members staying longer in India, then some people left us in Kuala Lumpur, then everyone else parted ways in Sydney. I made my way home to Melbourne, came home with Dad to Kangaroo Flat...
...and have been here since.
November and December have passed quickly. Catching up with friends, family, Christmas cards, cleaning my room, composing, thinking, doing chores for my parents, one of my bands did an album launch in Melbourne which I played at. Trying to keep fit, trying to keep in touch with various people. Life. You know.
For me, it's been a great year. It's given me a lot to look forward to and countless experiences I can treasure forever. But I think a drawn-out breakup across 5 countries took its toll, as did a year of working with people who weren't completely satisfied with their decision to come on tour, not to mention a brilliant but often stressful director, who told us at the end of the tour how difficult she found us to work with. She certainly had a mammoth task, and I'm glad it wasn't me doing all the organising.
Well, goodbye, 2012. You weren't the end of the world. And hopefully, you were the start of new and exciting things in my life. I'll miss you, a bit.
