Rehearsal Day

It is now 10:45 and I have just returned to the hotel after a full day of rehearsals! We had our first this afternoon from 2-5 at the Cork City Hall with Dr. Geoff Spratt, conductor of the Irish Youth Choir. Here's what the hall looked like before the rehearsal:



And here is a photo of the stage, and very intersting curtain, before the choir arrived:




(Unfortunately, since I am playing in the orchestra, too, I didn't get any pictures of all of us together today. But they are sure to come soon!)

It was a challenging but rewarding effort, though there were certainly cultural barriers to overcome. Besides the brilliant English accent (Dr. Spratt moved to Ireland from native England many years ago), there is also a difference in British and American musical terms. For those who didn't know: semi-breve is a whole note, a crotchet is a quarter note, a quaver is an eighth note, and a semi-quaver is a sixteenth note. Though it did take a little while to get used to the same language, as well as how to perform as accompaniment to a choir and not as a separate orchestra, we did make excellent progress.

We ran back in time for dinner at 5:30 served at the hotel, and then back to the City Hall for another rehearsal from 7-10. After more time spent with the choir and Dr. Spratt, we spent time rehearsing the rest of our concert. But, as always, even though we were workin ghard we managed to find at least a few moments to relax and have fun:



We then loaded the truck full of percussion instruments to get ready for our first concert tomorrow! We have an early wake up call (7am) to eat breakfast and get on the busses by 9:30 and head off to Limerick, which should take about 2 hours. Since we'll be spending all day out of town, I will not be able to update throughout the day. After a long day in Limerick, including some time reserved for shopping as well as another rehearsal and our first official concert, we won't be arriving home until around midnight our time. I will be sure to update as soon as I can!