Vierundvierzig Tage

Hallo Leute!
     Ich habe keinen informazionen fuer heute. Alles Ok. :)

Tchuess!
Crystal

kırk beş gün (46 Days in Turkish)

Hello!
      Auditions are schedule on April 15 for the Cecilian grant. I received notification that I will find out about the grant through the UMD graduate council sometime no later than April 15th. Therefore April 15th is a very important day. Oh, not to mention that the New Music Recital held through UMD will be that day as well and I will be performing the piece "Good Night Moon" based on the the popular children's book. Big Day!
     Today my GDR and I worked on finalizing the request for a special topics course that will give me credit for the summer work I will be doing. The final application will go through the music department and then through the graduate council.Things are slowly falling into place. I have also begun to learn how to conjugate Turkish verbs in the immediate present, continuous present, and simple past. Very exciting! I also received my copy of Turkish Music Theory, Makam, in the mail yesterday. Just skimming through the book, it is interesting to note that Turkish music uses the 8ve scale like Western Music (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C or Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do). However, Turkish music will have 9 "semi-tones" between every note in the 8ve scale. For example, C 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, D 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, E...etc. Some music theorists argue that those notes in between are just embellishments. However, it is hard to say something is simply an embellishment when it is used prolifically in all forms (classical, popular, folk, etc) of a culture's music. What a beautiful connection for Western music to share with Turkish music!
     One more note, both Chloe, my ferret, and the cat that our household "cat-sat" enjoy Turkish music more than opera I learned. They sat there and listened to Turkish music while they ran around the house in a fury during opera. Any opinions? 

     

46 Tage (Days)

Hallo und Selam!
          In Turkey, the two greetings that I most frequently heard (when they were not trying to speak English with me so I didn't feel so out of place!) were "Selam" and "Merhaba". It was explained to me that Merhaba is more formal and Selam informal. But, they also say "Hallo" just like one will hear in Germany.
          Exciting development: April 15 I will have an audition for the Cecilian Grant awarded by the Cecilian Society-a society that helps provide funding for grants specifically geared towards the arts. While keeping fingers crossed, I'll just wait and see what other wonderful blessings God has in store :) 

Day 47

Progress in only one day is quiet a pleasant experience :)

• Flights are booked
• Lessons with Turid Karlsen, dramatic soprano and professor at the Hochschulen in Hamburg and Stuttgard are secured.
• The house is becoming more German'nated (post it notes throughout the house on various objects)
• The new essay and request for funding is finished.

Although slightly aggravating, it was exciting to search for flights for the summer. Thanks to the suggestion of one of my roommates, I finally booked a very inexpensive flight through www.studentuniverse.com  A website that offers only students travel deals on hotels, flights, activities, etc. If you are a student, I encourage you to explore the website and enroll. My tickets through this website ended up being almost $500 cheaper than any other website. Here is the basic itinerary:

• May 13, 2011 flying out of the US to Berlin
• June 3, 2011 flying from Berlin to Turkey
• September 1, 2011flying from Turkey to the US

 For those of you who may not know who Turid Karlsen is; I had the privilege of meeting Turid while she sang Senta at the Madison Opera's production of The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner.  From her beautiful dramatic soprano to her captivating acting, Turid was an inspiration, and I had hoped very greatly to be able to work with her. She also teaches at the Hamburg and Stuttgart Musik Hochschulen. Feel free to check out her website and listen to her recordings:  http://www.turidkarlsen.com/en/

The response I was given when my roommate walked into the room and saw the kitchen with post-it notes all over it was, "Ah!! The house is German now!" :) However, it is quite helpful. The other useful tool for learning common objects is to print off a coloring sheet and color the objects-kind of like what you would do in anatomy to learn the various bones and organs. So far, I have snoopy in a crazy costume getup to make sure i know all of the pieces of clothing (he is also very flamboyantly colored), a formal dining set that is dramatically colored, and my favorite, I used an online, create your own house website, to design a floor plan and then color various rooms and household objects.

Exciting news! I've been awarded a small scholarship through the International Education Office at UMD! I have yet to hear from the other grants. April 15th, hopefully, I will be auditioning for one of the grants and around that time a decision will be made for the graduate travel grants through UMD. Keeping fingers crossed :)


Time to get back to homework now, a significant portion of which is German homework. More great news to come!

48 Days

Guten Abend Leute!

     The blog is officially up and running which is sehr, sehr spannend (very, very, exciting). Hoffentlich (hopefully) it will provide all the wonderful people, who provide me with support and encouragement, with insight of the wonderful project to come...in 48 days! 

    

      In the days leading up to the trip, the blog will cover preparations for the trip-research, grant funding, etc. During the trip it will also cover research being conducted but will more importantly be a narrative of the wonderful experiences I will be having throughout the project in both Germany and Turkey. Photos to come! I will also throw bits of German and Turkish in so you will have the chance to learn a little of each language yourself. After the summer portion of the project is completed, the blog will serve as a means information regarding the lectures/recitals and any journal and article publications to come. So keep in touch!

Turkish Culture, Language, and Music Influence in 17th and 18th Century Western Opera with Particular Emphasis on Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Purpose:

To obtain a greater understanding of Turkish influence on German arts through means of cultural, music, and language study.

The Means:

• Voice lessons with Turid Karlsen, Stimmeprofessorin von die Hamburg und Stuttgart Hochschulen (Voice professor from the Hamburg and Stuttgart Music Conservatories)
• Voice lessons will include study of selections from Die Entführung aus dem Serail
• German Culture studies through the University of Minnesota-Duluth International Education Program
• Voice lessons with Guzin Gurel, voice professor at the Istanbul Conservatory (subject to change of professor)
• Voice lessons will include the study of selections from the Turkish Opera, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Turkish folk music, and selections from Die Entführung aus dem Serail
• Turkce (Turkish) and Turkish cultural studies through the Dilmer Institute (www.dilmer.com)
• Various interviews with professionals in the Turkish music field including the director of Opera and Ballet in Turkey, Rengim Gokmen and professors from the Istanbul Conservatory. 
• Music Festivals: Including Istanbul Open Air Festival, Antalya International Folk Music Festival

The Location:

• Potsdam and Berlin, Germany-May 13-June 3
• Istanbul and Antalya, Turkey-June 3-September 1

48 days...los geht's!