Midsommar and Tchaikovsky

Today is the Midsommar festival in Sweden. Arvid, along with everyone else I know in Sweden, has been celebrating all day by eating and drinking outside, and enjoying the 24 hour sunlight. There are a lot of Swedes here in Berlin for the orchestra gig as well, but our Midsommer fest only lasted about one hour tonight since we are all so exhausted from the week.

Rehearsals were a lot of fun today. The percussion section is becoming more of a unit, and everyone is starting to open up more. I’m starting to learn a lot more about each one of them, and the jokes and silly comments are coming more often…just like it should be amongst percussionists! Alexander, the mysterious Russian, is still quiet…but my made up sign language communication skills have vastly improved the last few days. I think he’d be a really cool guy if he could say what he wants. Everyday he is trying to say more and more, and he is a nice guy…he’s only one that always gets me a chair and holds the door for me. Russians may be scary, but at least they are chivalrous!

I played a lot more today, and even made Kristjan (the conductor) smile because of my tambourine action on Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Buffoons’. It is one of the big parts I have in the entire program, and I’m proud of myself for kicking butt! I have a huge blister on my hand now, though…battle wound no. 1 of the BYP.

We rehearsed until 8:00pm tonight, and then the bus was late. Needless to say, by the time we got back to the hotel I was starving and cranky! We tried to go out to eat in a big group, but it was too hard to keep track of everyone and make everyone happy. So, five of us went to a restaurant close by, then bought a beer and went to a park across the street to celebrate Midsommar! A lot of the orchestra members were hanging there, and it was nice to sit outside and relax. It’s definitely not that same as being in Sweden (mainly because it’s dark!), but it was lovely to spend some time chatting and relaxing. I guess I just have to stay in Sweden next summer…just so I can experience the true holiday :)