Musical Fun

This post is a bit belated, and I apologize for it (Hannah :-) but I have been very busy with other things besides blogging. This post should have been posted a couple of weeks ago, but oh well... better late than never.



Dad has sort of organized an ensemble with the string players at church. We've had two practices so far, and though I don't play a string instrument (except piano which doesn't count and which I have recently been informed is actually a percussion instrument) I enjoy looking on. The first practice was just playing around with some pieces for fun and dare I say, not for the listener's enjoyment. :-) The second practice was a decided improvement. For those of you who read this post before when I said I couldn't find video from the first practice, that is now changed and here are a couple. I've been told that by videoing I have broken the first rule of group practices, that being, leave no evidence, but I am afraid I don't feel even a twinge of guilt on the subject.

This is a minuet by Haydn (one of the better sounding ones :-)



And this was requested by Mrs. Erber because a certain person in the group was a little - ah - rusty.



While the musicians were making music at the second practice, some of us bystanders were amusing ourselves with trying to figure out the Landler, the dance that Maria & Captain Von Trapp do in The Sound of Music. Here's just a sampling of we had to decipher (please don't try to read it, it's worse than a knitting pattern - but we did figure it out eventually!):

Landler (Danced by Maria and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music)

Start M l.f., W r.f.

Introductory mixing figure (as seen in ballroom behind the couple - 16 bars and hold for bow):

With 8 waltz steps M travels along l.o.d. around outside of circle while W travel alone against l.o.d. on inside circle, finishing taking skaters hold (l.hs over r.hs) with 8th new opposite / then with 4 waltz steps wheel as a couple 1 1/2 acw and travel together along l.o.d., M on inside, and with another 4 waltz steps M turns W acw over her l.sh. under raised hands, finishing opening out to face each other across the l.o.d., taking 2 hs in open hold and bow.

That's just the beginning - the rest is about 7 times that long!! And one thing within the instructions that greatly amused us is that "acw" stands for "anti clockwise"! Not counter clockwise - ANTI clockwise. :-) And here we are trying to figure out that fancy turn they do: