Paulus

Next semester, the Capella Carolina will be singing Mendelssohn's Paulus, which is probably a nice piece, although I don't know it. Yesterday I got a first impression during rehearsal: it's not a capella, which means easier pitch-keeping and more pauses, it's not as extreme in dynamics and range as Rachmaninoff's liturgy, which means easier singing, and it's in German, which means easier text-learning for most. So, it's a lot easier, which will mean more attention for details, more perfectionism, and probably better performances. But still: I want to sing more Rachmaninoff! And then they tell me that on February 25, they're going to sing the old programme again, and I'll be in a car learning to drive :(.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll learn to appreciate Paulus. What we sang yesterday reminded me somewhat of the Christmas carols we've been singing, as far as melodies (typical basslines) and text are concerned. It is of course a lot more 'advanced', with more rhythmical interplay between voices, more variation, etc.. Most people I've asked about it who knew it were very enthousiastic, and the prospect of actually having time to work on singing technique a little bit is also nice. The conductor said that everybody who is going to participate in the performances will get some sort of 'audition', to see what could be improved in their singing. He added: "Es tut kein Weh, und es gibt sogar manche Leute, die 40 Euro dafür zahlen würden..." :p.

End of term...

...is a lot less stressful here than at UC, mostly because not all courses have exams here, and none have term papers. Still, the end always feels nice, since course-related obligations are lifted, if only temporarily. In this case, though, even that effect is weakened, as I will still be typing lecture notes for QFT for a while.

Today, I got my first Schein, i.e. certificate, for the statistical mechanics course I've been following. It stated my grade, my rank in the entire class, who had been teaching the course, what the grade was based on, how it was calculated (by rank, which I still think is a stupid system), and featured signatures of both teacher and tutor. What it did not mention, however, was the number of ECTS points it was worth. So I asked the secretary of the exchange students' contact person about it, who told me to ask the secretary of the institute, who phoned someone else, who said that we should just write the number of points on the certificate by hand. Apparently, Germans sometimes get tired of their bureaucracy as well...

My plans for the near future are as follows: this Sunday, I'm going back to Holland for a while. I will be around Utrecht, typing QFT lecture notes, bringing my dad's and my own administration up to date, and learning to drive, until at least the 14th of March, since I have my driving exam then. After that I don't know yet.

Choir - performances

The performances went better than expected, although they were still not perfect. The audiences didn't seem to mind, though: on Saturday, a part of the audience even stood up, and on both evenings, the applause didn't end until the conductor sent us offstage, which was after taking ample time for bowing, making the soloists bow, and singing an encore (Тебе поем, we sing to Thee).
The dress rehearsal was originally planned to be on Friday, but that turned out to be a normal rehearsal. Then, the idea was to just sing through everything right before the first performance. We did, although even then the conductor interrupted at some points. For the basses, this 'dress rehearsal' went spectacularly bad, with people losing track at several points, resulting in very chaotic singing. Luckily, almost none of that was repeated during the performance: there was one spot where some people missed the rhythm, but that was it. Sunday was similar.
What was new to me was the dress code: suit, including tie. Now, those of you who have worn shirts and ties know that they tend to be rather tight around the neck. I never liked that at parties, but for singing it was very impractical. That, combined with the fact that I could not drink any water during the performance, resulted in a sore throat at the end (the whole programme was about an hour and a half, I believe). So, on Sunday, I did not close the upper button of the shirt, and wore the tie a bit more loosely, which went much better :).
Now, the project is finished, resulting in the usual slightly melancholic mood. Not nearly as strongly as other times, though, since the choir is not finished (in theatre projects I have participated in so far, the end of the project was also the end of the group). During the applause today, the conductor said: 'Rehearsal this Thursday, 20:00.' :).