I was wrong! My day didn't end with laundry or cooking. I got a phone call from my father, who invited me to come and eat cheese fondue - he was just coming back from a hike on a swiss mountain, 4000 meter or 13123.32 foot high, with two of my brothers. So I went home, ate lots of fluid cheese and looked at pictures of the day they'd had - try to think of the bluest the sky can be, and the whitest the mountains, add some sweat, homemade sandwiches and cool mammut outdoor wear, and there you go!
Every word of this is true!
For dessert we had some Ben and Jerry's, which is all the rage here now, so no, we're not lost in our little swiss ways. Don't you worry!
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
2010/09/29
2010/09/13
Let's Build A Jazz Metropolis
Reading the paper today I found out two things. One: Switzerland is going to be "full" in 2020: people will have to cram themselves in small spaces, by military order buildings everywhere will receive ten floors more, no one except the highest political ranks will be allowed to eat meat (cows take away lots of space, and their empty barns will prove to be very useful), which will lead to a once again changed beauty ideal: the richest will be the only ones fat ergo fat bellies will once again be sexy.
Seriously, it's going to be a problem, but what a luxury problem: swiss people aren't used to live in high buildings, they need their little garden to put the garden gnomes in - looking for an appartment during the last few weeks I've found out how much this is true! I just couldn't live in a skyscraper (okay: 15 floors!), standing on the balcony makes me dizzy, and there are just too many people around... man, we really live in a little world of our own!
And the second thing I learned today: according to a an us survey, ten million people all over the world would like to immigrate to Switzerland. Wow! It brought me to think: musicians all over the world love to play in Switzerland, because of the good and warm food and the hotel beds. Apparently, jazz musicians in America aren't used to such a service. Well, okay! Everyone of you jazz musicians, come here! We'll choose a secluded valley somewhere, build an autarkic city, have our concert halls, make cheese and sausages, and maybe even create our own traditional costume? Won't we all live happily everafter?
Would be much easier for the government, too: everyone of them supervised with just one helicopter flight- They could even drop foodbags and social security cards all at once!
But look: it's not all perfect!
Seriously, it's going to be a problem, but what a luxury problem: swiss people aren't used to live in high buildings, they need their little garden to put the garden gnomes in - looking for an appartment during the last few weeks I've found out how much this is true! I just couldn't live in a skyscraper (okay: 15 floors!), standing on the balcony makes me dizzy, and there are just too many people around... man, we really live in a little world of our own!
And the second thing I learned today: according to a an us survey, ten million people all over the world would like to immigrate to Switzerland. Wow! It brought me to think: musicians all over the world love to play in Switzerland, because of the good and warm food and the hotel beds. Apparently, jazz musicians in America aren't used to such a service. Well, okay! Everyone of you jazz musicians, come here! We'll choose a secluded valley somewhere, build an autarkic city, have our concert halls, make cheese and sausages, and maybe even create our own traditional costume? Won't we all live happily everafter?
Would be much easier for the government, too: everyone of them supervised with just one helicopter flight- They could even drop foodbags and social security cards all at once!
But look: it's not all perfect!
2010/07/16
Marilyn's frigidaire
I'm through with love, I'll never fall again, said adieu to love, don't ever call again.
For I must have you or no one, and so I'm through with love.
I've locked my heart, I'll keep my feelings there, I have stocked my heart, with icy, frigid air.
And I mean to care for no one, because I'm through with love.
Yesterday I watched a Frasier episode (yes, really!), where Frasier Crane is once again frustrated about not being able to find a woman, and he feels so desperate that he starts to play this old standard (famous since Marilyn Monroe in Some like it hot) on his grand piano. I immediately had to stop watching and start playing myself! I love these songs, their harmony speaks of a long lost time, there's always a harmonic happy ending.
I played it as a cheesy ballad type hotel bar (which is always great fun), and in double-time with a walking bass and stride, and fooled around with reharms. I found out something new: I only listened to the text half-consciously, so I always heard Ella or Nat sing about an icy frigidaire, which left me wondering about the very graphic text-style...
I talked about it to the Paraglider, which brought us to a (long!) discussion about how to interpret the second chord of the tune, Ab diminished (first turnaround: Fmaj7, Abdim, Gm7, C7), because it can't easily be interchanged with a dominant chord. Aren't we geeks? At least we're geeks together (would now be the perfect time to form a Star Trek sign?)
Something I've found which I think is hilariously funny: there's a new jazz festival in Switzerland, in St.Moritz, which is a meeting-point for the rich and the beautiful. Unfortunately, their press material doesn't live up to the standards this particular demographic must be used to. Two pictures got interchanged, which led to this:
I don't know who this is, but it certainly isn't brown-haired, slender and "glassless" Brad Mehldau...
For I must have you or no one, and so I'm through with love.
I've locked my heart, I'll keep my feelings there, I have stocked my heart, with icy, frigid air.
And I mean to care for no one, because I'm through with love.
Yesterday I watched a Frasier episode (yes, really!), where Frasier Crane is once again frustrated about not being able to find a woman, and he feels so desperate that he starts to play this old standard (famous since Marilyn Monroe in Some like it hot) on his grand piano. I immediately had to stop watching and start playing myself! I love these songs, their harmony speaks of a long lost time, there's always a harmonic happy ending.
I played it as a cheesy ballad type hotel bar (which is always great fun), and in double-time with a walking bass and stride, and fooled around with reharms. I found out something new: I only listened to the text half-consciously, so I always heard Ella or Nat sing about an icy frigidaire, which left me wondering about the very graphic text-style...
I talked about it to the Paraglider, which brought us to a (long!) discussion about how to interpret the second chord of the tune, Ab diminished (first turnaround: Fmaj7, Abdim, Gm7, C7), because it can't easily be interchanged with a dominant chord. Aren't we geeks? At least we're geeks together (would now be the perfect time to form a Star Trek sign?)
Something I've found which I think is hilariously funny: there's a new jazz festival in Switzerland, in St.Moritz, which is a meeting-point for the rich and the beautiful. Unfortunately, their press material doesn't live up to the standards this particular demographic must be used to. Two pictures got interchanged, which led to this:
I don't know who this is, but it certainly isn't brown-haired, slender and "glassless" Brad Mehldau...
2010/07/10
jazz ain't summer music
It isn't, don't you think? In Switzerland, the weather is great since two weeks. In Berne there are (next to bears!) a lot of great bathing spots - you can, by river, see the most important buildings, slowly and lazily floating by for twenty minutes, getting tanned and doing some sightseeing!
For a week now, I've been working, been paragliding (yay!) and eating lots of grilled food. Never ever have I touched a piano. While a break is necessary for wrists and psyche, I still wonder about the compatibility of jazz for hot and sweaty times. When I listen to music now, it's Jimi Hendrix or Janelle Monae or hip new indie bands. I just can't really imagine sitting through Aaron Parks or David Binney or "the old cats" now. Doesn't fit! Can't do that in a little summer dress or a bikini!
The paraglider doesn't agree. As soon as the sun goes down, he's in the mood for playing - which still rules out the hot hours of the day. I wonder what others think about that?
Picture for today: the music academy in Basel apparently is a hot address for classical musicians in Europe. People who actually have soloist careers ahead of them because they're one of a kind come to study here. So there are one of a kind instruments here, too. They are so extraordinary and holy and awesome that they can only be played on very extraordinary and holy occasions. One of which happened last week, it was the diploma ceremony. And since the jazz school belongs to the music academy, the jazz school big band had to play there. And since I'm the piano player in this big band....
Well. It actually meant that I was allowed to play this holy thing! Wow!
(To be honest: I have no idea how it sounds. In a big hall with a high ceiling, there can't be anything louder than a big band, neither I nor anybody else present heard a single sound out of the grand piano. Still! I was allowed to play it!)
For a week now, I've been working, been paragliding (yay!) and eating lots of grilled food. Never ever have I touched a piano. While a break is necessary for wrists and psyche, I still wonder about the compatibility of jazz for hot and sweaty times. When I listen to music now, it's Jimi Hendrix or Janelle Monae or hip new indie bands. I just can't really imagine sitting through Aaron Parks or David Binney or "the old cats" now. Doesn't fit! Can't do that in a little summer dress or a bikini!
The paraglider doesn't agree. As soon as the sun goes down, he's in the mood for playing - which still rules out the hot hours of the day. I wonder what others think about that?
Well. It actually meant that I was allowed to play this holy thing! Wow!
(To be honest: I have no idea how it sounds. In a big hall with a high ceiling, there can't be anything louder than a big band, neither I nor anybody else present heard a single sound out of the grand piano. Still! I was allowed to play it!)
2010/06/24
A night at the opera, and: I almost did it!
I've just had a crazy week. Exam time is almost over, everything went well (very well even) until now. I am so unbelievably proud and happy - one week to go and I'll have finished my fourth semester as a jazz student. I did it! I did it, I DID IT! Now, and if only for practical reasons, deciding time is over. In one year, I'll have my bachelor of arts in jazz performance (just saying it out loud makes me proud, writing it down is even better!) One year. 32 weeks of lessons. Not so long any more, and stupid would I be, would I give up now. I'll still have to take one step after the other, and I'll still have to face doubts (appearing out of nowhere like whiny old-lady-ghosts). And: I won't know what the heck I'll do afterwards, how I'll face everyday life as a part-time jazz musician. But I guess I'll have my music degree after all!!
For christmas, The Paraglider had given me opera tickets for yesterday, "Der Freischütz" von Carl Maria von Weber. Me, almost presentable in a nice dress and boots, with drum sticks looking out of my bag, in the Zurich Opera House! Known for pretty conservative productions, nice old building, red carpets and balconies with a view over the Lake and the city - an evening out at the Zurich Opera is really quite the event. I loved it! The Paraglider and me did some pretty ignoble things like drinking out of the faucet in the toilet and ordering a McDonalds-menu not five minutes after the last curtain. And: it's forbidden to take pictures, but I still did it, rebel that I am.
The Paraglider has a natural ability to fit in environments like that, while I may for a second look like I do, but the next will with absolute certainty do something inappropriate. I know he has a great career as a cultural manager ahead of him, he really has all the potential!
For christmas, The Paraglider had given me opera tickets for yesterday, "Der Freischütz" von Carl Maria von Weber. Me, almost presentable in a nice dress and boots, with drum sticks looking out of my bag, in the Zurich Opera House! Known for pretty conservative productions, nice old building, red carpets and balconies with a view over the Lake and the city - an evening out at the Zurich Opera is really quite the event. I loved it! The Paraglider and me did some pretty ignoble things like drinking out of the faucet in the toilet and ordering a McDonalds-menu not five minutes after the last curtain. And: it's forbidden to take pictures, but I still did it, rebel that I am.
2010/06/07
what swiss people do on weekends
I spent the loveliest weekend in Appenzell, a beautiful, typical swiss-postcardy region. In fact I was hired as a nanny - a great deal for me, because I got to spend the day with my godson, and in return I was given a night in a b&b plus a free meal (I have just great friends!).
So The Paraglider and I had a nice appartment in a b&b somewhere at the end of the wold (just before you fall off the face of the earth!) to ourselves, enjoyed the balcony, a glass of wine, the view, a swiss accordion player and a yodeler (not exaggerated! it's true! you should come and see for yourself how sweet our little country is) and a pedaling and giggling and completely adorable baby. Later, I had to change the latter, which was kind of rock'n'roll, because he farted really loudly the moment I took the nappy off, which put me in a laughing fit (and the baby too!). What didn't help was the TV blasting and the whole changing procedure taking place on one of these really old scratchy armchairs.
The next morning, the sun was shining so persistently that I decided to go read on the balcony, a decision which, due to the creaking floor, didn't make The Paraglider very happy. After an hour in complete bliss all alone on the balcony, the others got up and the nice b&b-owner treated us to a world-record-breaking-breakfast.
We then decided to go to Appenzell, a town that offers every swiss cliché a person could think of. My friend and I went to a shop for traditional costumes and we almost tried something on (I'll have to do that some time!). And then we found ourselves on the Landsgemeindeplatz. In this, let's just say it, conservative region of Switzerland, people used to get together on the town square and do the votes and elections with their hands up. On this very spot, nineteen years ago, women where allowed to vote for the first time, the last place in Europe and the last swiss Kanton (at federal level, women could vote since 1971, which isn't so long ago either!) to finally "give in". IT WAS 1991!!! You're welcome to comment on this particular tidbit of swiss history.
After this royally enjoyable weekend, I found myself having a major mind lapse today. After so much real world, it takes time to get back to the crazy world of the jazz schools. Just a brief summary of my day: I had three band rehearsals, I learned some things about jazz history, did some eartraining, practised on the drums and the piano, mainly 11/8, 7/4 and 5/4, will have a rhythm exam tomorrow. And I will tomorrow listen to or watch a performance of a friend who is doing something with hair driers, it's her master of arts in music and new media project. Which might be quite the event and mentionable here!
Off now to go see The Paraglider, who is sick. Who has a nurse outfit to spare?
So The Paraglider and I had a nice appartment in a b&b somewhere at the end of the wold (just before you fall off the face of the earth!) to ourselves, enjoyed the balcony, a glass of wine, the view, a swiss accordion player and a yodeler (not exaggerated! it's true! you should come and see for yourself how sweet our little country is) and a pedaling and giggling and completely adorable baby. Later, I had to change the latter, which was kind of rock'n'roll, because he farted really loudly the moment I took the nappy off, which put me in a laughing fit (and the baby too!). What didn't help was the TV blasting and the whole changing procedure taking place on one of these really old scratchy armchairs.
The next morning, the sun was shining so persistently that I decided to go read on the balcony, a decision which, due to the creaking floor, didn't make The Paraglider very happy. After an hour in complete bliss all alone on the balcony, the others got up and the nice b&b-owner treated us to a world-record-breaking-breakfast.
We then decided to go to Appenzell, a town that offers every swiss cliché a person could think of. My friend and I went to a shop for traditional costumes and we almost tried something on (I'll have to do that some time!). And then we found ourselves on the Landsgemeindeplatz. In this, let's just say it, conservative region of Switzerland, people used to get together on the town square and do the votes and elections with their hands up. On this very spot, nineteen years ago, women where allowed to vote for the first time, the last place in Europe and the last swiss Kanton (at federal level, women could vote since 1971, which isn't so long ago either!) to finally "give in". IT WAS 1991!!! You're welcome to comment on this particular tidbit of swiss history.
After this royally enjoyable weekend, I found myself having a major mind lapse today. After so much real world, it takes time to get back to the crazy world of the jazz schools. Just a brief summary of my day: I had three band rehearsals, I learned some things about jazz history, did some eartraining, practised on the drums and the piano, mainly 11/8, 7/4 and 5/4, will have a rhythm exam tomorrow. And I will tomorrow listen to or watch a performance of a friend who is doing something with hair driers, it's her master of arts in music and new media project. Which might be quite the event and mentionable here!
Off now to go see The Paraglider, who is sick. Who has a nurse outfit to spare?
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