Contact Info
Sally Volkmann - film crew
Bess Vennema - film crew
Ben Antonio - film crew
bennyjet@umich.edu
Chris McNamara - film professor
mcnamart@umich.edu
Tom Bray - everyone`s favorite tech guy
tbray@umich.edu (incase you all want your 3-D pictures he took of you)
So I’ve never really been into blog posts since live-journal where I learned the hard way that what you put on the Internet stays there and is accessible to anyone. And that anyone can read it and even if they don't have the option to post a comment they will surely still form an opinion on whatever you wrote. (At least in America — thank you 1st amendment and less Internet censorship)
My name is Sally, Im a 20 year old senior in my undergrad majoring in Art & Design and minoring in Global Media Studies with a heavy emphasis on film and video production. My weapon of choice is the Panasonic AG-AF100 or the HPX if I get shafted by the captain.
While the title of this final entry (for me) was going to be the working title for an eventual longer memoir, I realize now that the likelihood of me finishing a full-fledged personal account of the tour is as likely as me buying a large Lazy Susan for my table and serving a parade of dishes to my guests, ending only with a slice of watermelon. Instead, I'll use it as the lead-in to a summary of the food we faced (and devoured) along the way.
Try this before your first cup of coffee.
In a particularly impromptu interview given during our preparations for this trip, I mentioned that the main thing I was looking for from this tour was, "the goose-bump-effect." That is, that wonderful physical reaction when your mental and emotional faculties are overrun with a particularly powerful moment or experience in music. I can say now that the tour is finished and the processing has begun in my mind, that I got what I was looking for.
I have learned, or re-learned, many things in the 48 hours I have been home. I knew I missed my bed during the tour, but I forgot how much I missed my pillow. My wife rearranged the contents of the kitchen cabinets in my absence, so finding the coffee supplies was an early morning adventure on Tuesday. The flowers blooming in the backyard are really beautiful, the accompanying weeds are not so delightful.
Exterior of Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall on the day we arrived in L.A.
L.A.'s Disney Concert Hall, just after the band's concertFollowing the Band's triumphant performance and the prolonged, standing ovation at Disney Hall Sunday night, it would be tempting to say of the 2011 U-M Symphony Band international tour "it's a wrap." But we have the direct evidence of our 1961 tour alumni to remind us that these things are occasions for life-long learning; the effects never end. None of us will ever forget this extraordinary journey.
U-M Symphony Band Members and YOLA Musicians Pose for a Group Picture 5.28.11One of the most powerful movements in music education today is Venezuala's El Sistema, a Venezuelan public health initiative that has created one of the most dynamic ensembles in the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra as well as one of the world's most dynamic conductors in Gustavo Dudamel. As a product of this youth development program, Dudamel has nurtured YOLA—the "Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles"—as the LA Phil's own El Sistema-inspired project.
Our five days in Beijing went very quickly, and I’ve now only had the time to do the visit justice in this bloated blog post. The band is now in LA, having travelled in two separate groups. When we arrived, we were pretty disoriented.
