Other Things

All I really want to talk about is trumpet.

But this post is just stories from the week.

Just know that in all these stories and behind all these words, all I'm really thinking is... trumpet trumpet trumpet trumpet.

Monday: Monday wasn't really anything special.

Tuesday: Tuesday I had work (very nice, very nice), and then Uli and I, Uli being the director of my former academic program, went to a speech given by Joachim Gauk. Joachim Gauk is a well-respected politician in Germany with a long history. He was born and raised in the DDR and has served as an educator of the DDR's life and methods. He was the first appointed commissioner for the Stasi Records in 1990. Last year, he was a presidential candidate for both the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and the Green parties. What's most interesting is that almost all the parties here in Germany would have accepted him as their candidate. In fact, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union), one of three parties who officially backed a different candidate, and a party that is far away from the SPD on a conservative/liberal spectrum, also gave support to Gauk. Can you imagine a candidate on a Democratic ticket in the US also recieving backing from the Republican party? Or vice versa? I don't think their are many American politicians who are saying yes, he would also do a wonderful job, of other-party candidates. But I don't know much about politics.

Anyway the speech was fantastic. He talked for an hour and didn't use a single note card. He told stories of the DDR with incredible engagement. Two take away points that I can easily sum up:

1.) Don't cultivate fear.

2.) 'Either/Or' mentalities are no good.

Both points I can look at from an American perspective, which is, granted, an entirely different perspective than from where he got those words. USA is not East Germany.

A couple nights before I went to this speech, I had a conversation with a German girl named Sara who had spent a year studying abroad in Tanzania. The only news program they had there was CNN. She expressed to me how appalled she was at its content and presentation. She said when she watched the program, every minute felt like a life-or-death scenario.

I agree with her. CNN is awful, and it is, unfortunately, representative of many news broadcasts in the US. In a large number of American news outlets, things often seem to have to fit extremes. Either, Or. Things are superlative. We must be attentive and wary to very frightful situations. There's more drama to news than there is humanity.

Related story: I was at a party a couple of nights ago and this american guy named Jeff introduced himself to me. Jeff was drunk. I was not drunk, and I was happy. I did not want to talk with him, and for I while, I was able to not do so. In fact, after being ignorant to his presence for long enough, he went away. However. Later on in the evening, someone else revealed to him that I was also American, which he had not gathered before. He quickly found his way back to me, this time with much greater speaking abilities, as he knew he could switch to English.

Jeff is a pupil of extreme-hood. Everything was Either Or. He immediately identified me as an elitist asshole when he discovered I come from Boston. Of course I am. He immediately knew that I was in Germany for the same reason he was; because America is a shithole. When I didn't answer his question, why do you think Freiburg is better than the US, he volunteered to answer it himself. He said he likes Freiburg because for the first time in his life, he doesn't need to own a car. Now, I will generalize a bit here. Yes, it is much easier to live without a car here than it is in the US. In fact, there are many places in the US where you can not live without a car. But. There are also places like that in Germany. And this isn't the point. This is the point:

Jeff then proceeded to state that no U.S. city of 200,000 (roughly the population in Freiburg) is livable without a car (he even mentioned three cities that he had been too). He asked me to name one, and I did: Madison, WI, a city of roughly 200,000 where I, and many others I know, lived for three years without a car. He responded with; No. He told me that it snows there and in the winter, everyone needs a car.

That is what was ultimately upsetting; the fact that I represent living experience of auto-free live in Madison, WI USA, but my story was not accepted because it's not extreme enough. It's not, "yes, Madison and the US are such shitholes because you can't live anywhere without a car." That statement is not true. But maybe it's more exciting than "some places in the US require a car and some don't. It depends. Some aspects of America are bad and some are good. And some are okay. You know. It depends. And all of that goes for Germany too."

You can't learn things if facts for you are two-dimensional, and you can't talk with people either.

Wednesday: Wednesday I went to a Freiburg/Madison hosted party celebrating AYF's (my former academic program) 50th birthday. I saw some old teachers and that was a blast.

I also had my first lesson with my new trumpet teacher. It was great. All I will say for now is; I am so excited to practice.

Thursday: Every thursday night there is a jazz session at a bar called Cafe Ruef. Nick and I went. I've gotten a lot of exposure lately to many different levels of experience and jazz musicianship. I like hearing what other people are working on, perfecting, and struggling with.

Friday: We cooked pumpkin soup and couscous. Then we went to a party. I met this guy named Jeff.

Saturday: Kind of like Monday.

Today: Today Nick and I went to a concert of a jazz trio called The Tingvall Trio. It was rockin'.

I love notes:

Whole-tone fun!!
Mozart I'm copying youuuu.
Chet Baker.
ARBAN'S 'First Studies.' ('First Studies', and you're writing F's? That's like putting a "My First Book" sticker on the cover of an Immanuel Kant text.)

A gray day outside my window. But not inside!

I love long-tones.

Happy Sunday,

Ben.

Weeks of Snow

After moving in, two of my new roommates, Anja and Marina, and myself went for a hike on Feldberg, the tallest point in the Black Forest. I'd been skiing there two years ago and was excited to see what it looked like in the Fall. It looked incredibly similar to Winter.

This was an exceptional mid/late October day, covered in snow. Today, two weeks later, there is no snow on Feldberg. Nonetheless, I'm encouraged. There is good skiing ahead.

The strange seasonal mix made for Narnia-like collages of snow covered summers.

Myself and Anja at the beginning of the Feldberg Trail. The snow was perfect for snowballs.
These berries are very confused.

Autumn trees, summer fields, wintry mountains.
Anja and I.

A spectacular scene. I thought the whole time to myself, while following a river through green forest blanketed with snow and falling flurries, Brothers Grimm would have had endless inspiration in these woods.
Two of my cool new roommates, Marina and Anja :).

Tootles.

A Perfect Fifth.

With so much to say, it's hard to know where to start! I'm two weeks behind. I count on my photos to keep me in line on postings. One recent outing, blogworthy, was without camera and I'm waiting for photos from a friend. Other news in the last two weeks only comes in words. First, the one picture I have: Halloween!

It exists only lightly in Germany, like Voldemort's existence before he regained his body. There were parties to be found, but I was in no mood. I had a fun night with Tobi, Lucia, and family of Lucia's. We made Pumpkin Ghosts, or, Jack-O-Lanterns.

Now it is 01.11.11. Skipping back two weeks.

I moved into my new apartment. Things have since begun rolling with such precision, adherence and accord, if weeks were made of snow, these two would be the most perfect snowman you've ever seen. And if they were music my two weeks would be a Perfect Fifth.

When I moved into my new room, it was empty, waiting to take on new forms. Without anyone with whom to share it, without any foreseeable time constraints, I have a living space, an office space to build to my liking, to my needs. My room has become a place of music, a place fit for my residence. My walls are made of vibrations, my shelf full of notes, and the air sings. It is my practice space, und es wird geübt.

Days after creating my home, I went to a prospective student information session at the Jazz and Rock College, two minutes down the street from where I live. The session was terrific. A week later I had a trial lesson with the professor of Trumpet. I will start studying privately with him next week.

I've recently had the thought that finding the trumpet was finding the missing piece to my musical self: the right instrument. It plugs in. It's the doorway from me to the outside world and the outside world to me. I like it.

I have the time and space to make trumpet and music my first priority, not just in aspiration and mentality, but in physical pursuit. I am a student of music, and I feel completely engaged. German and Philosophy feel like passionate intrigues of mine, but I'm not made of them. I feel made of music, the cells in my blood. Now I'm bringing them to life.

Mocca Cabana Cafe.

Enjoy the onset of November.

-Ben.