Two down - eight to go ..........

The theme of the fotos this week is Trujillo architecture ......

Tomorrow I start week three of my ten week stint of classes for the holidays. They are going well and apart from a hiccup with attendance, the students are learning to be punctual and too concentrate when in class, neither thing being high up on their list of priorities!

The Conservatorio is a mad house for the holidays – every room is packed out with kids learning, piano, violin, recorder, guitar, dance, …. virtually you name it and we teach it! But it is rather sad to see otherwise serious and sober professors, taking classes of up to 10 or 12 screaming and over enthusiastic children, who for instance are bashing hell out of percussion, or exploring electronic organs full throttle, when the sole motivation is money.  For the summer courses the professors get 70% of the “take” and the conservatoire makes 30%, this results in some professors being able to make the equivalent to their monthly salary in a third of the time! So they all make hay whilst the sun shines, wearing fixed smiles and simply thinking of the dosh!

My room by contrast is a haven of calm where I deliver courses in harmony (traditional and modern), aural training, orchestration, piano accompaniment, conducting, piano accompaniment, piano solo, and have an orchestra and a chamber choir, along with about 10 small chamber groups. It is particulary gratifying that the younger students who are preparing for entry as full-time (superior level) students  increasing in numbers each week. I only hope that their enthusiasm can be maintained both for the next 7 weeks and when they join in April.

I am planning some end of course concerts and along with rehearsals for the opera, I am doing about 60 hours a week teaching / rehearsing, tiring but good fun! And I hope of real benefit to the students.

As a reward for all this effort plans are progressing for my holiday, Nick and I have decided on Colombia!  And we plan to spend 10 days on the Caribbean coast staying in Cartagena and Santa Marta – nice mid-range boutique hotels – plenty of rest and relaxation, food and DRINK!

I still feel completely at home here, a fellow professor commented that I was becoming a real Trujillano, as I seemed to have tried most of the popular restaurants, knew the way to do things, and am adopting Trujilo customs!  So pleased!  So long as I feel that I can make a contribution, that I have the motivation, and yes, feel appreciated, then I think I could make a home here for some time.  I am going to make a serious review in August at the end of the next academic term to decide on 2014 and beyond, but until next December I shall continue to be here and see how life develops. If I had a residential visa then I could do some work here, and there is a lot of potential to earn money teaching and whist I remind myself I am “retired” the ability to boost my income would just mean I could enjoy my time even more.

I am daily thankful for the support shown me by Nick, I knew that when we started to chat on-line back last July he had the potential to be a good friend, and that has proven to be true.  I have made sure that my routine includes plenty of time for us to get to know each other and so, I am strict with myself and I do say "no" to things so that time with him is not reduced or interrupted, but has quality and value. 

He too has a pressurised job working for a huge logistics company in the food sector, he is in charge of insuring all products are correctly labelled and packed according to the rules and regulations of every country where he has clients including, USA, UK and most of Europe. He has excellent English and his skills are appreciated, he too works 12 hour days, but unusually for Peru he does not work on Saturdays. So down time for both of us is precious. 

 We are both probably eating too well, too often, and too much, but the food here is so good, so varied and relatively, so cheap (although we both have a penchant for the delights of parrillada restaurants  (steaks and roasts) which are a bit pricier…. As it is hard to resist a well cooked slab of meet, a mountain of chips and salad and 1.5 litres of sangria!  But we are both trying (not terribly hard) to cut down ready for the splurge in April.  

Monday 21^st marks the completion of three months here in Trujillo, three months in the Conservatorio and three months with Nick – guess what …………. We simply have to celebrate the occasion and as I enjoy, probably another steak, I shall also lift my glass to my dear friend and “bro” Martin, who celebrates his birthday and to my other friends who, through their (your) kindness, emotional support and general care and attention have enabled me to be on this journey of a life time. I feel truly  at the moment – karma?

Last Saturday Nick and I went to Rocky’s a huge, 800 seat restaurant that serves chicken roasted over hot coals, chocker block with families enjoying a night out, with free entertainment (an appalling mariachi band [in comparison to the real McCoy in mexico]) play areas for the hoards of kids, but we found a table outside and I watched agog as tray after tray of roast chickens went whizzing past – but I have been told they water down the beer to make more profit – which is probably true …… the experience was more Albert Square than Downton Abbey! 

It has been really interesting this last few weeks to work with another UK, Otra Cosa, Volunteer, Kathryn, who is a language student at Durham University, here as part of her 3^rd year practical year. She is making a great impact with the students especially as she is coaching the singers in foreign languages. It is her first time outside of Europe and I am enjoying sharing her experiences of being “brought up short” as she confronts the culture shock and realities of life in a developing economy. 

Last night in the main square was packed, as they held the “Miss Turrismo La Libertad” competition, all tiny swimming costumes, pouting lips, breast enhancements and botox-ed bums!  Costume malfunctions could easily have been the order of the day, so little straining to support so much! To me all a bit unedifying; political correctness and the emancipation of women has a long way to go here, but the square was well lit for the occasion and it was fun to watch the men drooling whilst being poked in the ribs by the girlfriends they were supposed to be out with, and paying attention to!   Still trying to work out the connection between tourism and "models".

I have to make time to improve my Spanish! I am subjecting everybody to my erratic skills and simply do not have the time to improve them, I manage to communicate and I prattle on in my lectures and classes but it must be horrible to have to listen to your language being eviscerated even if it is done with bags of enthusiasm ….. one student has politely suggested that I might benefit from some lessons!   Note to self, from April 4 hours lessons a week well definitely 2!

If you are reading this in the UK, wrap up warm!  The very thought of bad weather makes me wince as I remember the condition of the weather when I broke my leg so badly.  Here the temperature rises a little every week and summer will be here full-on in the next two weeks.


More  soon   ............

The twelve days of Christmas have come and gone

Having just lost my entire post one second before publishing it, I have come to the conclusion that the ACER  Notebook is a pile of S***!!!!!!!!   Never again will I use this underpowered junk and aim to replace it at the first available opportunity!   It is driving me crazy!  Ii am not sure I have the will to reformat this entire post, so please excuse me if it is a bit lackluster this week!

Trujillo Ballet School

Nutcracker!

The twelve days of Christmas have come and gone ...... tonight in the main square with teh arrival of the Three Kings the "festival of lights" will be duly switched off, the tree dismantled and the square will return to being a haven of "picture book perfect" calm. Though there is now one significant change, as can be seen already by the increased litter in the street Ronald McDonald has opend his eponymous eatery  right on the corner of the square.  This is not good news for the small hamburger joints who now have to cope with international competition.   My mate Nick, is of course a McD fan, in fact worked for them for a few months in the USA,  so I made (paid?) the ultimate sacrifice and indulged in the unchanging quarterpounder, on opening day ..... why is it that McD burgers repeat on me for about four hours afterwards .....  hence paying a price  beyond mere money.  Where's the Rennies?

I had a splendid Christmas meal at the home of Maestro Alvarez, the food duly served at midnight consisted of Turkey, stuffing, apple sauce, mashed sweet potatoes and vegetables all very yummy.  The early hours of Christmas day were then spent listening to and exploring the compositions of my host.  I returned home a round 4:30 and like the rest of the population slept most of the morning and having enjoyed a long walk returned to my room for my al fresco meal of cheese, pate, rolls and a bottle of red wine.  Sanity returned on the 26th as everybody was back to work, and I got stuck into the preparations for my "summer" courses.

My unorthodox christmas lunch!

I somehow got caught up in the frenzy of Christmas, on Christmas Eve I went last minute present shopping, except that a 7pm on Christmas Eve EVERYBODY, is out shopping (having been paid at the last possible moment before Christmas) .... I reflected on this as I queued for 45 minutes to pay for an intem in one store!  I also reflected on how unbelievable this will sound to those who know me well ....... what ever happened to Christmas, bah humbug?  

Worse, I was to repeat the experience New Years Eve but this time in the supermarket as Nick and I shopped for another al fresco meal, to celebrate the new year!  Unsuprizingly I don't plan to repeat the experience next December (I do plan to still  here in Trujillo!)

Similar to the one I am about to get my fingers on!

The saga of the Harpsichord continues - it  seemingly being impossible for a simple decision to be made - even when the outcome leads to win/win for all concerned.  I get the harpsichord and return it to playing condition (clean it, tune it), some students get to learn this instrument, the orchestra and the conservatoire can then use it for concerts, and the department of culture (the owners) look good, furthering the aims of practical music making.  So, after 5 weeks there is a possibility the instrument will see the light of day - after countless years locked in a cupboard - on Monday!  Professor Carlos, will now be able to sleep and not dread my next enquiry about the instrument!    (I only hope that we can find a tuning key and that the delapidation due to neglect is not greater than I think!)  Anyways, I have been practicing Scarlatti like crazy .......

And talking of practicing, my new year resolution has been to continue to only play (on the piano) technical studies for then next 3 months ( I started this regime in November) - after nearly two months of Czerny (School of Velocity, Left Hand  and Passage of the Thumb) and the more tuneful Stephen Heller, I am happy to report that I am noticing a distinct improvement in my technical abilities and my old fingers are taking on a new lease of life, in fact I think I am playing better now than I ever have!   This is just as well as I have set myself a fairly punishing schedule of concerts and recitals (as accompanist) over the next 6 months.  Loving it!

I so wish I practiced as much when I was younger ...... but hey, every dog has his day, maybe my playing days are just beginning!  

Having purchased the printer, (sans sponsor), I am now able to indulge in a printing frenzy and in supplying my now many eager students with "treasure" in the form of new pieces to play and new works to explore.  I have the printer hooked up to an amazing continuous ink system, so no paying for expensive cartridges, just topping up the reservoir bottles with ink every few thousand pages!   I daily thank Sir What's-his-name for inventing the internet and in the huge libraries that exist to print music -  I am particularly thankful to the New York Public Library who seem to have digitised most of their music stock, most of which (that which is out of copyright) being freely available as a .pdf without even having to join the library!

Peruano Pavo ...... mmmmmmmm!

I don't charge my students, yesterday a student insisted on buying me lunch S5 (£1.25) which seemed like a reasonable solution ..... he would not be able to afford anything like the S.30 per hour I might be able to command if I were so inclined, especially as his lesson is 2 hours!   

 To celebrate Trujillo independence day (Dec 29) there was a mass dance session in the main square -  Trujillo declared independence from Spain before the rest of Peru - Trujillo is also the home of the Marinera dance.

Some 2000 people were dancing in the square  ..... Viva Trujillo!

A nice little mover!

 That's all folks!  

Jingle Bells and a Jangle Box in a Winter-wonderland!

Trujillo, Peru just entering summer and the Plaza de las Armas, is transformed into a winter wonderland, snowmen, polar-bears, Santa Claus, Disney oh and a holy family put in an appearance. Yes, folks, it's christmas in deepest darkest Peru (for deepest and a darkest read coastal and sunniest) sadly not a Paddingtopn Bear in sight .... I wonder if they know that Peru is famous for a bear?

It seemed like the whole of Trujillo turned out for the inauguration of the Festival of Lights, last Sunday, everybody was there, the great and the good, with the Archbishop of Trujillo, blessing the crib and (strangely) putting the (premature) baby Jesus in the Crib ...... and then, BLING and about 15 decorated Christmas trees were switched on, and the square look truly spectacular.

The trees are all artificial as there is a sensible environmental ban on using real trees and the sponsoring organisations had gone to town one re-envisioning the idea of a tree.

I was especially taken by a tree reflecting the "discovery" of some ancient documents found in the Huacha del la Luna (Temple of the Moon) just outside Trujillo (see earlier blog), it will be big news, once we got over the end of the world tomorrow, and that is that Bethlehem was not  the site of the stable and that in fact Mary and Joseph were astronauts! Yes, the stable was in fact in the "cradle" of a new moon and that the angels were in fact Peter and Wendy, and (this is the best bit) there were no donkeys or cattle looking on, but UNICORNS! 

 So in fact the whole Christmas story would appear to be a fairy-tale ..........  whoa!  Sadly there were no cosmic kings, I can only assume that the comets on which they were to arrive missed and  hey will not be back for another 5000 years! (This would be theologically correct as they apparently didn't come until after the actual birth!)   All I think rather confusing to young impressionable minds, but delightfully (if unwittingly) humanist! And all this in front of the Cathedral!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photo montage of the trees by day and by night.

My late lamented organ professor Gordon Phillips, used to spend Christmas day sitting at his harpsichord, drinking wine and smoking cigars whilst he played the entire 48 preludes and fugues by Bach as his annual festive celebration - I will not be smoking cigras or playing the "48" but as the caretaker of the conservatoire seems to be a fellow humanist, I can go and do some practice in peace and quiet.   I am astounded at how my playing is improving now that I am practicing again for some 12 hours a week, and playing and accompanying students every day, it is a real joy to be making so much music!

Foodwise here we are knee deep in "Panatone" this is the number one must have at Christmas, I have mine, a gift from a grateful student, but I have decided that my own Christmas meal is going to be bread rolls, cheese, cold meats, anchovies, salad and a bottle of red wine!  And I can't wait, the local supermarket has a wonderful " deli" and as I only eat Peruano food, some blue cheese and some smoked ham are going to be real luxuries.

I have offered to give some courses during the long summer holiday (3 months January - March) I will be teaching theoretical as well as practical subjects, but from a pragmatic and functional approach. 

There is an interesting story here ….. in my original plan for the courses I had suggested that it may be necessary for the students to pay towards the cost of materials (photocopies) and that the cost would be about five soles, meaning a maximum of five soles per student, this is £1.25 but that I would ask for the money as and when needed. So probably they would pay around 5 centavos (1.2p) per copy.

Now S.5 might not sound a lot, but when you are a student without work, in a poor country this is the price of a weeks subsidized travel on the bus to and from the conservatoire, I wanted the course to be 100% to the students.  But because of this rule I only had about 15 students registered and many students were avoiding me because it was to embarrassing for them to say that they couldn’t attend because they could not afford the monthly charge.  Now unbeknownst to me the administration department at the Conservatoire re-interpreted this possible maximum contribution of five soles into a rule that said a student must pay in advance S.5 for every course they wished to take and that the charge would be a monthly one AND that registration was not possible until the advance payment had been made.

When I found out, to put it mildly…………… I went ballistic!

I said that if they charged anything, I refused to teach and that all monies paid must be refunded. It is funny how collecting money is so simple but giving it back so hard!

Having removed the financial obstacle I am astounded, blessed and honoured that some 70 students want to participate despite my poor Spanish and it being their holiday. The students seem to have really taken me to their hearts and encourage me and support me, and I encourage them to gently correct my Spanish, so that I can improve.  With so many students I will be working some 40 hours per week, additionally I start rehearsals for Pergolesi's opera "La Serva Padrona" which will be given in the first week of April AND I am invited to make my Peru debut as conductor with the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra around about the same time. 

I am hoping Santa (a cosmic one of course, with a sleigh pulled by a team of Gryphons) is I hope going to bring me a Multifunction Printer - this is an unplanned expense,  but a necessary one, as I need to produce a mountain of courseware for my students - and when I can afford it I plan to upgrade the printer to have a very neat continuous ink system so no expensive cartridge refilling! I was also hoping that in his sack Santa might just have a sponsor........  

(A big thanks to my current sponsors, your money has enabled/is enabling me to provide materials to a young group of instrumentalists keen to play baroque chamber music.) 

my favourite tree!

 Prof. Carlos has kindly given me my own "studio" and is moving a decent piano in and I hope to have the use of the (sadly neglected) 2 manual harpsichord that is currently sitting un-played in a cage on the theater stage. It was a gift from the Japanese government along with a Yamaha piano some 15 years ago and has never been played! But negotiations are protracted as the Harpsichord is the property of the Director of Culture and the Conservatoire is part of the Directorate of Education - apparently therefore, an administrative nightmare, involving letters, forms, negotiations and much frustration! But I so want to get back to playing the harpsichord after many, many years! Prof.Phillips laughing referred to the piano as a jangle box and said of the harpsichord that the sound  reminded him of "two skeletons making love on a tin roof!"

I feel as though I have lived here in Trujillo, for ages, the place suits me 100%, I have found a role I enjoy in a delightful city (well, the historical centre is delightful), my work is supported by the Conservatoire Director and other professors who have become good friends, the students are lovely and I am fortunate to have my good friend Nick, who keeps me sane and is central to my life outside of music and the conservatoire.

After all this work, I am planning a holiday in mid-April, when Nick and I will probably go to Ecuador. I have to leave Peru for 3 days in any case as my visa expires, but the chance to explore Andean Ecuador and hopefully travel up from Guayaquil to Quito will be a wonderful experience. But that is 4 months away....... and who knows where we will actually end up!  (as, Argentina seems to have crept into our ideas....)

Even after loosing weight I look fatter than Santa!

Carloz Perez - "Debut"

 This the last week of term, today (Friday) is the last day of term and of the academic year and I am conducting the juvenile orchestra as part of the closing ceremony and using the occasion to give one of my conducting students his “debut” .

Last night I participated in the student organised final concert and witnessed the best and the not so good within 10 minutes of each other.  The best - a performance of the Sonata Brilliante for Piano and Guitar by Diabelli ….. an obviously well-rehearsed, mature, sensible and intelligent performance, the not so good ….. well, the day before this concert, I was approached by a student and asked if I could play a piano accompaniment (something I am always happy to do) HOWEVER, the concert was the next day, the “soloist” only 80% accurate and obviously completely lacking any awareness of the fact that the piano is not a mere and necessary evil but a vital part of the performance as a duo. 

Having looked at the music I realised it would be impossible (for me) to give a public performance of the work at such short notice, I suggested that the soloist withdraw from the concert as the work would require a good deal of rehearsal.  At a few hours’ notice the soloist appealed to the Director to play and he reluctantly agreed, on the basis that it would be sight reading for him. The resulting performance was less than perfect. For me the sadness is that the “soloist” had no conception of what makes a good performance, playing the notes (more or less accurately) seemingly being sufficient ……… I hope I can change this! 

Melody Priscila Bacilio en el violoncello y acompañada al piano por el Prof. Michael Mott,

My own contribution, accompanying a wonderful young cellist, was also less than perfect and I gave myself 75/100, these old fingers are taking their time getting back into “full swing”, what I lack in technical ability I overcome through musicianship;  the cellist, Melody, got 95/100% her playing was passionate and secure. I can and will do better …… loving the challenge. 

Prematurely delivered baby ... must have been all that bumping around on a donkey!

Oh yes …… Maestro Alvarez, Conductor of Trujillo Symphony Orchestra, has invited me to have Christmas Eve dinner with him and his family. This is the big Christmas celebration …. I am invited for 11pm …. This explains why there are so few people around on Christmas day!

Finally, an unwittingly placed name on a green "Santa" has led to a strange" looky-likey" link in my head .....

and

FELIZ NAVIDAD