I am really enjoying the Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts in Chisinau. It is my Fulbright host institution and I spend quite a bit of each day there. They have arranged for me to check out a room for practicing any time, even on weekends. It is a lively place, filled with sounds of practicing on all the musical instruments I know from American schools plus nai (panflute), accordion (lots of them - and they are great!), cimbalom, cobza, and others. Plus everyone likes scales that are outside of the scales I have always practiced for jazz and classical music.
I will give a presentation for the Academy of Sciences of Moldova on Thursday of this week. I have prepared a 30 minute presentation on gamelan in Bali and Wyoming, with a focus on the Balinese concepts of desa (place) - kala (time) - patra (circumstance). I am looking forward to it!
It is very humid today (raining) and I find that I am not able to play fast because my lip sticks to the nai! I cannot play very fast anyway, but I must ask my teacher how to keep speedy on these wet days!
How did the presentation go today?
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was great. I brought a projector with me along with a small sound system, so I was able to show slides of Bali along with sounds. The audience was very interesting - definitely very bright people with a wide spectrum of interests. I met many very helpful and insightful people, and I think having made this presentation will help with my work quite a lot. I will publish an article in their special publication from the conference. It will be translated into Romanian language.
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