hopinet

I won’t ‘Hamm’ up the title

6th September 2009

Sorry couldn’t resist a little word play! I haven’t written any posts in a long time due to being so busy but I wanted to write a post about my recent holiday. I was invited on a trip with my old University. I hadn’t been in contact with anyone from the University Music for a few years but due to the recent competition in Bradford when I used the music room for a rehearsal I had been in contact with the fellow in music. Mark, the fellow in music invited me on a trip to Hamm in Germany (which is twined with Bradford – my old University). I only really knew a few members of the group: Mark, his wife and maybe 1 or 2 other people I had met before but really that was it.

We set out to perform ‘Carmina Burana’ with a group of German students, the basic format of the trip was rehearsals in the evenings and a concert on the final night, the rest of the time was free to do what we wanted. I have to say ‘Carmina Burana’ grew on me a little throughout the week but it’s still not my favourite piece and as I was playing 4th horn I had to read lots of bass clef and play lots of ‘farty’ low notes – not something I’m brilliant at but I did get better as the week wore on. The performance was a triumph and we played & sang to a full auditorium who were very appreciative.

For me though the trip was much more than the performance, it was a really honor to be on the trip with a fantastic group of people. A trip round Hamm, a visit to Munster, some amazingly good weather, a little nice German beer all made the trip good but it was the people who really made this trip so special. I made some amazing friends and had such a laugh (don’t think I’ve laughed so much in years), some very late nights seem to whiz by as we chatted, joked and laughed. They’re are so many funny story’s from those few nights but they are for those on the trip to remember (I doubt anyone else would find them funny anyway). I hope I will get the chance to meet up with the group again some time soon but till then I thank everyone involved with the trip for making it such a special few days.