The Stovers Christmas Letter

In the tradition of our writing a letter each December, we will be posting a blog post instead.  It is simply too expensive to send everyone a letter this time of year from 4,000 miles away.

As many of you know 2013 has brought many changes to the Stover Jr. household.  We say "Stover Jr." because Jean and Jeff Stover (Brandon's Parents) already sent out their letter claiming the Stover household name.

Here's a 2013 list of firsts:

1. This year was the first time we will have seen Emily's parents 4 times in one year.  That sets a new record since we have been a couple. We saw them in May after the death of Emily's grandmother, We saw them in July when we visited north Georgia, we saw them in September when we went to Michigan again to visit Emily's extended family one last time, and they just got to London to come and see us.

2. This year was the first time we have both been to London (an obvious big change in our household, but still a first).  The first time we had ever stepped foot on the island was after we had paid lots of money to travel here and go to school.  It was a big leap of faith not knowing what to expect.  We only had accommodations lined up for 9 days after arrival.
 
3. This year was the first time Brandon won Best in Show at the Bureau County Fair for a photograph he entered.  It was a lovely picture of a frog asleep on a metal pole.

4. This year was the first time we hosted two boys at our house during the summer for the Festival 56 summer season.  They were nice guys and it was great to get to know them.  Emily gave up her room to house the second guy and Brandon put up with all her make up and clothes in the bedroom.

5. This year was the first time Brandon has officially auditioned and sung in a choir.  Despite having been trained in music education and teaching choir for two years, Brandon was never in an official choir.  This year he sang an entire concert in Russian with the Goldsmiths Concert Choir.

6.  This year was the first time we took an overnight trip with school children.  We went to Branson, MO in the spring and performed.  It was a scary endeavor but it sounds like the kids had lots of fun.
 
7. This year was the first time Emily was on Group Workcamps Redshirt Staff.  (Brandon has been on staff at 12 camps and attended 20.) She was the worship leader and lead the camp each morning and evening in song.

8.  This year was the first time we washed our clothes without a dryer.  You learn to make a lot of changes when you live in a small studio flat.  Everything is small and we have to do without a lot of conveniences we got used to in the US.

9. This year was the first time we 'freecycled'.  It's a website where people give away their stuff, for free!  We got a mirror, a cheese grater and a hair straightener.

10. This year was the first time we watched fireworks in November.  Everything seems so strange here... they have fireworks in November and a fair (like a county fair) in December. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Brandon & Emily

Orchestral Notes

Royal Festival Hall decorated for Christmas with the Eye in the background

The past few weeks for Brandon and I have been filled with lovely sounds of orchestral music!  I have really missed orchestra music in the past few years, being surrounded by band music in Princeton.  There is just something so much more expressive and intimate with orchestra music, that a wind ensemble just cannot replicate.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy band music too, directing the 5th grade band in Princeton is still one of my most precious memories!  But nothing compares to a beautiful symphony orchestra!

Last week we went to the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE for short...).  They are not your typical orchestra.  They perform on period instruments (so trumpets and horns without valves...wooden flutes...baroque oboes, etc.) and they offer performances in many different settings.  We went to one of their "The Night Shift" concerts.  It is aimed for students and young professionals, and those who don't enjoy the 'stuffiness' often associated with orchestral music....

The Night Shift logo on the wall, with Val's hand shadow

Our group at The Night Shift concert, Val, Brandon, Sarah, Manuela and me

The concert began at 9:00 in the bar area of the performance hall with an acoustic set.  He performed some singer-songwriter type stuff for a hour while everyone chilled and enjoyed some drinks.  We then moved into the auditorium to see the orchestra at 10:00.  The orchestra was already on stage, they were chatting with each other and warming-up.  We were greeted by the 'announcer' who introduced the orchestra and the first piece.  It was a Mendelssohn Concerto for 2 Piano-fortes, played on actual piano-fortes rather than the usual grand piano.  They then played Beethoven's 8th Symphony (one of his lesser known symphonies).  The entire time they performed without a traditional conductor.  In between each movement (which is usually a time of uncomfortable silence...) they allowed the audience to clap, and they had different members of the orchestra discuss what we were about to hear from the next movement.  While that can sometimes be patronizing (i.e. for little kids..."This is what the clarinet sounds like...") it was informative and interesting.  Following the performance, a DJ was set up to play in the bar area for another hour or so.  However by this point Brandon and I were ready to go home, as it was already 11:00 and on a "school night."  But overall, it was such a cool experience to see an orchestra in a new performance setting.  I love what the OAE was trying to accomplish with this performance and I hope to attend many more of their performances in the future.

The OAE with the piano-fortes in the front

Bus ride home after a great concert

Last night, I got to perform in the Goldsmiths Sinfonia Orchestra.  For the first time in four years I played principal oboe in one of the pieces!  It was Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette Suite.  It's such an amazing feeling to perform again with an orchestra.  Thankfully, I have another chance to perform on Tuesday with the Goldsmiths Chamber Orchestra.  I will try and get a picture of that one, since we forgot to bring the camera to last night's performance.

And tonight, we will be seeing the London Philharmonic Orchestra performing some more contemporary pieces.  Their feature soloist tonight is Evelynn Glennie, who is a deaf percussionist.  I am super excited to see her perform, as she has incredible talent, despite the fact she cannot even hear what she is playing.  She uses the vibrations of the instruments to hear in her own way.  So cool!

I am very blessed to have all these orchestral sounds around me.  Stay tuned for our next blog post where Brandon will tell you all about his adventures with the shakuhachi flute!

Em

First Thanksgiving not in the US

So, Brandon and I spent Thanksgiving day working and going to class.  I even had a job interview on Thanksgiving morning!  I applied for a job as a student blogger at Goldsmiths working on a brand new project they are starting called "Inside Goldsmiths."  I am supposed to hear back from them next week if I got a spot on the team.  It sounds like a cool job, I would get to attend events at Goldsmiths and around London (which I'm pretty much doing already...) and then blog about them!  On top of that they mentioned they would train the students in photography, video editing and creative writing.  Sounds like an amazing job, but I'll have to wait and hear the results from them later this week.

Anyway, after attending Ethnomusicology class, we worked as Student Ambassadors for a post-graduate open house.  This was for prospective post-graduate students to learn more about Goldsmiths.  I had the best job of the night - stand by the free chocolate/coffee/tea table and give people goodies and talk to them about life at Goldsmiths.  It was great to meet new people and tell them about studying here as a post-graduate student.

Even though Thanksgiving day was kind-of a bust, we did manage to have two wonderful Thanksgiving meals with people we have met.  The first was on Wednesday, with another American girl we met in the first week on campus named Bri.  She invited us to her dorm kitchen where we ate a festive meal with other post-grads.

Thanksgiving number one

 On Friday we had an amazing 'around the world' meal with the fellow Ethnomusicologists!  (It was also to celebrate a birthday of one of them).  We had dishes from the UK, Portugal, Colombia, Italy, Belgium and Finland (along with the "famous" Sundin family corn casserole!!). The meal was then followed by hours of music jam sessions and sharing our favorite songs with each other.  It was such a great end to the week!

A dinner from around the world!

I wish I had a picture of our whole group, but I am waiting for my friend to send them to me (I did not take any...oops!)

We are so blessed to have gotten to know all these brilliant people.  I am so thankful to have this opportunity to study in London and be surrounded by so much culture!  I was also glad to share the tradition of Thanksgiving with people who have never celebrated before! I hope everyone in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Stay tuned for the next blog post, where we will share our recent experience at the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment concert....let's just say I've never been to an orchestra concert quite like this one, and Brandon's venture into playing Shakuhachi.

Emily (ed. Brandon)