Die Sonne

Hallo!

Just a brief update before my poetry lesson...

Yesterday I had a nice big break in the middle of the day, and spent it practicing, relaxing, reading, and writing postcards. However, I found out that a stamp is almost 3 US dollars, so my 4 postcards I'm going to send will be the only ones I send haha. We had a performance class yesterday evening that went loooong, and I wasn't back in my room until about 10 pm. We all had to dress in our gowns so that we could take a picture for the promotional poster for the final concert and for the program.

I'm struggling with learning my third song, which is a lot higher than I am used to singing, and I'm having difficulties sustaining those top notes. Also, yesterday morning there was a HUGE awkward disagreement between a couple of the students and the instructors during our group poetry class. There seem to be some people here who are unwilling to open their minds and learn...and I'm thankfully not one of them. Tracy actually thanked me today in my lesson for really trying to learn and take everything they tell me and apply it. Needless to say, living with 9 singers is NOT easy haha. I really miss home, but I have only 9 days left and am going to absorb as much as I can!

I need to get ready for my lesson, but will update again tomorrow! I think I'm singing again in performance class today. Hope everyone is holding Kansas down! :)

Some pictures around the Schloss:

 The Schloss at night. We have lessons in those 2 towers, actually.

I'm guessing this building is where the landscapers stay? But this is the organic garden on the Schloss. The food we eat daily is organic and is grown here. There is also a fruit tree plantation I need to take pictures of. It's beautiful.

Lauren

Gib mir die Hände!

Hi!
Yesterday we went into Graz again, this time for more sight-seeing than for shopping.

Valerie and I's first destination was Mariatrost. Mariatrost is an old church that sits on top of a mountain. To get there we had to take the bus into Graz, then switch to another Autobahn (streetcar), and take that as far as it went. About 30 minutes travel-time altogether. When we got out of the bahn, we had to walk up this mountain (approx. 100 steps or so) to get to the church. Not only was the view breathtaking, but the church itself was lovely.

 This is a view of the church from our journey at the bottom-ish of the small mountain.

 Valerie and I were about to celebrate like total tourists when we finally reached the top of the stairs, but then we realized church was just getting out...so we had to contain our enthusiasm haha. It's interesting how the "Sunday best" for many Austrians is the traditional Lederhosen and Drindls. Also strange, was how inside of the church on either side of the altar, there were 2 small coffins with what looked like a baby skeleton inside each of them?! We weren't sure...it was more on the creepy side so I definitely didn't take pictures because I didn't want to seem disrespectful. 

This is me after reaching the top. As you can see, the view behind me is amazing. We walked all around too, but this part of the view is by far the best.

The inside of the church was marvelous:

 This is the painted ceiling of Mariatrost. Very beautiful.

A photo of the altar-ish area. Members of the congregation were moving music instruments around, so I had to take just a few pictures and they were in the way of the altar.

After Mariatrost, we took the Bahn back into the core of Graz, and ate lunch at a little Turkish restaurant serving kebaps. A kebap is lamb mixed with vegetables (tomatoes, onion, lettuce) and a spicy chile sauce inside of pita bread. It was very good...my first "street food" experience. And there are lots of Turks that reside in Austria. Tracy was telling us how there is still a lot of racism here against Turks.

After lunch, Valerie and I headed to the Schloss Berg, where we climbed 256 steps to the top of Graz.

 Valerie and I not even halfway up, and already the view is wonderful and everything seemed so far away!

 Finally at the top of the Berg, or so we thought...we kept finding more inclines and places to get another great view.

 This is my favorite picture Valerie took of me. Enjoying the great view of the city. We even spotted our secluded Schloss far off in the distance.

It was really cool how there were pretty gardens along the Berg (mountain) as we walked up. The landscaping here is already amazing, but the flowers are so colorful!

 A few terraces in one of the many gardens on the Berg.

 I just think this picture is so charming. A window of a house close to the Berg on our way down.

There were also sculptures and lots of pieces of artwork at the top of the Schloss Berg...this was some strange sculpture I probably shouldn't have decide to lounge on haha. What was funny is when I sat up there were some German-speaking people staring at me and then asking Valerie about the art (because we knew...hahaha). Every description of the pieces of art were in German! Umm...hello?! Haha.

The Schlossberg was my favorite adventure of the day. After that we went to see the Operhaus (Opera), which was closed :(. But we took pictures in front of it anyway.

Then a group of us met up again and had dinner at a little Austrian pub. Here I looked like a dumb American when I tried to ask for our bill, and really they just bill you with a computer and everything right there at your table one-by-one haha. I ordered Bratwurst with some Saurkraut/ham concoction, and split Apfelstrudel (yum!) for dessert.

Es war sehr gut! And for the record, that pile of stuff on the right is horseradish. NOT cheese. Haha.

I'm about to go sing in performance class...Die Einsame. Hope everyone is well!

Bis später!

Lauren

Hallo! Pictures!

This is a palace that takes up like an entire block...such a pretty building.

 This is called the Painted Building...if you look closely you can see the painted figurines..all done by hand of course.

 This is yet another palace...there are just little gates you see while walking along the street, and if you go inside of them it appears to be just a courtyard. Then you realize it is something much more royal than that.

 This is what Wolfgang called the "postcard view" of Graz. My picture is of course not very good and doesn't do the view justice, but the clock tower sets upon Schlossberg. This is where one could take the tram, ride the lift, or walk up the stairs to get a great view of the city. I want to do this on Sunday...since we didn't have the chance yesterday.

 These are the 256 steps to the top of the Schlossberg. Looks worse than it really is, is what Wolfgang told us. However, he is quite a sprite old man...so I'm not so sure if we should believe him haha!

 It seemed that there were musicians on every street corner...here you see the oboe and a guitar..and that guy was dancing really strange and had a weird moustache. He was also shaking a "shaker egg." Classic.

 This fence runs alongside a bridge over the river in Graz, and there are locks attached all the way down it. At first I thought they were bike locks, but when I looked closer they actually look like "marriage locks." Or something? Couples write their names on it in the classic LB <3 DK way, and then attach the lock to the fence. Kind of cool. There were hundreds along this fence...very fun tradition.

This piece of interesting architecture was built buy an American architect in 2004, when Graz was awarded some kind of modern art achievement. It was supposed to be destroyed after 2004, but the people of Graz loved it so much that the city bought it. It acts as a connecting bridge over the river, and there is also a little cafe inside. We tried to go explore it yesterday, but there was some VIP event happening and we were too scared to make our way down into the actual cafe. Wolfgang told us that the most fascinating part about the building is the bathroom. HAHA! So we need to go back and find out for ourselves. He seriously said the bathroom was amazing.

Not too much new here since last night, other than I DEFINITELY woke up and felt like I had walked miles yesterday. Today we are all dragging a little bit. We had lessons this morning, and I enjoyed my coaching with Myron, the diction instructor. He really is like another voice teacher here, and a great motivator. I think they are serving veal for lunch, I opted for the vegetarian meal of some sorts because the whole baby-cow thing freaks me out. Tonight the staff is gone, as this is a holiday weekend for Austrians, so we are eating coldcuts and such. It has been quiet around the Schloss since no one is here because of the holiday and we have been the only group here for a few days.

Right now I am looking out the window at the little chapel across the street and there is a wedding. One wonders how expensive that may be, but also so beautiful!

Lauren

Long time no talk!

Hi everyone! So I have been without internet for about a day and a half, and then didn't receive a new password until this morning, but we went into Graz after lunch so I had zero time to update!

Graz is simply wonderful. The hustle and bustle is hard to get used to, but perhaps my favorite part of the day was people-watching. There were little boutiques and stores down every street, and outdoor cafes where people sat and enjoyed beer or coffee and lunch. It is such a different world here than in Kansas. The architecture is gorgeous...and so old, but timeless. We went into an old palace and I took some pictures that I will upload here hopefully tomorrow. I wanted to up to the top of Schlossberg (that literally translates to Castle-Mountain) where their is a clock tower. You could either ride the tram or walk up 256 steps, or take the lift. We didn't get to that today. My friend Valerie and I spent our day walking through shops and really just exploring the city. We are returning on Sunday to hopefully visit the modern art museum, and hopefully get a glimpse of the Operhaus (Opera house).

We also got to experiment with our German for the first time without help from Wolfgang and Tracy, who are fluent. This was so much fun! But very scary at the same time haha. We started out great and I asked, "Haben sie Postkarten?" (Do you have postcards?) And even asked "Haben sie Musik Bücher?" (Do you have music books?) And Valerie and I had many successes. My favorite store was a shop dedicated strictly to Gummibärchen (Gummy bears)! If you walked around the store they gave free samples...so naturally we stayed and hung out some more! But it was at this store where I had a major moment of confusion with the clerk, who was trying to tell me that what I was buying was sugar-free...except she talked so fast all I could manage to say was, "Langsam." Which means 'slowly.' haha. So then she figured out I was a clueless American, and managed to say "This is for diabetics" in english.

We took the bus to and from town, but in order to get to the bus stop we have to take a path through the forest since the Schloss is literally located on the side of a mountain in the middle of a forest. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant (I know, I know...but we are all a little tired of the authentic Austrian food here haha!) and had ice cream after. I also bought 2 authentic Lieder music books (Ivalah... :) haha)

Yesterday we had our first performance class here, and I volunteered to sing first. I figure I might as well be bold and get my song out of the way haha. I sang "Frühlingsnacht" by Schumann and it went rather well. I got some helpful comments and sang again. I am opening my mouth too much when I sing, and Tracy tells me I have a big mouth and a giraffe neck that need to be under control haha! I agree with her :)

Tomorrow we have more lessons, and then another performance class in the afternoon. I'll keep everyone updated! Miss you all!
Lauren

Musik!

Hallo!
Today we finally got our music! Actually like an hour ago...well at least the first song we are studying. I had my first voice lesson, Tracy is great. I totally trust her opinions. She actually thinks I may be a soprano. So although that TERRIFIES me, she told me we are just going to experiment with my registers and build my higher register up. Actually all of the repertoire she is giving me sits in a higher register.

I also had my first one-on-one poetry coaching today for Frühlingsnacht. I enjoyed it a lot, Wolfgang is so passionate and truly inspirational. He is helping me come out of my shy-girl shell and this encourages me to speak up more in class, when I usually shrink into my chair for fear of talking in front of other people.

We had a lot of free time in the afternoon, and I went on another walk through the woods. Well...the paved roads haha. I love walking here, it is such a work out I feel like I'm practically running! Although I am not finding myself to be particularly close to any person here, I am trying to remember that I'm here to work and be friendly with everyone.

Guten abend!
Lauren

Der Tag der Regen

So it's been raining for the past day...and I never thought I would be cold on my SUMMER trip! But it is definitely a bit chilly outside!

Day 5 brings me many new experiences. We only had "Work with Words" classes all day, and after an hour and a half session in the morning, and a nearly 4 hour session in the afternoon...I am exhausted! These classes are challenging and very intense, and Wolfgang has already influenced me to focus so much more on the text. He reads through the poetry and has us mimic him, and it sounds silly but it truly helps. It's a lot like telling a child a story...we exaggerate words, elongate words, and change volume and intensity. I never thought there would be such extremity placed on learning just the text alone of a song.

This is the German text of Frühlingsnacht by Schumann...text by von Eichendorff

[Über'n]1 Garten durch die Lüfte
Hört' ich Wandervögel ziehn,
Das bedeutet Frühlingsdüfte,
Unten fängt's schon an zu blühn.

Jauchzen möcht' ich, möchte weinen,
Ist mir's doch, als könnt's nicht sein!
[Alte]3 Wunder wieder scheinen
Mit dem [Mondesglanz]2 herein.

Und der Mond, die Sterne sagen's,
Und im [Träumen]4 rauscht's der Hain,
Und die Nachtigallen schlagen's:
Sie ist deine! Sie ist dein!

And here is the English version:

Above the garden and across the sky
 I heard migrating birds passing;
 that meant that spring was in the air;
 below, things are already beginning to bloom.
 
 I could rejoice, I could weep -
 I feel as though it cannot be!
 Old wonders appear again
 with the moonlight.
 
 And the moon and stars say it,
 and in a dream the grove murmurs it,
 and the nightingales sing it:
 she is yours! She is yours!

It's a beautiful and exuberant poem. I have no idea still what the music is like.

I went on a walk through the lovely mountainside today, and took some photos:

Some pictures around the Schloss:

Pictures of my room: 

I also have a top floor room, so my window is really like a sun-roof thing. It gets very hot in the morning haha.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Lauren

Day 4

Guten tag!

I'm sitting in the courtyard after a refreshing breakfast, and thought I would fill everyone in on the songs I have been assigned.

Frühlingsnacht by Schumann
Die Einsame by Pfitzner
Selige Nacht by Marx

I don't know any of these songs, so I'm very excited to learn them. We are studying the text first, in very great detail. Literally in our "work with words" class we are as a group studying everyone's poems...that's 30 poems. Tracy and Wölfgang said that by the end of the program, we will practically know 30 songs...and have the music for each! (Of course photo-copied music...but who's complaining?!)

We were required to purchase "The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder" for the course...it has original German and English translations of texts for over 750 Lieder...and contains most of the text we are studying. We will only start to learn the music after we thoroughly understand what the poetry means and says. I'm very excited for this "backwards" way of learning the music. I hope this will help me learn to better connect the text with the music.

I'm keeping busy and bonding with the people here, as it helps keep my mind off of missing good ol' Kansas. Looking forward to the food today! Lunch is some kind of chicken with curry sauce concoction...and dinner said something about zucchini...a lot of us don't know what stuff is but hey! How many times are you in Austria?! Gotta try everything at least once haha.

Hope everyone is well!
Lauren

Day 3

Hi all!
Yesterday I sang for the first time...it went fine. The air here is strange and I can't believe how much water I an drinking here! Everyone is of course incredibly talented, and I was especially impressed with the grad students. We also had our first German class yesterday. I have probably had more German than slot of the other students, but it's a great mix of different levels of German. And so far it has been a review of basic German stuff.
I'm sitting under a Lindenbaum (lindentree) in the beautiful courtyard here. I need to post pictures, but I'm on my iPhone right now because my laptop is dead and my power converter blew up yesterday when I plugged in my hair dryer. Oh Europe! Haha. A girl here is letting me borrow an extra converter she brought.
Last night I had Austrian bratwurst, it was delicious! The meals here are huge, but always very good. For lunch we have the choice of salmon or cheese-cabbage souffle. I dont like fish, so I'm going to give the souffle a try!

Well, it's about time for my first German diction class.
Aufwiedersehn!
Lauren

I'm here!

Hi everyone!
I have arrived at Lied Austria in Graz. With some traveling issues, as always haha. Well, needless to say, the airport in D.C....Dulles...is by far the largest airport I have been in. It took me 30 minutes just to walk to my gate. And as soon as I got there, my flight was boarding. Now that flight was 9 lovely hours of being crammed next to a stranger. My connecting flight in Vienna to Graz got cancelled. So I was momentarily stranded at the airport. However, Austrian Airlines provided bus transportation to Graz. So my 30 minute flight turned into a nearly 3 hour bus ride. Fun. But I got here finally! With my luggage...which was also momentarily stranded. But all is well. I was very homesick last night, but today I feel much better. Talking to everyone here takes my mind off of home.

I had no internet until today...and that was a bit upsetting. But I called Dan last night and talked for just a little while.

Today I had a rehearsal for my first "hearing." I'm anxious to sing in front of everyone, and am singing "Verschwiegene Liebe" and "Die junge Nonne." The pianist here gave me a dirty glare when I said I was singing the Schubert song...Die junge Nonne. The accompaniment is ridiculous, and even Cindy doesn't like to play it for me.

The food so far has been great, we had vegetarian pizza last night. Breakfast is interesting...Austrians like to eat coldcuts and cheese for breakfast. I opted for an apple instead. It's lunch time, so I need to go...turkey with a mushroom sauce, I believe.

See everyone soon!
Lauren

6 days!

Hello all! I've created this blog as a way for family and friends to be able to read about my daily adventures, as phone communication to America is quite limited for me. I will try to post everyday, but am not sure as of yet how busy my schedule will be.

Here is my flight info:
June 14:
Departure: 12:27 pm from Kansas City
Arrival: 3:49 pm in Washington D.C.
Departure: 5:25 pm from Washington D.C.
June 15:
Arrival: 8:30 am in Vienna, Austria
Departure: 10:00 am from Vienna, Austria
Arrival: 10:35 am in Graz, Austria

While studying with professors at Lied Austria International in Graz, I will be taking German language courses, taking voice lessons, and taking German poetry classes as well (Work with Words...where I will learn more about connecting the German poetry text to the music of the German Lied composers).
http://liedaustria.com/

Lied literally translates to "song" in German. The genre of "Lieder" refers to the German art song during the Romantic period, which famous German composers such as Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann set to German poems. The poems often center upon themes of love.

If you wish to send me mail, here is my address:
Lauren Buser
Schloss St.Martin
Kehlbergstraße 35
8054 Graz, Austria


I will be taking along my cell phone and get charged $1 per minute for phone calls, but whoever I call or whoever calls me in the U.S. will not be charged extra.
785-633-8725


Also, I will try to check my email daily. laurenbuser@gmail.com

Schloss St. Martin is a Renaissance castle dated back to 1638. It is surrounded by mountainous woods and lies in the middle of an organic garden and fruit tree plantation. I have been given a single room, at an additional cost of course, and I have recently been told I will need to hand-wash my laundry due to lack of laundry facilities in Schloss St. Martin.

Wish me luck in my travels, and I will see everyone very soon! :)
Lauren

"If you have nothing
to say to me, you have nothing to sing to me either."

– Johann Michael Vogl

The first professional Schubert singer