Monday May 11

The class.

Me being a tourist.


Orthodox church

I did get into Minsk this morning for a little. I had the time today. Class didn't start until 6:00 to night. I really thought it was supposed to start at 4:00. I guess I get my times mixed up.
Here are some pictures of inside the big Orthodox church in Minsk. While I was there, there was a small service going on so I couldn't walk around and take a lot of pictures. I made sure the flash was off.

Here are some pictures of the class. As I mentioned in my first blog, there are a lot of young people. While this may seem like a good thing (and it is), it also creates some very serious problems for these young people. If they are leading in a church that has a hard time changing formats, it will take time and patience on their part. There are not many young people with patience.

Tonight we talked about leadership qualities and then got into a discussion about ensemble playing and singing and how that is different then singing or playing as a soloist.

We also talked about the "less is more" concept. Because a lot of their musicians are classically trained it's difficult for them to play 'less' and let the other instruments of the band play. But that even carried over into our discussion about the other instruments of the band too.

I even had a conversation with someone who wanted to know about vocal arranging. Should it be all unison, all harmony, what kind of mixture? Questions I know I asked when I was that young, but because I've been doing it for so long, i don't even think about it any more. It was good to be challenged again with those type of questions.

They are hungry for leadership. they know what they really need to do, it a matter of how to do it the best they can. And they so very much want to do it RIGHT.

Good night for now.

John