When I started with the TT Orchestra at the end of February 2009 I could barely remember how to read alto clef and my finger tips would ache after 15 minutes of playing. Playing music again has been so rewarding. I forget the stress that comes with life in a foreign country. The musicians are not only fun to hang out with (I get to use both English and German languages!), I can learn from and relate to them even though we come from very different backgrounds. All this has made it easy to over look the energy it has taken to come to where I am now musically. I’d like to be better in many ways but for the time being I’m content. I believe the orchestra and singers have a bright future ahead of themselves. Strangely, there isn’t one nervous bug inside me about playing 50 minutes of music and switching between alto and treble clef for our next concert.. but perhaps I’m too preoccupied with other things at the moment.

So let me get you caught up with a little Q&A and invite you to see us play, er, perform:

WHAT is the TT Orchestra & Singers?

The TT Orchestra & Singers is an English-speaking, amateur orchestra and choir based in Munich. Not only drawn from a mix of expatriates and internationals living and working in Munich but also native German speakers who enjoy mingling with global minds. Our moto is simply FUN, FUN, FUN! We strive to provide a friendly and relaxed environment to anyone who may have just started learning an instrument, have been playing or singing for years, or haven’t played or sung in years.

WHEN and WHERE is the next gig?

Saturday, July 17th 2010 at 8 PM. Save the date and book your tickets!
We are performing in the Carl-Orff-Saal at the Gasteig, Rosenheimer Straße 5, Munich.

WHAT can I expect?

TT Orchestra & Singers presents its 2010 Summer Concert entitled, “Summer Collection for the Common Man” with music from

• Aaron Copland: »Fanfare for the Common Man«
• Ludwig van Beethoven: »5th Symphony, Op. 67, 1st Movement«
• Howard Shore: »Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Suite«
• George Gershwin: »Rhapsody in Blue«
• Queen: »Bohemian Rhapsody«.. and much more!

Members of the Munich Ladies Choir will be joining us on the Carl-Orff-Saal stage to celebrate the love of music. Our summer concert culminates our musical efforts over the last 7 months of weekly rehearsals and bi-monthly sectionals.

HOW can I help?

Simple: come to our concert and let us entertain you.
This season will be the first time the TT Orchestra & Singers will charge to see our concert. Boo, yeah I know. You wouldn’t believe what it costs to produce a one-night performance even with 80 volunteer musicians, singers and organizers. Eventually we’d like to subsidize ticket prices with sponsorship support but for now tickets, while trying to keep them affordable for our wide audience, are available from www.muenchen-ticket.de, start from 8 Euros. München Ticket offices are located at the Gasteig, Marienplatz, the Hauptbahnhof, and Olympia-Eissportzentrum.

There are plenty of tickets still available, which makes me nervous, but there is still time to encourage friends and acquaintances. It should be a really fun evening for everyone!

If you’d like more information on how you can help or if you’d like to join us, visit www.tt-orchestra.de

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE: www.muenchen-ticket.de

It’s been 12 years since I’ve played my viola in public. I had forgotten how much fun it was to make music with a group of people. Even though my performance Thursday night may have lived up to every viola joke there was ever invented, I’ll take it. All in all my super critical side would say, ‘not bad for starting back up late February of this year.’ One listener later told me I was too timid. If only he knew. I’m just really glad I didn’t let Mark, the magic man behind this shindig, too down with the solo part that Frances was supposed to play.

The TT Orchestra and Singers gave their first full public debut on by far the hottest evening of this summer. The 60 some people who came to hear us must have conjured their Tibetan monk mojo to sit so relaxed in that heat and still had the energy to applaud as long as they did.

Ever since I moved to Germany I really wanted to start playing again. A little part of me unraveled the summer I decided to let my instrument lie dormant through my last years in college and remained that way the years that followed. I don’t regret that I put music aside while life’s bs took over. I got to work in a really good job doing semi-good deeds and life brought me to Germany to a wonderful man. Now I have a new language to my bag of trick and a slippery degree to tame and to eventually add to it. I’m thinking it was worth the wait.

Our orchestra is still missing quite a few instruments (i.e., cellos, basses, trombones, percussion). If you play or have played and you live or are coming to Munich do join us! Everyone is also encouraged to not only play but also conduct, arrange or just help out. You can get details here www.tt-orchestra.de or at Toytown Munich.

We are a fun and enthusiastic group and I promise it’s pretty spiffy to get kudos from your friends and loved ones even at around my age.

I must say it has taken me awhile to get the hang of this winter thing. I chalk my first winter season experience up to happy-go-lucky ignorance. You could have locked me with a beach towel in a freezer full of Fischstäbchen and told me this was a typical German ritual.

I would’ve gone with it. And in some respects, I did and it was difficult to find any joy in it.

That’s probably why I haven’t been to a Starkbierfest in the time I’ve lived in Munich. The grey and cold keep me indoors.

In subsequent years, I grew more the wisers. Life in the winter months has taught me to stay active or end up busting a knee ligament and more recently, to also get over being shy about public naked-time on Sauna Saturdays. My cold loathing has been reduced for those few days when the sky is so depressing it feels like the dark crystal is hovering above Munich draining the life essence from all who dare to gaze outside the window.

Alright. It’s not that bad. Especially now.. because it’s Starkbierzeit.

The former monastery at Nockherberg, now the Paulaner brewery and gastronomy wonder park, offers a mini version of what it’s like to be in a beer tent during Oktoberfest. See all the Lebkuchen Herzchen, ribbons, and balloons? The one advantage: there’s no smoking. The disadvantage: there is a cover charge to get on the grounds.

So this Keferloher or Steinkrug I’m holding contains the Starkbier called, Salvator. Also known as “liquid bread”, it was invented by hunger-driven monks because fasting it old-school was just too hard to bare. They also supported their habit by selling the stuff to outsiders.

It needs to be served ice cold because it contains 7.5% alcohol (normal beer has 4.7 to 5.1%) otherwise it tastes bitter and flat. I thought the Salvator was just a tad sweeter than wheat beer and palatable, which was to my delight because I had a liter of it to kill.

After awhile the picture above sums it up: Life in a Mass surrounded by a bunch of empty mini-masses.. and a chicken with a knife in it.

At the end of the evening, the long, cold winter is merely a faint memory along with the uncomfortable tightness the dSo a schoener Tag – Fliegerlied by Die Jungen Zillertalerirndl of two seasons ago is putting on your rib cage. Eventually you find yourself happy and holding a bouquet of radishes! (or perhaps I’m speaking from my unique perspective) All in all, good times.

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