Lutes Love Leipzig - Ben Helgeson

 A common fact of humanity is that Bach made some rather excellent beats in his lifetime. His beats are what I reproduced on marimba in order to get money to go to PLU. Bach was not born in Leipzig but he did a lot of stuff here and so did other people. People that also made some rather excellent beats. Leipzig is a city that could be defined as "the city of really good beatmakers." The performances I saw in Leipzig exemplified this fact and show me that to be a truly great musician you must go beyond what is necessary and feel the music deeper than you think you are capable of feeling it. So let's get down to business and see how old Benny boy enjoyed his time here.

Day one started in Berlin and started with the group getting on a train. Despite me being obsessed with trains as a kid, I haven't ridden one in several years and the last time I did I was at the age where it's hours of fun to just put something in the way of the automatic doors and watch them try to close. It made me jealous of the train system here. Germany is so flat though. Growing up I was always surrounded by either rolling hills or huge mountains but the terrain from Berlin to Leipzig is just ____. However, the windmills were a fun reminder of home.

Arrival in Leipzig

The contrast in size to the hostel in Berlin also worries me that the next one will be way smaller and I'll be sad. I got top bunk and regretted asking for it later. That night we saw the Gewandhaus orchestra perform some tunes that were rather enjoyable as well.

Gewandhaus

Day two we got to listen to the Saint Thomas church organ and I regretted not printing out sheet music from Interstellar. Organs are just the best and the Saint Thomas organ creates an experience that could only be described in many complex words I do not know or have the time to learn. I would like to learn how to play the organ. We also toured around Leipzig with another great tour guide and saw the Rachmaninov ballet. The first half was the third piano concerto which was fine. The second half was the second piano concerto which was mind-blowing. They had these lights that were on poles that moved and stared at the performers like eyes while they danced. It was a great example of modern art and theater techniques enhancing the meaning of an old piece of music. Rach would have been proud.

Bach's grave

Students admire the Saint Thomas organ whilst Parker shreds

Not much to say about day three. I pretty much used the whole day to write my presentation for today. We also saw the Armonia ensemble perform which was so fun. I always struggle to focus during performances so a way I have started to try and listen to the music without drifting off into my head thinking about something else is by imagining what the music looks like. Faster pieces are usually easier to see and the ensemble mostly played fast and colorful pieces that looked incredibly interesting inside my head. Could not recommend this method more as a way to listen to music if you struggle to focus.

Bathroom tiles in the Gewandhaus that reminded me of a petri dish 

Day four is today and this was also kind of a chill day. Did a really good presentation about the Gewandhaus orchestra building and it went really good. After, I did laundry and ate pastries at a bakery. From there I went to a cat cafe which I did not know existed till today and had a really good beyond-meat burger. From there, I had a really good break, went to a really good dinner, and wrote this really good blog! Tschüss!

Opening slide for my presentation