6 – 13 July 2009

 

 

59 staff, students and parents assembled late on Sunday 5 July at the Dryden Centre.  After essential formalities (passport collection, baggage check etc) instruments and baggage were installed in a large coach with trailer, supplied by Weardale Coaches.  There was ample space (and this party includes four double basses, nine viols and several saxophones) and at half-past midnight the party headed south to Dover.

The journey was smooth and after appropriate comfort stops we arrived in good time at Dover, catching the 8.30am boat, an hour ahead of schedule.  The crossing was comfortable: there was a mild swell, but all managed the sea journey well.  The journey across France, Belgium and Germany was uneventful, though the weather became rather wet.

The overnight hotel on the Rhine, the Apostelhof, Bad Salzig, is comfortable.  Room allocation was efficiently organised by three adult helpers, (Rachel, Kim and Neil) who worked tirelessly throughout the tour.  After an enjoyable evening meal (including suitable vegetarian food) an early curfew was set and well observed at 9.30pm.

Tuesday 7 July

 After breakfast the party continued south across Germany and Austria, reaching Huttau, south of Salzburg, in good time for the evening meal.

After the meal there was an intensive rehearsal, with wind practising in the dining hall, and the strings in an adjacent room.  All instruments were in good order, and the rehearsal was most beneficial.

Curfew was set at 9.30pm and again was well respected.

Wednesday 8 July

 After breakfast, an intensive rehearsal session ensued.  As well as the Senior Gateshead Youth Orchestra the party include smaller ensembles: ‘Strings Attached’, directed by Mrs Julia Watson, and the Gateshead Viol Consort and Whickham Strings, led by Mr John Finnon.  These smaller ensembles made good use of the rehearsal time.

After a wet morning the weather cleared, and after loading the coach with instruments and music and armed with packed lunches, the party set off to the Alpenarena, Bad Hofgastein, for the late afternoon performance.

En route it was possible to visit Liechtensteinklamm Gorge, an enjoyable walk through the hills and woods in most attractive countryside.  “The roaring waters of the falls, the moss covered stones in the deep green and rainbows, which come to life in the drizzle through the sun rays create the legendary atmosphere of the Liechtensteinklamm”.  Sadly the walk was longer than anticipated, but we did hear the sound of rushing water.

The venue for tonday’s concert was an attractive open-air arena with a covered bandstand.  There is the Alpenarena, Bad Hofgastein.  This small town has narrow, tortuous streets.  We must pay tribute to our intrepid drivers who negociated a maze of side alleys, enabling us to unload from a point very close to the performance area.  The concert was a success.  We were welcomed by the town Mayor, and a fair sized audience enjoyed a range of orchestral, smaller ensemble and wind band music in the warm sunshine.

It was a pleasure to meet two members of the audience who lived in Gateshead thirty years ago and who remembered the Youth Orchestra as a small wind ensemble.

After the concert the party enjoyed ice creams, coffee and apfelstudel before returning to the hotel Hutter for supper.
There was half an hour free for supervised swimming in the hotel pool, then the evening meal.

After supper there was a short rehearsal, and an enhanced curfew of 9.35 was permitted.  This was meticulously observed.

Thursday 9 July

 Today was largely spent in and around Salzburg.  In the morning we were joined by an official guide who spoke excellent English.  On the journey to Austria the party enjoyed several DVDs, including Amadeus, “Bob the Builder: the great race” (this is an educational visit after all), and “The Sound of Music”.

The guide talked in detail about The Sound of Music, showed various locations featured in the tour, and explained about the artistic licence enjoyed by the film company.  There were three separate houses used to film the von Trapp’s residence, and the family would never have climbed over the high mountain, because it would have led straight in the hands of the Nazis – Switzerland was in the opposite direction.

The tour also included a visit to Mondsee, and the Pavilion In the Schonbrunn Palance.

After packed lunch the party was dropped off in a street adjacent to the Mirabell Gardens.

The party walked over the bridge beside Herbert von Karajan’s house into the old town.  This area is largely pedestrianised and there was an hour free to explore the town, and see the Cathedral where Mozart and his father were employed.

At 15.00 hours we visited The Mozart Birthplace Museum.  This house has been largely restored and contains several items relating to Mozart – his first violin, a viola and a clavichord.  There was much valuable information, both in German and English.  The party then moved the short distance to the “Mozart Residence” in Markatplatz.  This is a much larger exhibition, with an audio guide.  There are many old instruments (including an Italian Harpsichord and Viennese fortepiano), several manuscripts, a map of young Mozart’s many educational visits across Europe, and a film show.  A museum shop complemented the visit.

After the excellent evening meal there was a period of rehearsal, followed by enhanced curfew (9.40pm), which was well observed.  There were no miscreants.

Friday 10 July

 After breakfast there was a further period of rehearsal.  Today was a very wet day indeed!  A hot lunch was provided, followed by a talk by Mr Treherne – “Mozart – his life and times – some less known facts”.

This followed a vocal and canonic dance session, led by Miss Thompson prior to travelling to the Trinkhalle, Bad Ischl.  This venue is a concert hall in central Bad Ischl, an attractive small spa town an hour or so distant from Salzburg.

The hall had a most enjoyable acoustic and although the stage area was a little confined the musicians enjoyed performing a wide range of music ranging from Charles Avison and Giovanni da Gigondas to 20th Century popular wind pieces.

Special mention must be made of Lucy Bloxham, who performed the first movement of the Mozart G major violin concerto with distinction.  There were also excellent performances by the viol consort, Whickham Strings and Strings Attached.

Having consumed packed teas prior to the concert, a nearby stall provided chips and mayonnaise for the party.

Return to the hotel was later, so curfew was immediate.

Saturday 11 July

 

 

This morning the party travelled to the Salt Mine at Berchtesgaden.  This two hour tour had proved a most popular feature of previous visits and today’s visit was no exception.  There were many new features introduced since the Youth Orchestra’s previous visit in 2006.  The visit includes a documentary film showing the processing of salt, a salt museum, slides down wooden rails, journeying through subterranean galleries dressed in miners’ clothes and crossing an underground lake by boat, accompanied by laser light effects and electronic music.

After packed lunch, iced coffee and apfelstrudel mit sahne, the party travelled to St Gilgen, the “Southampton” of the Salzkammergut.  ‘The many country castles here are the scene of glamorous parties, and a Mozart fountain in the town square commemorates the fact that Mozart’s mother was born here and his sister Nannerl later settled here.’

On the occasion of our visit there were no glamorous parties, but we did see a bride and wedding party enter the church to the sound of a salvo of gunfire (shotgun wedding?) and there were several souvenir shops in the area leading down to the lake.

On returning to Huttau, there was time to relax before travelling to the St Leonhart Parish Church for tonight’s concert at 7pm.

The small baroque church is situated in the centre of Huttau village.  An appreciative audience of largely village people enjoyed an eclectic mix of music, ranging from the Wind Band (Directed by Maestro Tony Hedley) playing Yorkshire Overture, Terminal (with the excellent clarinet soloist Amy Bradford) and Perpetuo mobile; and string playing of Avison’s Concerto Opus 9 no. 1 (with Miss Thompson making her conducting debut in Austria), with Concerto Grosso by Giovanni da Gigondas.  Viol consort music (led by Mr John Finnon), Strings Attached movements (directed by Mrs Julia Watson), and finally the Mozart violin concerto beautifully played by Jenni Watson completed the programme.

The audience loved it, and were most complimentary.  On returning to the hotel, an Italian themed meal was served to everyone’s satisfaction.

After dinner the coup de grace was the final Room Inspection.  The tradition is now firmly established that as well as competing for the prize for the most beautifully decorated and tidy room, the inhabitants of each room must perform some kind of entertainment.  Tonight’s performances were a varied and entertaining mix, in some instances showing ‘the dark side of our young musicians’ characters….’

During the return coach journey time was spent on a variety of activities which included A Mozart Quiz.

In addition members of the Orchestra were asked to give their views on the Educational Visit.  Their responses were very interesting: all students were very enthusiastic about the visits (especially the Salt Mine), the hotel, the curfew and fine entertainment.

The return journey across northern Europe flowed well, and we arrived at the Hotel Apostelhof, Bad Salzig at 6.30pm which meant time to relax before supper.

After supper, students had the opportunity to walk down to the Rhine, and learn more about myths and legends of this region, with a particular focus on the works of Schumann and Wagner.  The story of the two brothers and the wall between their castles was also well illustrated.

Curfew was at 10pm; on Monday breakfast was served at 7am, and the coach departed punctually at 7.45am.

An analysis of the students responses yields the following information:

• 100% were satisfied by the arrangements for the tour, the range of activities and the balance between rehearsing, playing and visiting places of interest.

• 100% enjoyed the performances, but 28% mentioned the limited performance space available.

• The visit to the Salt Mine met with 100% approval.

• 96% enjoyed the visit to the Mozart Museums and Birthhouse.

• 92% appreciated The Sound of Music tour.

• The results of the Mozart Quiz indicated that 100% of students had absorbed much relevant information about the life and times of this composer.

• 100% highly rated the Hotel Hutter in Huttau.

These high score indicated a very high level of participant satisfaction.

An educational visit of this nature involves considerable planning and expertise.  Mention must be made to Barbara Murray who collated information and dealt with a wide range of pertinent queries; to the adult helpers Rachel, Kim and Neil; to the Music Service Staff who worked tirelessly throughout the visit (including Julia Watson, Judith Thompson, Laura Ashton, Angela MacDonald, John Finnon, Erardo Evans, Tony Wilson, Tony Hedley and George Parnaby).  Also to Dr Lynne Bloxham, (who was always a reassuring presence on the tour) and to several participating parents  who fully contributed to the success of the tour.

The travel company, NST, has helped to arrange Youth Orchestra tours on several previous occasions; their skill in selecting venues is second to none, and their suggestions for educational visits are always well considered.

The coach, provided by Weardale of Northallerton, was driven by two expert drivers, Dave and Bob, who were invariably courteous and good company.

Next year’s educational visit to the Rhine is now eagerly anticipated.

John Treherne – Head of Gateshead Schools’ Music Service
22 July 2009

A selection of the comments  made by students who attended the educational visit::

I enjoyed all of the aspects of the trip: the concerts, the trips to villages, the trips to historic places.  I especially enjoyed the trip down the Salt Mines, it was really fun!!

This was my first trip with the Gateshead Youth Orchestra and I thought the whole thing was good and if I can I will come next year.  Thank you for the great visit….

 Everything was fun and well organised.  Thanks a lot for a lovely trip!  We had a great time!

 Every element of the trip was a great one so it was difficult to decide the best.  Mozart’s birthplace and residence were good because it helped us learn about Mozart and the Salt Mine was brilliant, especially the slides and trains…….

 All the activities were well organised and fun and I thought there was a good mixture practising and activities.

 I enjoyed the opportunity to watch and listen to the orchestra in a variety of settings – each setting inspirational in its own unique way…..

 The room check was really creative.  Raised the bar.  Some slightly disturbing and homicidal but hilarious rooms.  Everyone joined in.  Well Done!

 On the whole everyone was incredibly well behaved all week.  Most of the students made being an adult helper a really enjoyable experience, with a particular highlight being the performances give during room checks at the end of the week!