Our TD Orchestra Tour to Germany
- Kelly Lin
- Oct 5, 2024
- 2 min read
Contributed by Jeanelle Wheeler
What happens when you get together seven American musicians and transport them to Dresden, Germany for a week of musical and cultural exchange? Laughter. Lots of laughter. Our TD Orchestra tour to Germany was filled with so much joy, my cheeks were more sore from smiling than they were from maintaining my clarinet embouchure after many hours of rehearsing and performing.
So who’s responsible for all of this joy?
Tats himself, who composed the music, composed the journey, composed the group.
Regina and Victoria, who welcomed us with open arms into their musical homes and network of the Germany and Uganda-based “Architects of Music” organization.
Charlotte and Ryan and Olivia and Emma and Ellie, who all jumped into the new music with spirits eager to form community as we jammed and laughed and jammed some more.
What joyful things did we do?
We shared Frühstuck (breakfast) together each morning, walking and taking the tram to reunite each day.
We rehearsed for hours in the practice space of Architects of Music, often switching instruments and experimenting with new sounds.
We walked right into a German high school (Gymnasium Plauen) where some TD Orchestra members met with the headmaster and teachers there, planning for a future partnership with local high school musicians.
We played along with and witnessed the joy of students in a local “Musaik” afterschool program who get access to free music lessons on string and wind instruments.
We got to perform! Once in a living room, once for the students at Musaik, and once at Waldorfschule Dresden for the “Trailblazers” world premiere concert.
We packed into a van and cheered on Regina as she played flute for a special performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in a village far from Dresden.
We sat in on a lesson with Regina’s music students.
We took a day trip to Prague to film footage for a TD Orchestra-themed music video.
What did the joy feel like?
It was piano chords and violin solos, clarinet trills and operatic vibrato.
It was German words exchanged with homestay mothers and morning “Brötchen” (bread rolls).
It was stories told on daily tram rides.
In just one week in Dresden, thanks to Tats, Victoria, and Regina, I felt so grounded in the local context and welcomed into a community of musicians. Vielen Dank!