minor celebrity

We arrived at the Lange Jan tower this morning to be met by radio and television news reporters eager to interview us. Apparently an interview with me was broadcast on the radio at noon, as was footage of me and two other students playing the carillon and answering questions on the televised Zeeland evening news at every hour. (Not much news in this province, I suppose.)

Then we were received by the City Hall of Middelburg, which organized a reception, speech by an alderwoman, and lunch for us in the magnificent Keldermans Stadhuis--the former city hall turned Roosevelt Academy building. I guess any smart city would be willing to donate one of its most magnificent structures to the first university in the entire province! I picked the brain of the Project Manager about starting up the program and his work in the organization of a graduate School of Music. Having a project manager is a damn smart thing to do. But the funding of cultural events and education in the Netherlands is quite curious. The mission of private foundations is to give the underprivileged access to the fine arts. However, private foundations don't support the fine arts--they leave that up to the government.

A drive to Goes and Zierikzee at 34° C... and playing in much higher temperatures in the playing cabin at the top of the curiously-named "Great or Maria Magdelena Church" tower in Goes, temperatures that made the ground climate seem paradisal by comparison. Kees van Eersel wowed us with organ and carillon improvisations, as did Margreeth Ch. de Jong that evening in the Middelburg Nieuwkerk, but unfortunately the piano tuner in Zierikzee needed every last second for his job and we couldn't visit the organ or carillon. We did, however, get to hear one of the oldest automatic plays in the Low Countries in said city, an automatic chime by Pieter I van den Ghein that sounded, frankly, like a kitchenware band. Again, the program covered our drinks at the bar... atypical of the Dutch and of any other country, really. We already had plenty of free eats in the morning. But clearly this program is more important to the city than any importance we bring to it, even if we are the main component.

After Jacques' nice recital, which could have benefited from a bit more Mozart practice, we also examined the oldest organ case in Western Europe (Peter Gerritsz) right here in Middelburg. Later it occurred to me that the only responses Jacques sends to GCNA emails are announcements that he has recorded or performed the piece being discussed. But he took a keen interest this morning in the GCNA Congress and wanted to speak further later in the week. What motives do we have here?

Donker boterhamkorrels (commonly known as muizestrontjes--mouse $417--as Elvo informs me) are soft chocolate sprinkles that the Dutch often put on their toast. I bought a bag today as it was super cheap... and am finding that those things go down easier than water, bread or no bread. And the cheap Winny hazelnootpasta tastes just like the dip for Pokky sticks that I always run short of before I've eaten all the sticks. Heaven help me.

My beach towel took up so much room in my luggage that it has to double as a blanket. And boy does it match my orange fitted sheet.