a barn and the shed (by: brandi)

Yesterday we ventured to Lenox, Massachusetts. We went there to watch the Boston Symphony play one of their summer concerts in Tanglewood.

On the way, we stopped by a used record and bookstore.

The store was called the "Book Barn"

Which is a good title, because it is a barn

and as you can probably guess...

it was FULL...

of books!
This was great for Jeff, record wise he apparently found things that made it "worth the trip" and i found some books i wanted. and our friend Abraham found a LOT of books he wanted. He said that books are expensive in Canada and he likes buying books in the US because they are cheaper. So he bought a LOT of music books. He was thrilled.

This is Abraham and Anna. I posted yesterday that they were church friends. But I was wrong. They actually met at another music workshop last year, and they attend the same college in Vancouver, Canada, and are both from Hong Kong. But they don't really know each other that well.

The concert was at Tanglewood

Which is an outdoor venue with outdoor and indoor seating. It was originally designed to be a very large concert hall, but they didn't have enough money. So the designer, Eliel Saarinen, said "then it will be nothing but a shed!" so now they call it "the shed".

We bought tickets and sat inside the shed. They were at a good price. And it was to see a good symphony play a good piece. This guy named Bernard Haitink was the conductor. He is very old and I have learned that it is good that we got to see him because he is so good.

This piece, Mahler's Symphony #2 has a choral piece during the 5th movement. Thats the only part i remember... i like it better with words! and especially because there was a guy in the last row in the back right corner who stood away from the group and REALLY got into it. in an almost very funny way. But it made the last 10 minutes a lot more exciting for me!

Jeff said it was good, but the brass was not that great. Apparently the first trombone used too much vibrato in his solo. I thought it sounded good. but i was wrong :)

Abraham was overwhelmed and couldn't decide if he wanted to talk about it all the way home or if he was speechless. (he is a very talkative guy!)

Then we rode home, and got back a little after midnight. Anna and Abraham talked to each other in Chinese most of the way home. But that was ok. I could talk to jeff, and I enjoyed listening to them. Especially after i found out that they really didn't know each other. I thought it was nice they got to talk. Road trips are good ways to get to know people.

Jeff still needs to write. He had a good week. He learned to click is like jumping on a trampoline. And that was apparently a breakthrough of sorts.
(i know... it makes no sense. These people have their own language!)

hope you had a good weekend.