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Thread: Thoughts on grad school

  1. Thoughts on grad school

    I'm an undergrad performance student and I'm looking into grad school, specifically in Europe. Even more specific, I'm wanting to go to the Nordic area and I'm also thinking about Germany and surrounding areas. I need suggestions to help build up my list. Thanks!

  2. Norway-Tormod Flaten
    Finland-Jukka Myllys
    Switzerland-Thomas Ruedi

    All are world class.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Location
    Central North Carolina
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    German is easier to learn than Norwegian or (especially!) Finnish. While there are various bizarre cantonal dialects of German in Switzerland, you can always make High German work -- or French, depending on where you are. In addition, the Swiss learn German, French, and English in school. So mostly you can get along in English as well. Switzerland is also centrally located and so travel (by good trains) to France, Austria, Germany, Italy, etc. is quite straightforward and not expensive.

    Just some non-musical and non-academic considerations .
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  4. After interacting with Gary, the 2 Daves, Jim, and Doug, I'm pretty sure I'm the least intelligent person here. : ) Would love to get you guys together for a live bull session and just sit back and learn.

  5. #5
    Roland Froescher is also in Switzerland. Brilliant player, great teacher.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by ghmerrill View Post
    German is easier to learn than Norwegian or (especially!) Finnish.

    *snip*
    Totally agree with you about Finnish, but not at all about Norsk. I had German in HS, studied Norsk on my own, and found it to be much easier than German (I wonder how much of that was in my genes -- hmm). To me it seemed about halfway between German and English. The tonal system is a little tricky, but the tones in Norsk aren't nearly as significant as they are in, say, Chinese.

    However, any educated Norsky will speak English as well as, if not better than, many native-speaker Americans.
    David Bjornstad

    1923 Conn New Wonder 86I, Bach 6 1/2 AL
    2018 Wessex EP100 Dolce, Denis Wick 4ABL
    2013 Jinbao JBEP-1111L, Denis Wick 4AM
    2015 Jinbao JBBR-1240, Denis Wick clone mouthpiece of unknown designation
    Cullman (AL) Community Band (Euph Section Leader)
    Brass Band of Huntsville (2nd Bari)

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Location
    Central North Carolina
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    Yeah, if Norsk is more like Danish or Dutch than Finnish, then it wouldn't be too difficult. I'm almost willing to believe that there might be something genetic going on . The most difficult for me was French. For an English (or German) speaker, the romance languages just seem quite odd, I think. I recall talking to a metal smith who has a little shop near the cathedral in Basel and he too was complaining about how impossible French was for him. I got to where I could read it very well, but speaking it was always a dreadful struggle, and listening to it at speed (except for Canadian French) required intense concentration.

    For some reason I feel much more relaxed linguistically in countries where the language is German-ish. My wife, on the other hand, who at one point was reasonably good in French, detests German and seems to have no talent for it at all. But she absolutely loved listening to the Baseler dialect.

    One thing I would correct about my education is to learn a couple of more languages earlier and more thoroughly. Pretty old to do it now -- or even to relearn them . Total immersion is probably the best approach.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  8. I don't think I'll have a problem with the languages. German is a language that comes fairly easily to me, at least in getting the sounds out. I've been thinking about picking up a minor in German, so that definitely wouldn't be a problem (especially with some of its similarities to English) and I hear some Finnish on a fairly regular basis and can get some of those sounds out pretty well.

    I'm just looking for some places that wouldn't push me towards a particularly "American" or "British" sound and I've found that I really like the sound I've heard from Jukka Myllys and Tormod Flaten. I'm just trying to find some more good options that would help push me in that direction.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    It ain't the sounds . It's the grammar and sentence structure. Then it's just a matter of vocabulary.

    But at your age, just about anything should come pretty easily. So go with what looks best and most interesting.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  10. #10
    Full disclosure -- I am a language geek. I was a linguist by both vocation and avocation. Languages come easily for me. But yeah, Norsk is completely unrelated to Finnish, and considerably closer to English than it is to German. But you can know not a work in Norsk and get along just fine in English. Especially in a university town.
    David Bjornstad

    1923 Conn New Wonder 86I, Bach 6 1/2 AL
    2018 Wessex EP100 Dolce, Denis Wick 4ABL
    2013 Jinbao JBEP-1111L, Denis Wick 4AM
    2015 Jinbao JBBR-1240, Denis Wick clone mouthpiece of unknown designation
    Cullman (AL) Community Band (Euph Section Leader)
    Brass Band of Huntsville (2nd Bari)

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