Tuesdays and Fridays at 5pm are scheduled for our rondalla classes. We have two hours to practice playing different songs as an ensemble. As a late entrant to the course, I find it funny that my classmates don’t know the background of the songs they’ve been playing for quite some time. One notable example is the Hatikvoh which is actually the national anthem of Israel. I learned about this when I looked for a youtube video of the song because I want to know how the song goes so I can play it. To my surprise, all the search results pointed out that it is the Israeli national anthem.
At this time, we are practicing playing the song Tiritomba, an Italian song. For those assigned with the banduria like me, its very to difficult to play this song since the tempo is fast and the notes are hard to follow in the frets.
I hope that our teacher will soon teach us songs which are familiar to us. If not contemporary songs, those that we can sing or we’re familiar with the melody will do.
My colleagues in the section are also happy that I’m part of the rondalla course since I’m the only one in the room who’s part of it. I’m echoing to them our lessons so they also get to learn playing the banduria.
In one way, attending the rondalla classes help me to release the tensions I have with work. You see, we are currently in a transition in the use of a new framework in processing project proposals so its really stressful to adjust with the new framework. Listening, playing, and being part of a musical ensemble helps me a lot to relax.
