The best experiences usually come about spontaneously.
This is something I have been repeatedly reminded of while being in Sweden, especially these last couple months. Very few of the most memorable things I’ve done were planned more than a day in advance, and last night was no exception!
We only had a half hour of choir yesterday, so that left my evening free… Until I wandered on over to good ole Instagram and saw a picture someone had posted of a Kammarmusik konsert (Chamber music concert) happening at 7pm at the castle. Better yet, it was 0 kr! The concert featured two faculty members of the chamber music program at Mälardalens Högskola, a cellist and a pianist. The repertoire included bland annat (among others) Chopin’s Grand Duo Concertant, Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G minor, and a more modern classical piece composed by the cellist’s son. Really beautiful music, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
The whole organization of the concert was just so… Swedish! We sat in a relatively small hall, or chamber, if you will, facing a piano, music-stand, camera and mic for recording, and woven tapestry of a nature scene hanging in the background. This alone shows some typically Swedish characteristics: minimalistic (or lagom, you could say), tech-savvy, and anti-war (If castles were a thing in the US, I’m sure they would be decorated with tapestries of important war heroes or battle scenes, not trees). The concert was open and free for all, but also of extremely high quality. And on top of all that, the entire experience was laced with a wonderful understated-ness, one of the many things about Sweden that I have grown so fond of. The concert began with a very concise introduction, the cellist explained the pieces briefly in between, and both musicians received their well-deserved applause with the utmost grace and humility.
And then the music. It was just breathtaking. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the pianist’s fingers, even though they were nearly impossible to see at times from all the dancing and flying across the keys. The cellist was equally captivating, in both the artful movements of the bow and the expressions of sorrow and joy, concentration and tenderness, that appeared on his face in accordance with the music. The pieces all had their quiet as well as lively moments, but drew me in the whole way through. The Chopin piece was especially moving, as Chopin usually is. After the last song, we were treated with a triple encore, one the pianist had composed, and the last a fun, more up-beat one that I left humming to. Just a satisfying concert all around.
Music, to me, is the most marvelous thing in the world. Seeing this concert reminded me of this. I’ve been able to get so much more out of life because of music. For one, it’s incredibly therapeutic. At the concert, I just sat there and let my thoughts wander, guided by turns, trills, and crescendos. I can’t count the number of times when sitting down to play piano for an hour or being enveloped in sound in choir rehearsal, I’ve lost myself in the music and let go of all worries and stress, if only a few moments. It’s soothing in every way. At the same time, music doesn’t just play itself at the snap of your fingers. It’s something you work towards, putting hours, months, or years into it, and creating something beautiful at the end of it. This is the most rewarding feeling. And then, best of all, music brings people together. It’s a team effort, and something that can be shared with anyone, connecting people on both a social and emotional level. I’ve made so many friends and memories because of music that I couldn’t begin to imagine my life without it.
But enough with the rambling. Today was even more proof of the greatness of spontaneity. The sun was once again beckoning the inhabitants of Sweden outdoors. Eva and I decided to take some fika down to the lakeside, and were joined soon after by my fellow American-turned-Swede, Claire, who I met through Bugg and have gotten to know better over the past couple months. (And she has a blog too! It’s wonderful. Check it out here!) And gosh, what a fun group this turned out to be. All English-speaking Swedish-learners, with varying levels of ability in German, French, Spanish, and Italian… you can imagine how mixed-up our conversations became.
Or maybe mixed-up isn’t the right word. The words that we blended in from languages other than Swedish (which we spoke in most of the time) were often ones that just work or sound better in a different language. Any outside ears may not have been able to follow the conversation, but I wouldn’t call it mixed-up. Instead, I’d say colorful. Knowing a language other than your own gives you the ability to express yourself in new, creative ways… even if you’ll only be understood by people who know the same languages that you do. But that’s the beauty of study abroad! You meet people who have the same kind of linguistic hodgepodge going on in their heads, and bond over it. A day like today would probably never happen in any other circumstance.
And nor would it, of course, without our good friend spontaneity :)
/Emma
Swede Disposition 