Since the ringers and roadies are on different schedules, we decided to break the blog up into two sections: Ringers and Roadies.

Ringers:

Today was the third day of rehearsals for the symposium! We all ate breakfast and headed over to the convention center for worship service, which started at 8:45. This was a pretty short but beautiful service. We then all went to take a full group picture together since we were all wearing our blue symposium shirts. After the picture, we headed back into the rehearsal room for daily notices and began mass rehearsal. This two-hour rehearsal consisted of four out of the nine pieces of symposium music.

Then it was time for our first workshop of the day. Today, we each had three workshops, unlike yesterday when we only had two. Some of the workshops that people in our choirs took were Handbell Olympics, Cross Stitch – Wooden Bell Ornament, Making a Korean-Style Knot Bracelet, Ceilidh Dancing, Exploring Singapore, “So You Can Play Four-in-Hand? What’s Next?” and many, many others.

Moreover, we have two people in our choirs, Chloe and Heather, who decided to play in one of the Ringing Track groups. These groups practice three new pieces of music during the workshop time periods. After everyone’s first workshop was over, we all headed to lunch.

After lunch, we had two more sections of workshops. Some of the workshops were “I’m in Charge, Help,” French-Canadian Dance, Arranging Pop Music, Latin Music and Dance, Drawing Celtic Knots, Touching a Tartan, and many more. After the workshops, we had a couple more hours of rehearsal and finished the rest of our pieces.

Lasagna was served for dinner, with sticky toffee pudding for dessert. We ended the day by watching the Ringing Track concerts, which were amazing to watch, seeing that they had just learned the music the other day.

Roadies:

Today, we took a scenic ride to the west of Aberdeenshire and the base of the Highlands. Driving through quaint towns such as Banchory and Aboyne, we eventually stopped in Ballater in the Royal Deeside area (royals have historically spent time in this area). We explored, ate, and shopped.

Crathes Castle was built by the Burnett family in the 16th century on land gifted by Robert the Bruce for helping fight the English. An extension was added in the 18th century. The Burnett family currently owns approximately 8,000 acres in this area, and the current Laird is a member of the MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament).

While visiting Crathes Castle, some roadies went and visited the castle gardens. They were in awe of the beauty of the gardens and the age of some of the shrubbery. Many say that the roadies got their garden fix in and are taking notes for their home gardens.

Signing off for tonight from Brie and Morgan. Tomorrow is our solo concert so wish us luck from wherever you are reading this.