Schenk ein den Wein - as autumn comes to Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub;
schenk ein den Wein, den holden!
Wir wollen uns den grauen Tag
vergolden, ja vergolden!

A thread for all those living in Germany and Austria, and anyone else who would like to chat.

Always good to have an excuse to open some , and this poem seemed quite appropriate!

admylin If you google images for B-moll Tonleiter, it should come up with something - e.g. here the second and third scales are B flat minor. (You just have to be careful that the scales really are B flat minor - the fourth is C minor and the fifth B major, for example, although it does say if you look closely). Does she need to write E major (dur) or E minor (moll)? Again, just try entering E Tonleiter or E-moll Tonleiter into google images.

Actually, ignore most of that paragraph: have just found a more useful website. This shows all the minor scales in the treble clef (Violinschüssel). And this shows all the major scales if you need E major (dur).

Oh yes, the quark thing - although I was advised to cover the entire breast in Topfen, as it's called here. I can't stand the smell now, as it reminds me of having mastitis. I used cooling gel pads from Boots with DS instead - just as effective, I think, and far less messy.

Happy birthday to your DD, admylin - I just noticed on FB that it's her birthday today.

Thanks linzer, when I googled I seemed to get so many websites with music on and it's like looking at a chinese newspaper! Dd says what's the c on here on the e moll line? Do you know?

Both dc have been like this in music, ds can guess about half of it but usually they do listen in class so why have they not got this by now?

Oh well, ds has been delivered to table tannis training and dd is suffering as she got ?70 and it's burning to be spent! She won't be able to though until next week probably!

DD had D-Fluoretten tablets prescribed, which contain vit D and fluoride. Could it be that the dr was referring to the fluoride, which is added to the water supply in some countries? I certainly read that you should stop giving children the tablets once they are using fluoridated toothpaste.

I was unable to read anything remotely upsetting or watch anything on tv involving ill or dying children for months after giving birth, hence the warning about A Fine Balance. I turned pages for FIL in a concert when dd was 4 months and he was accompanying a singer in Der Erlkönig. I'd done a run-through without the singer, so only started to pay attention to the text in the concert itself. At that point I remembered the story and how it ends (a father is riding home with his child, who is ill and can see the figure of Death trying to grab him, the father keeps saying there's no-one there and rides faster and faster). I was unsuccessfully biting back the tears and trying to distract myself, but had to keep following the sheet music to know where to turn. By the end, "Das Kind war tot.", all I wanted to do was rush home and check dd was ok!

Linzer you can print the mes flashcards at A5, too. Just click on the box in the print dialog where it usually says, "Auf Größe d. Drückränder verkleinern" and choose "Mehere Seiten pro Blatt". Various other boxes will appear and you can set it to print two per page. You have to print the backing sheets individually, but if you can work out how to put them back in the printer then you can also get two per sheet.

C is the second note in the second bar in that example, ie., the third space from the bottom according to FACE.

c means 4/4 time (four crotchets in a bar). The bottom number of the time signature (the second 4 in 4/4) indicates the type of note (e.g. 2 = minim, 4 = crotchet, 8 = quaver), while the top number indicates how many of them are in each bar. So 3/4 would be three crotchets (typical waltz rhythm - 1,2,3) and 6/8 would be six quavers. The top number is written in the top two spaces and the bottom number in the bottom two.

Hope that makes sense!

Thanks, silken - I only realised that earlier today, when I was looking at the flashcards after you'd mentioned them. I'd always thought you could only print out A4 size from that site. So that's another source of flashcards in future!

I assumed admylin was referring to the time signature (the c after the treble clef and F sharp) rather than the note c, but correct me if I'm wrong admylin!

That's it linzer, it sounds very complicated (so why do they write c istead of 4/4?). Dd is falling asleep all curled up with her new book. I've even put the heating on, it's so cold, so we'll have another look at the weekend and I hope she understands what you wrote.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Silken, that erlkönig is so sad isn't it? I only came across it last year when ds had it in German class.

Just read the Erlkoenig..thanks to wiki. [sob emoticon]

Had to put the heating on yesterday as it has become quite cold. There is fresh snow on the mountains already!

It's amazing how things you think are universal like musical notation should be slightly different elsewhere. Does anyone remember the name of that way to learn to read music that used colours? I learned just because I did theory of music so I could learn to sing.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Two children's parties tomorrow Will need Sunday to recover! Have a fantastic birthday celebration Linzer!

Oops, sorry, I didn't notice the C time signature! Linzer's explanation of time signatures is very good, btw. I learnt that the C stands for "common time", as 4/4 is the most common time signature. If that's true it must come from Italian, though, and not English. Off to google it.

silken Yes, my first thought was that C stands for common time - although I'm not completely sure about it. Was sure I had my old Rudiments of Music here but can't find it, so will have to google it too.

admylin It's quite likely that your DD doesn't need to worry about the time signature when writing scales (so wouldn't need to divide the scales into bars either). There are also two ways of writing scales: with key signatures (with all the sharps and flats at the beginning, after the treble or bass clef) and without key signatures (where you write the sharp or flat sign directly in front of the note). You'll obviously be able to tell from the way in which she's been writing scales at school.

Also realised that me writing about crotchets, minims, etc. probably isn't going to be very useful for your DD.
minim = halbe Note
crotchet = Viertelnote
quaver = Achtelnote
So, for example, 4/4 time (4/4-Takt; Takt is also the word for a bar) means 4 Viertelnoten in einem Takt, 6/8-Takt = 6 Achtelnoten in einem Takt.
But, like I said, your DD may not need to understand all that if they haven't done time signatures yet or don't need to use them when writing scales.

Have just discovered my old Pass Your Grade 5 Theory book, which contains some mnemonics for the notes in the bass clef too:

Treble clef (Violinschlüssel)
Lines: Every Good Boy Deserves Football (EGBDF)
Spaces: FACE

Bass clef (Bassschlüssel)
Lines: Good Boys Deserve Football Always (GBDFA)
Spaces: All Cows Eat Grass (ACEG)

It also confirms that the time signature C stands for common time.

ah I missed all the music talk yesterday.

will have a read back and add my two penneths worth.

got the two magazines today, thank you!! had forgotten how nice it is to read some german on paper rather than words on a screen.

bloody knackered today. where are the matchsticks?

Oh ivy, it would be a große Hilfe if you could explain it in German and idiot proof! I think they were meant to learn it all last year but the teacher was off for maternity leave the whole year so the stand in didn't bother, they just sang and did abit about Mozart and instruments. Now she's back and doing a crash course on what they missed.

Got a kitchen full of giggling girls, having lunch and then birthday cake then lets hope they don't get fed up until 6pm!

Glad you got the magazines ivy - they came really quickly! Thought they had the most reading in them compared to the womens magazines on the shelves. How's your homesickness?

Happy Birthday to your dd admylin!

Miserable weather here - dc fed up already. Will be a long saturday. Off to the IL's tomorrow. Hope at least one of you has better weather than me!!!

Hi all,

Missed all the music talk yesterday - brings back memories of my piano lessons back in the mists of time - hope you got the info you needed admylin

Linzer mags would be very much appreciated - that's kind of you. Will pm my address - a few of what you can spare would be great. Love a bit of Red or Marie Claire, but of course enjoy a flick through a celeb mag on the sly sometimes.

Weather really cold here too tad - we're in a flat that seems to be toasty warm but I don't think we put the heating on - not sure how that works really, but assume its superior Austrian insulation! All new to me how this works. Can't believe there's snow around already seeing as I caught the sun it was so hot a day or so ago.

Unbelievably this is the first full weekend DH and I have spent along with DS - only 7 weeks I know, but before this it has all been with family or moving etc. Today DH says to me 'wow, you can't leave DS alone for one minute, can you' - er, no! Now I think he realises why I'm frazzled when he comes home from work in the evenings.

Sounds like the vitd3 thing is quite normal, but good to get other's experiences.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend with birthdays, parties and general busy-ness...

No better weather here, Canella - it's freezing cold and has been pouring with rain. We went out earlier to look for Helloween costumes for the DC (the DDs have been invited to a birthday/Halloween party on Monday) but we couldn't find anything affordable or that they liked, and in the end they decided they don't want to dress up anyway. Otherwise, have spent most of the day indoors - a friend came over with her DC this afternoon, but her DS wasn't feeling too well so they didn't stay long.

admylin I can't remember learning anything that difficult in music at school; if we ever did write scales (which I don't remember doing), I doubt it was anything much harder than C or G major. Almost everything I know comes from learning the piano; looking through my theory book, I'm amazed at some of the stuff I managed to do (writing the subdominant triad in B flat minor with the 3rd at the top, for example - I don't have a clue what that means now!). At least I've realised there's another subject I'll be able to help the DC with at secondary school apart from English, although my knowledge of German musical terminology is sketchy, to say the least (it all comes from the DDs' piano lessons), so feel free to correct my German Ivy!

Jenny Have never heard of learning to read music using colours; I think I learned when I learned to play the recorder, but also remember learning FACE and EGBDF etc. in music at primary school.

Talking of music, must go as DD2 is crying and saying that her piano practice is too difficult (think she's overtired after a sleepover last night).

Btw saw "Snäp" in the bookshop yesterday. Just no! What's wrong with Schnipp Schnapp anyway?

coco Have PMed you.

Hi everyone! Thought I'd pop in and say hi. Can't remember the last time I posted here.

Our oldest son graduated with his Abitur in June and starts at the Leibniz university in Hannover next week. I can't believe it. One down and one to go. And that one barely made it through the 9th class. We're hoping the 10th will be better. Looks like things have calmed down a bit now that the "doppelte Jarhgang" is over with. The school is calling itself a Ganztagsschule now and that means they have to have a proper cafeteria but they still the same tiny one, building a new one isn't in the plans until next year. Now they're running into the problem that 200 kids want to eat a hot lunch every day because they'll be staying on into the afternoon, but they only have seating for 60 and the lunch break is only 20 minutes! You'd think they'd get these things sorted out before jumping in head first. Ds15 takes a snack to school and waits until he gets home to eat so he's not bothered about it, but plenty of parents are up in arms.

We're having the entire outside of our house re-insulated some time in October but the workmen haven't give up a firm date yet and in the meantime we're meant to clear a path of one meter all around the house. which has meant cutting down trees and bushes, ripping off all the ivy, removing lamps and other electrical stuff etc. Lots of fun. They say it will take them 4 weeks to get the job down so we'll be living in a construction site for a while.

I'd been feeling so awful lately that I finally broke down and asked my doc for hormone replacement therapy and it seems to be helping. Most of you are probably much too young to be experiencing menopause symptoms but they can really take it out of you. I was just exhausted and having terrible hot flashes about every hour on the hour. He put me on a three month trial and I'm supposed to report back to him to see if it agrees with me. Lots of risks but also lots of benefits. Dh says I am not acting like such a fishwife these days, so he's happy. :o

Ugh, my kids had to do that complicated stuff in music class too and we never had a clue. Their textbook was awful and didn't have the information and the teacher assumed everyone had already learned it in earlier grades. I don't know how they got through it. This year Ds15 is taking Darstellendes Spiel (Drama) instead and quite likes it.

Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving so I'll be making a small turkey as usual, a few side dishes and a nice pumpkin pie.

Hi to all the new people on the list and welcome to the adorable new baby. So sweet. Will read through the thread tomorrow to catch up. Never seem to have enough time these days.

Hi everyone!
I think you've all found me out with the chaos comments! Ooops! Think we do better with a bit of chaos going on in our house though, Sundays are rather too peaceful and dd esp gets bored as there are few other kids about and only her brothers to play with :o We don't let her call for her friends on a Sunday morning as that seems to be the convention, but she is such a social butterfly she would prefer to always have the house full of kids.

coco hope you are feeling ok now about however you are feeding your little one - exclusive breast feeding can have its pitfalls too down the line - Henry is my 3rd and has been ridiculously easy to feed, but now he is 5.5 months old I need to leave him one evening a week with DH to work, and he just will not take a bottle, which makes being alone with him hugely stressful for dh and leaving him much more guilt inducing and hard for me! DH has won concert tickets and wants us to go to a concert in Munich, and ask mil to babysit for the first time since H was born, I would like to go in a way but don't know if I can leave H when he won't drink anything, as it would mean being away a lot longer than I am when I just teach a little 1.5 hour class...

All the music homework talk is scary as I also have no idea - dh will just have to help the kids with that when the time comes, as luckily he was musical in his youth (haha).

I am playing hangman with dd while typing this, I taught her the other day and she is obsessed with it now! I had a meeting with her teacher as I had to leave the parents info eve early due to having H with me, and as well as filling me in on the admin I missed the teacher said dd is a fast learner and finishes her work first in class, but needs to slow down a bit and pay attention to detail - sounds like she's got dd about right, as it is true she is rather slap dash and a bit scatty, though basically bright! Also she has a head start as she can already read and write to a basic level in English. dd is a bit grumpy that when she finishes her work in class she just gets told to do a bit more, I am sure that would not be the approach in England! She also absolutely hates being told when she has made a mistake!

Ds1 has also suddenly taken an interest in letters and randomly started informing me what letter things begin with (correctly) - he has never had the slightest interest before, so maybe dd doing homework and being at school is the trigger - he keeps saying he wants to go to school with her, and sometimes walks her to the bus (just down the road - he is 4 but almost as big as his sister, it is quite sweet)

I met an American lady while hanging about at the kids football training on Thur - there are so few native speakers out our way that she suggested exchange numbers - she has a 4 month old baby so maybe there is potential there, it would be nice if we did meet up and find we get on, although just having the same first language and babies the same age is not always the basis for a friendship!

Ooops got to go, chaos calls! :)

Westvan forewarning about what is to come in the not too distant future and how to deal with it is much appreciated! Hope your sons get on well this year at uni and in the 10th class too!

Westvan, hope the hormone treatment helps. You're definately going to be looked up to on this thread now as the one who got a dc through Abi and on to uni!! We've all got a long way to go.
I have to pick train tickets up on Thursday so we could have a quick coffee if you're free?

Dd's friend stayed over last night and she's meant to be good at music so I've sent them to go and do dd's homework before she has to go home! Phew, one less thing to worry about.

Another cold and rainy day here today. The DDs are at yet another birthday party this afternoon and have been told to take their raincoats and wellies as they're going out into the woods. I'm surprised the parents are daring to take the risk of all the children catching colds.

Happy Thanksgiving for tomorrow, westvan. I was talking with friends about a week ago about how the menopause is the next thing we have to look forward to (another friend of ours is going through it) and since then, I seem to be constantly reminded of it - the next night, we were watching an episode of Desperate Housewives where Bree discovered she was going through the menopause, then someone mentioned it on my FLY thread... Glad to hear the HRT is helping, anyway.

5more DD1 starting school was what got DD2 interested in reading and writing; I used to have to photocopy DD1's homework for her and they learned to read at virtually the same time. Shame DS isn't quite so motivated - although he really wants to start school and keeps trying the DDs' school bags on for size; he looks like he's about to topple over!

We were supposed to be going out for lunch for my birthday (which is tomorrow), but DD1 was lying on the sofa earlier this morning feeling sorry for herself and we weren't sure whether she was coming down with something so we've postponed until next weekend. She seems fine again now, doesn't have a temperature and is on her second slice of pizza, so she should be OK to go to the party. I wonder whether all this revision for her Schularbeit has been too much for her; DH did admit he'd overdone it a bit yesterday. The sleepover on Friday night probably didn't help either.

Have already celebrated my birthday, i.e. opened my presents; DH's family always celebrates the evening before for some reason. According to DH, it's a Jewish tradition. His family is dyed-in-the-wool Catholic. It reminds me of Christmas; why spend a whole day celebrating when you can cram it into the evening before?

Thanks, Linzer! I've go the turkey thawing and I think I'll make the pies today.

Admylin - I emailed you. Thursday would be great.

Hope you have a lovely birthday Linzer - did you get an iPad? Mine is next Sunday, but I'm not sure that dh has planned anything beyond saying, ' so what do you want then?'

Congratulations on ds going to uni westvan! Hope the treatment helps.

S isn't fussed about taking a bottle of milk when I am teaching, either 5more. He seems to be ok though and is 8 months old now.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday evening.

Sorry, happy Canadian Thanksgiving westvan!