Tag Archives: music

Baby Activities in Sønderborg

Unless you have friends who have babies at similar times as you, parental leave can end up being a bit lonely. I have tried to keep myself busy by doing some baby classes. This has made sure that I got out of the house and met some other adults, while entertaining the little one without having to think too much myself. These are some of the baby activities I have tried and what I think about them

Babysalmesang – Sct Marie Kirke

Babysalmesang, literally baby psalm singing(!), seems to be a very popular baby activity, with most churches offering this possibility. I was a bit sceptical about this, but decide to try it out anyways (what I do in the name of research for this blog!). I first tried Christianskirken as it is closest, but the group was already full (word of warning: if interested don’t leave it till late to sign up as groups do get booked up), so the choice fell on Sct Marie Kirke.

Organist Pia leads the babysalmesang at Sct Marie Kirke. The class consisted of around 10 mothers and their babies meeting every Wednesday for an hour in the church. As the name implies what happens during that hour is that we sing psalms, but I was surprised to see that it was also so much more than that! Pia was always very organised. Equipped with a glockenspiel, rattles, bubbles, a piano, cloths and a swing (amongst others) we were kept constantly on the go (and babies entertained).

I was very impressed with this class, not least because it is all free! A new group is starting in September (as well as a group at Christianskirken that I will be checking out for yours truly) so if you are home with a baby I really do recommend trying to join one of these groups if you need the push to get out of the house. And no, don’t worry too much if you’re not Danish Protestant! I was made welcome with open arms. And if you do, say hi to Pia for me!

Babyrytmik – Sonderborg Musikskole

Babyrytmik is another baby music class, this time organised by the music school in Sonderborg. Again this was a one hour activity consisting of singing, movement and rattles. It was pretty similar to babysalmesang, with the main difference being the topic of the songs we were singing (church songs vs children’s popular songs)

Again this class was very well organised, and when I asked the teacher if he could share some Danish songs with me so I could learn them before class (Danish parents already knew them as grew up with them) he obliged very happily. However, when thinking that babysalmesang is all free, while this costs around 45 DKK, I started to doubt whether it was value for money.

Baby Tju-Hej – Sonderborg Bibliotek

This is another music/singing activity for children, this time happening at the library in Sonderborg (as well as other branches) around once a month for 30 minutes. Surprisingly, the library has no story-telling or similar activities for young children, though the songs used here have more of a story-telling nature and are more action-songs than at the other two activities. The selection of action songs is potentially as the event is aimed at children up to 3 years.

Unlike the other two activities, there is no limit here on group number, so this was by far the activity with most children (around 40 at a quick guess when I went), and both parents and ‘dagpleje’ mothers (childminders) bringing their charges to the event. This made the activity more of a show rather than a class, but was just as well organised. Again, there were rattles, soft toys, and this time a guitar.

Other Activities

There are, of course, other activities going on. We have already written about Baby Swimming. There is also part 2 to this post about our experience of this, together with the babysalmesang at Christianskirken and a Baby Stimulastik class I am also doing.

Ringridning – the Highlights

July is here and, with that, the annual tilting at the rings festival in Sonderborg. The first day I ever visited Sonderborg, long before I had any plans to move here, we had stumbled across this festival. It was a great event and one which I was looking forward to repeat once we moved here.

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Tilting at the Rings, or Ringridning, is an extended-weekend celebration of tilting at the rings and all that goes with it. There is loads going on, and you probably can’t be everywhere all the time. So what should you make sure you don’s miss? These are my personal highlights:

  • Tilting competition at the ringridning grounds: Every day. Finals and crowning on Sunday (start around 16:45)
  • Concert at the town hall square. Highly entertaining! Be there early for a good spot. Saturday at 11:00.
  • Visit Ringridning Museum. A real gem.
  • Concert and start of the cavalcade from Sonderborg castle: Friday and Sunday morning at 10:50
  • Historic tilting at the rings, by Sonderborg Castle: Saturday at 13:00. Also every Tuesday throughout the summer.

There are also a number of events that have caught my eye that I haven’t as yet seen:

  • Combined tour of the city and tilting grounds. Friday and Sunday at 12:00
  • Fireworks competition: Friday at 23:00
  • Light tattoo and fireworks. Monday from 21:00.

Other than that, just enjoy the atmosphere in town and at the ringridning grounds. Enjoy!

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Hustle and bustle during market days

Sonderborg Handel is Sonderborg’s chamber of commerce, bringing together the shops and business in the area. One of its main tasks is to draw customers in to the city. And one of the ways this is done is by organising ‘market days’.

There are two main sets of ‘market days’ organised in town. These are the Market Days in June and the International Market Days in July. The Market Days have already happened this year, but you are still in time for the International Market Days!

So what happens?

Well, in the June set of market days the shops all put on offers and make an effort to showcase their products to the customers. However, there is even more than that. What really caught my eye was the ‘kunst telt’ where there were local producers showcasing their crafts. As always, I am particularly drawn at things made of wood. not sure why. Maybe as in Malta wood isn’t used that much except for furniture, considering we have no forests from where to get it!

This year, the Market days also coincided with the Danish-German Music day, where musicians from all over the Southern Denmark and Schleswig Holstein meet to play in a number of locations in one town. And this year, it was Sonderborg. Combine a market day with a music day, and you get a very busy and lively town. Oh, and don’t forget to add sunshine! It really makes me happy to be in Sonderborg on days like that.

So now all that is left is to cross our fingers for good weather in July for the International Market Days. Last year I remember cheese and sweets from around the world. What will there be this year?

porcelain

Get creative at Sonderborghus

Sonderborghus is one of the main music venues in Sonderborg, hosting a variety of well-known and lesser known Danish and international acts. We have, in fact, already mentioned them on our 99 things to do list for both jazz and rock. However, Sonderborghus offers more than just music, as I came to discover on a ‘girls night out’ with colleagues recently.

What had been a hidden secret to me until very recently is the workshops in the basement of Sonderborghus. There you can get your hands dirty with some glass work (above), pottery or even multi-material creative projects. The amazing thing is that, besides the regular courses on offer, you can also just go down on your own and work at your own pace on your own projects, while getting access to the materials you need for a minor outlay, as well as cheerful guidance from the staff.

This being before Christmas the plan of action was to populate our Christmas tree by making porcelain decorations. This is the first time Michael and I will have a Christmas tree at home which means that I had loads of work to do. With the guidance of two of my colleagues, who had already been on courses there, it was more than easy to do. We could buy the porcelain clay there (50DKK/1kg: this covered all costs, including firing of the porcelain in the kiln, shown below), we had access to a variety of shapes for making decorations, and we also had access to all the tools we needed to make our decorations.

porcelain

In total I used around 500g of porcelain (25 DKK) and made around 50 different items for our Christmas tree, some of which you can see below. Needless to say, our Christmas tree is well populated now! It is good to note that the items are not typically fired on the same day, but we were asked to go pick them up around one week later. So do keep this in mind if you want the items for a specific event.

porcelain

Other than that, the workshops is open on Tuesday and Wednesday 10-22, Thursday 13-18 and Friday 10-15. Do confirm opening hours at the Sonderborghus website, since these may change, or other events may be going on. Other than that – go ahead and enjoy yourselves. Perfect for a family outing or evening out with friends.

Define Festival this weekend

Music versus photography

It’s time again for the annual, cross-border, electronic Define Festival and this year they have a really interesting lineup. From partyman Bjørn Svin to a full on symphony orchestra there should be some great music and beats in store for people. And it’s cheap – about 50DKK per session.

2 days, 3 locations, lots of music
The interesting thing about this festival is that it is not confined to one location but takes place in a number of locations. You can go to one location, or you can travel around to the venues. The other years there was a cheap bus taking people from Sonderborg to Flensburg but I can’t find it mentioned this year.

Underground @ 8pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Electronic Movement @ 11pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Johann Nielson and Hit Asmussen.

Symphony Orchestra @ 4pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg

First Run Time Error @ Alsion a site-specific performance for joystick-controlled video. Second an ouvertures for the classical Chinese instrument ghuzeng, samples and orchestra. Both creations by Simon Steen-Andersen, a Danish composer who is getting a lot of international attention lately.

Underground @ 5.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Fuzzy & Bjørn Svin @ 8.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Fuzzy (Jens Vilhelm Pedersen) has a wide range from jazz to film music to experimental electronic music. He has music for cartoons and avant garde exhibits.
Bjørn Svin (Bjørn Christiansen) is a self taught composer and producer who has been active on the electronic stage for many years.

Wet and Dirty @ 10pm Saturday Zanzibar, Sonderborg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Wet and Dirty DJ team and Hit Asmussen.

Music fit for a King: Sonderborg Slot


Traditionally the abode of kings, and nowadays the site of the area’s museum, Sonderborg Castle also hosts a number of musical events throughout the year. This might be an unlikely music venue, however, having served as a location for royal entertainment for centuries, it has the locations to satisfy modern expectations as well.

Queen Dorothea’s Chapel

During the summer, the chapel plays host to a number of concerts, mainly revolving around the chapel’s organ. The organ, which was reconstructed in 1996 in accordance with 16th century traditions, was built in 1570 by the organ builder Hermann Raphaelis. The programme of organ concerts in the chapel can be found on the castle’s website under arrangementer.

The Great Hall (Riddersal)

The great hall used to be the reception room for guests to the castle, and the scene for many parties and dances. Nowadays, it is used for both one-off concerts as well as for concerts of the Sonderborg music union. From here you also have the added bonus of a marvelous view of the harbour.
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Concerts

Our first experience of music events at the castle was during our visit to Sonderborg in September last year before we moved here. This was a vocal and organ concert in the chapel, and was excellent proof that we can find good quality music in the area should we move here.

Danish German Brass Academy

Recently we then attended an excellent brass concert following the annual Danish-German Brass Academy in Gråsten. The quality of the performances and the enthusiasm of the performers belied the fact that they had only been working on these pieces for a week! Ending the concert with Brahms lullaby as the castle’s clock was chiming the time was a fitting coincidence to this excellent concert.

chamber music at Alsion

PRO MUSICA – Free concerts in Sønderborg

ProMusica will host it’s last concert of the 2011/2012 season at Alsion concert hall this Sunday. We asked Jorunn Solløs for a short introduction of the concept and the concert.

Hi everyone,

My name is Jorunn and I am Norwegian girl, working as a flutist in Sønderjylland Symfony Orchestra. I want to write a little about our own chamber music series that we do just for fun :).

A job in a symphony orchestra is a full time job, but 6 Sundays a year, me and 3 of my colleagues arrange free concerts and all the musicians plays for free :). We get some financial support from Sønderborg kommune to be able to advertise in the newspapers and so on. I would say that it is a win-win situation; The musicians get to play great chamber music together (which we do not do so much as orchestra musicians) and the audience gets to listen to great music for free.

The next Pro musica concert in Alsion is on the 3rd of June (this Sunday). As a special thing this time we have invited Kolding Kammerkor to perform a piece with us. One of my ensembles, Kirin Winds just went on a small tour with Kolding Kammerkor to 5 different churches in Jutland and we really enjoyed to work with them so we invited them to come and perform with us again in Alsion.

So, if you want to get a free cultural experience in Sønderborg on Sunday this week, just come to Alsion at 3.00 pm.

The program for this concert will be:

W. A. Mozart: Quartet for flute, violin, viola and cello
H. Dutilleux: Sarabande et Cortege for bassoon and piano
M. Bojesen: “Kærestefolket i nye klæder” for choir and wind quintet.

Hope to see you there to a great musical experience in our beautiful concert hall 🙂

Best regards from Jorunn

Ann and I have been to a ProMusica concert before and it was really amazing. So find shelter from the rain this Sunday and join us at Alsion

Light by Night, spring 2012

The first late night opening in Sønderborg’s shops is tomorrow Friday the 29th. Most of the shops in central Sønderborg will be open till 10pm (unlike normal closing at 5pm).

The streets will be lit by oil lamps and two live bands will be walking around in the streets. The jazz bands Blæserbanden and the local Bosse4Brass will roam the streets playing groovy vibes. Michael Vogensen will play at Rådhustorvet from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

Several of the shops will have special offers, events or competitions during the evening.

Just Released: Per Vers: Bli’r Ved

What do you do if you have a segway, two marching bands, a cool car, 30km of unused motorway, a helicopter and a camera? Well the Danish rapper/poet Per Vers had this and made this spectacular one-shot music video.

Per raps about keep going. He’ll keep going “longer than Run DMC, till he has more back hairs than Run Jeremy”.

The M51 motorway connects Sønderborg to the rest of Europe’s motorway system. It opened two weeks ago but before that we ran on it and some people cycled on it.

chamber music at Alsion

Free Concerts at Alsion

With Alsion boasting a world-class hall, as well as being the home of the South Jutland symphony orchestra, one may indulge in numerous excellent concerts throughout the year. However, if money might be a bit tight at the moment, fear not! Alsion also offers a series of free concerts throughout the year – and you don’t even need to compromise on quality!

ProMusica concert series

chamber music at Alsion

ProMusica is side-project of some members of the South Jutland symphony orchestra that gives the orchestra players the opportunity to perform chamber music. On the day we attended they performed a variety of pieces, from solos to sextets, and in different styles. There was a pleasant variety and it seems that the pieces are selected to also please a general audience rather than solely experience listeners. Concerts are always on Sundays at 15:00 in the Alsion concert hall. The remaining concerts this season are on the 4th of March, the 22nd of April and the 3rd of June.

Solisterier by Dansk Solist Forbund

Solisterier is a series of concerts of Danish popular music. The cafe area is all decked out with chairs and tables and a podium is set-up at the far end. We attended the first concert earlier this year and were surprised to see a full house, even though I was by far the youngest member! If you like Danish popular music from years past you will probably love this concert. Otherwise? I’m not sure it will be your thing! The 2nd concert in the series is on the 24th of March at 13:00.

Singalong in the Cafe

Another series of free concerts in the cafe, this time organised by Sonderborg’s music council. We haven’t been along to this one as yet, but the upcoming concerts are on the 3rd of March, 31st of March and 28th of March between 12:00 and 13:00.