Bergjord Boarding

By: Luke

This photo comes from a trip in college. My studio profession Dr. Beckler would take his percussion ensemble to Pierre to play in the rotunda of the State Capitol.

This ended up being one of my favorite traditions. The sound quality complimented our instruments very well and made for a very fun venue.

This year was special for me because Dr. Beckler let the ensemble accompany a concerto I had been working up. The accompanying part was very repetitive and I imagine it wasn’t that fun to play, so it was very kind of everyone to play along.

One thing that stands out was the load-in and load-out process. The rotunda was on the second floor. We had to take apart the marimbas and vibraphones and wrap the pieces in blankets. The xylophone would just barely fit in the elevator, and a couple of the years the elevator was out of service. It was always a huge schlep. We had a very good ensemble that worked well as a team. Many hands makes light work or something like that. It always ended up being well worth the effort.

The other tradition when going to Pierre was eating at the Guadalajaras restaurant. If you have ever been to a Mexican restaurant in the midwest then you know exactly the experience we had. Chips and salsa hits the table, we get beans, rice, and meat in some combination in a tortilla with rice and beans on the side. Its bullet proof and a real delicacy to a college kid having a fun day of travel.