Singing A Canon and a Canonball in the Apse Wall

I forgot to take my camera with me to my new music group last evening, so the only picture I can find of the venue, the Louise-Schroeder-Haus,   is  on the  brochure to the left.   Louise Schroeder was an SPD German politician and the first female member of the Weimar National Assembly during the Weimar Republic.    As an educator and activist in the "Worker's Welfare Institution" movement, she was under the scrutiny of the Nazi party during the 1930's and 1940s for her socialist stance.   After the division of Germany she became the mayoress of West Berlin from 1948-1951.  This house was established in her memory, and is used of the education of local people.   Volunteers run a variety of groups, from languages to painting, walking and singing etc,  just like the U3A in Great Britain. I have joined the singing group and run an English speaking walking group.   **This paragraph is long, but the format will not let me start a new paragraph. The old format worked well, so why change it to something not as easy to use.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr**  Rant over, and below I start a new paragraph under the photograph of the "Ocean Drum."

This is an "Ocean Drum" so named because inside, seen lying at the bottom, are tiny beads, which when the drum is gently rocked between the skins, makes the sound of  waves lapping on a beach.  It is so realistic, that it is easy to  think there is water and sand inside the drum. 

Last night was a new experience for me, as we made vocal sounds depicting the movement within the drum.  Keeping our eyes closed and with each of us staying in tune, we reacted to the different sounds made by the other singers in the group.  We started together on a single note, and amazingly arrived together with a gentle conclusion.  It was all so very relaxing.  We sang some songs in German and English, and also sang a "Canon," a short song which is sung by different singers in rotation.   Which leads me onto the  "Canonball lodged in the Cathedral Wall."    How's that for a good link!

I've only noticed this phononema this year, I've walked past this very spot for the last three years and not looked upwards.  The choir apse has a canonball imbedded in the wall, a left over from the siege of Braunschweig in 1615.  The inscription, just visable on the column below the ball, dates it to August 20th 1615.   

The city of Braunschweig had been struggling to resist the Dukes, and stay independant as an imperial city since the 15th century.  The Dukes moved to Wolfenbuettel, but never gave up their claim to govern the insubordinate city.  Around 1600 they enforced their claim with military force.  The hardest siege of all was undertaken by Duke Friedrich Ulrich in 1615, and lasted for three months.  Braunschweig almost gave up hope, but received outside help, and the Duke had to accept the city's right to independence once more.  His sucessor Duke Rudolf August, finally succeeded in conquering the city in 1671, and ended the citizen's dreams of independence.