description essay
Tristan Marshall Eng 101 9:00am September 23, 2006 One night I was walking down the dark lonely woods when I see a park unlike any other park. Most parks are supposed to remind you of happiness, little kids playing and having the time of their young lives. Well when I thought of kids playing at this park it was like a nightmare where all the kids came back from the dead with there faces pale white and all cut up. I stopped to look at this park knowing the pathway ahead was a pathway I didn't want to take; it was full of darkness and agony. The park was surrounded by evergreen trees, taller and stronger then any trees I had seen before. Their branches looked like they were alive and over powering like they were going to strangle you if you got too close. All the parks accessories were set up on the outside of the park in the shape of an obscure circle. Leaving the middle of the park open with a patch of dead and bumpy grass. The park was very enclosed, bare, and blurred. It gave me the hazy feeling that I was the only person in the world to have ever found it. At the opening of the park right in front of my feet was a stream of water that I had been following for quite some time it was about a foot and a half wide. The eerie thing is that the water became as still and black as the devil's heart once it reached the park. The stream was bordered with black old torn up
Compare and contrast four preludes from J.S Bach's 'The Well Tempered Clavier'.
Amelia Johnson Music Report I have chosen to compare and contrast four preludes from J.S Bach's 'The Well Tempered Clavier', which consists of Prelude No 1 book 1, Prelude No 4 book 1, prelude No 8 book 1 and Prelude 22 book 1 which dates back to 1722 with four of Debussy's prelude in book 1 which are 'Voiles', 'La Fille aux chevaux de lin', 'La Cathedrale enloute' and 'Minstrels' which were first published in 1910. In the 18th century the traditional concept of a Prelude was an improvised or notated instrumental work played before more substantial composition or performed as a piece to an item in a church service, for example preceding a fugue like J.S Bach's 'The Well Tempered Clavier'. However in the 19th century the word prelude lost its original meaning and was now composed as independent instructional piece in any form or style. Most were one movement, fast in character for piano as demonstrated by Debussy's preludes in his First book, but which appeared in 1910. These Preludes were shorter and had titles which suggested that they could even be programme music. In J.S Bach's Preludes each prelude represents a distinct type of figuration, texture, form or technical problem. As was the case with Debussy where he established a unique identity at the start through melody (La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin), texture, harmonics (Voiles), ornaments (minstrels)
Dance history
In Dawn of Society, Dance Was Center Stage No one will ever know when someone first raised arms into the air, pivoted and took a few light steps this way and that - and danced. The birds and bees, those exhibitionists, were doing it their way long before. Some mammals were already courting through an unspoken poetry of motion. Humans may have been newcomers, but dancing as self-expression probably developed early in their cultural evolution, perhaps as early as speech and language and almost certainly by the time people were painting on cave walls, making clay figurines and decorating their bodies with ornaments. Archaeologists are at a loss to know the origins of dancing in prehistory because they lack direct evidence, nothing comparable to the art of Altamira or Lascaux. The best they have been able to do is extrapolate back from the ritual dances practiced by hunter-gatherer societies that have survived into modern times. An Israeli archaeologist now thinks he has pieced together a significant body of evidence for dancing, if not at its beginning, at least at a decisive and poorly understood transitional stage of human culture. Examining more than 400 examples of carved stone and painted scenes on pottery from 140 sites in the Balkans and the Middle East, Dr. Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University in Jerusalem has established what he says is an illustrated record of
What does it mean to understand music?
Aesthetics and Philosophy of Music Assignment 2 BMus 2 What does it mean to understand music? Is understanding important to musical experience or can one experience and enjoy music without understanding it? Or do you imagine, hope or suspect music to be inherently beyond understanding? And how would one know that? To understand, as defined by the Collins English Dictionary, is: "to know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; to realise or grasp (something); to assume, infer or believe; to know how to translate or read; to accept as a condition or proviso; or to be sympathetic to or compatible with " I believe that this definition of what it is to understand in general will be a useful starting point from which to begin our discussion of understanding in connection with music. From the above definition it can easily be deduced that to understand music must mean to know and comprehend the nature or meaning of music, to realise or grasp it, to know how to read (translate) printed music and to be sympathetic towards music. However, such a definition of the understanding of music raises many questions when we try to comprehend what this elucidation of the understanding of music implies. What does it mean to be able to "know and comprehend the nature or meaning of music", or "realise and grasp music"? And indeed how is one to know if they truly know and comprehend the
Early Music.
Early Music The Early Music ages consisted of several eras that took place hundreds of years ago. The eras throughout this time were Medieval, Renaissance, and the Baroque period. During this course in history a various amount of composers were in their prime and devoted to inspiring the world with their music. Just to name a few dedicated composers to galvanize this chapter in time are Hildegard, Leoninus, Dufay, Josquin Desprez and Palestrina. I will discuss the works of the previous composers as well as there background in each ones field of study. Hildegard of Bingen has been called by her admirers "one of the most important figures in the history of the Middle Ages," and "the greatest woman of her time." Her time was the 1100's, she was born in 1098. She was the daughter of a knight, and when she was eight years old she went to the Benedictine monastery at Mount St Disibode to be educated. The monastery was in the Celtic tradition, and housed both men and women in separate quarters. When Hildegard was eighteen, she became a nun. Twenty years later, she was made the head of the female community at the monastery. Within the next four years, she had a series of visions, and devoted the ten years from 1140 to 1150 to writing them down, describing them which included drawing pictures of what she had seen, and commenting on their interpretation and significance.
"A notation should be directed to a large extent towards the people who read it, rather than towards the sounds they will make." (Cornelius Cardew, 1961) Discuss.
"A notation should be directed to a large extent towards the people who read it, rather than towards the sounds they will make." (Cornelius Cardew, 1961) Discuss. The endeavours of some Experimentalist composers in the 1950s and 1960s, including Cornelius Cardew and John Cage (parenthetically, Cage's own quote, 'Let the notations refer to what is to be done, not what is to be heard'1 , has resonances with the title quote) were a purposeful reaction to the determinacy of the Serialists. However, the notions of integral serialism and indeterminacy shared common elements in some eyes: There is really no basic difference between the results of automatism and the products of chance; total determinacy comes to be identical with total indeterminacy....2 The way a piece is notated allows us to come closer to understanding 'the musical culture within which [notations] operate, and of the ways in which our modes of thought are influenced by the nature of the systems we use'3. This relates to the societal view that the composer is the one who has something to say, reducing the status of the performer to that of interpreter. However, this is not a view that has always existed; composers such as Mozart and Beethoven often expected performers of their works (including themselves, to which I shall return) to create improvised cadenzas for their concerti, while, additionally, the
"Enjoyable, but ultimately of little practical use." Consider the value of music or art or literature in the light of this comment.
"Enjoyable, but ultimately of little practical use." Consider the value of music or art or literature in the light of this comment. We live in a twentieth century world. Where we are greatly influenced by the media. Some have even gone to the extend of saying that 'Media is the OTHER PARENT' when our children are concern. The average person listens to the radio or watches some form of programme that will involve music at least a few times a year. The average person would probably also have a favourite song or music artiste. Thus such a statement saying that 'music is enjoyable but of little practical use' is quite an understatement. Our young today are relating to such form of art or like said 'enjoyment' and their lives are revolving around it especially with the help of the media. We can no longer think of music and link it with worthless value. I'm not saying that there aren't types of music that have negative influences but in this essay, I'll be writing about the positive outcomes and how music has influenced our society. In one's life, there is bound to be ups and downs. There are so many occasions of happiness and celebrations as well as sadness, anger and turmoil. In my opinion, music reflects all kinds of feelings and emotions that people on this earth have. It speaks out to us and is there when we need comfort and assurance. I believe that music is a powerful
Microphones - different types and their uses in performances.
Microphone Essay A microphone is a transducer used to capture acoustic energy and convert it into electrical energy. The electrical energy, also referred to as audio signal, is then sent to a recording device, usually an external interface or a D.A.W. (Digital Audio Workstation). It is then converted back to audio so that it can be played back and edited if necessary. All microphones contain a diaphragm, which is a 'thin piece of material (such as paper, plastic or aluminium) that vibrates when struck by sound waves' (Modern Recording Techniques). The Dynamic microphone works in the following way: 'When the diaphragm vibrates in response to incoming sound waves, the coil moves backwards and forwards past the magnet. This creates a current in the coil which is channeled from the microphone along wires.' (Dynamic Microphones) The diagram below shows this: (http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/images/mic-dynamic.gif) Dynamic microphones are mainly used for live on-stage performances as they are robust, can cope with high gain before experiencing feedback and are resistant to moisture. They are also relatively inexpensive, as a very basic one with a 3.5mm jack connection can be purchased for under £10, which are commonly used with basic computer applications such as Skype etc. Another benefit of the Dynamic microphone is that it does not require a power source, such as a
A comparison of the baroque and modern flutes.
a comparison of the baroque and modern flutes A comparative study of the use of the barqoue and modern flute in composition, with specific reference to ¡V Sonata IV for flute and continuo by J.S Bach, and Sonata for flute and piano by Hindemith The baroque, or transverse flute is of great interest to me, mainly because of my own flute playing experience. Since listening to a concert which included both a modern orchestra and a baroque orchestra playing together in a specially written composition, and separately, I have considered the baroque flute a much softer and more beautiful instrument, in construction and sound. It is because of this interest that I have decided to carry out my investigation upon the difference between the two flutes, particularly in composition. Firstly, I plan to study the development of the baroque flute, as it is my main focus for this project, and what its capabilities were for composition. Then I will compare the flutes, using the pieces I have chosen, one written for a baroque flute, and one for a modern flute. From this investigation, I hope to be able to draw some conclusions about the better of the two flutes. At the moment I prefer the baroque flute to the modern flute, and I would like to prove that it is indeed the better flute. History of the baroque flute The earliest record of a flute is in a ninth century BC Chinese poem ¡¥Shih