Why do thousands of people every year immigrate into our country without proper documentation? In a myriad of these cases, the reason is to escape from hardship and suffering. One of the most common regions people emigrate from is Mexico, and the reasons for this are developed within The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. This book tells the true story of a girl that journeyed to the United States of America with her brother and sister, all as undocumented immigrants, in order to live with their father. The author of this memoir not only explains the privation she dealt with in her home land of Mexico, but she also demonstrates the racial division and other forms of adversity that were present within the United States of America, or El Otro…
Guido d’Arezzo was an Italian Benedictine Monk born in France in the century year of 995. Guido was not a composer during this time, instead he was a musical therapist and teacher. Although he was not a composer, Guido made the discovery of a new form of music notation after moving to Italy where he also worked for Bishop Theobald, despite the fact that he was a music therapist and teacher ("GUIDO D'AREZZO"). With his new discovery, this method made it possible for composers to record their music on paper. Beforehand, singers and composers had to remember their own melodies and chants by memory, causing major differences within the music as they passed the music down generations ("GUIDO D'AREZZO").…
On the surface, one might not think that the great Italian opera La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and the acclaimed indie group Dinosaur Jr. have much in common. One concert, for instance, took place in an intimate performing arts center to an attentive and quietly reverent audience while the other in a loud, rough-and-tumble rock venue to a lively and informal audience. Indeed, there may appear to be no similarities between the effortlessly skilled classical stylings of the UNT College of Music and the deliberately ramshackle indie sound of Dinosaur Jr. However, with these two concerts, we see Christopher Small’s concept of “musicking” in full effect and, critically, two different forms of the same musical elitism.…
At their core, the mere concept of musical films is utter genius; seamlessly combining cinema and song, two of the most formidable, emotionally stirring art forms, is a recipe with colossal creative potential. From the inception of musical film with the Alan Crosland directed 1927 motion picture “The Jazz Singer”, to modern box office triumphs such as 2016’s “La La Land”, and 2017’s “The Greatest Showman”, the genre has resonated phenomenally with its audience -- seldom fading out of fashion’s spotlight, consistently producing waves of extravagant displays of story, song, and dance. Regardless of the countless advantages they may hold, similarly to any other high profile genre of art, the musical’s fame and fortune has regrettably spawned numerous…
Is our problems violence within gangs, violence within ourselves or violence within society? It could possibly be all three in one. We fight for what we believe in. We fight for what we do not believe in,for example many girls and guys to not believe in love but still fight for a certain person just to keep them by their side. At the same time we do not want to be an outcast, so we fight for what other people believe in.…
On November 8th, 2015 I viewed a recorded pop music performance of Selena Quintanilla titled “Selena Live”. The performance originally took place on the evening of February 26, 1995, at the Astrodome Stadium in Houston, Texas. The legendary Tejano music star, Selena Quintanilla, became one of the most famous Latin music artists around the world. She was referred to as the “Queen of Tejano”. Tejano music, also known as Tex-Mex is a popular music genre that blends European, Mexican, and U.S. musical influences (Tejano).…
Laurie Ann Guerrero’s Ode to El Cabrito can be perceived many different ways, but any way the reader may look at this poem it is captivating through its incredible word play and powerful imagery. When reading Ode to El Cabrito it is obvious that if the reader was to perceive it latently then it would basically mean that Guerrero was making a fresh batch of cabrito which in Mexican heritage is a roasted kid goat. Therefore, when Guerrero says “I tear away your muscle, bubbling fat, and warm tortillas over coal, in the onion and cilantro” ( Guerrero 12-14). Guerrero’s lays a foundation in this poem that can take the reader down many different roads while trying to perceive the true meaning of this poem, although there may not be a true meaning.…
Like actors Black people fell into the roles, placed on them by white slave owners, of Jezebels, studs, and savages. Tom Burrell’s Brainwashed Chapter 3: Sluts and Studs describe the sexual stereotypes and labels placed on Black people. The nature of some Black American’s can be traced back in history, to slavery and the deep psychological damage that was done to us as a culture. Burrell explains the idea that sex, in the eyes of Black people, is seen as a means of survival, conquest, and a ticket to getting whatever you from someone. The media and songs that people produce and listen to in this day and age do not dispute this ideal.…
The author really made his point on why people should stop defending music. When Peter Greene wrote the article Stop Defending Music, he wrote it for all the people who think music’s is a waste of time in schools. What Greene meant by stop defending music is, to stop making music seem like a bad thing to have in schools. Give music a chance to schools just like you give any other creative arts a chance. He just wants to stand up for what he believe is right when it comes to music.…
Rebel Music In Daniel Felsenfeld’s narrative, he describes himself as a rebel, when it comes to the taste of music during his time. In the beginning of his narrative, Felsenfeld feels he is missing out on different aspects of culture, particularly music. At seventeen, he was a traveling, amateur, pianist. He was getting tired of playing the same music and started drifting from his passion.…
2. The song is fast paced and he punctuates his words very quickly. It has a very strong country tone to it with the guitar rhythm being the baseline of the song, along with the maracas. Berry even sings the song with a bit of a twang which really connotes a western style.…
This paper will analyze the short novel Aura by Carlos Fuentes, a well-known Mexican writer who was part of the literary movement known as Boom. I argue that Carlos Fuentes creates a mythical reality to reference Mexican history. He uses Aura, Felipe Montero, and Consuelo as a reflection of the past and the present, where Consuelo represents the past and Felipe the present. In this analogy, Aura represents what Mexico could become. Mexican history is hard to understand because it is intertwined with myth, therefore to understand Mexico we need to understand its mythical past.…
In the movie, several songs were sang by the characters. These songs were very good and really changed the whole aspect of the movie. While the characters were singing, they were…
Music in film can have many purposes. It can change the mood of the audience, alert them to danger, or even be used to give exposition of the story to the audience. The latter, along with its variation, such as a monologue delivered in song, are used to create musicals--a genre used by Disney since its very beginning. For this journal I watched Disney’s Moana to see how it used music to move the plot, and influence its audience.…
Growing up in a household that shared a love for music, created a massive impact into Bruno Mars’ life as an artist. Ever since he was young, he’s been exposed to 80’s R&B music which he ended up loving til this day. Bruno Mars’ recent work, 24K Magic, illustrates how he was able to execute an 80’s R&B style album with the use of different components. These components consist of combining various instruments, choice of lyrics, and emotions. He also kept a similar theme to his previous albums, however he was able to add a little twist in every song.…