Lute

Mak Yong is an ancient Malay traditional dance theatre including singing, dancing, acting, vocal and instrumental music, gestures, elaborate costumes, comedy as well as improvised spoken text in a single performance. Mak Yong is believed to be appeared well before the Islamization of the country. It is extending from the Patani region of southern Thailand through Kelantan, a north eastern state of West Malaysia. The majority of Mak Yong performances involved acting therefore no script were ever…

1. Loewe, J. Andreas. “‘Musica Est Optimum’: Martin Luther’s Theory of Music,” Music & 0 0 0 Letters 94, no 4 (2013): 573-605 “‘Musica Est Optimum’: Martin Luther’s Theory of Music”, an article by J. Andreas Loewes begins by citing a volume written by Carl Schalk titled Luther on Music, which updated previous records on the subject written by Walter Buszin and Paul Nettl. Schalk claimed that their works “caused frustration because of a lack of documentation”, though there were other…

The African continent is about 20% of the worlds land mass. It has about 934 million people living within the area. There are over one thousand languages are spoken by the people of Africa some estimate this number to be closer to two thousand. One-third of the worlds languages are spoken only in Africa. In Africa, 41% of children aged 5 to 14 are involved in child labour. There are tribes that are still using tools that were found in caves hundreds of years ago. On average, people have to walk…

In the last part of April the ocean air begins to rust the metal signs of shops along the bay of Santa Rosa. The crabs return to the ports and along the secluded rivulets of beach encompassed by water-worn stone. The winds change and the smell of moss and sea salt returns, and the gulls migrate in innumerable flocks as wide as the wood and white as the moon. The fishermen begin to take longer journeys and their wives cease their knitting of warm clothing. The gulls stop here every year to…

Elizabeth I: A New Kind of Monarch Queen Elizabeth I once advised, “Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.” This demonstrates the value she placed on trust in order to successfully rule. Elizabeth ruled England for almost seventy years, from 1533 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth I’s wide acceptance for all people, her passionate support for all forms of art, her implementation of the new Anglican church, and her dedication to her people drew England…

in the Baroque period and is one of the instruments most closely associated with this era in music. Aside from the omnipresent harpsichord, the baroque period also contained several hangovers from the Renaissance period, including recorders, viols, lutes, flutes and a whole range of string instruments that gradually fell out of use (classicfm.com). “With the new emphasis on melody in the Baroque era, the consorts of viols popular in the Renaissance were soon superseded by a new, more soloistic…

Transcendence may be defined as “the existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level” and may refer to the spiritual, the fantastical, the magical or the otherwise immaterial. The theme of transcendence - particularly spiritual transcendence - has been explored through the centuries in religious art, such as that of Giotto di Bondone (1266 – 1337) and Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475 – 1564). Michelangelo explored such themes on a monumental scale, in works such as…

zarzuelas during the Baroque period and zarzuelas during the Romantic period. For some background the Baroque period, taking place roughly around the 1600s to the 1750s, is characterized as ostentatious and grandeur. String instruments such as the lute or viola…

The Forgotten Town: Skamokawa After a busy week at work, a person would be more than willing to take a break from the hectic city life and go enjoy a weekend with their family somewhere quiet, but where could they go on such short notice and that wouldn't be too expensive for them? The perfect answer would be Skamokawa, WA. Even though not a lot of people heard about this town, it is still a great place to visit with ones family because Skamokawa seems like it is frozen in time with great…

Bareback Scandal The play Equus was written by Peter Shaffer in 1973, and opened the same year. Since then it has been adapted for film, and has been revived for the stage. In 2007 it was reset with a famous British cast. It is interesting to compare the critical response of the original production and the revival. There aren’t very many reviews left of the original because it was 30 years ago, and they did not have as much media coverage back then. For the revival, however, there are a lot of…