Musical notation

John Cage was an American composer that experimented with the very nature of sound and developed new ways of notating music. Cage’s ideas on composition influenced many artists such as painters, musicians, and chorographers. Cage questioned the musical preconceptions that was left from the 19th century. Arnold Schoenberg, a teacher of John Cage, called Cage “not a composer, but an inventor of genius” (Hicks, 1990). Many musicians, and to much of the public, thought Cage’s compositions…

An old gentleman regret his own musical inability but view Bibi’s talent as a gift from God to which the average person could not aspire. There is no more shame in falling short of Bibi’s accomplishment than in bowing before the Christ Child. A businessperson, believing art to be merely…

The courante (“running” or “flowing”) was a French dance whose choreography included bending the knee on the upbeat or offbeat and rising on the beat, often followed by a step or glide. The music is in moderate triple or compound meter and always begins with an upbeat. In many courantes, including the two in this suite, the meter shifts back and forth between 3/2 and 6/4, sometimes with different voices simultaneously implying different meters. Although the composer included two courantes in…

When watching the video of John Cage's 4 "33", I was first confused on what William Marx was doing. I watched the video several times, to gain my focus on what he was doing. Finally, I understood why he was just sitting there and not playing the piano. Truthfully others probably have thought the same thing that I did when I watched the composition. William Marx sat down and opened the top cover of piano and set a timer, he never struck a key on the keyboard through three different movements.…

grew up with her father until he passed away. Ruth began writing poetry at an early age and as a teenager had aspirations to become an "authoress or poetess". In 1914, Ruth went to Foster's School of Musical Art to study musical art by learning the piano. After she attended the Foster’s School of Musical Art, she began attending the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago to further her education by focusing on the piano, but that is not what happened. Instead of staying for only a year like…

remains under the functional chord progression. Assisting to a Baroque Orchestra event, it’s a nice experience, which allows you to get closer to what is music, I have to address with greater motivation to understand and enjoy different forms of musical expression. The work presented containing different elements, which managed to produce a…

This text to me is about temptation, wanting something when you know you shouldn't have it. I imagined a person secretly and quietly going into the icebox and eating some delicious plums that were crisp and frosty. To me the emotion of this poem, is satisfying along with saddening. I do not find myself happy when I finish reading this poem, thus, I find that there is mostly an instability of emotions. The concept that the person who ate the delicious plums betrayed the person who owned them.…

In Copland’s “Piano Variations” the piece is quite simple but darkly colored with 20 variations and a coda, giving a sense of dramatization in continuous variation form, which were originally played on a piano and are now placed into the orchestra which gives it a more lively and colorful perspective on the piece. It opens up in heavy, ominous manner but then more into the piece the chords are struck heavily to give this sensation of engrossment. You’re captivated by everything that is thrown at…

Nothing gives me more satisfaction than playing the clarinet; Evan hearing it gives my pleasure. I have been involved in a performance where you play jazz at heritage landing. At age 12 I realized that I belonged in front of an audience. I started to give demonstrations to younger kids to help out Mrs.Lawrence (My former band teacher and friend). My Friends and I have had fun doing such a thing. It was 7th grade for me and I was offered to play a part in the Muskegon Jazz band. Mrs. Lawrence…

already sang before. The pentatonic scale can be shown in the video as being accessible because the audience may or may not have musical skills or training prior to relaying the pentatonic scale back to Bobby McFerrin. The significance of the pentatonic scale is that it is easily recognizable to any person. People are able to reproduce it without having a lot of musical training. As a new vocalist, the pentatonic scale is something that I can replicate with practice. There is not a specific…