Musical tuning

Making a Musical Romance It’s an all too familiar trope in the film musical genre: the perfect couple locks eyes across the room. The piano strikes up. The happy couple sings in perfect harmony. They all live happily ever after. It’s a trope so familiar, it provokes audience responses ranging from grudging acceptance to outright hatred. However, like all tropes, the “soulmate song” can be effective when used properly, and truly move the audience to believe in the couple. In order to analyze…

Music is not music without reading and writing. I am not speaking of reading and writing English, rather I am speaking of reading and writing musical notation. The real importance of reading and writing in the context of music has to do with actually learning the language that is music. This might mean learning how notes relate to a staff, or possibly how an audio clip fits best in your garageband composition, or maybe even how a 7th chord can put a whole new twist on a Sara Bareilles song (if…

Music is embedded in every existing culture. There are no boundaries within the music. It varies between times and places. Without any doubts, music is one of the main sources that connect people without any barriers. So what exactly is music? According to the dictionary, music is a form of art that expresses different ideas and emotions through elements of rhythm, melody, and even color. The definition may seem to be easier to categorize music; however, music can be more than just the…

involved. Once Greece fell to the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire took what Ancient Greece had and adapted it to their culture. Before the Roman Empire took over Greece, the Romans never notated or left any kind marks of their musical history. The Roman Empire brought with them new musical instruments like the flute and pipes which had a peaceful harmony’s. However, when the Roman Empire fell, all the traditional music that was created from the Jewish people to the churches and from the Greeks to…

CORRELATIONS BETWEEN MY CD "COMPOSITIONAL IMPROVISATIONS™ FROM THE "MYSTERIA", AND "COMPOSITIONAL IMPROVISATIONS VOL I: WATER": Because these are improvisations, the use of the motives in the templates is to some extent arbitrary, as choices were made "in the moment" of improvisation--which is one of the most important aspects of the templates, one that can bring tremendous spontaneity to a performance. Other motives not in this template are used in the course of these improvisations as well,…

Discussing art can be a difficult task due to the complexities intertwined with a topic that encompasses many aspects of human life. Art has been defined and redefined throughout history by some of the prominent minds who still influence our thinking today. While conversations about influential topics are necessary in the human condition, we should decipher which philosophers’ points are the closest to accuracy in today’s time period. In our current society, Hume’s perspective on art, however…

From the origin of the American musical, a variety of creative teams have developed many methods to popularize now memorable shows. These methods were considered integral in the formula for developing the musical and were later deemed “conventional”. Composers and lyricists throughout the years eventually adapted these conventions and have created some of the most successful shows that are still relevant to this day, including Sweeney Todd and Les Misérables. Some of those inspirational…

without fighting in a monumental war, we find a battle, and we only need to look inward to find it. Often times the battles fought within are amongst the greatest, most trying conflicts, as they are against the self. This battle is apparent in the musical South Pacific, where blurred battle lines of racism prove more troubling than the prospect of fighting for one’s country. The dynamic duo of Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) bring to mind countless nostalgic…

The nineteenth century, the Romantic era of music composition, saw the rise of programmatic music, or music designed to convey a specific story, theme, character, or idea—without any voices. Programmatic music was a stark departure from the prioritization of emfindsamkeit in the Classical era, which had in turn signified a break from the Doctrine of Affections of the Baroque era. While “emfindsamkeit” in classical music referred to the value of music for its own sake, rather than trying to…

On November 10 I attended Elf the Broadway Musical written by David Berrenbaum and directed by Sam Scalamoni. I attended Elf the Broadway Musical which was put on by Texas A&M University and MSC OPAS. Elf the Broadway Musical was a comedic musical that appealed to audience members of any ages including a range from myself a college student to the family of four sitting next to me. Elf the Broadway Musical was a delight surprise, since I had seen Elf (film) I expected the play to appeal more to a…