Rock opera

The novel West Side Story by Arthur Laurents is a literary interpretation of the musical by the same name. It follows the musical fairly closely, sticking to the same storyline and similar dialogues. In the story, two rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets only seem to have one thing in common; their hatred for each other. Even with this, Maria, little sister to the leader of the Sharks, and Tony, a former member of the Jets, fall in love. There are many reimaginings of this book, but one movie in…

Through the play of “Macbeth”, the celebrated playwright, William Shakespeare, presents numerous elements of witchcraft and supernatural, accompanied by a number of other themes as well. The present theme of Appearance versus Reality contributes to the overall intriguing air of the play, and will be the focus of this piece, including the three main points being: Trust, domestication of women, and dramatic irony. Trust, being the major disparity of the piece, is an element used to the fullest to…

One actor that showed good head voice vs. chest voice was Dakota. Dakota played Fantine in Les Miserables. In the scene right before Docks Part 2, Dakota sings a line that says, “you let your foreman send me away…” As she sings this, she hits very high notes and not once do you hear breathiness or squeaky, airy notes. She sings with power without belting by singing in her head voice. I couldn’t not tell when she switched into her chest voice. Her sound was pure and smooth the entire time. They…

Katia Boose Mrs. Parrott AP Lang/Comp; Per. 2 8/9/17 Why I Love Bass Back in time when I was in the 4th grade, I picked up a violin for the very first time. That was the day I joined the elementary school orchestra, and learned how amazing it is to be able to play and create music. When I made it to the 8th grade, however, my instrument of choice changed from violin to bass, which did not particularly excite my mother. “You’re doing so well with violin,” she said, “why would you ever want to…

The article The Importance of Music Education written by Alexis Kalivretenos, a trumpet player with a Bachelors Degree in music education from the University of Maryland, is a compelling article that argues the importance of keeping music in the core curriculum of education systems across the nation. Kalivertenos uses a combination of ethos pathos and logos to argue that music should not only be kept in the curriculum but actually benefits the other subjects in the curriculum. Kalivertenos…

In his article “How we Listen to Music”, Aaron Copland (1988) states that music is listened to on three different planes. Copland describes them as the sensuous plane, the expressive plane, and the sheerly musical plane. The reasoning for listening to music for the pure rhythm and harmony is the sensuous plane. The sensuous plane is where “one turns on the radio while doing something else and absent mindedly is engendered by the mere sound and appeal of the music” (Copland). People who apply…

Two of the most famous movies set in Iowa are State Fair and Music Man. Both of these musicals do not correctly portray Iowa. In State Fair all of the glamourous costumes and bright lights do not show a true Iowan town. In Music Man people living in Iowa are not fairly represented they are depicted as rude, gullible, and unintelligent. These movies similarly fail to show the audience true Iowa with their unrealistic adaptations of Iowa, and leads the audience to believe Iowa is something it is…

On Wednesday, I and my friends attended the workshop hosted by Professor Battista-Hancock. During the workshop, we used some instruments and our hands made many catchy rhythms. Also we together wrote a song talking about friendship. It was a very interesting experience. This workshop helped me notice the importance of integration of nature as well as how music can make a change of one’s mind. At first, we were asked to follow the beats given by professor with our hands. It is so surprising…

The play Amadeus is a film about two composers, the history’s greatest musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, who is the court composer and narrator of the story. The play Amadeus displays the destructive effects of jealousy and hatred. Mozart is portrayed as an obscene and immature, but an extremely talented composer. Mozart was blessed with a God given talent that Salieri tried to replicate but failed to accomplish. Salieri was obsessed with Mozart’s “voice of God” and…

The nineteenth century was the golden age of orchestra and a lot of great orchestras that still exist now were established at that time (Morey, 1988). It was very common to play a wide range of pieces in a concert. However, the concerts in around 1830 can be called a “miscellaneous concert”. Here is an extreme example: In 1844, Jules Benedict, one of the most significant musicians at that time organized a concert with thirty-three works and it lasted for about four hours. The thirty-three works…