Week 5

Today I practiced for 8 hours. I am increasingly becoming interested in my music and learning to perfect my technique.  This entry will most likely bore you all but I feel this is a topic I can ramble on about endlessly. I have bought and checked out many books on the art of piano technique and am aimlessly hoping to find that one bit of information or clue as to how to play correctly. Anyone can play piano, but only a few people can learn to play it well. I’m starting to see that there is not one factor to exceptional playing, but multiple. In fact there are hundreds of things that factor in such as moods, relations, practice, physical factors, environmental factors, past experience, expectations, technical ability, and the kind of instrument you are playing on. With that in mind, I feel I have to read and communicate as much as I can to compile a true definition and technique to reach near perfection. So far I am working on relaxation and finger strength in order to play freely but still have even and steady tone.  The types of pieces being played also matter. Different periods of music require different touches. It is confusing because I have come across many books that conflict on what type of expression and phrasing to use such as in a work by Bach.  One book tells me to play certain notes smoothly while another says to play separate and detached.  I feel baroque music is the most difficult to analyze because there are no true dynamic markings or phrasings left by the composers. All current ones are thought up by analysts and musicologists based on historical context. It is strange thinking about how no one piece might be played exactly how to composer intended. Perhaps it was done on purpose to leave the performer their interpretation of the music. I will continue my search for prime piano technique. I’m so excited. No joke. 

WC: 330

Week 4

This week I decided to write about my sheet music Rhapsody in Blue. The piece of music has a cover picture of an unnamed city. The picture itself looks like it was painted with pastels and has a very muddy appearance like Van Goh's Starry Night. When one things of the city, all sorts of information and situations start to unfold. The hustle and bustle of the city can relate to the fast passages in the piece. Also the jazzy feel to the music corresponds with its birthplace, the city. The rhythmic aspects of the music can also be compared to the thousands of people moving around down the busy sidewalks. Car horns are represented through use of big brass sections and cadenzas. I feel that music can be represented through pictures just as well as a story. Music is a story and its all up to perception. The best fit for this would definitely be the city. The slow section could represent night time or a peaceful picnic in the city park. Emotions are also felt through  the text. The image uses cool colors such as blues and greens to create a sense of security. If it were a sinister piece the colors would be more hot such as reds and yellows. Another aspect of the picture is how it views the city from a birds view at a distance. It gives the feeling of magnificence and grace. The main theme of the piece is very majestic and is seemingly represents the immense grandeur of the big cement blocks and steel beams of a city. The view of a city at night is even more powerful in how it lights up the sky from miles away. Once picture can change the interpretation of music and how the text is read.

WC. 301

Week 3

 I'm pretty sure this week we were told to write about whatever we want instead of the scheduled blog subject. So today I plan on talking about posters. Oh how I love posters. They represent so much and are so important to the advertisement of things. Imagine a world without posters. I have about 1000 posters in my room. There are most likely 20000 of them spread out across the university. They help advertise upcoming events and causes. Posters range from jokes, plays, all types of music, comedy shows, causes, movements, company ads, and much more. We even have to make posters for our first project in this class! Imagine that. I feel society would lack if posters were gone. We would need some new type of communication like chalked sidewalks or digital marquis everywhere. The tree population in Brazil would prosper though. This brings me to my next point: recycling. I always throw out so much paper. The bins in the dorm hallways are not enough. I need one in my room because it gets mixed in with all of my other nasty garbage and I’m not digging through all of that. Looking at my garbage bin, I can see tons of paper stacked up ready to be pitched down the rubbish chute. What a shame. My next point: the word rubbish. I have never in my life heard an American utter the word rubbish to describe trash. I see no purpose in adopting sophisticated English terms for something as meaningless as garbage. Why not adopt words that actually mean something important like loo. I find loo more fun to say than restroom anyway. From experience, I know no resting is done in that smelly place.  My next point: constipation. I learned on the show Manswers that it can be fatal. Imagine that.


WC: 304

 

Week 2

I decided to watch Chelsea Lately on the E! network. I can tell the commercials are geared towards women because most were highly feminine products or services. The JC Penney discount sale was advertised along with Justfab.com online clothes shopping. Match.com was advertised as well as Jenny Craig and the Systrex probiotic system. Neutrogena and ACT restoring mouth were shown soon after. The next commercial break revealed pistachios and a Geico commercial.  It was interesting to see how so many of the commercials could link together. They first advertise clothing so overweight people decide they cant fit into them and follow up with a weight loss program to provide an answer to those who won’t buy clothes. The same goes for online dating and self esteem. TGI Fridays is then showed to induce hunger on the poor unsuspecting chubs. The ACT mouthwash commercial finished off the night to clean up those who purged to lose weight. The second thing I watched was That 70's Show on MTV. They target all teens and young adults. The commercials ranged from candy to body care. It also alternated between male and female products such as Gillette shaving cream for men and Olay mascara for women. Proactive was advertised multiple times to cater to the millions of teens with blemishes on their oily skin.  I always enjoy the Geico commercials due to their dry sense of humor and the little animated gecko or caveman. This commercial went along with other car commercials such as Ford to supply insurance to those who already have cars. The typical NOW cd was advertised 3 times as well to appeal to the teen audience. I feel that was the only music related commercial in the whole hour of watching MTV.  I truly dislike commercials and find them overbearing and quite annoying. When I’m older, I will definitely stick with Netflix. 


W.C. 312