Composers Manefesto -"Bloody Mary"

For this class we had to write a composition that utilized unconventional instruments and/or unconventional sounds to create a musical performance piece. When I was writing my musical composition, it was about a week from Halloween, my favorite holiday, and I was feeling in the spirit of spooky things. I also wanted it to be a piece that people could have a good time with. I kept thinking about how to connect sounds to a ghost story and when I couldn't find a suitable short story that had the right feel, I decided to write a poem myself. To me this structure seemed more appropriate anyways because of the rhythmic sound stanzas can create. My notation could have been more clear I think, because the class did have to perform it twice. The storyline in the poem was about Bloody Mary, an all time classic of urban legends. I read a bunch of "true" and made up stories about her to think of the sounds I could make. I had people whisper "Bloody Mary", scratch on desks and the carpet, make rumbling noises with hands and feet on the floor, rattle the doorknob, shake a piece of plastic to simulate wind and thunder, any random noises that others thought were weird, then a bell. The sounds were supposed to feel like they came in softer and grew louder throughout the story, allowing the suspenseful feeling to grow. Then the ring of the bell signals the sounds to abruptly halt, because to me, the sound of complete silence after a noisy ruckus is really eerie. Hopefully my composition was fun for people to perform and got across the spooky emotion that I was going for.

"Serse" at University of Northern Colorado

The performance of "Serse" at the Langworthy Theatre was great. I attended on the night where Serse was played by Joseph Young. Even with the amount of time we spent talking about the tradition of men singing falsetto, it was still a slight shock to hear that voice come out of such a big guy. My initial hesitation was quickly wiped away though, because his voice was just beautiful. He came out on the stage conveying such a miserable and heartbroken emotion. Singing to the tree, he really utilized his physical motions and facial expressions and I was entranced. All the performers had terrific voices and both Kristina Abernathy and Zachery Wilson especially stood out. When Elviro puts on the dress, Wilson's lanky physique is a natural advantage in making it especially hilarious. They were both really funny and breathed life into an otherwise mediocre storyline. I usually enjoy the love gone awry storyline, but this one was just to fancifully conflicted and resolved. While the play itself was good, I'm really glad that the director decided to change the time and setting to make it more manageable to a modern audience. The little details, like the posters and Amastre spray painting the peace signs, brought the Iran comparison to the forefront in a subtle but notable way. Also by making sure the repetitious sections were accented by movements and emotive actions by the singers, it helped keep me engaged. There were a few minor issues throughout the performance that did distract me a little from the story. There was the very noticeable problem with the monitor where the subtitles were being shown. It started flicking through the entire play at top speeds right in the middle of the song. While the actors and orchestra seemed like they got caught a little by surprise there, they moved forward. It was more the audience reaction that bugged me. Everyone around me started to whisper and laugh and talk about it which made me really loose the train of thought I was on and the emotion I was having. Another minor happening was when Atalanta's sunglasses fell off her head. At first the actress reacted instinctively and turned around to start reaching for them, but then she very quickly just made her motion a part of the character. I loved that. As for the sets, they were really amazing. The pillars were cool and constructed in a really neat way that allowed them to come up and down and change the look of the set. The background painting was stunning when he lights behind would simulate the time of day. At dusk it was especially beautiful and realistic. All around, the play was great and I'm glad I got the opportunity to hear such talented students perform.