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.

The Role of Art in My Education

Art is one of the only things I looked forward to going to school. It was a place in my education that at least let me feel like I couldn’t go wrong. Ideally, art shouldn’t have to seem like the escape from a day of soul sucking structure, but it seems like that has been its place in my life. The only bad experience I can think of would be taking an art class at a community college and seeing that even a topic I took refuge in could be sullied by stringent regulation. My teacher there was an interesting enough man with some unique ideas on the way art should be viewed and created. Unfortunately, he believed his ideas were the only ones worth following and imposed those visions on my own. I hated it. I would work so hard on a drawing and he’d just slap a B on it along with a list of methods I should have applied or executed incorrectly. This bothered me a lot and made me get worse and worse as the class progressed because I felt smothered by his expectation. I believe a lot of students who have restrictions imposed on them on any subject will grow to loath and avoid it altogether. That is why it is so important for creativity in art and every classroom to be present and accepted even when it happens to be outside the realm of outlined standards. Art is a vital tool in bringing about passion which is necessary in any subject studied. This was its role in my education. It allowed me to know that my ideas and my work, good or bad, are uniquely mine and aren’t something to feel afraid or ashamed of.

Fuchs & Friends Faculty Recital

The concert I attended at Milne Auditorium was great. The auditorium itself is beautiful and helped set the mood for the cultured experience that it housed. I loved the paintings on the back of the stage with the columns accentuated by shadows. For the first piece of the performance, there was a violin, cello and piano. After a beautiful beginning the cello player broke a string and there was more waiting to be done. Once they started up again things went smoothly. The music was great, but it was hard for me to focus entirely. Usually I really like small groups of strings, especially since I used to participate in a quartet in middle school playing the bass. In this performance however, my mind focused almost entirely on the piano and the violin players odd breathing pattern that made me drift off into my own head. Also, I sat next to someone who accidentally had a noisy water bottle and a few times I was just trying not to laugh. But the players were very talented and when the viola took the stage for the second piece it rounded out the sound of the other strings better and was easier for me to follow. All in all a pleasant experience and a great opportunity to appreciate he faculty and their talent.

Roger Sessions "The Composer and His Message"

There are over 500 emotion words in the English language. I think this guy wanted to use them all. He speaks of music as a specific form of art which includes cognitive thought processes of a deeper emotion which harnesses the essence of the unknown that dwells inside us all. An emotion is defined sociologically as a mental state that arises subjectively, rather than through a conscious effort, and is often accompanied by psychological change. I can for sure see music as being a catalyst or a production of this definition. Emotions are affected and molded to an extent by societal standards, however, and can produce many unified feelings concerning the same situations. So when a piece of music plays a downtrodden tune, most people will be unified in feeling a sad or dark feeling since this is what we are expected to feel. This author speaks very passionately and soulfully and his views are ones I agree with mostly. Human beings do have a way to be “inspired” or struck with these “ideas” that can help us mold and shape them into concrete productions and that in itself is always awe inspiring. I also agree that we are in a primal way attached to and affected to sound and movement and seems to be something that is natural to comprehend. The author also says that he believes art to be the activity of the inner nature and not just the reproduction of it which I thought was profound and affecting. At the end was a quote from Beethoven which read “Emotion is fit only for women–for man, music must strike fire from his mind”. I just thought this was interesting from a sociological point of view and how it reinforces the idea that the inner nature and thought process can be hugely affected by societal standards and teachings. For women, expressing our emotions is considered natural although it also implies we are the weaker gender. For men, emotions are something to be harnessed and used for other means. This quote is mildly irksome to my feminine side, but Beethoven apparently couldn’t weep openly so he substituted tears for ink and drops for notes. Interesting stuff.

Idea for Improvisation Presentation

These are not the exact dialogues of our characters or anything. Just a weird little outline!

Welcome to the 2009 Zombie Beauty Pageant at the beautiful Tranquil Gardens Cemetery. Our contestants are freshly exhumed and ready to go! Please put what remains of your hands together and welcome our first contestant, Tomb-marker 78!

Go through the contest like a real pageant.

Question Portion: How do you feel about global warming and its effect on the ecosystem?
Reply: Growls and gurgles
Announcer: Interesting, you don’t see a lot of people taking that stance these days....

Talent Portion: One contestant juggles her body parts, another does singing only making creepy noises etc.

Finally they announce the runner up and winner. They receive a prize of a free lifetime supply of embalming fluid.

Announcer: Well that was a swell time folks, good clean fun, and be sure to join us next week when Miss Zombie ‘09 breaks ground on the full moon to murder the innocent, don’t want to miss that! Thanks for watching and we’ll see you then!

D.H. Lawrence: "Making Pictures"

I loved this essay. I completely agree with the authors sentiments in the joy of the creative process involved in painting or drawing. I have never considered myself an artist since I lack that primal compulsive desire to draw that I deem necessary for anyone pursuing it as a way of life, but when I do come upon moments of inspiration, that is when I can actually make a picture. An image worth being proud of and taking joy in. The author said at the beginning, “everything that can possibly be painted has been painted, every brush-stroke that can possibly be laid on canvas had been laid on. The visual arts are at a dead end. Then suddenly, at the age of forty, I begin painting myself and am fascinated”. This is an amazingly beautiful statement. Humanity has many gifts but our creative functions, perpetually fascinating with the unexplored and individual nature of them, are the most impressive. We can overcome ourselves with awe at the way something inside can flow into context, built through conception, creative construction and completion.