music

I think many students stress a great amount regarding the supplement section of a college application. I personally believe the essay(s) you construct for college should be viewed as an opportunity to discuss what is on your mind in a mannerly level. which should not be too onerous. It is as though you are just transferring your thoughts into a piece of work, but with precise use of grammar and vocabulary. In my opinion, submitting an essay on the topic of your choice is quite intriguing and it is something I have anticipated to complete for the past year. I chose this prompt for the reason that I want to focus on how much I have grown as a person in the last couple of years, more specifically the time of high school. For a majority of my life. I was not aware of what was happening around me. Unknowledgeable decisions were made in the past, some I do not regret because those choices made me who I am today. Junior year of high school was a crucial turning point in my life.

There was a lot transpiring at the time as I was multitasking in my mind. I let issues devastate my mood, bring me down, and become quiet every other day in school. My unintelligent decision making can date back all the way back to when I did not apply for an honors middle school program because of a girl I had liked. Looking back at it, that decision I made was by far one of the worst. I sacrificed the opportunity of upgrading my education by being blindsided by a person who did not even care for me. Why would I even do such a thing? Up until the eleventh grade, I was still ignorant regarding what was occurring in my mind. I was confused, but I decided I had enough. I looked back to all of the poor decisions I had made in the past. the pains I was currently experiencing, and I broke free. My mind had expanded significantly duringjunior year.

I started to sense what was circumventing me and began to try to work everything out. For the past years or so I staned to talk to myself, in an effort to create pros and cons with the problems I was enduring. I do not mean talking as in having a conversation. but more as if I was brainstorming and letting information out in the form of speaking. I must say, that helped out quite a bit as it made it easier for what I wanted to achieve. I began to start embarking on thinking before I speak and the actions I made I started talking less to people, for the better, just so I can focus on what is taking place in my thoughts. One factor I can give credit to my growth as a person goes to music. The art of music makes me unique in my own way and plays an essential role in my life. As years passed, I was introduced to new artists who gave a whole new outlook on many subjects. The productions and melodies all inspired and made me change the way I perceived myself and the dilemmas surrounding me.

These vocals and instruments support any emotions that I go through, whether I am frustrated, cheerful, or irritated, Rodeo by Travis Scott is an album that unlocked my true potential that I had been waiting so long for. I cannot thank my favorite musicians enough for composing such beautiful projects that remarkably assisted me, The growth of my mind made me realize how much I want to accomplish in the future. Who am I? A curious and visionary person who strives to succeed in life. I am appreciative for what I have at the moment, more than people may think, and am aware that my problems are not as serious as other people’s troubles in the world, but I have been the underdog for too long, My sense of development within the past year has changed how I think forever: While I am alive, I feel like my destiny in life is to do something extraordinary. This vision has been circulating me for some time and I eagerly await to complete it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. He was a multi instrument musician who started playing music at the age of six. Mozart was married to Constanze Weber on August 4, 1782 and they had four children.

Mozart was the sole surviving son of Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart. Mozart’s father was a very successful musician, composer, violinist, and assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg Court. Wolfgang’s mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born to a middle-class family of local community leaders.

His only sister was Maria Anna nicknamed Nannerl. With their father’s encouragement and guidance, they were introduced to music at an early age. Leopold started Nannerl on keyboard when she was seven, as three year old Wolfgang looked on. Mimicking her playing, Wolfgang quickly began to show a strong understanding of chords, tonality, and tempo. Soon, he was being tutored by his father.

Although Mozart’s parents were musically oriented there is nothing in their history to account for the amazing prosperity of Wolfgang and his rapid development or his later ability to impress music lovers around the world.

Wolfgang’s father, Leopold was more down to earth. For him, music how he made his quiet reputation as a reliable music servant. Over the years, Mozart collaborated with a variety of European venues and patrons, composing hundreds of works that included sonatas, symphonies, masses, chamber music, concertos and operas, marked by vivid emotion and sophisticated textures. Mozart compiled a great number of achievements in his short life, none more spectacular than the composition of his last three symphonies in 1788, in little more than six weeks.

Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. It was the last symphony that he composed. The work is nicknamed the Jupiter Symphony. This name stems not from Mozart, but rather was likely named by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon in an early arrangement for piano. The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns in C, two trumpets in C, timpani in C and G, and strings.

The 41st Symphony is the last of a set of three that Mozart composed in succession during the summer of 1788. The 39th was completed June 26th and the 40th on July 15th. Around the same time, Mozart was writing his piano trios in E and C major, his sonata facile, and a violin sonatina. It is not known whether the 41st Symphony was ever performed in the composer’s lifetime. According to Otto Erich Deutsch, around this time Mozart was preparing to hold a series of “Concerts in the Casino” in a new casino in the Spiegelgasse owned by Philipp Otto. Mozart even sent a pair of tickets for this series to his friend Michael Puchberg.

But it seems impossible to determine whether the concert series was held, or was cancelled for lack of interest. The four movements are arranged in the traditional symphonic form of the Classical era: 1. Allegro vivace, 4/4 2. Andante cantabile, 3/4 in F major 3. Menuetto: Allegretto – Trio, 3/4 4. Molto allegro, 2/2. In an article about the Jupiter Symphony, Sir George Grove wrote that “it is for the finale that Mozart has reserved all the resources of his science, and all the power, which no one seems to have possessed to the same degree with himself, of concealing that science, and making it the vehicle for music as pleasing as it is learned.

Nowhere has he achieved more.” Of the piece as a whole, he wrote that “It is the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution.” Scholars are certain Mozart studied Michael Haydn’s Symphony No. 28 in C major, which also has a fugato in its finale. Charles Sherman speculates that Mozart also studied the younger Haydn’s Symphony No. 39 in C major because he “often requested his father Leopold to send him the latest fugue that Haydn had written.”

The Michael Haydn No. 39, written only a few weeks before Mozart’s, also has a fugato in the finale, the theme of which begins with two whole notes. Sherman has pointed out other similarities between the two perfectly contemporaneous works. The four-note motif is also the main theme of the contrapuntal finale of Michael’s elder brother Joseph’s Symphony No. 13 in D major (1764).

In spike of three brevity of his life Mozart produced more than twenty theatrical works over forty symphonies at least twenty seven piano concertos More of live of Mozart, is that on 14th of April 1784 Wolfgang became a freemason in Vienna, He joined the lodge Zur Wohhltatigheit at the level of an apprentice, on April 22nd he earned the rank of master mason. During his life Wolfgang had ongoing relations with many Freemasons. In Mannheim in 1778 he had begun to set music to text, Semiramis, by Otto von Gemmingen, e Freemason who may have played the role of Wolfgang’s sponsor when he was admitted to the Beneficent lodge, given” FROM – MOZART BIOGRAPHY – Piero Melograni

The symphony no 41 in C was completed on August 10/1788, and reestablished Mozart’s supreme confidence after the emotional dilemma he had faced so courageously in no. 40. The tonal ambiguities of that works are replaced with the least Problematical of all keys, and the scoring has no room for the mellowness of the clarinets that were added to no. 40. There is no slow introduction to the first movement, but the opening triplet gestures suggest that such opening addigo statements as the found in the prague symphony are already being assimilated into the structure of the opening allegro vivace theme.
In answer to these triplets comes a structurally important phrase marked that strives upwards,
Here is the examaple,

“From; music of wolfgang amadeus mozart book
to george de sain saintfoix (18741954)a pioneer of eighteen centry musical research”

As I mentioned above this Movement has been celebrated over 200 years as one of the quintessential examples of craftsmanship in western music, moving forward in this analyses, I am going to discuss it many incredible contrapuntal passages culminating in the coda during each five of the previously introduced themes, the sonata form movement begins with a simple homophonic statement of theme number one which consist of four whole notes, for the remainder of the movement it is answered by a frequently recurring rhythmic motif since it does not play a role in of the future contrapuntal passages, theme number two immediately follows this and consists of a dotted figure followed.

• By descending configuration of eighth notes.
• By descending configuration of eighth notes.

The First Significantly contrapuntal passage occurs when theme number one at least the first three notes of it enters as the subject of a few capacity short underlined figure acting as the counter subject.

After this forceful statement of the theme number one, the theme number Three consist of three staccato notes followed by a trill dotted figure makes it first appearance as a Stretto between the violin and the cellos and Basses. Stretto is a use term for when the entries of the subject are squeezed together such that the second enters before the first finished.

Although it does not strictly apply to any in this movement I am going to analyze it to describe moment when the themes enter in such close succession. The Stretto involving the theme three begins the modulation to the dominant to key and immediately followed by a stretto involving them number. In this case entry occurs on beat after the first, with a third abbreviated entry in the horns of just the dotted rhythm giving the appearance of three part of imitation. With a dominant key of G major now firmly established, this is a moment when old or new thematic material would enter in the new key. On this movement it consists of fourth played by the first violins

The stretto involving theme number four begins with imitation of just its three notes, with entries separated by space if in measure. The entirety if theme number four us played in a remarkable four part stretto, with each entry.

The symphony ends with statement of recurring motif and theme number two, in a majestic in conclusion of one the most magnificent in the symphonic literature.
Conclusion, Considering Mozarts’s total symphony achievement, compassion will inevitable be drawn with the music of his contemporaries and ultimately his status….

My earliest memory of learning to do something is when I was about six years old. This is when I first really notice someone playing the drums, and from that moment on I was captivated and wanted to know everything about it. To provide some background in how my fascination with the drums came about, I grew up in the Baptist church, my mother and grandmother sang in the choir, and my godmother was the choir directress, therefore a lot of my time was spent at church, and my attraction grew toward the music department, specifically the drums. I remember trying to play the drums at six years old; my legs weren’t long enough to reach the foot pedal, I had the wooden sticks in my hand, banging on the snare and crashing the symbols making an excessive amount of noise. I would pretend I was the young teenager who played on a regular basis during the Sunday morning worship service.

I remember my mother and grandmother being there, my godmother, and other musicians. I can remember musicians from other churches also there playing instruments such as the piano, the organ, the bass guitar, and the saxophone. Because of all the loud noise I was making with my banging the drum, I remember the adults telling me “okay baby, that’s enough now” and hiding the drumsticks away from me. At that time, I was feeling anxious, wanting the chance to play again, just because I loved the sound that came from the drum. Because my family did not own a drum set of our own, I looked forward to coming to church all the time just so I could hopefully get a chance to play the drum.

Learning for me during that time happened just as it does now, visually. I learned with my eyes and by physically engaging myself with the subject. For example, I can recall playing with drum sticks in the living room at my grandmother’s house. I would take the decorative pillows from each corner of the sofa and stack them up, I’d get plastic topple ware from the kitchen cabinet and beat the life out the pillows and plastic containers pretending to be a professional drummer at a church musical or sold out concert. Learning also came by the use of my imagination. I visualized each of the items I had gathered were different parts of the drum set. The two decor pillows were the tom-toms, the plastic topple container were the snare drum, I gathered those thick pacific bell yellow pages from the bookshelf and used them as my bass drum, and my mother’s sheep skin tambourine for my crash symbols. Although the loud noise, “racket” my granny called it would drive everyone in the house nuts, I remember the noise also bringing them joy watching me grow and learn in my own imaginative way.

As I grew a little older, in addition to my learning at church on the actual drums, or at home in the living room in my imagination, I made my everyday surroundings a pretend drum set. I think I learned more playing the drums in my imagination than I did on the actual real drum set at my church. In other words, I made my environment into a drum set to practice my timing, my coordination, and to build confidence. For example, in the car on the way to school each morning, the back of the passenger seat was my drum, and my drum sticks were either ink pens, or number two pencils. At school in the classroom, the bass drum was my desk; the tom-toms drum were Houghton Mifflin reading and math text books, and I made sounds with my mouth as the crash symbols. I remember this being a distraction in class, my 3th grade teacher Mrs. Scott had to write my name on the chalk board a few times, he even called my grandmother and said Mrs. Mendenhall, “she’s beating on the desk again.”

This was the process for me learning to play the drums, and as I continued to grow older and gain more experience, music continued to be a big part of my life both in the church and in my own personal life. Learning for me took on many forms. I learned different beat patterns through listening to my favorite songs on the radio, watching soul train on Saturday mornings with my homemade drum set, and hanging out with my stepdad in the garage when he would play his vinyl record player, or his VHS cassette tape footage of artist like BB King, Curtis Mayfield, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, the Bee Gee’s and my personal favorite, “Earth Wind and Fire.”

My stepdad was a huge influence to my learning of the drum and my attraction to music as well. I remember his stereo system in the garage with a combination of vinyl records- 45 rpm, cassette tapes, CD’s, headphones, and other electronic means to listen to and record music. I spent a lot of time in garage listening to music, learning about different genres of music, and creating new beat and coordination patterns for my learning of the drum. I began to learn more about my stepfather as I got older. I later learned that he too was a drummer, and although he never played professionally or took on a career in music, his background in playing the drums in high school became another avenue of learning for me. Having a stepdad who shared his love and interest in music had a huge influence me.

This was so impactful to my learning to play the drums because I received the best of both worlds in my youth as it relates to music in that, my mother gave me the gospel at church, and my stepfather gave me the blues at home. When I was about thirteen years old, my grandmother purchased a drum set for the family; the drums were set up in the garage with the record player and stereo system. I can remember my younger siblings and I would argue over whose turn it was to play next on the drums. When the confrontation between the three of us got to out of hand, we were given three warnings to work out our conflict, if we couldn’t manage to do so, as a punishment, my stepdad or mom take away the sticks and cover up the drum set with a blue king size, bleach stained bed sheet, this was the sheet we used in the garage to keep dust from collecting on our drums. Each of these experiences growing up played crucial roles in my learning, in my observation and in the way in which I took in information.

In reflecting on my own experience, some of my biggest barriers to successfully learning to do something are lack of personal interest, if there is lack of time to comprehensively understanding what I’m learning, and lastly if I feel like what I’m learning is not meaningful and aligned with my life’s purpose. Learning for me as far back as I can remember has always been difficult, In order for me to learn, I have to be genuinely interested in what whatever it is I’m learning, if I’m disinterested, I won’t put forth the appropriate effort or give my personal best to the subject matter. In the case of the drums I was interested in learning, there was and attraction to the sound, I took time in creating beats, and I liked the idea of the drum as being the heartbeat of the pulse of the band.

Another barrier I’ve experienced in my learning is the amount of time I have to learn. I’ve notice that if I’m not given much time to learn a new idea or concept, a new cooking recipe, or in this case a new drum pattern, my frustration builds quickly and I suddenly become disinterested in what it is I’m learning. I believe that learning doesn’t happen in a hurry; like learning to play the drums, it’s a process. The process of learning is ongoing, in fact I’m still learning to play the drums today even as an adult. Time allows me to learn new things about the drums, learn about the history of the drums, and learn ways I can use my love for the drums to share with and impact the lives of others.

Lastly and most importantly, if what I’m learning is not meaningful to me or aligned with my life’s purpose and values, I see it no purpose of learning it. Learning to play drums was meaningful to me because of my connection to and upbringing in the Baptist church. The combination of my mom’s passion for singing in the choir, and my stepdad’s interest in music and past experience with playing the drum is what gave my learning value. These are the people who taught me to play the drums from a child up until my mid teen years, the exposure I got back then was so inspirational. Each person taught me something different, I remember my mom playing the tambourine in the choir, I watched her play the tambourine for years, and that taught me rhythm and timing of a beat. My grandmother taught me by letting me use my imagination with my homemade drum set made out of couch decor pillows, and plastic kitchen containers.

My stepdad taught me music and drum history in a sense, by opening up to me and sharing his past experience with playing the drums, he taught me by playing his old records in the garage, and buying my younger siblings and me our first family drum set. As an adult I still sometimes have an interest in playing the drums at my church on Sunday’s. I see many of the youth at my church taking an interest in the drums and learning how to play just as I did when I was their age. The youth at our church are learning by association, because learning must be culturally relevant and connected to purpose in order for it to be effective and meaningful. I think what I learned many years ago, and what I’m still learning today is connected to my purpose, it is aligned with my values and beliefs which is giving back to my community, impacting lives through sharing my personal story, and ultimately helping others learn to be lifelong learners.

Similarly, in Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph” the heartbreaking description at the beginning of the story shows how both the environment and the personalities of characters have been greatly affected by the cruelties of war. The city has been reduced to rubble. The sky is grey. People look for any way to help them forget that they are seriously affected by the war. These escapes are literature and music. The story starts with the scene of four men surrounding a small fire within the cave. Dr. Jenkins has invites three men into his cave. On this day he exceptionally shares his treasures that he has saved during the war with the men.

There are things he believes are the soul of good relaxing enjoyment for them at this period of time. Things like music and good books. He generously reads his books to the other men and plays his old portable phonograph with one of his treasured steel needles to entertain his guests. During the reading, and playing the phonograph, those men show the enormity of their desire and excitement, such as might a thirsty person who lives in a desert and has seen the oasis. The young musician, while he is listening to the phonograph, seems to experience the greatest impact of the group.

He is so emotionally involved with the music, that after the music stops, he decides to leave without saying a word to Dr. Jenkins or the others. This shows how important the music is to him. Like a medicine, it helps heal the wounds of war but at the same time shows him his loss. After his guests depart, Dr. Jenkins has thoughts of paranoia and theft. He too was healed by the day’s visit but the wounds in him force mistrust of humans. The major characters in both stories are different types of victims left behind by war. Krebs, as a veteran, and Dr. Jenkins and the musician as lovers of fine art.

Krebs comes back to the same environment as a veteran of war. Dr. Jenkins’ group’s environment changed entirely which forces a change in their personalities. Krebs is pessimistic in facing his new environment, even though the environment itself has not been changed by the war but only Krebs himself has been damaged within. He forces himself to lie in order to gain recognition. Unlike Krebs, the characters in “The Portable Phonograph” adapt to their post war environment. They are survivors but they are damaged from their experiences and must find comfort in small pleasures such as music and books. Like Krebs, they avoid reality but through music rather than avoiding honest communication with people such as Krebs does. No matter what a person’s role in war, soldier or civilian, the effects on the soul are equally damaging. The effects on the environment further shake up any comfort left to cling to.

The genre of Caribbean Music consists of a diverse variety of musical styles and traditions from islands that are located in the Caribbean. Most music of this region combines features of music from Africa with features of music from the West. This combination began with the European colonization and slave trade but still continues into the present time. One of the music styles is called Calypso. Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of the first African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Calypso can be a means of communication and to mock the slave masters . The year 1914 was a significant year in the history of calypso. This is the year that the first calypso recording was made. By the late 1930s, the most remarkable artists of calypso; such as Atilla the Hun, Lord Invader, and the Roaring Lion were making a fast impression on the calypso music world. Lord Kitchener rose to fame in the 1940s and conquered the calypso scene until the late 1970s. Since then the United States and the rest of the world has identified calypso with the Caribbean. The most popular and most recognized calypso artist in the Caribbean would have to be Harry Belafonte. In 1956, Harry Belafonte recorded his Calypso song, the famous Banana Boat Song probably the most internationally well known calypso song in all time. His Calypso album also became the first album ever to sell over one million copies. Today, calypso music has expanded to a religious setting. According to an article written by Michael Troussant, A classical referent is the rhythmic redefinition accompanying the rendition of traditional hymns and praise songs by Shouter Baptist and Shango Baptist congregations of Trinidad during worship. There is a tendency of individual singers to begin singing from any point in a bar of music, on the so-called wrong beat or accent, and to maintain their individual phrases Another popular form of Caribbean music styles is called Reggae. It was originated during the 1960s in Jamaica. The term reggae is said to have had a major influence of a particular music style that originated the development of ska and rocksteady (which are two other popular forms of Caribbean music style). The most popular and decorated reggae artist would have to be none other than Bob Marley. A popular biography written by Timothy White titled Catch a fire: the life of Bob Marley gives a tremendous insight on the life and death of the reggae artist.

ave the people of Jamaica something to stand for with his controversial claims of the Jamaican government. One of his famous hymns stated To divide and rule could only tear us apart, in every man chest there beats a heart so soon well find out who is the real revolutionaries and I dont want my people to be tricked by mercenaries. Reggae music claims its dominance in Jamaica but has a wide range of influences in the Caribbean as well (especially the Hipic speaking counties). The characteristic of the reggae music in the Hipic Caribbean is the expression of a realization apparent by the unity of interests among the roots Rasta reggae artists. Several Latin American have invited reggae singers and DJs from other countries in the region to participate in their musical productions. According to an article by Samuel Fure Davis titled Reggae in Cuba and the Hipic Caribbean: fluctuations and representations of identities stated that The Mexican reggae artist Jah Fabio, for example, collects on his album Rasta para ti a variety of Latin American voices and messages from Mexico to Chile, including Cuba. Moreover, Kaweskar (Chile) is not alone on his CD Taksu (2006) but also features among the Cuban voices that of Principe Carlos from the band Insurrectos (The Insurgent), now renamed Herencia (Legacy) . This was an extremely informational article of how the roots of reggae stemmed out to the neighboring nations. The diverse musical familiarity extends throughout all of the Caribbean islands and also throughout the mainland. Another popular form of Caribbean music is called Soca, a more modern and up-beat musical style that comes from the ethnic groups of Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a fusion of American soul music and traditional calypso and became very popular during the 1960s. The father of soca music is none other than Garfield Blackman a.k.a Lord Shorty which became a great success with his music. Lord Shorty rose to fame in 1963 with his recording of Clock and Dagger. Interesting key elements about Lord Shorty written by Lorraine Leu said that, Ras Shorty I (Lord Shorty later changed his sobriquet when he embraced Rastafarianism). In the last ten years or so, soca music in Trinidad has seen the increasing predominance of a sub-genre within soca, which one could call party soca, immensely popular songs at the fetes with a furiously fast pace . Calypso and soca have their similarities and also their differences.

Many music historians would compare and judge the form of soca music claiming of its false originality. They both have a fixed rhythmic group as their well-known feature. The bass, kick drum and snare give rhythmic emphasis and the high hats, bells, conga and strum contribute to texture and timbre. Soca has a similar structure as calypso, but the rhythmic patterns are in a cycle of four as opposed to two beats in calypso. The vocal melody is integrated into the rhythmic pattern in calypso, but soca is largely instrumental. One other popular and rhythmic music style is called salsa. Salsa has gained its popularity in the U.S. over the years but little is known about the origination. The source of salsa music comes from Cuban and Puerto Rican descents but many scholars claim its origin mostly from Cuba. The question of whether salsa is Puerto Rican or Cuban causes heated debates among musicians, aficionados, and scholars. One particular article makes clear and definitive points on the argument, While the Cuban son and rumba are the foundation of the music that is known as mambo and later developed into salsa, Puerto Ricans also closely identify with this music. That could be very much true which still to this day raises debates. The author also states that, There are many reasons for this. A large number of musicians in the early New York scene where this music first emerged were Puerto Rican. From well-known composer Rafael Hernandez to Tito Puente, the undisputed king of mambo, Puerto Ricans have long adopted the music of other communities and become proficient at them; in salsa, Puerto Ricans Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, and Willie Colon are among the most popular and iconic musicians.

Washburne is able to take the well-known fact of Puerto Rican involvement in salsa and show how it plays out in today’s dynamic scene. Salsa’s most direct predecessor is Cuban son. Large son bands were very popular in Cuba beginning in the 1930s; these were mostly septetos and sextetos, and they rapidly increase to the United States. A narrative biography encompasses the rich history and origin of Tito Puente. Tito Puente is generally considered to be the godfather of salsa, devoting more than six decades of his life to performing Latin music and earning a reputation as a masterful percussionist. Tito Puente was born in New York City’s Spanish Harlem in 1923, where the hybrid of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican music helped create salsa music. By the time Puente was ten years old, he played with local Latin bands at neighborhood gatherings, society parties, and New York City hotels. Puente first performed as a young boy with a local band called Los Happy Boys, at New York City’s Park Place Hotel, and by the age of 13, he was considered a child prodigy by his family, neighbors, and fellow band members. As a teenager, he joined Noro Morales and the Machito Orchestra. Puente was drafted into the Navy in 1942 at the age of 19 to fight in World War II, which entailed a three-year reprieve from music . There are numerous diverse music styles of the Caribbean which relatively all compare with each other in some way. Different sounds, rhythms, beats, voice all encompass the variety of Caribbean music. Its rich history of art and music gave many opportunities for young or old to express their feelings on a personal note or for a political stand point. To this day, Caribbean music influence artists across the globe and also gave way to different walks of life a feel good rhythm and music. The music of the Caribbean is an assorted combination of musical styles. They are each influences from African, European, and native influences, shaped by the descendants of African slaves. Calypso, Soca, Reggae, and Salsa music are just some of many different styles of the Caribbean.

David Fincher’s Fight Club demands the viewer to be hyper aware of what would usually be auditorily mundane. The audible result is a wild exaggeration of the real thing, conveying the full power, pain and impact of throwing or receiving a blow to the face or body. Sound designer Ren Klyce and Foley artist John Roesch worked together to create a variety and texture to the punches and the dramatization of the environment in scenes through interweaving between dialogue, music and Foley. Starting at 1:35:19, “The Narrator”, the unnamed main character, comes into shot watching Tyler Durdan praise a new member. Under the train rails, the clatters and screeching of the tracks are expected to be booming from the audience, however, when the camera pans to the main character’s face, the dialog from the conversation between Tyler and Angel Face is gradually muted so that the camera rests on The Narrator’s irritated expression, the rhythm of the train moving on the rails above him as the only sound.

At 1:35:33, The Narrator is still in focus but at an extreme wide shot, showing the rest of the members running of screen along with the beat of the train and the staccato rattling of the metal, transitioning to a scene starting at 1:35:40. While the obvious train rackets end by this scene, the clatters of the metal continues at a different tempo into the next scene where The Narrator and Angel Face are fighting. The two bodies that are about to fight are moving at an appropriate speed while the characters surrounding them are blurred out and slowed down, drawing in focus where the action will happen even though nothing has taken place yet.

The voices in the background are low, faded, and fluid, contrasting the tapping still playing from the train tracks. At 1:35:47, Angel Face takes the first punch. The sound is soft, matching the volume of the chanting in the background. The sounds of the punches coming from Angel Face are exactly what the audience would expect to hear from an “in-movie” punch. There is first the sound of two people’s flesh meeting, then a whip of air from the force, then the retraction. Once the fight is initiated, the background of the chanting becomes more audible. The audience is no longer assumed to be in The Narrator’s perspective of the scene and instead experiencing the fight as a reality. At 1:35:54, the punches shift to more of a smacking sound, a sharper and more jarring punch, rather than a “boxing punch” to not get lost in the gradually amplifying volume of the characters chanting around them.

At 1:36:03, The Narrator swings his first punch where Angel Face collapses onto the ground at 1:36:06. From that moment, a ringing in the background starts, fading out the chanting again so that there are barely any ambient noises. The only things heard are the ringing and the re-introduced tapped from the transition of the train scene, used to amplify and draw attention to the intensity and violence of each punch from the Narrator. At 1:36:16, a shot of a member’s open mouth yelling is muted except for the bass vibration of what would have been heard followed by a low and slow punch to Angel Face’s chest, auditorily paraphrasing the previous extreme close-up shot of the member’s mouth. At 1:36:22, everyone watching the fight is silent, letting the ringing project louder without interrupting the smacking sounds of the punches.

The fight ends with The Narrator’s voice stating, non-diegetic, “I wanted to breathe smoke”. Angel Face comes into shot for a final time at 1:37:09 to show his face completely bloodied and gasping softly for air, camera tracking away from him and toward Tyler and The Narrator where thunder is played before the two characters step outside, transitioning to the next event without breaking the scene completely. In the car, The Narrator and Tyler are arguing about the actions planned for Fight Club and are interrupted at 1:38:26 by a car’s horn blaring.

From that moment Tyler’s voice raises and the car’s engine plays in the background. Sentences move shorter allowing sounds from the car to be brought in in fragments, highlighting the intensity. At 1:38:56, the lights outside of The Narrator’s passenger window rush past at a higher speed, adding a whipping sound affect that the character’s in the realm would not realistically hear, but plays in the dramatization of the scene and gradually amplifies the aggression of the fight in the car. At 1:39:01, the camera cuts back and forth in shots between the wheels of the car and the interior of the car while the sound of the vehicle bumping over the road markers is constant. At 1:39:03, with the bumping of the road markers persistent, the camera moves to the front windshield where the light of truck moving towards the members is in center shot.

The bumping is no longer constant from that moment, but instead comes in on every fourth beat layered underneath Tyler’s voice. Each member of Fight Club has a turn speaking and at the fourth, when Tyler angrily speaks, the bumping re-joins, indicating the obvious danger. At 1:39:26, the sequence breaks when the car rushes right by the truck, wind whipping beside it. At 1:39:52, Tyler states “Why do you think I blew up your condo?”. Right before The Narrator responds, a single low beat is played. At 1:40:00, the tapping from the train tracks is returned, letting the audience understand that the rest of the audio from this moment is tied with the emotions and perspective of The Narrator. A two note humming plays once The Narrator silences and begins to contemplate the information of Tyler blowing up his condo. 1:40:12, the dual note humming amplified and moved towards droning while the car is moving uncontrolled. The first crash hits right at the expected pause of the droning at 1:40:32, where all noise expect for the destruction of the metal from the two cars is heard. The camera cuts between extreme close-up shots of the members in the back seat yelling and The Narrator acting visually upset.

Many people and events throughout Bob Dylan’s life influenced his song writing, performances, lifestyle, and personality. One of these influences, as it was to many musicians, was drug use. To many artists, musicians, and even fans of the time period, drug use was a huge influence and inspiration when creating or listening to their art of choice. In Bob Dylan’s case, it was his music. From the first time Bob Dylan smoked marijuana in Minneapolis in 1960, to his cocaine usage in the 1970’s while on tour with The Band, drugs were always an influential factor in Dylan’s life (Williamson 62-63). Whether it was his low-energy performances or his electrifying live sets, there was almost always a certain kind of mind-altering substance behind the legendary songwriter that created these vibes. Although Dylan claimed that his drug usage never affected his song writing, Marqusee outlines a few verses from different songs of Dylan’s from over the years that may sometimes hint subtly and other times nail down references to Dylan’s habits (Williamson 62)(198-199). For instance Marqusee refers to “Mr. Tambourine Man” as some form of a beginning or prototype for psychedelic-themed anthems to come (198). Although Dylan would go on to claim the songs main character, Mr. Tambourine Man, wasn’t about some imaginary figure from a hallucinogenic experience but rather inspired by a fellow musician Bruce Langhorne (Unterberger). Regardless, Dylan’s songs would continue to be influenced by and in turn inspire future generations due to his experimentation with mind-altering substances.

In Dylan’s song “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” off of Highway 61. Revisited (1965), he outlines a sense of isolation and loneliness that
much of the drug counterculture may not have always experienced: I started out on burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they’d stand behind me when the game got rough But the joke was on me, there was nobody even there to bluff I’m going back to New York City, I do believe I’ve had enough Marqusee makes the observation that perhaps these feelings of isolation or loneliness spawn from his drug choice being amphetamine and speed as opposed to drugs that the hippies were more involved with such as LSD and other hallucinogenic substances (198).

Although some of Dylan’s songs such as “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” offer feelings of loneliness, Dylan himself explained that he “would not feel so all alone” when taking drugs. Much of the counterculture that was involved with drug usage felt a bond of togetherness, spawning from all being a part of an outlaw community. Being against the establishment was an attractive property to many people during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and certain pieces of Dylan’s music was able emulate that feeling and expand it into art form (Marqusee 198). The feeling previously described as loneliness, could in a way be taken as a desire to escape, which is why many were tempted to participate in recreational drug-use that normally wouldn’t have ever been exposed to it (Marqusee 197). As Dylan believed himself, “Opium, hash, pot – now those things aren’t drugs, they just bend your mind a little” (Williamson 62). But the thing is, Dylan didn’t just experiment with these aforementioned mind bending substances. As Williamson writes, according to singer Marianne Faithfull, Dylan’s drug of choice on his 1965 tour of Great Britain was methedrine (62). Additionally, in May of 1966, Dylan had created a habit of scratching himself which is a common sign among drug addicts and would even stay up for days on end with no sleep. In some instances on the Australian leg of his 1966 World Tour, Dylan would play his first set self-involved and almost shy or unenergetic. His second set he would emerge with a burst of energy, hurling his songs at the crowd. This was most likely due to heroin before the show, and cocaine in between sets (Heylin). This mixing of substances can be seen referenced in his song “Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again” off of Blonde on Blonde (1966):

Now the rainman gave me two cures

Then he said, “Jump right in”

The one was Texas medicine

The other was just railroad gin

An’ like a fool I mixed them An’ now people just get uglier

An’ I have no sense of time

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

Once again we can see drug usage being mixed in with his lyrics,

despite what he had to say about it only affecting his ability to perform at his concerts.

Eventually in 1966, Dylan would have to retreat to Woodstock, NY in order to, in a way, reset his body from the amount of drug use he had endured over the years (Williamson 63). This didn’t stop his drug use in the long run, still returning to cocaine use on his Rolling Thunder tour in 1975 and 1976. Although Dylan had used drugs throughout his career, he still claimed, “I never got hooked on any kind of drug,” in a Rolling Stone interview in 1984 (Williamson 63). Regardless of what Dylan says to the media, and regardless of what Dylan specialists believe to be true, it was clear that in some form or another Bob Dylan had used mind-altering substances that overall influenced his music and the counterculture as a whole. Without his experimentation, many of his performances and songs would have come out in a different light. That light may have been a light that his listeners didn’t agree with, or maybe it would have been a more uptight performance or recording. Whichever way might have been the outcome, Bob Dylan had become one of the greatest singer and songwriters in history, and drugs undoubtedly had a massive influence on how that became true.