music

Quantitating action potentials To quantitate the detection of an action potential for toothpick and wind-blowing, you could first record the sound that the speaker emits when connected to the cockroach in a controlled setting (room temperature, no moving air, no change in the lights, etc). Then, you would touch the toothpick to the cockroach and also record the sound. To increase the accuracy, you could record multiple touches of the toothpick to the same place on the cockroach. You would then take the recorded sound waves and graph them. To determine if an action potential was detected, you could measure one of two things.

First, you could measure the amplitude of the sound waves in the background recording versus the toothpick touching (since this would indicate volume), and see if there was a significant difference between the two. You could also count the frequency of the sound waves per minute to see if the toothpick touching significantly increased the number of sound waves. To quantitate wind-blowing, you would repeat the above experiment but instead of recording the sound from the toothpick you would record the sound the speaker emits when you blow on the cockroach. To quantitate the strength of the response when an action potential is triggered, you would first set up the cockroach as we did in the second part of the experiment.

Then, you would select several different genres of music, such as heavy metal, classical, and pop, and sample a few songs from each category. Underneath and alongside the cockroach leg, you would place a ruler or other measuring device. You would play each song and record the distance in millimeters every time the cockroach leg moves. You’d average these values and determine if there was a significant difference in the amount the cockroach leg moves when connected to different types of music. Experimental controls During the experiment, you would want to be sure to keep the background noise constant (no talking or background music playing), prevent any air currents other than the controlled blows, and keep the same amount of light and heat in the room during the trials. A negative control would be recording the sound waves of the noise that’s produced when you don’t blow on the cockroach or touch it.

A positive control would be hooking the speaker to a live cockroach that you know is firing action potentials when it moves its leg and recording the resulting sound waves. This control might be problematic for ethical reasons, however. If you were trying to determine what kind of music elicits more or greater action potentials, a negative control would be again recording the sound waves that the speaker emits when you aren’t playing any song. A positive control would be playing a song you know would elicit more action potentials, such as one that is significantly louder. Otherwise, you would want to select songs from each genre that have similar characteristics, like volume, beats per minute, types of instruments, etc. Predicted outcomes For the first experiment, I would expect that the control (no touching) would result in a small number of quieter sound waves with a low amplitude.

The sound waves that result from the toothpick I would expect to have a higher amplitude, and for there to be more of them. I would expect the same for the wind blow, except the difference compared to the control might not be so pronounced simply because there is less direct contact. For the second experiment, I would predict that the leg would move the greatest number of millimeters when louder and more intense music is played, such as heavy metal. The consistency and volume of the loud music would cause the leg to move the most since it most likely would trigger stronger and more action potentials. Other music, like pop and classical, would cause the leg to move even less. The control test, or the sound waves when no music at all is played, would most likely result in no leg movement at all.

The most important thing that was expressed about the definition of modern music is that the degree of modernism depends on the experience and taste of those whom are listening. This means that each person can have vastly different views on which musicians and what styles are considered modern, because the critique of all arts is merely opinion. The definition for modern in a dictionary is anything within the present. When discussing music the essay emphasized that modern music has other qualities than newness alone. To be considered modern music, it needs to alter in a varying degree from the traditions in material and in the style; it departs from previous conventions. In much of the essay, it is shown that modern music often experiences opposition. In the past, and even still the present, society and the music world initially reject modern music. In the essay music is described as a living language. When modern music is born it can also be considered as new way of expressing a new language. Music evolves just as language does. In the context of music, the grammar used in modern music is its harmony, melody, and rhythm that break all rules.

Modern music uses foreign words and expressions that portray the ever-changing environment. There are many styles of music today that can fit the description of modern music. New Age, which often uses sounds of nature to create a melody, clearly has an original style. Hip-hop music is a fairly new form of expression, and when it first began it was rejected and misunderstood by the public. More recent, as it has become more accepted in society and the pace of rhythmic change is quickly altering, for the demand of the listeners. The style of jazz music has also changed a great deal compared to when first born. I feel that modern Jazz as opposed to old jazz is a good example of a new expression of a society in which we live. Lastly, techno, which is a fairly new style of music, still is having trouble being accepted by listeners. After reading about other responses to modern music in the essay, its unpopularity is probably due to unfamiliar sounds used in a common repetitive pattern. I have often heard reactions that techno is unpleasing to the ear. Each of these styles will either quickly fade with the times or remain strong and evolve through time. The final outcome will be most dependent on the response of the listener, which also may or may not evolve through time.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time brimming with life, excitement, and movement. The world in all viewpoints was in slow recuperation from the depression. The universe of music was extending, sharing it’s excitement all through the world. The advancement of jazz excited the interest of the country. As Blacks got their opportunity, they could convey what needs be as gifted people. Certain blacks contributed immensely to the period of jazz, for instance, Duke Ellington.

Edward Kennedy Ellington who is also known as Duke Ellington was an American piano player who was the best jazz writer and bandleader of his time. One of the originators of enormous band jazz, Ellington drove his band for the greater part a century, made thousands out of scores, and made a standout amongst the most particular group sounds in all of Western music. According to (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica), Ellington experienced childhood in a safe white collar class family in Washington, D.C. His family supported his interests in the expressive arts, and he started playing the piano at age seven. He wound up engaged in contemplating workmanship amid his secondary school years, and he was granted, yet did not acknowledge, a grant to the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. Inspired by ragtime performers, he began to perform professionally at age 17.

Ellington initially played in New York City in 1923. Soon thereafter he moved there and, in Broadway dance club, drove a sextet that developed in time into a 10-piece group. He would mastermind move groups for weddings and gatherings for additional cash. He put his insight into piano playing to utilize and played at a couple of the move gatherings and weddings. In the wake of utilizing his imaginative ability in painting blurbs, Duke at that point chose to assemble his very own band.The solitary blues-based songs; the unforgiving, vocalized hints of his trumpeter, Bubber Miley (who utilized a plunger [‘wa-wa’] mute); and the sonorities of the unmistakable trombonist Joe Nanton (who played muted ‘growl’ sounds) all impacted Ellington’s initial ‘jungle style,’ as observed in such perfect works of art as ‘East St. Louis Toodle-oo’ (1926) and “Black and Tan Fantasy’ (1927).

Ellington broadened residencies at the Cotton Club in Harlem (1927– 1932, 1937– 1938) fortified Ellington to develop his band to 14 artists and to extend his compositional extension. He chose his performers for their expressive uniqueness, and a few individuals from his group—including trumpeter Cootie Williams (who supplanted Miley), cornetist Rex Stewart, trombonist Lawrence Brown, baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and clarinetist Barney Bigard were themselves vital jazz artists. With these excellent artists, who stayed with him all through the 1930s, Ellington made many chronicles, showed up in films and on radio, and visited Europe in 1933 and 1939.

In 1931 Ellington started to make expanded works, including such pieces as Creole Rhapsody, Reminiscing in Tempo, and Diminuendo in Blue/Crescendo in Blue. he made an arrangement out of attempts to feature the uncommon abilities if his soloist. William exhibited his flexibility in Ellington’s prominent smaller than expected concertos ‘Echoes of Harlem’ and ‘Concerto for Cootie.’ During these years Ellington progressed toward becoming fascinated with the potential outcomes of making jazz inside traditional structures. His melodic suite Black, Brown and Beige (1943), a depiction of African-American history, was the first in a progression of suites he created, more often than not comprising of pieces connected by topic. In spite of the fact that Ellington’s compositional advantages and desire changed throughout the decades, his melodic, consonant, and musical qualities were generally settled by the late 1930s, when he was a star of the swing era.

Ellington’s elaborate characteristics were shared by Strayhorn, who progressively took an interest in creating and organizing music for the Ellington band. During 1939 -1967 Strayhorn teamed up so intimately with Ellington that jazz researchers may never decide how much the talented appointee affected or even formed works credited to Ellington. The Ellington band visited Europe regularly after World War II; it additionally played in Asia (1963-1964, 1970), West Africa (1966), South America (1968), and Australia (1970) and habitually visited North America. Regardless of this difficult timetable, a portion of Ellington’s performers remained with him for quite a long time; Carney, for instance, was a band part for a long time. He adjusted his style for symphonic purposes, going with striking symphonious hues and, particularly in later years, offering swinging performances with precise tunes. A rich man, Ellington kept up a lofty way as he drove the band and enchanted crowds with his smooth diversion.

His vocation crossed the greater part a century, the majority of the recorded history of jazz. He kept on driving the band until in the blink of an eye before his demise in 1974. Ellington was the beneficiary of various Grammy Awards all through his vocation, and in 1959 he was granted the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was assigned for the Pulitzer Prize in 1964. The city of New York gave him a prize and Yale University granted him a specialist of music degree in 1967; Morgan State and Washington colleges likewise gave him privileged degrees that year. On his seventieth birthday celebration Ellington was respected by President Richard Nixon (1913– 1994) at a White House function and was given the Medal of Freedom. In 1970 he was chosen to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Ellington kept on creating and perform until the point when his demise from lung disease on May 24, 1974, in New York City. His band, headed by his child Mercer, endure him, however as Phyl Garland of Ebony magazine composes, the senior Ellington will dependably be associated with ‘the challenging advancements that came to stamp his music—the bizarre adjustments (changing starting with one key then onto the next) based upon rich tunes that meander into sudden spots, the strange (untraditional) development of tunes.… ‘

For a good portion of his time as an composer and bandleader, Ellington underplayed his job as a musician. All through the 1950s and mid 1960s he started performing with some of the other incredible artists and arrangers of the time, making collections that included Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1962), Money Jungle (1962, with Max Roach and Charles Mingus), and Duke Ellington meets Coleman Hawkins. Among the more youthful ages, Ellington was both an image of the conventional methods of jazz music and the best case of how to rise above those modes. The magnificence and vitality of prior pieces, for example, ‘State of mind Indigo’ stayed alive in even the last long periods of his life. In May of 1974, Ellington passed on of lung malignancy in New York City.

In his over fifty years as an expert artist, Ellington had been designated for a Pulitzer Prize, chose to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, granted a specialist of music degree from Yale University, given the Medal of Freedom, and, in particular, constructed the establishments from which a significant part of the best American music subsequently developed. Ellington’s heritage is that he stays one of the best gifts in all of jazz, a momentous accomplishment considering the historical backdrop of jazz is pressed with unbelievable names. His impact over performers is as critical today as it was amid Ellington’s time.

Upon registering for Music Appreciation, my knowledge of music was somewhat limited. The only information I did know was from playing in the band many years ago. I played several instruments in my junior high school’s band. There were only twelve players in this band, but every time we marched for competitions and football games we played with heart. The first instrument I ever played was the alto clarinet. Once I learned how to read sheet music, I switched to the alto saxophone as we had no other saxophone players in our band. Although I enjoyed playing the alto saxophone, I was also intrigued by the trumpet. Therefore, I taught myself how to play the trumpet in my own time.

All of this was many years ago; I was surprised while studying the information in module one when I realized how much I had forgotten. Music Appreciation has helped me to remember a lot of the information I learned in my band classes, and has also taught me lots of new information about the art behind music composition. I now know there are many different components such as tone, pitch, timbre, that have to be factored into the creation of such masterful works; music is made up of so much more than just words and a simple beat.

Beyond just teaching me about the complexity of music, Music Appreciation has presented me with the history of many different musical compositions and genres. My four favorites are the “1812 Overture”, twentieth century music, the historical development of the symphony, and the opera. The background presented in this class regarding these events and learning how they have shaped music today has been both intriguing and enriching. Music Appreciation has helped me to develop an appreciation for different types of music that I was not previously accustomed listening to.

The “1812 Overture” was created by Tchaikovsky when he was asked by a friend to compose a piece that would be used for a number of upcoming events including the commemoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The cathedral building was being built to celebrate Russia’s victory over the invasion of the French that concluded with Napoleon’s retreat from Russia in 1812. Tchaikovsky completed the piece in just six weeks, and was unlike anything he had ever before written.

The “1812 Overture” accounts for the events that happened during the war while referencing the French national anthem, “La Marsillaise”, as well as Russia’s “God Save the Tsar”. Tchaikovsky opens his piece by referencing the Eastern Orthodox Troparion of the Holy Cross (O Lord, Save Thy People). As the piece references the period of wartime, the tension and stress increases in the piece by use of pastoral and martial themes. To describe the time when the French forces are approaching closer to the city, the French National Anthem can be clearly heard. This is to illustrate the dominance by the French army. As the music progresses, Russian folk melodies become increasingly louder to represent the call by Russia’s Tsar. There is a back and forth between the French and Russian themes until there is a blast of five cannons. These cannons signify the Battle of Borodino; the turning point in the war. Descending melodies are utilized to illustrate the French’s retreat and ends with the grand ringing of bells and eleven more cannon blasts of “O Lord, Save Thy People”.

The piece is exuberating with its use of fireworks, cannons, and steeple bell choirs during performances. However, Tchaikovsky was not happy with this piece. The fact that people fell in love with this piece had him questioning the validity of his other pieces. As stated in The 1812 Overture: the Hit That Tchaikovsky Hated – Classic FM, “The overture’s popularity was a source of deep frustration to this sensitive, serious-minded symphonist whose imaginative fantasy and whimsical, melodic turn of phrase had also managed to transform the art of composing ballet music to a high calling”.

During the twentieth century, composers were more open to experimenting with different types of musical forms and using new technology in their music. This is much unlike other previous genres of music. As written in the article “20th Century Music”, “One general trend of twentieth century composers is a tendency to experiment and find something new and different”. The main reason for the change in music in the twentieth century was the final collapse of the tonal system that was used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; people were beginning to explore outside the norms, not only in music but other aspects of life. Scientist were questioning and developing new ideas, literature was changing to the more desired short stories that portrayed real people, with real problems in a “real” world, and many ideas that had been previously accepted were now being challenged. Musical boundaries began being pushed or completely ignored; composers wanted to create a new musical style that was unlike the styles that were previously used.

There were many styles of music that contributed to twentieth century music, as well as many new musical techniques. Previous to the twentieth century music, the last dominant style of composition that had emerged was called Impressionism. With Impressionism, composers attempted to describe nature scenes, such as the sound of the sea demonstrated in their musical sounds. Two most notable composers of Impressionism were Debussy and Ravel. When Impressionism declined there were several reactions to how to write music. One reaction was the creation of atonal music. Another was the blending of consonance and dissonance, which was found in music by Hindemith and Bartok. A third was the use of different melodies at the same time accomplished by a variety of objects. This would include items not usually seen in music such as jackhammers or chainsaws. French composer, Eric Satie was good at utilizing this approach. He began to refer to his masterpieces as “furniture music”.

A different group of composers decided to go back to old styles of Western music tradition such as Classical styles or the Romantic styles. These composers were called “neo-classicists” or “neo-romanticists”. Other results were the creation of serial music known as twelve-tone most famously used by Schoenberg and his disciples, Webern and Berg. An alternative development was called aleatory music which is a type of music that is improvised or made up as you go. This type of music is often associated with jazz music. Stockhausen used this technique by creating a fragment of music in which he had the performers play any portion of music they chose and after each piece was played twice, the piece was complete.

Another addition of the twentieth century was the use of electronic music. With the use of computers, a wide variety of sounds can be created. The last result of changes in twentieth century music was the use of more than one key at the same time. Stravinsky was well accomplished with the use of polytonality which is also known as “simultaneous event”. The twentieth century led to many changes in the arts, with boundaries being tested, rules thrown out the window, and the artists having the mentality that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to. This led to many movements including personal freedoms, civil rights movements, and rejection of standards and customs. Symphony means “sounding together” and is considered a modern idea, similar to that of twentieth century music. However, an ensemble which is similar to a symphony can be traced back as early as biblical days that were recorded in Daniel. The most significant change in symphony development was the changes in musical styles from the Baroque to the Classical period.

This was the first time that there was a significant difference in the music created when played by a small group versus a large group. In 1743, an orchestra was created at Mannheim, Germany in which the orchestra had specific instruments that were to be played and was large in size in comparison to others in that time frame. The Mannheim orchestra consisted of 24 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, 4 basses, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, and timpani. The Mannheim orchestra replaced the Baroque harpsichord with the lower string instruments that played accompanied parts and the violins played important melodies. The Mannheim had no conductor so the first violinist, whose name was Stamitz, led the ensemble. Stamitz started two important traditions. One is that all the bows of the violins go in the same direction and the other is the importance of the first violinist, also known as the concertmaster, who is responsible for tuning the orchestra prior to the performance.

Berlin, Mannheim and Vienna are credited with the development of the symphony; however, some credit Haydn (a common misconception) as the earliest composer to have written symphonies. Around 1750, sinfonia started to break off from the operas and were performed separately in concert halls. Some notable composers are J.S. Bach whose sinfonias were written in form of overtures for his church cantatas. His son, C. P. E. Bach from Berlin, used the three movements instead of four and preserved the contrapuntal style that was perfected by his father. The Mannheim group used a four-movement plan which included the usual fast-slow-fast style dance called the minuet. This influenced the accomplished composers of the classical symphony, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Franz Schubert. Beethoven music has and continues to be very influential. Composers initially utilized Baroque dance forms, but soon branched out to the sonata-allegro form.

This form has four movements and is considered quick and lively. The first movement is the introduction which may be slow and is considered the most importance because of its structure and theme. The second movement is used to give some contrast. It also may be slow and lyrical. The third movement is the dance movement and is graceful or lively. The fourth movement, or the finale, is considered elaborate and impressive. In the early years, the four movements were rarely arranged one after another. Usually there was a vocal solo, a dramatic reading, or another string quartet that may preform between the movements. This changed in the Romantic age in which the symphony was unified with common themes or ideas. It was also during the Romantic age that the symphony was in danger of becoming obsolete by composers of the more modern age. They considered the symphony outdated unless it could be combined with some programmatic ideas.

It was strong men like Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Sibelius who stepped up and helped keep the classical form of the symphony and pass its tradition on to the current century. Composers such as Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams, Shostakovich, and Howard Hanson have helped to keep the symphony as we know it, alive today. Likewise to the symphony, opera is considered to be a more “sophisticated’ form of music. Opera is part of the German, France and Italian cultures, and is not predominantly promoted in the American culture. Partially to blame is the accessibility to an opera. Due to the lack of popularity, operas are not widely available or advertised in America. As a culture, Americans enjoy entertainment that has immediate gratification such as movies with lots of action and no commercials. The opera is considered more upscale, which may be intimidating to some.

There are three basic components of an opera. They include the recitative, the aria, and the ensemble. The primary goal of the opera is to entertain. The character may suddenly switch from a speech to song and then resume his/her role in the play. In the early years, opera was mainly performed for the rulers and was considered “stuffy”. When opera became available for the general public, it became more of the form that are performed today. The camerata from Florence were the first to reinvent ancient Greek classics to a musical style that consisted of vocal declamation that focused on natural rhythm, accent and modulation of text with a simple instrumental harmonic background.

The first opera was based on the Greek drama Eurydice and was written by Jacopo Peri. In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi produced Orfeo and Ariana which is still used today. Monteverdi used a new form of homophonic music to try to cut down on the use of many voices singing in varying melodies. In 1637, the first public opera house was built in Venice. It was designed to attract the new rising middle class. Over the years, opera became more rigid. The performers wanted parts that would highlight their skills and the audiences wanted to see the flashy areas, with their tricks and trills. This resulted in a loss of respect for the opera. Opera eventually expanded into two types, comedy and tragedy. In the Romantic era, opera was one of the most popular musical type. There were three leading nations in Europe that cultivated their own opera styles and they include France, Italy, and Germany. In the early nineteenth century, Paris was the opera capital of Europe.

There were two types of opera, grand opera and opera comique. Grand opera focused on the parts that made the opera spectacular whereas, opera comique had a quality that was simpler and lighter. Lyric opera developed later and focused on more serious elements of the grand opera while incorporating the humor of the opera comique. The French liked to incorporate beautiful melodies into their operas along with scripts that were “logical, literature, elegant diction, and ballet”.1 The roots of French opera can be traced back to the court of Louis XIV which was written by an Italian composer named Jean Baptiste Lully. Lully is also known as the “father of French ballet.” Another influential person in French opera was a German named Christophe Willibad Gluck who led the reform of opera to the simplicity and natural expression of the past. Toward the end of the Romantic era, naturalism arose in French opera that emphasized brute force, immorality, and interest in exotic settings.

Italian opera was dominant in Italy in the nineteenth century. Italians created a lyrical style opera called bel canto, which means “beautiful singing”. During the eighteenth century, Italian opera focused only on the voice which affected the plots, making them become less meaningful. In the early nineteenth century, Gioachino Rossini was the most popular composer. He wrote a total of thirty-two pieces and retired by the age of 37. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Giuseppe Verdi was the most popular Italian musician. Verdi style was more Classical than Romantic and he enjoyed creating a piece in which the melody was attractive and dramatic. Verdi’s associate, Giacomo Puccini led a new movement in Italy called verismo. This style focused on unpleasant realities of life such as the lower levels of society, poverty, and barbarity.

The German opera is very different in comparison to the Italian opera. In contrast with Italy’s use of vocals, German opera used the orchestra as the foundation of their opera. Mozart was pivotal to introducing the national comic form which had a special quality of a grand finale. This was a popular form of entertainment for the lower-class people in Germany. After Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber was very popular. He developed a new Romantic tradition that focused on several characteristics: nature was wild, mysterious, supernatural beings around everyday people, good versus evil, and a hero’s victory. In the 1800’s, Richard Wagner was one of the greatest figures in opera. He was very hands on, taking part in every aspect including the poetry, acting, painting, and even building his own theater. Wagner used an entire symphony orchestra in his operas. He used the orchestra to represent certain characters, gestures, objects, and situations.

Wagner focused on creating a play that had continuous melody, seamless music and beautiful harmonies. Wagner’s greatest gift was his music, which far outweighed his abilities as a stage director, poet, philosopher, or dramatist. In summary, opera has developed in countries all over the world. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The German, Italian, and French operas place emphasizes on the voice and orchestra of the opera, whereas the American Broadway musicals are more balanced in terms of the music, dance and play.

It has been a truly enriching to learn about the different types of music, the history of music and the different composers. This has allowed the student to develop an appreciation for music and a new prospective when listening to music. It also allows exposure to different types of music that the person may not have been exposed to. For example, before Music Appreciation, I tended to listen to the same genre of music: country, as well as the same artists. Now that I have developed the skills I need to appreciate certain musical genres, and have had the opportunity to listen to an array of artists, the range of my musical interests have broadened. Without the encouragement of this class, I may have never come to appreciate the classics, or comprehend the complexity of a seemingly simple ballad.

Do you know of a person who has won more awards than any other person in the music industry? What about a person who has inspired other performers to see the world from a different perspective? Or a man who is also ‘there’ for those in need of shelter, food, and water? Only one man in this world, who has distinguished himself through these great accomplishments, is the answer to these questions, and he is Michael Jackson.

Indeed, he is perhaps the greatest musical artist of all time because of his success as an artist, whose list of achievements is endless; because of how his music changed the way people look at the world, and also because of how his kind-hearted, caring personality affected others. Firstly, Michael Jackson is the greatest musical artist of all time because of his success. He has released 13 different singles that have reached No. on the charts – definitely more than any other male artist in our history! In addition, he has been officially set as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time for selling an approximate 750 million records worldwide. Also, he has 13 Grammy awards together with several Guinness World Records. His “Thriller” album is known as the Biggest Selling Album of All Time while his other records such as “Off the Wall”, “Bad”, and “Dangerous” are the top-sellers as well.

So with these, Michael Jackson indeed is the greatest musical artist of all time for being very successful. Secondly, Michael Jackson’s kind-hearted personality also makes him the greatest musical artist. He is a humanitarian who has helped over 40 charities and foundations that include the American Cancer Society, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Make-A-Wish Foundation, End Hunger Network, Childhelp USA, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. In addition, he has spent at least 350 million dollars in funding these purposes.

His charitable activities are countless and their effects are enduring. For example, when he established the Heal the World Foundation, it donated 6 tons of supplies as well as supporting treatment for drug and alcohol abuse in Sarajevo. Generally, the fact that Michael Jackson ‘healed the world’ really makes him the greatest musical artist. Lastly, the way Michael Jackson’s music changed the way people look at the world makes him the greatest musical artist of all time.

His songs such has “Man in the Mirror”, “Black or White”, “Heal the World”, and “We are the World” have sent out messages to people to promote positive causes and impacts; whether it is about racism, war, or unity. In addition, his musical style paved way for many artists to develop their skills or invent new styles of music. Moreover, he also influenced many dancers through his music videos such as “Thriller”, “Billie Jean”, “Smooth Criminal”, and more.

Hence, his label as the greatest musical artist can be truly defined through his influence in the way people look at the world. Unlike many artists, this man has made major impacts to people of all races around the world. Even 2 years after his death, people still mourn over him because of how important he is to our lives. Whether is it because of his success as an artist, because of a man with a kind-hearted personality, or because of how a man’s music has changed people’s point of views, Michael Jackson is truly the greatest musical artist of all time.

For our coursework, we created several scenes and performed scripted pieces from the play ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell. I shall discuss some of the main scenes we created/performed and what mediums and elements we used to improve them.

The first scene I’ll discuss is where Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons are arguing over who’ll keep the twin. We used various mediums and elements of drama to help us put the scenes from page to stage. I have listed how we implemented elements of drama and what effects they gave below:

Content- We produced this scene directly from page to stage, except we added thought tracking to it- two extra character characters that spoke their thoughts. We used the stage directions to produce movement and facial expressions which were the main content of the scene, including the dialog.

Actions- We used various different actions both from the script and improvised. These ranged from Mrs Johnstone cleaning at the start, to Mrs Lyons waving her arms in argument. We did this to give the effect of emphasising Mrs Lyons’ frustration and madness and to add more visual interest for the audience. It proved very effective as it made the scene more dramatic and evocative.

Climax- The climax in our piece was near the end where Mrs Johnstone swears on the Bible to give a twin to Mrs Lyons. We built up tension which lead to this by increasing volume and the tone of frustration in our voices. Reece whom played Mrs Lyons used a more pleading tone whereas I used a more frustrated tone. We did this because we wanted to engage the audience throughout the scene with the build-up of tension and emotion.

Contrasts- We created a clear contrast between the characters Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone as shown on the script. These contrasts where presented in social class, which we portrayed through our differently accented voices. Also the dialog of the script suggested their contrast as Mrs Lyons had more authorative lines. In order to develop the contrast in characters further, we also had different postures to connote the contrast of status. I had a more relaxed posture and Reece had a more formal withdrawn posture. We did this to create an interesting conflict in the scene for the audience.

Symbols- The only symbolism we used in this scene was the Bible prop. In the script, Mrs Johnstone swears on the Bible. This symbolises a binding contract, especially for her character as she is very superstitious. We used lighting to mark the moment of this symbolism. Willy Russell may have used symbolism in this scene to add tension and interest for the audience as this reveals that an event is going to happen later on in the play. We could have added more symbols to the scene to create more tension.

Now I shall explore what mediums of drama we used in this scene to take it from page to stage and develop it further:

Costume- We didn’t use a particular costume as it was easier to change to different scenes and characters. We maybe should have used costumes that represented their class to show a visual contrast between the two characters.

Sound/Music- We didn’t use any music in our scene as there wasn’t any scripted, however we used a heart-beat sound effect to mark the moment of madness when Mrs Lyons was pleading. We could have used music when Mrs Lyons pleads for the twin to mark the moment and add emphasis on her character’s madness more effectively.

Space & Levels- We kept spread out on the stage to use space effectively, and we incorporated the use of levels to show a visual contrast in status of the two characters. Mrs Johnstone was generally lower than Mrs Lyons throughout the scene to connote her lower status.

Voice- Our voice intonation of anger and frustration built up throughout the scene to add more interest and contrasting moods from the beginning of the scene to the end. This use of voice gave the effect of showing the emotions of our characters clearly for the audience.

We rehearsed this scene by initially reading through the script as our characters and using voice intonation to add emotion to the lines as we read them out. We used the explorative strategy of thought-tracking to explore the inner-characters that weren’t shown in the script. Then we used the stage directions to take it from page to stage and add movement and gestures. We then added our own improvised actions etc. to develop the scene further.

We made the decision of having two additional characters that represent Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons’ thoughts to reveal them more effectively to the audience. We also decided to use a heart-beat sound when Mrs Lyons pleaded to show the audience the madness of her character and signify it.

I think that the performance of this scene went well as our characters came across as we and the playwright intended. We made our emotions clear for the audience as we portrayed them through our gestures, use of voice etcetera. However, to improve this we could have used music at specific points such as when Mrs Johnstone swears on the Bible so as to mark the moment and add even more emotion to it. We demonstrated that Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone had a good relationship initially, and how it deteriorated throughout the scene by using more infuriated expressions and vocal tones.

Stairway to Heaven” is a song that appears to have a little bit of everything that one would look for in music. Although it is greatly varied with many tempos and rhythms, it still produces a sound that people find enjoyable and among the most popular. As mentioned before, “Stairway to Heaven” can be divided into a number of sections. The first section lasts for about the first two minutes of the song. In this section, the dynamic Is piano-like and the tempo is quite slow, ranging from largo to adagio.

An acoustic guitar plays a phrase that Is repeated and continued as lead anger Robert Plant begins his vocals about fifty seconds Into the song. An electric guitar then changes the tune which Is repeated In a strophic form manner and also with an adagio tempo. In total, this slow-moving section lasts for about four minutes. The second section of the song begins with the introduction of drums to accompany the electric guitar and vocals. This section is faster than the first, having a moderator tempo.

The previous tune is still played albeit with some variation and a more lively sound. This includes the vocals, which also move faster with the instruments and sing a variation of the first section’s vocals. There is still a strophic form contained in the second section, although the chorus is represented by the instruments rather than singing. About five and a half minutes into the song, the rhythm and melody of the song changes again. This next section contains no vocals, only the sounds of electric guitar and drums.

A guitar solo played In an allegretto-allegro form dominates the section, which Is somewhat syncopated In the first half. The second half of the section is more organized. With a rondo form presented as BACKED and played by two electric guitars. In addition, the dynamic has dramatically changed from the beginning; it is no longer a soft rhythm but more similar to a mezzo forte dynamic. The final section of the song brings back vocals and a much faster tempo than the previous sections.

The guitar now plays a hard rock phrase that repeats itself in the background of the vocals. The guitar and vocals go back and forth in ABA form for about forty seconds. Then, in the closing seconds of the song, one guitar plays a flowing phrase while another accompanies It with Its win tune until the last line of the song Is sung In a slow and soft tempo. The song Is composed of several forms. One Is strophic form; while not having a textual chorus, the song contains an Instrumental phrase that acts like a chorus in the first half of the song.

There are also many rhythm for more than a couple of minutes. For all the sections of the song, there is polyphony among the vocals and instruments. Robert Plant sings his lines as if they were independent of the guitars, only being consistent with the pace but not the withy or pitches. The sections of the song, though vastly different, tend to transition to each other very well. The guitar is responsible for providing a bridge to each section, quietly changing the tempo and tune in between sections.

The song is entirely in duple meter. This is easier to tell in the first couple sections of the song, where the guitar plays one quarter note after another in an adagio tempo. It is also in major form, especially the last sections. Although the first half of the song is slow and soft, it would still be insider to be in major mode based on the definition of the major key in the Western world. The beat of the song is hardly present in the first half because of the soft notes of the acoustic and electric guitar.

However, as the transition from acoustic to hard rock is made, the beat’s presence is greatly felt during the guitar solo and the last section of the song. Guitar and drums are the dominant instruments used in the song. It contains both acoustic and electric guitar, not often seen in songs from the sass-ass. The drums are only present in the second half of he song, and its introduction signaled the transition from alternative to rock. The acoustic guitar is played during the intro to set up the rhythm for the song and is continued during the first vocal lines.

This paves the way for the electric guitar to play a different tune with the same quiet feel. Then, during the second section, it gets faster and begins to sound more like a rock song. As it goes on, it changes tempo and rhythm and is eventually played fast and with passion. In addition, one is able to determine which notes the guitar will play as it is more organized than the earlier parts of the song where it was playing all different notes with different pitches and tempo.