Music+DW

__**MYP5**__

__**Friday 13th, 2012**__ __**Tina Turner's Comment**__ For Tina Turner, performing in Africa has a much different feel as compared to performing in Europe. Throughout the video, you learn about African culture, dance and music and how it had such a huge impact on the music in Europe and America. You learn about how the slaves brought with them to America their dances and instruments and how from there it developed into the music we know today. In the video it is said that many African American performers lost their connections with their heritage and could not relate directly to their ancestors. They began to lose how much their ancestors affected their lives. Tina Turner would be a good example. In the video she said that when she performs she needs to feel inspired by where she is and the culture of that place. When she is in Europe she goes to the hotel then goes to perform. When she is their though, she feels inspired by the people and feels that the people give her energy. When she is in Africa however, she does not like the food and she thinks that the people are lazy. She does not think that they give her energy and she does not have a good time there. To me, Tina Turner does not realize how much Africa and its people have changed music and helped it develop to what she does for a living. When she is performing, a lot of her dancing was influenced by the dances of Africans. The instruments that she uses in her music were developed from African instruments. I find that her comment was not the most educated because she was not reflecting back at how her past has brought her to where she is. When she says that she has not looked into Africa too much but then goes on to say her opinion, you realize how ignorant her comment was because it did not have educated information to back it up.

2 contrasting examples of symphonic poems which I like are Modest Mussorgsky's “Night on Bald Mountain” and Claude Debussy “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune”. Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia in 1839. He got his first piano lesson from his mom at age 6. Throughout his childhood he was encouraged to compose and was taken to the school Peterschule to continue studying piano at age 10. When he joined the Imperial Guards Regiment in 1856 he met 4 men whom he formed “The Five” with, which was the composers creating distinct Russian music. He died in 1881. Claude Debussy was born in Paris in 1862. As a child he took piano lessons. In the summers of 1880 and 1881 he went to Russia employed under Madame von Meck (Tchaikovsky’s sponser). During his life he met Liszt, Verdi and other composers. His pieces that made him known to everyone were Ariettes Oubliees and Cinq Poemes de Baudelaire. He died in Paris in 1918. One of his most famous pieces was Claire de Lune. “Night on Bald Mountain” is about the witch sabbath. With the title itself, bald refers to the fact that the mountain had no trees. Witches would gather on Bald Mountain and hold their sabbath. The music helps tell the story of the gathering by the instrumentation. In the composition there are violins, cellos, trumpets, horns, flutes, and timpani's. The composition starts off rapidly with the violins. They start softly and gradually get louder, almost to show all the witches coming to the mountain and first gathering. The brief stops in the quick pace of the strings sounds like the witches flying. Next the violins start playing short, quick notes along with the trumpets coming in playing long, loud notes over the strings. Then all the instruments join in to show how all the witches have made it. Their is a part of quick stops then the strings come in to show the witches all talking. Their is a big stop and then it goes back to the melody from the beginning. This could be to add emphasis to what is going on. The strings then start playing quick and loud notes to show the craziness of everything going on. The flute starts playing quietly the same melody as in the beginning and is then joined by the trumpets and strings. The tambourines hit occasionally to portray big emphasis. It comes to a quieter part where it is the strings and horns. This is like an announcement that they are there. The middle is softer in dynamics but still fast paced. This shows how everyone is zooming around and creates an unsettling feeling in the listener. The melody from the beginning is constantly repeated. The whole piece is in a minor tone with little bits of major parts. This is to create that unsettling feeling in the listener. Towards the end it starts getting quieter with just the flute playing a single line. This shows the night coming to an end and how the peace that comes with the witches leaving. “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune” was inspired by Stephane Mallerme’s poem “L’apres -midi d’un faune”. To me it is about the moments before a faun wakes up from a nap and meets nymphs as he walks around. The music helps set the story because of the instruments. There are flutes, harps, string instruments, clarinets and oboes. The beginning is a solo by the flute to symbolize the faun still sleeping and pieceful. The harps come in to show how he is dreaming. The clarinets play softly as well and the harps continue to play, showing how he is at rest. The flute continues to play a repeated melody, soft at first and then louder. All the instruments come in to show how the faun is starting to wake up but then goes back to sleep. Then it goes back to the flute playing the same melody as before. The harps are continuously heard to show the dream-like wonder of what is going on. The flute starts varying what it is playing to show how everything is still calm but unsure. There are very brief moments of silence and then flute starts going up and down in pitch quickly. The strings all come in to show how the faun is sleeping but battling waking up. The trumpets start to echo out and come back in to show how he is sleeping and at rest. They play a slow melody, not some harsh, quick notes. When the harps and strings and flutes play it shows how he is dreaming all these things at the same time but is slowly starting to wake up. It ends by the flute playing a solo to show how he wakes up, well rested.
 * Find 2 contrasting examples of symphonic poems which you like. Give a brief bio of their composers and a brief description of the story told and how the music tells the story.**

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Composing three pieces in ABA form was easier because I was using Noteflight then if I was writing out by hand. Using Noteflight helped because I could play back what I played so that I could hear whether or not it sounded good. It was a bit difficult to come up with three different melodies for the different pieces because once I composed one I had that tune in my mind and it was hard to come up with something that sounded completely different. I think that the most successful one of the three was my composition #2 because it had a very simple melody that was easy to follow. The section B was different but still fit in with the flow of the composition. I used one or two different notes in the second Section A just so that there was a bit of difference but it still sounded like the first Section A. I think that I want to further develop my second composition but I might experiment by putting in the B section of my third composition into it. It might sound pleasant but a little more different using it in my composition 2 instead of what I already have.
 * ABA Compositions**



Personally, I do not think that everybody cares about what has gone before. If something was done before that does not affect the life of people now then we do not tend to care or think about it. Even some of the products, tools, materials etc that we have now we do not tend to think how it came about or who invented it. We just accept that it is a part of our life now. I love computers and iPods etc. but I do not every really think about what people had before the modern computers and iPods we have now. I do not think about what came before a Walkman because I have only ever used Walkman’s and iPods. I also do not think about past computers because I am used to the modern computers that we have now like touch screen computers. I think that a lot of people think about what has gone before if it is part of their hobbies, profession or interest. For example, a doctor would be very interested in knowing what research or discoveries have been done in the past. A historian would be interested in knowing what major events took place in the past. Overall I think that people only care about what has gone before them if they really what to know about it or it affects them in a very direct way. media type="youtube" key="12i3s6rZW-A" height="240" width="392"
 * Who Cares What Has Gone Before?**

Every deceased person is important to at least one other person in life. There are deceased people that a lot of people think about more then other deceased people (e.g. Michael Jackson). I think deceased people are important to those who think about them. If it is someone who had an impact on a large group of people or is more famous then others (Michael Jackson, Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin) then they will be considered more important then other deceased people who were relatively unknown to the whole world. Someone in my family who is deceased would only be important to my family and friends of him/ her. They would not be considered very important to people who never met them or even heard of them. Deceased people are sometimes not as important as what they did, invented, discovered. For example, not a lot of people think about or have even heard of Eric Rotheim. He invented the first aerosol can. Now almost everybody uses an aerosol can, whether it is bug spray, hairspray etc. Therefore, deceased people are as important as we make them.
 * Are Dead People Important?**

__**MYP4**__ __**Pitch Presentation**__ __**Timbre Presentation**__ __**Reggae Style Presentation**__