Assignment #10 Opera and Music

1) The opera Turandot was about a Princess, Princess Turandot, who would only marry a noble man who was able to solve her three enigmas. She has sworn this vow to everyone. The Princess doesn't find anyone worthy of her love. Every man whom she finds unworthy loses their head. She doesn't want to marry anyone who doesn't meet her approval. Finally she comes to the last one before she feels like giving up, and he pleas a bargain with her. He said that if she knows his name by morning he will allow her to chop his head off. The Princess searches all day and all night for this young man's name. Finally right before morning she discovers his name from one of the maids. She runs in front of the whole town and shouts that she knows his name. As the Princess says his name she says "his name is.... Love" for all along she had been in love with the man whom she had tried so hard to get killed.

2) Two operas done by Mozart: Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni

3)Discuss the difference between Opera and Light Opera:

Guys and Dolls is an example of a Light Opera.

The difference between Opera and Light Opera is that Light Opera is a less demanding form of opera. It is brings in more spoken words so that it is more of a play and an opera rather than just all singing like a normal Opera is. The songs used in light operas are more popular than those used in regular Operas and appeals to a broader audience. The regular Operas is a more highly elevated style of music and theater. They are both very good and appeal to different audiences and they both require good singing and operatic voices as well as a good orchestra to back the singers up.

This was my drawing from class last wednesday. Although it wasn't part of the assignment I remembered Professor Heid telling us to post it on our blog. I really enjoyed this class activity. It was fun to listen to music and try to see how we felt about it and what shapes and words came to mind. I really liked this because it isn't often that you actually get to sit back and really feel the music and draw or write how it makes you feel. I think that my picture turned out very interesting and I liked being able to look around at all the other picture in the classroom and see how everyone else interpreted the song. It was a very neat and fun activity.

Assignment # 8 Attend a Play

I attended the play Big Love on Wednesday November 17th.

Describe:
This play was done in a theater in the round in the Longstreet theater. It was about a family of girls who were being forced to marry their cousins.They did not want to marry them so they escaped. They escaped to a random house, the house of Piero. They tried to get Piero to save them but he ended up scheming against them and set up a marriage for them. The girls schemed again to kill all of the grooms. Everyone killed their fiances' except one of the girls. She ran off and saved him. They had great costumes and the actors and actresses were very good.

Interpret:
The actors and actresses in this play did a great job becoming real for the audience. I somehow had a bond with the characters just as I do sometimes when reading a novel or watching a movie. They did a great job of making their characters believable and real. I really enjoyed the way that the characters worked together and made the story come to life.

Analyze:
I think that the meaning of this play was to bring the audience a knowledge about the Greece and their ancient ways. It was about forced marriage and how the brides/grooms feel about this law. It was a great portrayal of this and the characters made it very realistic.

Evaluate:

I really enjoyed this play. Big Love was the first play I have seen since I became a student at USC and I really enjoyed being able to watch it. The actors and actresses did an amazing job in this play. They were very good at all that they did. I really had a great time watching it and recommended it to everyone who asked me about it.

Assignment #12 Music

-What is the time for this music? 4/4

-How many beats does the solid green G get? 1

-How many beats does the open green G get? 2

-What is one dark vertical line to one dark vertical line called? A measure

-What song is this? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

-Who wrote Peter and the Wolf? Peter and the Wolf was written in 1936 by Sergey Prokofiev.

- What instrument is played as Peter? The strings were played as the voice of peter. The strings included the violin, viola, string bass, and cello.

- What instrument is played as the wolf? The french horn was used for the wolf.

- What instrument is played as the Grandfather, Duck, bird, and alligator? 

        * The instrument used for the Grandfather was the bassoon.

        * The instrument used for the Duck was the oboe.

        * The instrument used for the Bird was the flute.

        * The instrument used for the hunters was the timpani.

I enjoyed watching this movie and it was very fun to watch. It was a sad movie but the use of music was very interesting. It made it more meaningful because you had the ability to make up what you thought they were saying rather than hearing it.

Assignment #9 Attend A Concert

I attended the World Symphonic Jazz Orchestra at USC on Tuesday November 9th, 2010. The concert was at the Center for Contemporary Art.

Describe: The concert I saw was of the Jazz Symphonic Orchestra of USC. It consisted of 18 band members and 1 director. It was a rather large band and their sound was very loud. They sounded very good together and it was obvious that they had put a lot of work into this performance. They performed songs by David Cutler, Gerson Garcia, Sonia Jacobson, Makhail Alperin, Aziz Sahmaoui, Jimmy Bosch, and Antoine Herve. The insturments played in this performance were flute, tenor, soprano,and alto saxaphones, trumpets, trombones, a tuba, a guitar, piano, percussion, drums, violin, viola, cello, and bass. During one of the songs there was a belly dancer that came into the room. It was very interesting and kind of awkward but she did a good job.

Analyze: Being in band throughout high school and middle school I have heard my fair share of bands. I believe that this one sounded very good. It could have possibly been one of the best Jazz performances I have heard. The songs that they played seemed very difficult and they all played them with ease. There were many solo performances througout the concert and they all played them very well.

Interpret: The purpose of this concert was to take you on a journey around the world. It was the World Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. They played songs from different parts of the world. They brought in the belly dancer to make the atmosphere more like the area that the song was from. At the end of the performance the director said "I hope that you have enjoyed our trip around the world" and that made me understand that was the purpose.

Evaluate: I greatly enjoyed this concert. The songs were all very catchy and fun to listen to. They performed six songs. My favorite song was Unisons by Makhail Alperin. This song had a very difficult guitar solo that was played very well. The rest of the song was very good also the entire band played well together and they did an amazing job on all of the songs. If I had the chance I would go back and watch this Orchestra play again, I really enjoyed it.

Assignment #11 Phantom of The Opera

The movie Phantom of The Opera was a very good movie and I enjoyed watching it in class. There were many art disciplines in this movie. The ones I noticed as most present were dance, music, performing arts, theatre, and film. Dance is in this film many times. Most of the actors and performers dance throughout the entire movie. Music is presented in this movie as well. There are many different songs that are sang by the different performers in this movie. Each person sang very well and made the movie great. Performing arts is shown throughout the movie because each person in the movie performs in some way or another. Theater is shown in this performance because they are doing a play for an audience. Film is a part of this movie because their performance is recorded and made into a movie. I really enjoyed watching this movie in class and it was a very fun and entertaining movie.

A) Describe what the life of a ballerina would have been like at the Paris Opera House in the late 19th Century:

     Life for a ballerina at the Paris Opera House in the late 19th century would have been very strenuous. Each ballerina has many years of practice and hard work that goes into each performance that they have. This is when women received the privilege of dancing on stage. For a long time, men would dance women's parts, women did not have the rights to dance. But during the late 19th century in Paris, there was a decline in male ballet dancers. They had to work hard to keep their skill up and their bodies in shape. They work hard to try to be the best dancers that they can be. The ballerinas in Phantom of the Opera do an amazing job at what they do and you can tell that much hard work went into their performance. Many ballerinas during this time worked very hard and long hours and many years to acquire the great skill they have acquired. After they worked hard to develop their technique, they were eventually ready to perform on stage.