performance report 2

I attended “side Show the musical” April 17^th. It was the last showing after they had been performing for the past two weeks. Since it was the last showing it would be obvious that this would probably be their best performance because they were able to review their past performances and fix up any mistakes that they made. Since it was a Broadway Musical the whole play was in song and dance and at the same time it tells a story to the audience. The musicians and the performers must work together in order for the musical to be in sync.

The music in the show was playing constantly throughout the whole play. I noticed that the tempo of the music depending on the mood of the play. When the play was sad and depressing then the tempo was slow and sounded gloomy, however when the play was happy the tempo was more upbeat and sounded happier. I couldn’t really see what kind of instruments they were using because they were in the back but I did here a couple of instruments such as the drums. The actors and actresses singing went along smoothly with the music playing in the back, which gave it a nice flow to the overall performance

There were two different types of performers in this play, the actors and the musicians. The musicians were in the pit located in the back of the stage and were covered by two big stages so you couldn’t really see them. When I first walked into the stage I didn’t notice the musicians until they started playing their first song, which let me know where they were. The actors and musicians were in sync because the flow of the music and the singing were together and whenever one song ended and the next one was starting it went along exactly when the actor started singing. The performers seemed calmed and new which song to play next, probably because it was their last show and they had the feeling for it.

Nearly every seat in the theatre was filled. I was sitting more to the back so that I could get sort of a bird’s eye view. Unlike the opera singing that I attended before where almost the whole audience had no idea when to clap for the performer, in this musical it was pretty obvious when to clap, which was basically after every song, because the actor would bow and would wait for an applause. The audience was very active they would clap intensely and would laugh at every joke, and seemed very attentive to what was going on. At the end of the musical the whole audience got up and gave a standing ovation for the performers hard work.

For the time and space the main thing for me was that I was not able to see musicians play. They were all the way in the back and were covered by the movable walls. That however did not stop the music from being heard clearly throughout the whole audience. I was sitting in the second to last row in the right corner which was pretty much the farthest seating area on in the theatre and I could hear the music clearly. The main actors and actresses had strong voices and I was able to hear them clearly too. However there were a couple of side characters who did not sing loud enough for me to here. Sometimes the characters would say a joke to the audience, and the only way that I knew it was a joke was because the first 5 rows bursted into laughter and the rows behind that seemed clueless as to what was going on so some characters also didn’t speak loud enough.

The different songs and tempo throughout the entire performance defines a Broadway Musical. Since the performance is live the musician’s instruments must be in sync with the actors singing in order for it to work. The different elements come together in order to bring out this music culture.

blog 12

I picked classic rock for my sub genre for rock. One of the more popular kinds of rock. One of the main instruments used is the guitar. I really don’t know much about this genre but saw that it would be interesting to write about. One of the most famous groups associated with this type of music are “ The Beatles”. They use the electric guitar in their music equipped to an amplifier. They usually perform in front of big crowds because of their popularity and because they are well known the audience are familiar with their type of music. I would say that this type of rock is geared towards younger people but however anyone can play. The music can be fast tempo or slow depending on the song, the music is very loud so the audience can hear it very clearly. Usually the performers are consisted of a band and each person plays a different instrument. There are many different instruments including the drums. Usually there is one lead singer followed by back up singers. The male voice tending to be a little higher in vocals than what they are today, some of it because they required it for the song they sang. The clip shows a couple of the Beatles hit songs.

Gullah culture

In the Gullah culture I noticed that many of their performances take place outside. There culture requires dances and since they move around a lot they need lots of room in order to dance freely. Their music contained polyrhythm and noticed that they used many drums in order to play a song. I also hear a couple of tambourine players in the background. The dances seem to have the same dances because in one of the youtube songs there were people all dancing in sync in one of the songs or as close to sync as they could be. Everybody seems to be part of the music culture from men to women to even children they all come together and start dancing when they hear the music. They don’t seem to be professionals but more rather they do it for fun and you can notice that crowds start to gather once the music starts, which means that everybody seems to be familiar with this music culture and knows what’s going on. They even seem to have choreographed dances that go along with the songs because in the video you notice that they are trying to practice a certain dance in unison while the music is playing.

performance report

Performance report

For my performance report I attended “Shakespeare in song” at UTD at 8:00 pm. When I walked into the building a guy handed me a program and when I took my seat I began to look at it and it basically gave me the run down of all the songs that were going to be performed at the concert as well as a little background history behind the song so that you can try to familiarize yourself with the song.

As I started to look up I saw that people were starting to file in because I did get there a little early. In the audience I noticed that probably half of the seats were taken, some were students who also were taking notes so I assumed that they were also amateurs when it came to opera and the other were parents who seemed to just watch for fun. To me the audience seemed inexperienced with this kind of type of performance because the conductor, after a couple of songs, would have to face the audience and wave her hands toward her performers to let the audience know that they were allowed to applaud. The audience mostly seemed laid back and not really engaged in the performance other than when they were instructed to clap. The audience did seem a little lazy and not that into to the performance. Yet again most of the people there were students with notebooks and were probably there to complete an assignment so the weren’t really concentrating on the story of the performance but rather the elements that go along with performance.

Before the performance began I noticed that there were two people that walked in from the audience entrance I knew they looked out of place because they were dressed in costumes that looked like they were from the medieval times and they just casually walked in and sat in the front of the auditorium. As the performers began to walk into the Johnson performance hall I noticed that they were all wearing extravagant costumes that was relevant to the era, they seemed well rehearsed which I thought it was because this was their third performance of the weekend so they probably fixed up all the glitches from their last performance to make it perfect. Since the performance consisted of monologues I noticed that when a performer was performing a monologue that the other performers were just standing still as if they were not there, probably to make the monologue look more realistic.

During the actually performance I noticed that there were different tempos going on during different songs. It seemed to me that the faster tempo songs were very happy songs and that the slower tempo songs were more dark and gloomy. The concert consisted of monologues within characters that also sang fast and slow tempo and after the person was done the conductor would again turn towards the audience in order to instruct us to applaud.

For the time and space of the performance the seating was very close to the performers so we were able to watch the performers carefully and pretty much be able to detail there every move. Since we were so close the conductor was able to communicate with the audience very clearly so that the audience wouldn’t get confused. Since we were so close to the performers we didn’t have to go overboard with the clapping and cheering because we were so close so everybody basically gave a nice polite applause each time the conductor instructed us to.

Throughout “Shakespeare in song” the four elements, music, audience, performers, and time and space played a major role of shaping the concert. All four are required in the performance because they show and describe how the performance is regulated.

norma bellini

in this piece of music I watched a clip from Norma Bellini. In this clip the woman is able to project her voice throughout the whole building however due to the camera we are not able to watch the audience reaction however at the end we hear the audience applauding her so we know that they approved. All of the performers are wearing costumes in order to bring the feel to the music so that the audience has a sense of feeling of what's going on during the song. I noticed that she is singing slow as well as on the ground kneeling for most of the song so I'm guessing that this is a sad song. while she is singing all the performers in the background were just standing there watching there not moving as if they were not there. it seems to me that she is just singing one note and does not seem to change it throughout her performance and that she is also singing a duet with another person, he also seems to be singing one note as well. she sings louder than the man and over powers him in the duet.

works cited

Caleb Mak. Makonnen, Caleb. Live concert, January 12, 2010

Caleb Makonnen, Phone interview, February 17, 210

stith, kevin. "history of hip-hop." ezine articles. ezinearticles, 2007.

Web. 11 Mar 2010.

Hop&id=429044>.

Music ethnography essay

My music culture will be covering the hip-hop culture here in Dallas. Hip-hop originated around the late 60’s and stormed the nation with its catchy beats and the ability creates new dances with it. Hip hop originated because of the popularity of block parties in New York people needed some music to listen which filled in the void.

Through my research about this certain music culture I used many things to conduct my research. I first of all attended a concert performed by my good friend Caleb Mak which was performed at the Door Plano. After that later on I interviewed him by phone about different things related to his view of his music and to hip-hop in general.

The ideas about this culture is that there music is a source of entertainment because people can dance to the beat, but then some hip hop songs tell meaningful stories about the people who sing them. Whatever inspires a artist to sing about then that is what they lay down. For example Caleb Mak has a song called “hands up” which is considered a party song because though the song doesn’t really have a meaning it a great song to dance to and get excited about. When I attended his concert he performed this song and got very interactive with the audience even telling them to put their hands up in the air and start dancing with the beat. Then he has other songs that that have meaning to him like his song “Outerspace” which you can listen to at http://www.myspace.com/calebmak and in this song he his talking about one of his best friend Clarissa who passed away from an overdose at a hospital back in 2008. He dedicated the song to her and his passion about her is evident in the song. Usually this music culture can be played whenever people feel like.

This type of music can basically be found anywhere you can look it up on Itunes, or you can go to live concerts or you can probably hear it playing in someone ‘s car the possibilities are endless. Performers can play both professionally or as a hobby. Caleb Mak right now does it as a hobby but would like to get more serious with his music and even wrote a couple of new songs in the past months. Caleb believes that race, gender, and religion does factor into who performs in the music culture. He believes that it easier for black people to succeed in this culture because they are more familiar with it. It is also shown that Hispanics also play a role in this type of music and they contribute their own style. For gender he believes that males still have a easier time getting there music recognized but that women are very close and are making strides to make the music more popular. Caleb says that since he is Christian then it helps with his music because America is mostly a Christianized country. However he acknowledges the fact that he is familiar with the other religions and tries to better understand their culture in regards to their music, he further goes on to say that he is also familiar with other singers that are of different religion but also sing hip-hop and enjoys listening to it. The audience contains a wide variety of people. the music is not just targeted to one kind of audience, that is why it is widely popular because it can entertain all sorts of people. even though the main artists that participate are African American it is still open to basically anyone that wants to give it a try and some are even famous such as singer Jay Sean.

The most important part of this music culture is the lyrics. Lyrics are used to express the artist’s emotions and struggles. Everybody has their own story, just as an author would write a story about it, a hip hop artist would sing about it. some artists even try to send out messages trough their songs such as Lupe fiasco and Immortal Technique. Whatever they try to do with their songs the lyrics are the most important part to their music. Caleb exclaimed that in his songs that he talks about all aspects of love as well as trying to spread the message that people can do whatever they want and that they should never let anyone stop them. This message is evident in his song called “Blow My Mind,” in which he talks about the different things he would do different from the usually routine day and he challenges you to think of what would you do if it was not the usually routine day. There are many ways that this music is transmitted one of the man ways is by cd’s even though ipods are eliminating the need for cd’s they are still popular among transmitting new music. Other ways are radio, clubs, and concerts in which people can listen to the new song that an artist made.

In this music culture one of the main materials that you need is a microphone but then after that it just depends on what the artist needs to create his music. Caleb said that he needed his DJ along with a guitar, sometimes saxophone player, and a piano. He also says that he has to buy an outfit from forever XXI before each show to give himself a sort off skateboard look that usually consisted of a checkered polo/dress shirt with some jeans and sometimes a hat. Every artist has their own materials that they require as well as their own preparation before their show. Caleb likes to practice singing in front of a mirror before a show, and on his way to the show he likes to listen to his own songs in his car while he is on the way to the show, he doesn’t like to eat anything before the show for fear that he will throw up but usually has a big meal after the show.

This music culture of hip-hop also influences other cultures as well as being influenced by those cultures as well. That is why artists from hip-hop tend to collaborate with musicians from other music cultures. Caleb told me that Kanye West was his biggest influence because not only does he like his music in general but he also like the fact that he collaborates with so many people that are not in his music Genre. Caleb tries to emulate him as well by collaborating with people outside his genre and has even started singing acoustic and electronica, both forms of music he says will be in his next album. Hip-hop with its catchy beats and meaningful lyrics is one of the more popular genre’s in the country.

blog 8

one of the main trouble for me was conducting the interview. One of the main reason is that he goes to Texas A&M so I couldn't do a one on one interview in person as I would have liked. so Then I had to stick to a phone interview which when I talk on the phone I start drifting off topic and I would never be able to finish it. I also couldn't think of questions to ask in the interview at first because I didn't realize what to do. Also I attended the live performance closer to the beginning of the semester so I'm trying to remember what the specific detail that happened during the concert so that I can relate it to my topic. researching my topic wasn't that hard I was able to get some good information. my interview was also good in that it provided good insight that went along with that topic, and I was able to get some good examples of his song that portray hip hop. a lot of things factor into hip hop like race and religion but all in all the research wasn't that hard.

music ethnography post 7

my music culture is hip hop. in this culture people sing or rap about their problems and struggles that goes on through their life. they also sing about love and romance and the difficulty of relationships and finding the special girl. And of course they sing about being successful and who can make the most money and fighting for heir reputation. every singer needs their microphone and usually their beats are composed through a computer electronically. other beats are taken from other songs and are sampled into their own creation called sampling. Caleb Mak, the person I'm interviewing for my ethnography has been singing and writing music since he was in the 6th. in his he talks about his relationships and what he has to offer to women. He has different styles of music in which he would sing half the time and rap the other half to give his music some flavor. a couple of examples of his songs can be found at these links http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwkPcFW1xFM, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IguoVQEeDiM. he also likes to make parodies of of more popular music, here is a parody of Love Lockdown by Kanye West called Unibrow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyzDHH1qcKA.

Japanese noh theatre

In Japanese Noh theatre the performance is a play in which there is an actor or actress act up stage. the stage is not that big and the actor has specific movements it must follow throughout the play. the actor wears elaborate costumes and make up to go along with the scenes they wear some sort of poncho. they also wear a mask on their face as well as some sort of headdress. they also play music that goes along as well. they play some sort of flute in the background and they use a couple of drums that seem to go along with the actor steps. the actor also holds some sort of fan around to as she swiftly moves. the stage itself is not really huge and you can even see the people who are playing the instruments in the background that are sitting down while the actor is in front of them moving around on stage. they have a tree that is used as a prop as well on the side and also used as a drape in the back, there also seems that there are any curtains to use after the performance.

Hindustani

I listened to Dus at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZH7I5Zx07w. he uses many different types of instruments in his performances that balance each other out with his voice. one of the main instruments is the electrophone, which spreads throughout the whole outdoor audience. this makes the audience more lively and the space between the performers and audience tightens. they also used idophones in the performance in order to produce a solo for the main singer. the performance is held outside so the music spreads further and the audience themselves seem to be familarize with the type of music so they can probably relate to that culture. the performers are really into the performance, by acting out certain parts of the song in order to tell a story. the song which is not in english probably has something to do with there culture because they seem very proud about what they are singing. it really speaks towards the audience because they are trying to grab the performers in the first couple of rows.

music concert

after going to the music faculty concert I really enjoyed the song where they used the drum violin piano and flute in order to play a jazzy relaxing tune. the way the music was being played the drum had a constant beat that all the other instruments seemed to follow. unlike the other songs where the violin seemed to be leading the other instruments. I noticed from being in the audience that I would hear the drums playing first probably because it was the loudest and there for traveling the fastest through space followed by the other instruments. while the piano seemed to contrast with it because it seemed that the piano had longer progressions while the drums were quick with its beat. while the other songs were slow and seemed to drag on forever this song was smooth and had me moving my head with the rhythm.I could tell when the pattern was repeating and could count it out. all in all it was one of the better songs that came towards the end. can't find the name of it because I misplaced my pamphlet.

music ethnography

A music culture I would like to use for my music ethnography would have to be my friend Caleb Mak. He tries to mix up his style of music by mixing rap and hip hop together in his song to give it a fresh taste. He his now working on acoustic songs and just had a concert recently back on January 16, where he played a couple of his acoustic songs. he already has an album out called L.O.V.E which stands for love of virtuous ecstasy. he is also working on two more albums one of which will be an all acoustic CD. In his songs he talks about the difficulty about relationships and ways to overcome the treacherous obstacle. This is a good music culture to study because of the different styles that he is able to bring to the table. I also think his music is influenced by his surroundings and culture because he was in a high school setting his music seems to focus more on attracting younger listeners while his beats seem somewhat synonymous with his culture. Here is a link for one of his song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwkPcFW1xFM, it is called "The Joker" and it was one of his more popular songs.

influenced music culture

one music culture that has influenced would have to be my friend Caleb Mak. he has been making music since he was young and released his first album last year. At first I thought his music was just a way for him to pass the time because we were bored high school students, however whenever he finished a new song the same routine would occur. We would both arrive to school early and then I would go sit in his car and he would play the song while he drove around the parking lot. Then after the song was over he would stop the music and look over at me and would ask me what I thought about the song and so I would give him an answer. then he would tell me the story behind the song or what he was thinking about before he wrote the song, I could tell that he wanted to deceive in his song but I don't really know what that means and I honestly don't think he knows what that means either. However I realized how passionate his music was to him and that influenced me because he doesn't give up on what he is passionate about. He continues to make more music today and I'm an active listener and supporter for basically all of his music.