Assignment #5 Music

Jazz Music

Jazz music is a type of popular music that is characterized by improvisation on popular melodies and a swinging rhythm. It can often be hard to define because it spans from the Ragtime waltzes to the 21st century. Even though Jazz can be difficult to define, improvisation is defiantly one of the key elements. A skilled performer will interpret a tune in an individual way, they will never play the same composition exactly the same way.

The typical instruments involved in jazz music include the saxophone, clarinet, flute, vibraphone, trumpet, piano, guitar, banjo, tuba, double bass, bass guitar, trombone, a drum kit, as well as vocals.

Jazz is truly an American genre in that it finds its orgins on American soil. During the early 19th century almost a half of million Africans were bought over to America via the slave trade. Most of these slaves came from West Africa and brought their strong tribal musical traditions with them. The African tradition used the call and response patter, the rhythms reflected African speech patters and used African  pentatonic scales; which eventually evolved into blue notes, in blues and jazz.

Once slavery was abolished African- Americans began to look for work, many of them found jobs in entertainment including dances, minstrel shows and vaudeville. These former slaves played pianos in bars, clubs and brothels. This evolved into ragtime. Through traveling shows,  ragtime began to change into what we now know as jazz began to spread throughout the US.

Jazz began to flourish  during the early 20th century in African American communities located in the southern United States. The word Jazz, which in the early years was spelled jass began as a West Coast slang term and was first used to refer to music in Chicago around 1915.

Actually my boyfriend plays the saxophone, his style of choice is jazz music. One of his favorite Jazz artist is John Coltrane Feature in the video below.

Peter and the Wolf

The instrument that plays Peter is played by the string instruments

The duck is played by the oboe



The wolf is played by the french horn

The bird is played by flute

The Grandfather is played by bassoon

The hunters are played by timpani and bass drum

                                                                                             

Classical Music

The period of classical music is from about 1750 to 1810. This is the time of Hayden, Mozart, and Beethoven. Classical music embodies clarity of form and logic of development. The classical period is distinguished from classical music in general.

Classical music is rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music. It encompasses a broad period .

Instruments that are included in the classical genre include instruments used in the orchestra as well as instruments such as the piano, harp and organ.

                                                                 

Montage of great classical music composers.

 From left to right:

first row - Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven;

second row - Gioachino Rossini, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi;

 third row - Johann Strauss II, Johannes Brahms, Georges Bizet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák;

 fourth row - Edvard Grieg, Edward Elgar, Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, Aram Khachaturian 

Assignment #4 -Architecture

1.This is West Quad which is located on the University of South Carolina. West Quad is also known as Green Quad because it has many sustainable/ Eco-friendly feature. West Quad serves as dormitories for upperclassmen that attend the University. I lived in West Quad during my sophomore year.

2. West Quad is built in the Greek Revival architectural style. The building consist of a basic building structure of post and lintel. On the building you can notice that there are two types of Greek orders. The most prominent Greek order is actually not an order but more of a decorative element similar to the ones seen on the state house. If you look closely toward the bottom of the building there are actually Greek Orders that are built in the Doric style. The Doric style is the oldest Greek Order; these are non decorative but are simply fluted throughout the body of the order.

 Example of a Doric Greek order.

At the top of West Quad is an architectural element that appears to be a tower. Which is similar to an element that would normally be seen on top of a church. This is defiantly unusual for the style of building this is. I think that the tower is defiantly used for some type of sustainability/Eco-friendly purpose. None the less it is very interesting to see the two elements mixed on one structure.

                       

                       

Above are some examples of towers similar to the one on West Quad. This towers are all located on churches.

3. As mentioned earlier West Quad is in the style  of Greek Revival. Greek Revival is a common style of architecture that can be seen in many buildings across the United States. The Greek Revival is a style of architecture that dominate America during the early19th century. It is an architectural style that imitates the elements of ancient Greek temple design. This style was very popular because of the correlations to with classical tradition and democracy. This was truly the first national style in the United States. It can be found in all regions of the country. Greek Revival can even be seen on many national monuments including the Statue of Liberty.

Below are some more examples of Greek Revival architecture found throughout the United States.

Taylor Ferguson

Assignment #3 Aesthetics and movies

1. Making a practical experience into an Aesthetic Experience

"Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction."
E. O. Wilson

As humans aesthetics can be found in everything we do. Aesthetics take the use of all of our senses. It is how we see and perceive the world.

On most nights I will  usually grab a cup of coffee and sit down at my desk with my lab top to get some of my school done. I usually arrange my computer mug on the right side of me with the lamp shining down on the key board this makes for easy access of everything. When I sat down to do my homework of the night, I knew this image was the one I needed to use, because of its repetition and ritual. This set up is visual pleasing for me. It allows my mind to be able to focus on the task at hand. To me having my work station set up in this manner is like watching a calming river. In times of stress and disorder it adds order and organization to my hectic life.  Even the room I am in is in a chaotic state, this buts organization to it. Emotionally it puts my mind in state of efficiency and motivation; some how making the work aspect not so bad. This is visual pleasing to me, so I would call it beautiful.  The set of of my laptop with all the items surrounding it is like looking at a front porch that  has been strategically arranged. Or like the arrangement of living room or bedroom furniture, everything as a purpose and place and is there for a reason. Even compared to nature, such as  a flower garden or vegetable garden, there is beauty in organization. Its like looking at a snow covered mountain top, moving down to the stream that flows downstream to the field at the foothills.There is symmetry and balance such as a ying and yang sign; giving this a circular flow.Its like seeing a sunrise, something that you expect to see everyday and is a reassuring thought. Once all of my work is done for the day I close my computer and turn the light off and return to life of chaos,but for those few hours I can set my mind at ease and concentrate on one task at a time.

2."Nessum Dorma"

This song defiantly took me on an emotional journey. As tempo and the rhythm of the music changed so did the tempo and the rhythm of my hand. The music somewhat cleared my mind. As the song progressed my mind was clear and still for a second, but then I started to reminiscence on memories from my recent past as well as child hood memories. I began to think about relationships that have evolved in my life. Relationships with significant people in my life that mean to the world to me, relationships that have come to an explosive end and everything in between. I began to think about how relationships define and shape a person and how we are constantly interweaving between each other. Thoughts that ran through my mind where "who would I be today had I never meet this person, what was the purpose of this relationship, and how I do miss some of the people that were once in my life." This music was so rich with different melodies built on top of each other, the instruments worked as a cohesive unit to make a finish product. I think this is how relationships are as well we are all the different melodies and instruments, everyone serves a purpose. This music took me to maybe a somewhat tranquil state, where at that moment I was content with everything in my life. Overall the music was very calming and soothing.

3. Establishing Shot

As cheesy as it may seem Ghost is my all time favorite movie!! Its like a rainy Friday, feel good, type movie. So I will use this as my establishing shot because I watch this movie at least once a month.

The movies establishing shot is with the camera going into a dark room, the only light that can be seen is through the dusty windows and crackers in the wall. Because the lighting is so dim you can barley make out what is actually in the room. The camera scans around the room and the viewer can see objects that appear to be some household items, chairs covered by  cloth some bowls ect. This room defiantly appears to be some kind of attic or something. I think this tells the viewer that this movie definitly has some dark undertones to it and that its not just going to be a fairy tell love story. It gives the viewer information to look out for later in the movie. This establishing shot is very important for setting the mood of the movie, it puts viewers in a certain state of mind. I also think that this establishing shot makes the movie more realistic, but at the same time mysterious for the viewer. This establishing shot in some ways depicts one of the main characters life in that eventually through a dark time the sun will begin to shine and peak through the cracks, it also kind of signifies that the light that appears after a person dies and is passing through into heaven.

Taylor Ferguson

Art Film Event

 On Thursday February 3, 2011 Sabrina and I went to the Nickelodeon to see the Last Train Home. I believe this event was kind of a big deal. The theater was sold out, this was the opening night of the Chinese Film Festival   sponsored by the Confucius Institute of the University of South Carolina in partnership with the moving Image Research Collections, the Chinese Association of Columbia and the Nickelodeon Theater.

This was a documentary that followed one migrant family of workers from 2006 to 2008. The movie shows the family struggles of working far away from home to support their children so that they may have a better life than what they did.

The Establishing Shot

The Establishing Shot of Last Train Home was taken from an overview shot. The camera began in what appeared to be an empty parking lot  and scanned across to a mass crowded of people. The overview shot really gave the audience a chance to take in how many people were actually in this small space. Amongst the people you could see scatters of different colors of umbrellas, which defiantly meant that it was raining outside. As the camera scanned across this group of people you could defiantly tell that there was almost no space between each person, there was nothing in view but little tiny heads and umbrellas. The amount of people shown almost made me uncomfortable, being that I hate large crowds.

This establishing shot set up the context for the movie, the scene signified that later in the movie this crowd of people would play a major role, as we found out that the migration of Chinese workers is that largest migration of people in the world. Tickets are hard to come by because so many workers are trying to make it home by the Chinese New Years. The large crowd also in some ways signifies that struggles that these migrant workers face in their day to day lives. Essentially this crowed showed the relationship of this migration to the lives of the Chinese.

The shot sets up the setting of the movie. Although this shot only lasted at most 5 seconds, it is defiantly a lasting image  that left an imprint in my mind.

This Establishing Shot kind of set a heavy mood for my experience at the Nickelodeon. Not did these people appear uncomfortable in their circumstance, but it was also raining. I kind of put myself in their position and immediately started to feel sad, but knowing that this was going to be a real experience about life. As well as I was surrounded by Chinese people on both sides, really made me respect the movie more.

Interesting Camera Angles

I found the shots in the crowd as well as the shots in the train to be the most interesting. The shots in the crowd were so interesting because I began to wonder how did the camera man fit himself as well as all the equipment into these crowds. How did the people around him react? I wondered if he became uncomfortable as he was shooting when the crowds began to push, at  one time you could even see the camera man lose control of his camera. How did he feel riding on the train for 3 days plus, riding on the boat. These camera shots are also what made the movie so real!

Also during the scenes on the train, it appeared that the camera man was holding his camera out of the train. He may have been seated in the back of the train because you could see most of the train in front of it. This camera angle gave the feeling of riding on the train and just peering outside of the window. It really put you in the mind set of actually riding on the train. It makes you feel as if you were actually riding the train, and gave the audience a different view.



Story line

The Last Train Home follows the lives of a peasant Chinese family. The mother and father along with more than 130 million migrant workers attempt to return home via train to their families living in rural villages. The movie covers about a 2 year span beginning in 2006 and ending in 2008.

The mother and father left their daughter Qin when she was less than a year old. They seeked work in the factories to send money back home to support their children. Qin and her younger brother Yang are raised by their grandparents on the family farm, their grandfather has recently passed leaving the grandmother to raise the children.

The movie flashed from life on the farm to life in the factory. The first year Qin's parents struggle to find a ticket to make it home by the new year, the travel to the ticket agency everyday for a week with no luck. Eventually they find two tickets home at high prices that someone has returned. This is the first time they have been home in years.

Once home the family gathers, they discuss how all their hopes and dreams lie in the children's success in school. The parents are never satisfied with their children's work, they tell them they must study harder, school is the only way out.

The absence of Qins parents in her life has had a tremendous effect on her. She feels no emotion towards her parents, and resents them for leaving her, stating they are so concerned with money, they forget about her. She rebellious against her parents drops out of high school and heads to the work force.  She enjoys making her own money and living on her own.

During the Chinese New year of 2008, Qin with her parents head back to the village for New Years. A winter storm knocks the power out to the train service. They are stuck in the crowd, no food no water for up to 5 days waiting to get home. Once home tensions rise as her parents try to convince her to go back to school she argues back. She disrespects her father saying "fuck "to him, her father explodes this leads to blows.  This is defiantly a defining moment in movie

Qin moves to another city and picks up a waitress job at a night club. Her parents remain working at the factory, eventually her mother returns home to be with Yang to see he does not follow in his sisters foot steps.

Scenes

The scenes that drew me in the most where defiantly the scenes with Qin. I felt like I could relate to her because we were so close in age. This also made me think about how different peoples lives are in the world. Although she is in another country I think teen rebellion is a universal theme, at some point in our lives we disappoint our parents, we do not make the decisions that they think we should make. This just shows us at the end of the day we are all human, no matter what race we are.

The most surprising scene was the fight between Qin and her father. Although my parents are physical disciplinarians, I have never seen a daughter fight her father. They were fist fighting, like a pair of angry teenagers, or two men. This also made me very uncomfortable, in my culture it is very taboo for a man to hit a woman, especially a father. In America I am almost positive that is considered child abuse of domestic violence. In that moment of the movie everything became all to real, this is really a family at odds, challenged by their environment and situation.

Also the film in which Qin yelled at the camera asking if this was real enough yet.

Staging

There was no staging in the film because this was a documentary, it was life in real time. I am assuming no retakes. I am sure their was discussion as to camera position and angles though. The camera position changed often to make the viewer truly apart of the experience, almost as if you were their in present time.

Because this was a documentary I am not sure if any Mise-en-scene was used.  Again maybe with the position of the camera their was a manipulation of the articulation of the cinematic space; but then again they were filming real time so their is no predictions as to what might happen and when or where the best place for the camera to be was. I am sure they did not use all the footage, so there were decisions as to what shots would best convey the themes and ideas of the film.

The Role of the Actors

This film was a documentary so their were no actors. The main characters were Qin, her father, and her mother. I do not think the acted any differently then the would have because the cameras were filming. The movie was defiantly real and genuine with real emotions. That is what I like most about documentaries, you get the real, raw material, their is no faking it, it life up front in your face.

Music and Soundtrack

There was no music nor soundtrack to this film because it was a documentary. I guess you could say the soundtrack was the natural sounds within the film. The lack of music defiantly added to the real life effect of the film, because their is no music that plays in the background of actually life. There is no perfect song that just starts to play at the perfect moment. The "music" heard was the actually sounds a person would hear had they been present in that moment. Nothing is dramatized for effect, no fluff no extras, this is what really draws me in to documentaries. I love that their are no additions.

Genre

The Last Train Home  falls into the genre of a documentary film, which is intended to document an aspect of reality. It is a willed presentation of something made by someone in a specific way. This documentary covered the lives of the migrant worker family, this essential represents a group of people within the Chinese culture

Context of the film

Describe
The context of the film is  the lives of the the migrant workers. The film covers a two year span. It follows the family from the family farm in rural China to the factories in urban China. This film really displays many aspects of china that usually are not. When I think of China I think of advance technology, fashion, and a fast paced city. This is defiantly a view that I never knew about. This movie is a documentary that does not hold back, it confronts the struggles  and hardships of these people. Also not this movie was in Chinese with sub titles

Analyze
The movie open with an establishing shot of the 130 million migrant workers trying to make it home. The movie was in Chinese with subtitles to give the viewer a feeling of being there. The movie went into the rooms that the people lived in as well as to the farmers and in the factory, it shot every aspect of their lives giving the audience a try understanding of their way of life.

Interpret
I think the artist is really trying to convey and educated people about these people. They want to convey the struggles of day to day life just to make ends meet. She shows how the Chinese people feel about Americans, how they stereotype us just as we stereotype them. How we can become so consumed with our own life's that we do not even take a second to think about the lives of other people. These people work so hard for so little and somehow are not so concerned with materialist things. I think the artist is trying to convey a lesson to viewers, as well as educated us at the same time.

From the film I defiantly learned about a new culture, this made me value the opportunities that are afforded to me even more, as well as my way of life. This movie also made me appreciate the lives of other people,as well as appreciate and understand a simpler way of moving.

Taylor Ferguson