The Merchant of Venice

In class on Wednesday, April 22nd, Tracy Salter was so nice as to come into our class to talk about the play she was directing, The Merchant of Venice. She was a very cool person. She had a great personality and was really fun. She loves theatre and she definetly shows it! She informed us on what the play was about and some different themes that were going to be in it. She also copied off the first act, first scene. That was cool. So we went through that and were able to depict much of the script. It was pretty intense because this is what the actors and actresses have to go through. I wouldn't be able to do it, myself. But I give them a lot of credit and appreciation for having the love and the patience to do that. We learned about trochees (opposite of iambic pentameter,) iambic pentameter (a set amount of syllables in a certain amount of space,) and also some tricks to know when there is an accent or how to stress the word. She also brought with her a few books. Dictionaries for Shakespeares words, which was cool because it listed what play, act, scene, and page the word was on. Also, she had a book that told you how to pronounce the word, such as "ague." I think she really prepared me well for the play, because had I not had that little bit of insite on Shakespeare and the play, I would've been totally lost.

I attended the Merchant of Venice on Saturday, April 25. It was very good. I really enjoyed it. I have never seen a play before, and although it was set back in Shakespears time, it was really neat to see. I thought many of the scene props they had like the water spout, the boat and ores, and the patio overhang, were really neat. I really enjoyed the courtroom scene, but my favorite was the one with Lance-a-lot as the main character the whole time. The one he is talking about what his conscience tells him, versus another source. He was so perfect for the part. He was tall and lanky and so funny! I loved his skiddish personality and his voices. I laughed so hard throughout that whole scene.

I think the actor playing Shylock was very good too. He had a very deep and firm voice. He was a very strict and stern person. He was a grumpy, racist, old man who did whatever he could to get the most out of everything (the most money for a deal, etc.) I thought it was cute how everything ended on a fairly good note and was a fairly happy ending. Antonio did not have to give up any flesh, and everybody seemed pretty content with one another.

Overall, I thought the play was very good. As I mentioned earlier, I have never seen a play before so it was a new experience to me and quite intriguing. The actors and actresses did an amazing job! They were all very good! Their attire totally matched the time era and their accents did as well. They helped the audience out with the tough, foreign words (old time speak,) with hand gestures and body language. Tracy had an amazing crew and they made the play well worth it!

Tania Zittoun-MIND Speaker

I was unable to attend the guest speaker last Thursday, April 16. Although, I heard she was very good. What I got from reading Jessica's blog is that Zittoun was very amused with children. More so, that she loved helping them and kind of studying their past to help them reach beyond living with their parents with an $8.00/hr. job. She wanted to help them to become successful and help them in their transition to bigger things in life, such as, college, careers, coping with family/close friend deaths, and things that Americans hold close to their hearts. Big decisions. I found her case study girl, Julia, very interesting. How she was having some difficult times in her life, deciding on a University and actually going, her grandmother passing, and having a close relationship with her parents and having to drop that for school.

I can relate to Julia's story because I am from Minnesota and I came to Colorado for school. My mom and I have a VERY close relationship, as do I with almost her whole entire side of the family. It is very hard not to be able to see my mom everyday, or even a couple days a week. I miss her so much and can't wait until June when I go back. I will be transferring back to Minnesota for that very reason. I miss my family and friends too much. I want to enjoy college, and as much as I am going to miss UNC and the wonderful people here, I would rather be close to home. My family and friends have always been there for me; I don't want to lose that close relationship. Anyways, I wish I could've went to see the speaker, because after reading that, I know I would've been able to relate to some things she was talking about.

Jessica mentioned that Tania had just about the same theory as Tom Turino, but her theory included different aspects, which is very intriguing. To see that they believe the same thing, but yet, in different ways. That just goes to show the cultural differences around the world. People from different places think different things, even if they are in the same field and same idea, their points they put to them may be different.

My Composition

My composition is based on the outside world. Many things you don't even realize are there while you're walking down the sidewalk or laying in the sun. After the first day of composing our music, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do for mine. I have another class after Creativity, so as I was walking to my other class, I heard the wind. I was like, "Hmm, it's pretty windy outside today." Then, I thought, "Oh my gosh! That's perfect! I am going to do my composition on outside, seeing as how I LOVE to be outside!" So, that's basically how I came up with my theme. Now, for the actual composition. I just used clip art for each instrument, I tried to get a picture of the actual instrument each person would be using. I put them in order from left to right, as you would read a book. My instruments are as follows: wind-throughout the entire piece, pants-rustling sound of clothes from people walking by, ball-people playing in a park, horn-cars driving by honking their horns, classroom lights-clouds covering up the sun and coming back out again, classroom door opening and shutting-car doors and building doors slamming shut, classroom desks-swing sets, cell phone music-cars driving by with music blaring, rollerblade-people rollerblading or long boarding, large paper holder (paper clip)-school bell ringing, dog-dogs barking, hammer with nail (originally planned on having a drill)-construction, everyone in classroom laughing or talking-background noise as your walking down the street of people laughing and talking, keys-keys on a backpack jingling, rubber bands-birds chirping, water bottles-nearby rivers flowing, pens-squirrels and rabbits making noises, people stomping their feet-people walking on side walks. It is a piece for the whole class, each person can have a role. I decided to do this theme because it is autobiographical because I love to be outside and do various activities outside. Hope you all enjoy. (It will not let me upload my score.)

Theory for Music-Thomas Turino

I defintely agree with Thomas when he says that music has a big role in shaping our socitey. Many times, the type of music a person listens to, tends to be how they act. Or, maybe that is just a stereotype, still, a major impact on life and the way people see things. I thought it was interesting how he said, "It seems to me that the challenge for the next generation is to develop a theory of music in relation to what is usually called "emotion"-- "
To me, this means that music has kind of died out and our generation is responsible for coming up with different emotions, or feelings, for different genres of music. And with coming up with these emotions, we are to define a theory of why we decided upon that such emotion for that genre.

When reading the part about sign, object, interpretant, I pictured it as the coming of "sign language," a way for people to communicate without using words, just symbols and gestures. I feel he is making a connection with Peirce's Semiosis process. When he points out the fact that he feels music is the sign "of" feeling, not the sign "about" feeling; I have to agree, because when I listen to music, I get a feeling. Depending on what genre of music, the singer/band, and such, I get a sense of emotion. When their music begins, I don't feel that when I turn on the radio, the singers/bands are making you try to feel a certain way about something, I think they are expressing their views and their thoughts, and want you to interpret them any way necessary.

I appreciate the fact that he puts terms into "English," if you would. Since I am not a musical person at all, some of the words and terms make absolutely no sense to me. But then, following in the next sentence, is an example of what he is talking about. For example, when he is talking about the term "legisign," he talks about the Star-Spangled Banner and the color red.

The pictures were confusing, because I wasn't exactly sure what they were illustrating, but they helped a little bit understand more of what was going on. I'm sure if someone reading this article knew what all those words and terms meant, they would be able to appreciate the illustrations much more than me.

He brings in to effect, normal everyday people and experiences. Some of which include, used car salesmen, false lovers, politicians, and actors/actresses. We all watch T.V. and have a political figure in our life somewhere or another, whether it be your mayor, govenor, senator, or president. They play a major role in our life. Actors/actresses are a common everyday practice in our lives, watching movies or T.V. Everything we do, and everything we see, affects our vision of music, ways of thinking, and different steps to coming up with a theory for music.

The properties, or categories of firstness, secondness, and thirdness threw me off a bit. But as I kept reading, I realized they were traced back to the trichotomies that Peirce had discovered. Overall, music is awesome! And I couldn't go a day without it. Maybe everyone should have their own theory of music?

What to Listen for in the World

I thought this article was very cool, because I was able to relate it to what Paul talked about in class today. How they say composition and music are thought of very differently, in the sense that in class today, Paul asked about 4 or 5 people what they thought his symbol meant, and each person had a very different sound. As soon as I read the part about "understanding" it just made me think of that; how we all understand the same thing in many different ways.

Also, I believe that you have to believe in yourself to do something. If you quit believing, you will not succeed. Just as Yo-Yo-Ma did. He read the piece, played the piece PERFECTLY, then once the author pointed out the "impossible" part in it, he began to play it again and was stopped at the "impossible" part and wasn't able to do it anymore. Because he stopped and realized that for a split second, his fingers were uncomfortable, he couldn't do it anymore.

Paul Elwood

I thought today was an interesting class period. Paul was a pretty good speaker. I really enjoyed listening to his music; it almost reminded me of like African or Indian music, the kind where the snake slithers up through the top of the basket and the musician is usually playing a flute. Even though it was a banjo, the beginning of the music before he started to sing and all reminded me of that. But other than that, he talked about many famous composers; some that he knew, some he was able to trace back to, and others just in general. It sounds like he has been all over the world; Moscow, Russia, many different states in the U.S., and he will be going to Africa sometime soon too. He has been composing for about 30 years or a little more. He had a very good activity to try to teach us a little bit more about composing and how to come about it and have an open mind. He knew a lot about what he was talking about and is a very good banjo player.

The Lives of Others

This movie is AWESOME! I loved this movie, I saw it fall semester for one of my German classes during the German International Film Series and I thought it was so cool. It is just so interesting and sad, the things that they did during the separation of East and West Germany. How the Stasi bugged peoples' homes and spied on them for months and even years in this case. I felt bad for Christa because she thought she was ratting her husband out, but really Wiesler hid it and "saved" Georg. One of my favorite parts was when Georg said, "I'm sorry." to Christa and she didn't know what he was talking about and really he was talking about getting her into all of this mess. I think Wiesler, like we mentioned in class, didn't know what passion and love was until he was spying on this couple and then he felt it and didn't want to ruin what they had and so he began to cover some of their flaws and things that could have gotten them in trouble with the Stasi. My most favorite part was at the end when he went into the book store and opened up the book and saw it was dedicated to him. I thought that was so awesome!