Concert Review: At The Movies

The music concert this review covers is the Plano Symphony’s rendition of the Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy in C minor and Symphony No. 9, The Choral, in D minor. The concert was held at a church in April 16, 2016, and it was a sold out performance. Since it was a night simply dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven, the symphony titled the concert as “Best of Beethoven.”

I’ve adored theatre for as long as I can remember. From writing plays throughout elementary school, to being involved in Drama Club in middle school, to performing in community theatre in high school, and to visiting the theatre as often as I could from the very beginning, theatre has always been a part of my life. Every aspect of it engages me: the directors working to bring their vision of the show’s scenes, choreography, or music to life, the actors transforming into different characters through their expression of dialogue, song, or dance, the costumers and set-builders transporting the audience into the setting and time period with their artistry, the backstage tech and crew working quickly and precisely to keep the show flowing to curtain call, and the orchestra bringing the show to life through music. There is nothing like the experience of live theatre, both as a member of the audience and as a member of the cast and crew.

There’s a reason that English classes have students study Oedipus the King, A Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, and many other titles in schools across the globe. Adding music to a story focused on a serious issue doesn’t impact the message that it carries to audiences. Musicals like Next to Normal, and South Pacific carry themes of extreme social struggle like racism and mental illness all with soundtracks that stand the test of time. What I love most about how theatre affects people is that most theatre kids are well adjusted due to the exposure to these wide ranges of themes, making them the best people to be around; theatre kids are well adjusted because of the awareness of theatre, and not necessarily juggling education and stage productions.

Music also plays a key role in reminding the audience that this movie took place in the past.

Newsies, a classic musical based on the late 1800’s is a very entertaining and family friendly musical-- except for the few profane words. On a cloudy, partially rainy saturday morning, I laid out on the couch and watched the movie from the comfort of my own home. I was hesitant to watch this movie because I am not much of a musical person. About midway through I found myself at the edge of my seat hypnotized by the movie. As the movie drew to an end, I was completely sucked in and waited for something more. The movie I so dreadfully did not want to watch became something I did not want to end.  In this movie the director and composer correlated their scenes and music perfectly together to touch the thoughts and emotions of the audience watching.

      Let me take you back to the good old days of high school; Going to the football games, also known as “Friday Night Lights”, were a hit. Watching the football team either win or lose, listening to the marching band play your favorite songs just transposed into a band version. But do you remember when the marching band performed during halftime, or were you too busy talking to your friends, or not even caring and just want the football team to get back to the field? Not a lot of people actually pay attention to how hard the marching band works to put on a show at halftime. Barely anyone notices how hard the band has to work to get and eight and a half  minute show onto the field. Adding in the percussion, color guard and the props is a lot of work that

On the night of February 11, 2017, Sarah and I traveled to the Music Hall at Fair Park to see Broadway’s hit “An American in Paris.” This was one of the most breathtaking shows I have ever experienced. From the talented dancing, magnificent acting, and wonderful singing it was a great way to spend my night! George and Ira Gershwin composed the music in this show the and the performers did a fabulous job making it entertaining. It was an amazing show to get to write about for my last Honors Paper, and I hope to see it again one day.

The concert I attended was called the Faculty and Student Recital, which took place in the Cisco Auditorium on April 11, 2017. The music that was on the program was mostly what is called “classical” music, as well as a Chinese Folk Song, an electronic composition, and variations on an Indian Tala. In the classical pieces, the instruments that were used were the violin, the piano, the cello, and the oboe. In the electronic composition, the computer was used to make music. In the Chinese Folk Song, the piccolo was used to imitate the unique timbre of a Chinese flute. In the Indian tala, drums from Ghana were used to imitate the rhythm and sound of Indian drums. The piano, the violin, the cello, and the piccolo all originate

The musical film has always held a special place for me. From my time as a drama student in high school, my eyes have been opened to the amazing world of the musical and especially the musical film. The musical film is a film genre in which the characters sing songs that are integrated into the overall story. Since musicals first began in theaters, musical films usually contain similar elements. These elements often simulate that there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the film viewers become the audience members, at a theater production, as the actor performs directly to them. Due to the popularity of musicals in the theater, the style was quickly brought over into film. In 1927, the musical film genre began

MUS 110CL Concert Critique Guidelines and Rubric After either attending a live concert or watching a full length concert online, write a critique of the performance following the format below. Here are a few examples of full length concerts you can find online (by conducting a web search using the criteria below) that could be used for this assignment:         Coldplay Live In Boston 2012 (Full Concert DVD) Sting: If on a winters night-Live from Durham Cathedral 2009 (watch all 14 songs on concert) Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, Jan Hammer, Charlie Duke Ellington The Great Paris Concert Richard Galliano/Winton Marsalis - Billie Holiday meets Edith PIAF Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Jazz Center

A musical film is a genre of movie where songs sung by characters are added into the storyline, occasionally complemented by choreography. The musical numbers in these films do not always develop the plot and characters, but they do give the films a more exciting quality. The primary difference between musical theatre and film musicals is the use of extravagant scenery that would be extraordinarily unreasonable for a stage performance. While making movies, the individuals involved have the luxury of being able to shoot multiple takes and have the time to move backgrounds around or change their entire location. Stage performances, on the other hand, must have scenery that can be easily and efficiently moved on and offstage when it is needed. In order to be able to thoroughly comprehend this relatively recent- in the grand scheme of things- form of entertainment, one should understand the history behind these musical films, be aware of some of the “big names” that are well-known, and recognize major titles that revolutionized musical film forever (Scaruffi, P., 2005).

The first half of the concert was only instrumental. There were two violins, two violas, and two cellos. They sat on stage with the violins one my right, then the violas in the middle, and the cellos on the end. The violins played a few songs solo. The second half of the concert was only the choir and a piano. Their performance started with the song Daybreak. The song Daybreak also had a few girls playing percussion, one of them had a tambourine. Using SHMRG, the Harmony of most of the choirs songs were very homophonic. The Melody of most of the songs were mainly slow, though a couple songs were very fast, and upbeat.

The overall concert offered a wide verity of choir song, from classical pieces composed by Mozart to musical show tunes. The combination of which resulted in an overall enjoyable experience. The concert was not the first choir concert I had ever attended so I went in expecting it to be similar to the high school choir performances I have seen before. I was not expecting the scale of the concert to be so large. Instead of being one choir and an hour-long program there were four groups along with a much longer program. Each of the choir groups had a different dynamic, sound and feel to it. The differences made it interesting.

The importance of music in movies is highly regarded for manipulating the viewer’s emotions and helping them immerse into the story. Music is one of the prime elements in cinema. Without it a movie would feel dull and unexciting. There are three elements in a movie: one is acting, the second is picture, and the third one is music. It is a holy trinity; if incomplete, there would be a lack of sensation and excitement. Both acting and picture can stand independently from one another, but music is the one that makes the movie memorable.

On Wednesday July, 8 I attended a concert at the Mimoda Studio located in Los Angeles the concert started at eight o’clock. On that day there was a group of four Instrumentalists performing a cello concert. The performances consisted of acts of big composers such as David popper the cellist also Alexander Konstantinovich ,it last about an hour. The show did not include programs so I will have to go off my notes some of the pieces that were played for David popper were Serade, Ballet scene, Gavotte, and La Chanson villageoise. The pieces played from Alexander Konstantinovich were impatient, land of heroes. There were also some Armenian chants played from the medival times, that were either composed by Sahakdukht orkhosrovidukht.