Live Performance Research Paper

The set used for Vernon God Little was highly symbolic and simplistic; when we walked into the theatre we could visually see that there were flowers, cards and memorable items attached on the audiences seats above our heads, which already created a sombre atmosphere around the theatre.

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.

I wouldn't be doing the concert any justice if I didn't emphasize the buzz of the town on the day of the show. When my life long friend, and fellow DMB fan, and I rolled into the historic college town of Charlottesville, we could almost instantly feel the excitement crash into us (no pun intended). As we drove into

I first thought the concert would include full band, background singers, different lightings and costume changes. My thought was quickly changed when I saw that there was one drummer and the artist with his two guitars. It was very different from the other concerts that I’ve been to. He was really laid back and speaking about his life openly to us. He shared with us about his life as an artist, a husband, father and a follower of Jesus. The concert was very energetic, with a lot of dancing, shouting and sing along. The songs he sung were from his old and upcoming

The concert “Spring Winds” took place on Santa Fe College’s Gainesville campus. “The Santa Fe Handrummers” were all dressed in African clothing since they were performing traditional African songs. “The Santa Fe Winds” were dressed up in suits in dresses and they all looked nice. Some people in the audience dressed up while others wore more casual clothes. The venue was clean with comfortable seats. It looked like the venue was able to hold around a hundred people. The sound quality was great but it was a little loud due to how close the seats were to the stage. The concert was still enjoyable and I had a great experience.

Finding Stella is a rock band that was formed in the early 2000s in the San Francisco area. Lions Wayside Park in Pleasanton has concerts every summer and Finding Stella is a regular featured act there. The park is quite big and even when you arrive the morning of the concert, there’s a sea of blankets holding a spot to see the band. I went with my mother and a few of her friends, in which even arriving at 10 that morning to put a blanket down, we were still pretty far from the stage. Needless to say, the majority of my time was spent on the sidewalk near the stage to get the full effect of the performance. You could tell the difference between the people stationed at the back of the park, from the front. The ones sitting in the back used the

experience for me. It was far different from a rock concert held in some big

The second concert I attended was the Shepherd school of music collegium concert at Rice University. The program featured music from the renaissance and was a little bit different then the orchestra concert I attended. For one there were fewer musicians. It had a more intimate setting, not a big theater but rather a small rehearsal hall. The musicians exchanged in and out after there part of the performance was over and there was some singing as well.

Main seating is in the middle, bleacher seating is on either end. It is designed as a racing arena, so it is very wide and not good, in my opinion, for concerts. They had to put up large movie screens on both sides of the stage because you can’t see the stage from the bleachers. There is a race every Labor Day, the last day of the fair. You can hear the cars from all over the fairgrounds and it gets really, really annoying after a while. Some artists appearing this year include Christina Aguilera, Goo Goo Dolls, and “Weird Al” Yankovic. I plan on seeing Weird Al on Sunday.

The concert was performed on the Southam Hall stage at the NAC; this is a large hall with extremely good acoustics. It is a nationally known stage, so the quality of the hall is very good. Generally, the audience was very receptive as it was composed of adults, who were all silent. The acoustics were very good as the hall spread the sound throughout the hall without making it echo. This had a positive effect on the performance, because it was possible for the orchestra to be clearly heard from any point in the entire hall. I was impressed by the large number of students that I saw that night because the show deserved to have been heard by many young people.

Concerts contain so many sensations. The white chairs being put away, the stage getting placed back on the big black trailer piece by piece, and the quiet shuffles of the last feet leave the stadium; the stadium transforms into the purple and white stadium it once was, leaving no

Starting off my group tried to use the list of movement vocabulary. That didn’t work out so instead we decided to focus on what our theme or story would be. Eventually we settled on two topics, unrequited love and love at first sight.

After watching and scanning Lauro’s piece, we found that the live performance gave more sense to the plot than reading it. However, reading the script along with watching the live performance contributed to a better understanding for the audience. To start, the plot of the play consists of actions that occur on and off stage. Sometimes the readers may get confused because of this, so in this case the live performance makes it simpler to comprehend. In the play, almost all of the fighting scenes were offstage because there was not enough space to make them occur on stage. As a result, when Maryjo started to say that there was a mass casualty coming in, the fight did not occur onstage since there was not enough space to show the fighting scene. For example, we can see the reaction of Whitney, Steele, and Martha when the mas casualty came in:

The second vocal ensemble of the night started out with a song which included a twelve bar blues, called “ I use to know you”. This performance consisted of the most combinations of solos of the night as well as using an improvising style. The entire band started all together which led to a Trumpet solo. Then Jose on the Sax did his solo followed by the pianist comping. Then the choir along with the band joined together to lead to a female solo which was particularly interesting since she was scatting. The second performance of this ensemble was “Spring can really hang you up the most” which consisted of 3/4 time and 4/4 time. This started with a female solo vocalist then a male one. The band as a whole played together and ended with a male solo scatting. The third and shortest performance of the night was a vocal acapella piece, “Love walked in” which was short and sweet. The fourth performance of the night was a Richmond Rogers piece. This had a rhythmic swing/salsa feel from the “Lady is a tramp”. This started with the rhythm section, with the male vocalist and horns. Then the female vocalist from the choir joined and concluded this piece. The fifth performance for the group was a sequel to voice stand an acapella piece by Greg Jaspers. This song started with the choir using their voices as the instruments altogether. The final performance of the night was one of

This semester I have experience many live musical performances. Some of these performances have let me down but for the most part, these performances have been everything I ever expected. My two favorite performances this semester were Festival Vallenato and Ultra Music Festival. Although these two types of music are different in every way possible, the people and the performers are exactly where I feel I am in the right place.