At 8 pm on Wednesday, September 2nd, Dr. Nathaniel Zeisler walked on to stage wearing all black. He began his performance by turning the lights down and activating a drop down screen for a power point presentation. After the lights were turned off, Dr. Zeisler started the night off with a humorous note by poking fun at himself and stating that he will communicate through the power point screen during the night.
Dr. Zeisler’s performance had very heavy political references. He based his selection of pieces off of a quote that stated: “My loathings are simple: Stupidity, Oppression, Crime, Cruelty, and Soft Music.” With each loathing, Dr. Zeisler had an example of atrocities in the real world. For crime he showed a video of a woman wanting her money from a man who stole over 65 billion dollars from various investors.
I enjoyed all the selections that Dr. Zeisler performed, and I especially enjoyed the use of an instant recording/play back device. It added another interesting layer to the music.
At 3 PM on September 13, 2009, I attended the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra concert in Kobacker Hall. They played a variety of different pieces, including a Mozart Divertimento and a piece by Astor Piazzolla that was reminiscent of a tango.
My favorite piece was played by the Harlem String Quartet. The quartet played one movement from At the Octoroon Balls, called “Hellbound Highball.” To introduce the piece, Desmond Neysmith, the cellist of the quartet, talked about the way Wynton Marsalis used different techniques for string instruments to mimic sounds of a fast moving train. The violins would drag the bow over the highest string which made a sound like squealing breaks. The cello and viola would produce a steady beat which sounded like a train engine. Neysmith also explained that the piece had a number of false endings in order to trick the audience and make it seem like the train was going to stop and let off passengers before it reached Hell.
I also learned what the Sphinx Organization is and all the amazing opportunities it presents to Blacks and Latinos all over the country.
On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, in or BGSU 1000 class, we had the opportunity to see a video that was truly inspirational. The video was titled, “Musical Minds.” It explained how some people have musical brains and others don’t. In the video it used the stories of three people who have the most extraordinary stories about how they are so musical. Derek Paravicini was the most inspirational to me, because he struggles the most with what we consider easy, and excels at what we find nearly impossible. For instance, playing an extremely difficult piano piece by ear after only hearing it once.
In the video, it also showed how certain parts of the activated when listening and imagining music. It also described how our brains are engaged more when we like a piece of music rather than when we dislike it. Something that also caught my interest was when they had the segment on the woman that had amusia, which makes her deaf to rhythm and pitch. Therefore, she only hears noise and gets no pleasure from listening to music.
I thought it was a great video and made me understand how powerful and healing music can be.
I recently attended a performance of selections from Don Quixote, in Kobacker Performance Hall in the Moore Musical Arts Center. This performance was unique because it featured puppets instead of traditional actors. This added a unique interpretation for the story. I was slightly disappointed by the fact that you could see the performers operating the puppets but I got over that fact and enjoyed the show.
The performance was two operas that were one act each and the first was the opera that used the puppets and it was performed in Spanish. This made it more difficult to follow, even though there was a translation on the screen above the stage. It was difficult to follow the action of the performers and read the translation at the same time. The second opera was a story of how a village girl was being forced to marry a wealthy man when she loved a poor farmer. With the help of Don Quixote, who was on a quest in search of Dulcinea, the poor farmer tricked the wealth man into letting his bride to be marry the farmer. The story was well portrayed and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
On Thursday December 3, 2009, I attended the World Percussion Ensembles performance. At this concert there were three different ensembles, which represented three distinct cultural forms of percussion repertoire. The first group to perform that night was the Kusuma Sari Balinese Gamelan. The way this group began the concert was interesting and somewhat of a surprise. The gamelan started playing before they even entered the concert hall: they were playing as a procession as they effectively marched up to the concert dais. Following behind them were two members who were in a dragon costume, and they made the dragon interact with the audience. The dragon was definitely a stunning visual. Their third piece featured a soloist who both danced and played the trompong in succession. Every one of these groups had powerful visuals. The Afro-Caribbean Ensemble included a group of dancers who danced for nearly the whole of that ensemble’s performance. The Hayabusa Taiko Ensemble were visual not only in how they were striking the instruments, but also in how they had an actual silent drama occurring in one of the pieces. It seems that other cultures view music as essentially one and the same with visual art, like dance.
On Wednesday December 2nd I had the pleasure of attending Handel’s Messiah in Kobacker Hall. It was being performed by Bowling Green’s UCS and members of the Toledo Symphony. I enjoyed this performance a lot. I have always loved Handel’s Messiah since I was a young girl because my father used to perform it every Christmas so I truly enjoyed seeing it again. I also really enjoyed it because 2 BGSU professors were leads, Professors Chris Scholl and Sean Cooper. It was great being able to see them at more a professional level as opposed to seeing them as teachers. I also really enjoyed the soprano lead. She had a beautiful voice and her face was very expressive which was wonderful to see. My favorite piece of the whole concert was For Unto Us A Child Is Born. It has always been my favorite and I enjoyed it a lot. Overall the whole concert was amazing.
On Wednesday December 2, 2009 at eight p.m in Kobacker Hall, I participated in the performance of Handel’s Messiah with the University Chorale Society and Toledo Symphony Orchestra. We were directed by Dr. Mark Munson. This was the first of three performances. The other two performances were we performed at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle with the University of Toledo Choral Society. One thing that remained the same through out the three performances was the lovely soloist’s, two of which happen to be professors at Bowling Green. Professor Scholl and Sean Cooper. I really enjoyed listening to all four of the soloists, especially the Soprano. I also enjoyed listening to the Toledo Symphony in between the chorus’s songs. My favorite song to sing was “Surely”, because it is a very powerful and dramatic movement. All of the songs were enjoyable and I will have the opportunity to sing Handle’s Messiah again next year.
The beautiful arrangements of joy and chist filled Kobacker Hall when Bowling Greens UCS and member of the Toldeo Symphony performed Handel’s Messiah on December 2nd, 2009. I have always loved these pieces of music and it was a pleasure to hear them. I performed Handel’s Messiah when I was a junior in highschool and I have never heard the whole movement performed live by another group. I really enjoyed the concert and I really loved the lead soprano’s voice. It was beautiful and confident. Every member of the group did a great job at presenting each piece of music. It looked like they enjoyed themselves, so it made me enjoy it. This concert filled me with holiday spirit.
I realized I cannot write about a performance I was in. So I am changing this blog and am instead writing about the movie The Songcatcher that we watched in class.
We finished watching this movie on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. The main character is a Doctor of Muisicology. She decides to go visit her sister in the mountains because she was not allowed to be anything other than an assistant where she was currently teaching. She discovered that the songs that she was teaching to her students actually originated from the mountains and not from England. she started to record all of the songs that they would sing for her. I fell in love with these songs because they were so moving and beautiful. The doctor finds love in this movie, but her research gets burnt and so she gives up. Instead she decides to sell the new recordings that she will make.
It is amazing how much you can learn about music and culture through a movie. I hearn many different instruments and heard many folk songs I have never heard before. Plus I learned about the true history of these songs and the culture where they originated from.
On November sixth I attended the opera Don Quixote with my friend Irene. We had a very nice time. The student who played Sancho Panza, Joel Trisel, is from my hometown and I have been in musicals with him. It was so cool to see someone I knew in a leading role at the collegiate level. He was really fantastic. In my opinion he was the best singer and actor of the whole show. I actually did not like the opera itself though. I did not enjoy the music at all, and it was too short to have much of a plot. The puppets were pretty cool though even though they scared Irene a bit. The best part of the evening was sitting in front of Myra Merritt and Doug Wayland. They can be intimidating in a classroom setting, but we were joking around with them and having a great time before the play started. I can’t wait till I’m in the opera next semester to enjoy being on stage and not just watching.
I watched this fascinating video called Music Minds. This video is about musical therapy, a field that I am very much interested in. There are so many cases where people can understand music but can’t understand anything else. There was this one person who is blind and is very mentally challenged. But for some reason he can play the piano wonderfully. If he hears a piano piece just once, he can play it automatically and accurately. Also, there were people who were paralyzed but if music is playing they can dance. Also there was this one person who had tarrets. His ticks are so severe that he can’t form a sentence without performing them. But for some reason, when he plays the drums all of his ticks go away. I think musical therapy is extremely fascinating and would love to help miracles happen and would love to help people.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Joseph Boldt
At 8 pm on Wednesday, September 2nd, Dr. Nathaniel Zeisler walked on to stage wearing all black. He began his performance by turning the lights down and activating a drop down screen for a power point presentation. After the lights were turned off, Dr. Zeisler started the night off with a humorous note by poking fun at himself and stating that he will communicate through the power point screen during the night.
Dr. Zeisler’s performance had very heavy political references. He based his selection of pieces off of a quote that stated: “My loathings are simple: Stupidity, Oppression, Crime, Cruelty, and Soft Music.” With each loathing, Dr. Zeisler had an example of atrocities in the real world. For crime he showed a video of a woman wanting her money from a man who stole over 65 billion dollars from various investors.
I enjoyed all the selections that Dr. Zeisler performed, and I especially enjoyed the use of an instant recording/play back device. It added another interesting layer to the music.
September 15th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Rachel Killoren
At 3 PM on September 13, 2009, I attended the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra concert in Kobacker Hall. They played a variety of different pieces, including a Mozart Divertimento and a piece by Astor Piazzolla that was reminiscent of a tango.
My favorite piece was played by the Harlem String Quartet. The quartet played one movement from At the Octoroon Balls, called “Hellbound Highball.” To introduce the piece, Desmond Neysmith, the cellist of the quartet, talked about the way Wynton Marsalis used different techniques for string instruments to mimic sounds of a fast moving train. The violins would drag the bow over the highest string which made a sound like squealing breaks. The cello and viola would produce a steady beat which sounded like a train engine. Neysmith also explained that the piece had a number of false endings in order to trick the audience and make it seem like the train was going to stop and let off passengers before it reached Hell.
I also learned what the Sphinx Organization is and all the amazing opportunities it presents to Blacks and Latinos all over the country.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, in or BGSU 1000 class, we had the opportunity to see a video that was truly inspirational. The video was titled, “Musical Minds.” It explained how some people have musical brains and others don’t. In the video it used the stories of three people who have the most extraordinary stories about how they are so musical. Derek Paravicini was the most inspirational to me, because he struggles the most with what we consider easy, and excels at what we find nearly impossible. For instance, playing an extremely difficult piano piece by ear after only hearing it once.
In the video, it also showed how certain parts of the activated when listening and imagining music. It also described how our brains are engaged more when we like a piece of music rather than when we dislike it. Something that also caught my interest was when they had the segment on the woman that had amusia, which makes her deaf to rhythm and pitch. Therefore, she only hears noise and gets no pleasure from listening to music.
I thought it was a great video and made me understand how powerful and healing music can be.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 am
I recently attended a performance of selections from Don Quixote, in Kobacker Performance Hall in the Moore Musical Arts Center. This performance was unique because it featured puppets instead of traditional actors. This added a unique interpretation for the story. I was slightly disappointed by the fact that you could see the performers operating the puppets but I got over that fact and enjoyed the show.
The performance was two operas that were one act each and the first was the opera that used the puppets and it was performed in Spanish. This made it more difficult to follow, even though there was a translation on the screen above the stage. It was difficult to follow the action of the performers and read the translation at the same time. The second opera was a story of how a village girl was being forced to marry a wealthy man when she loved a poor farmer. With the help of Don Quixote, who was on a quest in search of Dulcinea, the poor farmer tricked the wealth man into letting his bride to be marry the farmer. The story was well portrayed and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 pm
On Thursday December 3, 2009, I attended the World Percussion Ensembles performance. At this concert there were three different ensembles, which represented three distinct cultural forms of percussion repertoire. The first group to perform that night was the Kusuma Sari Balinese Gamelan. The way this group began the concert was interesting and somewhat of a surprise. The gamelan started playing before they even entered the concert hall: they were playing as a procession as they effectively marched up to the concert dais. Following behind them were two members who were in a dragon costume, and they made the dragon interact with the audience. The dragon was definitely a stunning visual. Their third piece featured a soloist who both danced and played the trompong in succession. Every one of these groups had powerful visuals. The Afro-Caribbean Ensemble included a group of dancers who danced for nearly the whole of that ensemble’s performance. The Hayabusa Taiko Ensemble were visual not only in how they were striking the instruments, but also in how they had an actual silent drama occurring in one of the pieces. It seems that other cultures view music as essentially one and the same with visual art, like dance.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:25 am
On Wednesday December 2nd I had the pleasure of attending Handel’s Messiah in Kobacker Hall. It was being performed by Bowling Green’s UCS and members of the Toledo Symphony. I enjoyed this performance a lot. I have always loved Handel’s Messiah since I was a young girl because my father used to perform it every Christmas so I truly enjoyed seeing it again. I also really enjoyed it because 2 BGSU professors were leads, Professors Chris Scholl and Sean Cooper. It was great being able to see them at more a professional level as opposed to seeing them as teachers. I also really enjoyed the soprano lead. She had a beautiful voice and her face was very expressive which was wonderful to see. My favorite piece of the whole concert was For Unto Us A Child Is Born. It has always been my favorite and I enjoyed it a lot. Overall the whole concert was amazing.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
On Wednesday December 2, 2009 at eight p.m in Kobacker Hall, I participated in the performance of Handel’s Messiah with the University Chorale Society and Toledo Symphony Orchestra. We were directed by Dr. Mark Munson. This was the first of three performances. The other two performances were we performed at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle with the University of Toledo Choral Society. One thing that remained the same through out the three performances was the lovely soloist’s, two of which happen to be professors at Bowling Green. Professor Scholl and Sean Cooper. I really enjoyed listening to all four of the soloists, especially the Soprano. I also enjoyed listening to the Toledo Symphony in between the chorus’s songs. My favorite song to sing was “Surely”, because it is a very powerful and dramatic movement. All of the songs were enjoyable and I will have the opportunity to sing Handle’s Messiah again next year.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
The beautiful arrangements of joy and chist filled Kobacker Hall when Bowling Greens UCS and member of the Toldeo Symphony performed Handel’s Messiah on December 2nd, 2009. I have always loved these pieces of music and it was a pleasure to hear them. I performed Handel’s Messiah when I was a junior in highschool and I have never heard the whole movement performed live by another group. I really enjoyed the concert and I really loved the lead soprano’s voice. It was beautiful and confident. Every member of the group did a great job at presenting each piece of music. It looked like they enjoyed themselves, so it made me enjoy it. This concert filled me with holiday spirit.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I realized I cannot write about a performance I was in. So I am changing this blog and am instead writing about the movie The Songcatcher that we watched in class.
We finished watching this movie on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. The main character is a Doctor of Muisicology. She decides to go visit her sister in the mountains because she was not allowed to be anything other than an assistant where she was currently teaching. She discovered that the songs that she was teaching to her students actually originated from the mountains and not from England. she started to record all of the songs that they would sing for her. I fell in love with these songs because they were so moving and beautiful. The doctor finds love in this movie, but her research gets burnt and so she gives up. Instead she decides to sell the new recordings that she will make.
It is amazing how much you can learn about music and culture through a movie. I hearn many different instruments and heard many folk songs I have never heard before. Plus I learned about the true history of these songs and the culture where they originated from.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
On November sixth I attended the opera Don Quixote with my friend Irene. We had a very nice time. The student who played Sancho Panza, Joel Trisel, is from my hometown and I have been in musicals with him. It was so cool to see someone I knew in a leading role at the collegiate level. He was really fantastic. In my opinion he was the best singer and actor of the whole show. I actually did not like the opera itself though. I did not enjoy the music at all, and it was too short to have much of a plot. The puppets were pretty cool though even though they scared Irene a bit. The best part of the evening was sitting in front of Myra Merritt and Doug Wayland. They can be intimidating in a classroom setting, but we were joking around with them and having a great time before the play started. I can’t wait till I’m in the opera next semester to enjoy being on stage and not just watching.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I watched this fascinating video called Music Minds. This video is about musical therapy, a field that I am very much interested in. There are so many cases where people can understand music but can’t understand anything else. There was this one person who is blind and is very mentally challenged. But for some reason he can play the piano wonderfully. If he hears a piano piece just once, he can play it automatically and accurately. Also, there were people who were paralyzed but if music is playing they can dance. Also there was this one person who had tarrets. His ticks are so severe that he can’t form a sentence without performing them. But for some reason, when he plays the drums all of his ticks go away. I think musical therapy is extremely fascinating and would love to help miracles happen and would love to help people.