performance report 1

A breezy night, March 27^th, 2010 my friend Sean and I strolled through the University of Texas at Dallas campus, battling bothersome construction to find a couple seats in the Jonsson Performance Hall by 8 P.M. to test our eyes and ears with the school’s Chamber Singers’ presentation of “Shakespeare in Song.” Now, I have not been exposed to any Shakespeare in quite a while so I did not know what to expect. Sean and I grabbed a couple programs then quickly took our seats near the back and immediately soaked in the elements of the polite, quaint venue. The charm and warmth of the small hall seemed quite fitting for a choral concert lending itself on this cool night to medieval and renaissance-inspired works from the famous English dramatist.

As we waited for the performers to enter and take their places on the tiny bleachers, I felt right at home among the audience. Looking around, I see that fellow students are filling in most of the seats. Most are as casually dressed as I am. Upon further scanning of the audience in front of me I even notice a couple classmates. Although I would find it quite safe to assume that the greater majority of the audience, including myself, is not familiar with Shakespeare, I felt that my demographic during this student performance ruled the roost so to speak. Naturally though, there were a few of what appeared to be parents or perhaps faculty that carefully chose their seats just a few rows from front with an exact center view. In any case, a happy chatter could be heard from all sections of the seating area as the clock ticked closer and closer to eight.

Next, applause surrounds me as the performers begin slowly filing in one by one from stage left. One man makes his way across the stage to sit with his back facing me at the bench of the chordophone followed then by the director. Most noticeable at this point is the performers’ attire. They have all donned somewhat elaborate costumes relevant to the performance’s Shakespearian roots. A few enthusiastic cheers carry above the clapping as audience members provide special recognition to their colleagues on stage. Once the excitement from the crowd dies down, the mood quickly takes on a more serious and dramatic feel.

After that, a couple quick notes sound from the piano establish the key for the upcoming selection. The director cues the opener and I am immediately surprised by the full, rich sound resonating throughout the small hall. After a few songs, I begin to notice that the pitch is generally higher, and the timbre generally lighter, because the abundance of female voices somewhat overpower the men’s lower tones. Overall, though, the sound is well balanced and as the production carries on, the diversity of the performance becomes more and more apparent. The music was very dynamic with the changing time, key, loudness and use of crescendos. Pieces ranged from ballads with slower tempo and smooth, soulful singing to more upbeat, rhythmic and chipper melodies, from complete ensemble works to isolated vocal groups or even a few arias. Often the music was briefly interrupted by performers making their way down the stands to the front of the stage to act out scenes from one of the various Shakespeare plays that were represented in the performance. The transition between scene and song was usually quite fast and seemed to begin without hesitation immediately once the performers reached their places on stage or back in the stands.

Lastly, after the director waved her final cutoff and the last lingering sound dissipated, the performance was recognized with another bounding round of applause. Sean and I watched those costumed performers exit the stage in the same cool fashion they once entered and I could not help but reflect on the variety of visual and musical elements that had just been presented over the course of the previous ninety minutes. Noteworthy was the constant fusion of scene acting into the musical numbers including solos, or with the full chamber. Another example of the mixture presented could be found in the contrast between high-tempo songs representing a cheerful mood and tone to those that were more slow, dark, and ominous. Overall, the University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers utilized a multiplicity of musical elements with time and space which, in turn, created a very diverse production.

To begin I was very impressed, Christian Sommerhalder seems to be very involved with not only music in general but also the content of this class. The reason I believe this is because he did not just take the minimum requirements, he went above and beyond. He wrote his blog on two youtube videos which were two acts from one play, the play was Rossini’s “the barber of Seville.” “The first act included the barber himself” said Christian, and the second Rosina. Christian proceeds to talk about the correlation between the tempo and the emotions that are expressed by the performers. He seems to think that because both acts have cabaletta arias that it is mostly happy solo’s making the play happy or at least ending with a good out come and I would have to agree. Christian also seems to be very attentive when observing these youtube videos, for example he states the pitches in the performers voice when opening a present that was given to her to show intense moments. All of these examples that I have given you make me wonder if he has perhaps studied music before or maybe studied operas or perhaps is just very much so into operas or he could have just learned a great deal from class?

blog post 10

I enjoyed this piece because the ornamentation is very pleasant, it’s as if you could take the singer out of the performance and you would still be able to hear her voice. This performance is done with a full orchestra, using chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, and idiophones. In my opinion the aerophones and the chordophones stand out the most. The timbre is mostly mellow although it always seems in orchestras that there is always an “intense” moment weather it would be with the performers vocals or with the instruments. The video is not the best quality, but I think that is because the setting is mostly dark giving the performer the center of attention. Although the costume warn by the performer makes her stand out over anyone. There is a lot of focus on the orchestra its self, so I would assume that the video recording is done by an audience member, that has a friend or relative in the orchestra. The performance is very nice, but I do have to say that I have absolutely no idea what is going on. the singer seems to be some kind of queen that is singing about either a love or a lost love, and the reason I have that opinion is because in a instance the performance is focused on a man wearing something similar that the performers costume.

Emerging artist in dallas area ethnography

Introduction:

Music has an important role in our day-to-day lives. With out music I do not believe that their would be any inspiration for… well anything. In my life I listen to music while doing everything, working, studying, cleaning, showering, driving (of coarse) and like I said everything. Just like anyone else I do like a verity of music, but of coarse there are those times when I do get stuck on a band for a few days or so. Verity brings new taste in music, new ideas, new experiences and what verity also has to offer is new talent! When new talent emerges it’s hard to get their name out there, it’s hard to get a fan basis and probably most hard to get gigs. So instead of writing about a particular music culture, I wanted to focus on emerging bands in the Dallas/fort worth area and what it’s like for them at certain venues. Just because If we didn’t have new bands we would have new music, therefore we would have no verity, which would ultimately end music in general. There would be no better way to research this, than to go see new music live, to experience what new artist go through when they put on gigs. This was not a problem for me because I am an avid concert goer, so I picked (or already had in mind) shows that I wanted to attend. Over the past few weeks I have attended five concerts, trying to keep them in different genres so I would be able to get an unbiased opinion. In this paper I will discuss the elements of these concerts and what it is like for the “new artists.”

Methodology:

Since music is such a big part of my life, my favorite thing to do is to attend live shows. I don’t have a specific type of music or genre that I like, because I like all different types. So every time I attend a show or listen to music I take them as they are. Meaning, if I’m at a rock concert I enjoy that concert for what it is, rather than comparing it to another. This gives me the ability to focus on the music on hand. With that being said and with assignment on mind I almost feel as though I would be the perfect person to interview. I am a big part of this music culture (emerging artist in the Dallas area) although I am not an emerging artist, but I’ve been to so many show’s that I can see and feel what the “new artist” are going through at specific venues. I see that in smaller venues, such as the House of Blues, Granada, Palladium, and Trees. It is easier for the performer to connect with the audience. When the venue is smaller it gives the performers more focus and attention. It is easier for them to get a response because the audience is closer and with more focus it could only lead to a better response. Most importantly It’s easier to get an audience there in general, at smaller local venues the ticket price is usually very affordable, making it a better turn out. These three aspects lead to the success of the performer, because as an audience enjoys music (which they always seem to at these smaller venues) and the band introduces them self after their show, people seem to buy their merchandise. I have noticed that when a band is around for singing and well… just to mingle, they usually get more attention form the crowd. This gives them a better fan basis, promotes their music by people buying their cd, shirts ect. And also gives them the money to be able to perform more often. As an example, I attended a show, Fair to Midland (FTM)which is a local Dallas band, there they had a band called the American Tragedy. I did not think that this band was that great, after the show I spoke with the lead singer, got his autograph and his CD, still was not very impressed. A couple weeks later I stumbled across their album and popped it into the CD player. They are still in the CD player and I absolutely love their album. This is how I believe new artist emerge successfully.

I did get the opportunity to interview two people very shortly. One was last night, (3/09.10) when I went to see John Mayer, (Mayer Show) her name was Clair and she was a “ticket checker” if you will. Her job was to check tickets at the gate in which people were entering. The venue was John Mayer at the American Airlines Center. I asked her just a couple questions because she didn’t have much time. I asked her “what it was like for emerging bands here?” Clair said “smaller bands typically don’t come here, this is for more main stream bands, like John Mayer.” Then I asked “is there a designated place where the performers will go after they play to sign?” She replied by saying that “most artist that come here are too popular, most of them are too afraid, and the crowd is so big that something might happen by accident, but it mostly depends on the artist if they want to, but most don’t.”

The other was a bar tender at the House of Blues when I was seeing Bad Fish, which is a tribute band for Sublime. Joe was very busy taking care of customers and of coarse making money so I only asked him a couple questions as well. The first was how often do small bands like this one and emerging artist come here. Joe said “that is the only type of bands, some are popular but if there too main stream then they will go to bigger venues, but we really like to focus on smaller bands.” I said that when I have been here in the past most of the bands come out to meet fans after their show, is that how it is all the time? He said “yes most of the bands that come here are more into their music and want their fans to be into it just as they are and what a better way to promote their music than to chill and talk to the fans.”

Aspects of this music culture:

The ideas of this music culture to me is to spread good music, have fun while listening to music, and to express your self through your music. Since I didn’t really narrow down one specific type of music, I believe that these cultures defines music in all different types of ways but one that I think they all share is anything that makes you move, sing, and touches your soul. As for dress I do not believe that this culture is that judge mental, if you are there to enjoy the music, and there because of the love for music I believe that this is enough for the performers. They will feel your excitement as well as the love if your are there to just jam out. They style of playing is not specified, just like the audience if the performers love their music they will naturally have a rhythm, thus the audience will have a rhythm. Like I have said previously this music culture is “emerging artist,” there for this culture has a huge role in music its self. If there were no emerging artist then there would be no new music and I think that would ultimately end music in general. I believe that if these performers could they would play all day every day. In fact, most of the artist that I have seen they are all playing every day.

The activities in these music cultures, vary, and are similar in some ways. Most of the music can be found on limewire, because these bands are typically new there for not on iTunes. However since the explosion of myspace music, new artist seem to make accounts just for their bands giving them a whole new type of fan access and basis. When these artist perform they are more like folk artist that have fans, so they perform. On the other hand I believe that artist like John Mayer are more professional not because of the style but more because of the time and space. For instance John played at the AAC which is a huge venue, mostly because he is very popular but it also is a statement to me. To give you an example if John was into his fans instead of his money I believe that he would have picked a smaller venue so the fans would all be able to get the same experience. I recently went to a concert like this. This artist name is Maynard James he has several bands, the one that I saw is Puscifer they have a huge fan basis and they picked a small venue (palladium) and performed two days. I think this is because they wanted a small venue and wanted fans there at appreciated the music. This music culture is very open to every race, like I have said before as long as you are there for the music then you are accepted. Because these bands are mostly new and “broke” they typically write their own music.

Because my culture is very broad there are all different types of genres that my culture has, but the music that I have recently seen live have been consisting of, rock, heavy metal, reggae, progressive rock, alternative rock. Again these cultures vary so much that their lyrics are also so different, and even if I had just picked rock for example they would be so different as well. I believe that music is all subjective, what I mean by that is the composers could mean their lyrics mean something but as I listen to the music I could get a whole different meaning. Much movement accompanies these artist rock for example incorporates “head banging” this means moving your head up and down violently. With reggae the audience usually is smoking “refer” and dancing very slow with the beat.

These cultures use different material objects, when at a reggae show they may have pot leaves around. At rock concerts they will usually have light shows and some other visual effects. Usually at an alternative rock show you will have mostly musical instruments as normal. These emerging band really don’t have a big budget for material, but like to play their instruments so have the top of the line instruments.

Work cited:

Fair to Midland. Granada theater, Dallas. 12/26/09. (FTM).

John Mayer, Michel Franti & Spearhead. American Airlines Center, Dallas . 3/09/10 (Mayer Show).

Bad Fish, House of blues, 30 Jan.2010

Clair. Interview. American Airlines Center. 09 Mar.2010

Joe. Interview. House of blues. 30 Jan. 2010

blog post 8

During the process of writhing about the emerging artist in the Dallas area, I have not had too hard of a time. This culture is very familiar to me, like I have said in pervious blog post I am an avid concert goer. I absolutely love to so see live show’s, rather if it’s the bands first time to performer or a band that is real main stream. So I have been mostly trying to use my personal experiences as research for this ethnography. One of the challenges that I have had is an interview, I have tried calling the venues and interviewing before/during show’s, understandably so though, they are working, trying to take care of customer and have to answer to a boss of some sort, so I can understand. I have, however ironically been able to meet several performers, but I really didn’t want to interview them because of time and space.

blog post 7

Music has an important role in our day-to-day lives. With out music I do not believe that their would be any inspiration for… well anything. In my life I listen to music while doing everything, working, studying, cleaning, showering, driving (of coarse) and like I said everything. Just like anyone else I do like a verity of music, but of coarse there are those times when I do get stuck on a band for a few days or so. Verity brings new taste in music, new ideas, new experiences and what verity also has to offer is new talent! When new talent emerges it’s hard to get their name out there, it’s hard to get a fan basis and probably most hard to get gigs. So instead of writing about a particular music culture, I wanted to focus on emerging bands in the Dallas/fort worth area. Just because If we didn’t have new bands we would have new music, therefore we would have no verity, which would ultimately end music in general.

blog post 5

My first thought of this assignment were very judgmental, I sort of classified all “ Indian classical music” as sounding very gipsy-ish or belly dancer style. However the first song that I picked was surprisingly different and…. Good. I listened to the song Dub Hindustani; the song begins with chordophones introducing the rhythm, which to me sounds very westernized (but I do like it, just not what I expected to hear). The lead male vocalist sings along with the rhythm sounding perfect, really enjoyable. After the vocalist establishes the beat the mambranophones start playing giving the beat a little more spice. There is, of coarse use of idiophones that make the song quasipulsatile in my opinion. When the aerophone have a brief solo is were I really began to enjoy the music, because the lead singer voice and the aerophone sound great, but I also really enjoy the violin, which to me is surprising, I would not have thought that they would have used a violin in this peace. I believe that this song is about a plot in a movie that apparently never got finalized. I really enjoy this type of music and prob will continue to listen to it.