• The topic I chose to write about is music and lullabies. The reason I think these two are connected is because lullabies contain slow and rhythmic music. Also, it is a very soothing type of music that is intended to put kids to sleep. Also, it connects with music because lullabies are also known as therapeutic music. Soothing or therapeutic music is intended to lower stress. I think the person forgot to include the music entries, so I just talked about how music and lullabies are connected. Also, I agree with the musical characteristics written which were the piano and the vocals with a singer that has a sweet voice. The reason I think piano can help create a beautiful lullaby is because the keys aren’t dissonant, instead, they are very soothing and calm to listen to. Also, it was very interesting to know that these are mostly played in garden parties, I never imagined that!
• If I were to write this topic instead of my own, the music I would pick would be “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I noticed that as soon as this piece of music started, it had the sound effects of crickets, indicating that it is time to sleep and it is nighttime. It is helping children fall asleep by noticing these sounds. Also, I noticed that there were many pauses throughout the video and the song didn’t sound like it was sung by an adult, it sounds like it was sung by a kid, to indicate that it is for them as well. Also, the song name also indicates that there are usually stars in the sky at night and how it is bedtime. It sounds very comforting to listen to. The other song I would choose is “Hush Little Baby”. It uses a lot of piano key notes, but they are very relaxing and helps create a peaceful scene. Also, it might’ve also used things that babies like playing with such as their toys to help them feel calm and safe. “You’ll still be the sweetest baby in town. Hush little baby, don’t cry cause, daddy and I love you”. This was sung by a woman in a very calm voice and it doesn’t feel attacking in any type of way. Instead it helps the baby feel protected and the slow, sweet voice is putting the baby slowly to safety without having to worry about anything.

• Just a Girl- No Doubt was created to point out gender stereotypes and this carries a political meaning because it is said that she is a girl which makes her allowed to do certain things and certain things are restricted from her because it is trying to say how society is making her stand lower than men, but she knows her worth. She realizes that she is seen as vulnerable just because she is a girl. Also, one reason why this was sung was due to her being frustrated at her father being overprotective due to her gender. This song was a representation of a feminist anthem and noticing the power through your sexuality, mostly women. When she says, “I’m just a girl”, adding “just” shows how a girl is degrading. It is putting girls into a category to show that all girls all the same type and are seen the same way. Yes listeners, including me, added their own interpretation to the song, but even Gwen Stefani agrees with it. There was another lyric that said, “this world is forcing me to hold your hand,” trying to indicate that just because she is a girl, she cannot be fully independent. The chorus in the background was saying, “I’m just a girl, little ‘ol me/ Don’t let me out of your sight/ I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite/ So don’t let me have any rights.” It was from men and it is trying to mock the fact that they are lower and they can’t be left alone. They need assistance and support from others. Also this song is pointing out the dangers of the world and that women can not leave the house freely, they always have to stop or put into fear that something might happen to them.
• The genre of this piece of music is Alternative/Indie, Pop. Indie is a word that is short for independent. When people talk about indie in music, they mean music that is made by people independently from major record labels, but this genre of music is not necessarily political based, although some songs may be. Pop does not really have political based songs either. Guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, xylophone, violin, etc. I feel like the guitar and the drums were the most powerful because it helped to get a meaning ahead and it shows the anger through the way those instruments were played. It helped give a sense that all the fear was taken out through the use of the instruments.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzOOQfhPFg

The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony is a Sufi ceremony that symbolizes stages on the path to accessing God. The music allows the listeners to “experience direct spiritual union with God” and “symbolizes the soul’s journey to God.” It also has a combination of religious elements and it is performed with traditional Mevlevi music. Many turkish communities have this type of ceremony, but now it is mostly in Konya and Istanbul. Also, this is strictly a “whirling dance” where they “rotate on their left feet in short twists using their right foot to move their bodies around the left foot.” Also as the instruments/music is playing, the listeners have their “eyes open, but unfocused so that images become blurred and flowing.” This helps having direct contact with God.

Amazing Grace is gospel music played mostly in the church. The music helped to keep people self-aware and more connected to their spirituality. It is a song for forgiveness and redemption from God regardless of sins committed. This is also a very religious piece of music. It has also been played at funerals to show that forgiveness from God while someone may have passed can actually bring comfort to another. Also, in some parts of the song, the afterlife is talked about, which may be another reason why this is also played at funerals. 

Some similarities were mentioned when it was talked about how it is a religious piece of music worshipping of God. Also, both of the pieces of music have a slow rhythm to it and even a slow tempo. Both of this music is played to ask for forgiveness or just including the people who believe in God. Also, the difference I noticed were that there was no voice, only instruments used in the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony as compared to Amazing Grace which only had voice and lyrics without having instruments played. Amazing Grace dealt more with asking for forgiveness while Mevlevi Sema Ceremony had more to do with a spiritual connection with God.

Both of my parents are from India. The most famous dance is bollywood dance. It is a mixture of numerous styles. These styles include belly-dancing, kathak, Indian folk, Western popular, and “modern”, jazz, and even Western erotic dancing. Some of the main instruments used are Piano, Tabla, Guitar ( electric ), Synthesizer, Keyboard, Trumpets, Saxophonesetc. In my culture we still use these dances, but now there is a mix of bhangra even in hindu culture. Bollywood dance originated in India, around Bombay, in the 20th century and is dancing that we now see in Indian films. By the 1980s Bollywood started to incorporate Western dance styles such as Hip – Hop Dance, using bigger troupes, more intricate costumes and dancing in many different locations. The purpose of Bollywood dance is to tell a story or send out a message. Bollywood dancing is mostly in Bollywood movies because the dance adapts to the story line. For example if a girl falls in love with a boy, the dance will be about a girl chasing around a boy, while she is dancing. The style of dancing in earlier Bollywood films was based on Indian classical dance or folk dances from various parts of India. In the late 50s & 60s, group dances began to evolve in Bollywood as films and choreographers started managing larger groups of dancers with influences from folk dances.

I would be most comfortable at a jazz club environment. That is because in that type of performance, people are surrounded around the stage. Knowing it is a club, it sounds like something that many people back in the days would go to. It seems like a place where people can dance or drink and just enjoy themselves and be out of stress. People seem to be having fun, going along with the music and it just sounds soothing or the people that would be playing on streets, train stations and just other forms of unpaid music. I would be able to wear casual clothes and feel like in an everyday space that I surround myself in.

Next, I would be comfortable with Hindustani classical music. That is because I have attended something like this many times as it is a part of religion. It isn’t necessary to attend, but these types of musical instruments such as sitar, sarod, surbahar, esraj, veena, tanpura, bansuri, etc were very commonly used. This performance reminded me of a satsang that I have attended and it always brought peace to the mind and happiness, so I wouldn’t mind attending something like this. I would expect the performer to talk in her language and at the same time, I would also be able to understand it, so that is a plus.

I would be least comfortable in attending the symphony orchestra concert. It just seems to be a form of disjunct music and very harsh. Everyone has to move according to a path together and it just brings out a very serious tone which doesn’t interest me in any type of way. I just wouldn’t know how to act in that certain space and something that I would not like. I would hear the voice, but it would still show as a very negative tone to me that wouldn’t amaze me in any type of way.

This movie starts off with a black man walking down the streets of a predominantly white neighborhood, lost and uncomfortable. The situation gets worse when a mysterious car suddenly appears and starts following him. Then, a man who was dressed as a knight comes and attacks him. After that, he knocks him out and puts him in the trunk of the car. 

There were many diegetic sounds that came in the background of this video clip. Non Diegetic sounds are sounds only the audience can hear. Some of them were the crickets to show it was a dark and quiet night and that nobody was around there. Later, we can hear the footsteps and the breathing to show that nobody is near. Later, the dogs added a scary scene because the sounds of the dogs weren’t really that friendly. They seemed to be more as if the dogs will attack or are trying to create that fear that something is about to happen. One sound that I wouldn’t really say was diegetic because the audience and him can hear, but added to the scene well was the car sound when it came and the guy had noticed. In that part he turned his path and went the other side. 

The car came here because during a kidnapping scene usually, it is always a quiet place and many people aren’t usually around and that is what this scene reminded me of. The song in the background in the car that was playing was Run Rabbit Run. Basically, it is indirectly telling the man to run away otherwise he will get choked.

Towards the end they use crescendo when they use the violin, the end adds to the suspense and to make the story seem mysterious about what will happen next. It just leaves the story open ended and in a way where the audience would want to keep watching the movie.

Music technology can be defined as knowledge, techniques, and tools that help humans or animals to achieve goals. One example of a musical instrument is a xylophone. The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. The purpose of a xylophone is usually played so that the music sounds an octave higher than written. Because the sound is always very short the xylophone is often used for short solo tunes which are fast and dry. The marimba is a kind of xylophone which has a softer sound and more bars, especially low notes. 

There are people who use this technology other than the reason it was designed for. This type of music was most present in the traditional music of Melanesia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and more. But, in Senegal it was used to scare monkeys and birds and other pests from people’s gardens. Also, it is used by many children as a use of a toy. Children love pressing random beats in a sense of enjoyment or fun. Now there are many songs that were created for the beats such as twinkle twinkle little star, baby shark, amazing grace, etc. Yes, I have experience with this technology because I have also played this instrument when I was much younger because I used to play around with the keys and make sound because it wasn’t dissonant and it didn’t scare me away. 

This musical technology influenced the music it helped to produce because it helped to give more of a calm and relaxing tone in music rather than being harsh. For example below, it has a very short note and also the sound is very soft and doesn’t seem to be harsh or annoying to the ear in any type of way. It gives a joyful and happy tone to listen to.

The two music pieces I chose to listen to were Alapan from Sitar, Sarode and Tabla and Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass. Harmony occurs when at least two different pitches sound at the same time, such as when two people sing together with different material or when a musician strums the strings of a guitar. In this example, in Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass, I can tell that there are multiple voices, maybe men and female voices. All of the voices collaborating together makes it such a peaceful tone to listen to. Not in any way throughout these whole pieces did it sound harsh or annoying to listen to. Whereas in Alapan from Sitar, Sarode and Tabla, the musical instruments which are the sarode, tabla and sitar combined all made the piece sound very pleasant and relaxing. I’ve noticed that both of these music pieces had very calm and a consonant pitch.

 Every sound has a particular color or timbre and it is through timbre that you can tell the difference. In this case, while the instruments were being played, you can tell which specific instrument or voice was playing when. All though they were all put together to create this whole music piece, they had times where one was playing more often than the other or the sound/instrument shows out more, but overall both the pieces did it in a very neat manner. This also ties back to the texture of the piece which is defined as how the harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The music pieces made me realize that music isn’t just a simple exercise and there is always more to it because it is very complicated than a technical evaluation due to how everything is put together. 

Throughout both of the pieces, the same number of chords are being played repeatedly as well which are known as a group of (typically three or more) notes sounded together, as a basis of harmony, to give it that pleasing sounds. 

“The Medieval Period (or Middle Ages) refers to European history from the 5th-century collapse of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance (ca. 1430)” as stated in the textbook. During this type period, this music was used in a more “Church” type of setting. Obviously when you hear church, you think of calm music because that is a place for God. Well, that is the type of music it was!

One thing I noticed was that the music had multiple voices and they all were singing at about the same pace. Neither of them had sudden changes or paces that were suddenly fast. They all had the same voice and softness as they all went along with the next to create that relieving type of feeling. The music started off as being a single vocal line music, but around 850, “scribes began to write down the texts and melodies in manuscripts.” Later, these same single vocal lines turned into more as new original ideas and melody lines were added. That was known as polyphony which was “The practice of writing several independent melodies that sound at the same time.” Polyphonic music expanded greatly during the Renaissance period. 

Many artists during the Medieval Period were Hildegard von Bingen, Leonin, Perotin, and Guillaume de Machaut. They were known as troubadours. This word usually refers to poets, composers and musicians. Instruments, such as the vielle, harp, psaltery, flute, shawm, bagpipe, and drums were all used during the Middle Ages. I felt like all these instruments were nicely put together and no type of way was it overused to make a rough or annoying sound. 

The question that I had was if Arabic music still uses these types of beats and sounds? I was curious about this because I have listened to one of two arabic music and it sounded like it had a similar background beat. Also, I was curious to know if these beats are still used in cartoons? It sounds like a background sound that can still be used in cartoons at the beginning right before a character is about to speak. I don’t want to necessarily call them beats because it didn’t have any sharp sounds or sounds that are fast in my ears, instead it gave more of a calming effect. This music definitely is very peaceful and it brings back thoughts of the times with kings and queens living in a mansion and how in disney movies, when the kings and queens are called for a gathering. The music sounds very friendly and gives a very happy and positive feeling.  It seems like a very soothing type of music. Also, I would like to further know why this music closely sounds like the music during the renaissance period? I am not sure if this is only for me or if others can relate to it as well. I believe that during this time many events occurred such as the Treaty of Verdun which was when there was a division of the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, who was the sons of Charlemagne. This happened during 843 AD during the middle ages. Another event during this period was The Great Famine which was during 1315-1317 AD and known as a mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1849.

This is definitely not the type of music I listen to, but after listening to “Medieval music – Troubadour love song by Gaucelm Faidit ”, I noticed his voice sounds amazingly deep and mellifluous. Also, I listened to Medieval Dragon Music – Dragon Cliffs and the beats and instruments played reminded me of the sounds of games that I now play. I feel like this type of music is still played, but just goes unnoticed because they try to advance it and change it up, but the beauty of the music that was played before is still used now.