Buona sera!
I hope you are all enjoying my blog until so far! Today I'm going to add one more article and it will be on the new subject of music class : Rock & Roll. I like that so much, especially now that I saw Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. It is just such happy much on which you can dance very good and sing along, nice! So, the first couple of lessons we would be focusing on Elvis Presley. We did that by looking at a documentary about his recordings, called Classic Albums: Elvis Presley. It was very interesting because before I did not know anything about the early stages of his career. I knew Elvis as the crazy, but great, musician with the strange hairdo and glittercostume. The music he made than was nice but now that I know more about his music I definitely like his first albums better. He was so less obsessed by being famous and alcohol back then, he really concentrated on the music and made "black" music popular by white people, quite an accomplishment.
After we watched the documentary Mr. Weisser told us about blues. About blues being the actual basis of the modern music, it was the beginning. We listened to Crossroads by Robert Johnson, which is a very complicated but fantastic song. (John Mayer covered it on his last album, Battle Studies). We compared the blues music made by black people to the blues made (usually stolen from the black people) by white people. The white music was much more neat and flawless, easy to dance on and play along. The black music had very difficult rythms and was fure, music from the heart, from deep within. I thought it was so fascinating to see the clear difference. I definitely favour the blues by the black people, no white person could ever play the blues with so much feeling and intensity.
Unfortunately I missed the lesson which followed, so when I get updated I will write more.
Ciao!
Stella
woensdag 20 januari 2010
Won't you take me to Funky Town??
Hello bloggers!
I am going to going to tell you about the playing test for music class, that was a while ago: before the christmas break. So, during the first and part of the second term, we had to play the song Funky Town by Lipps Inc. I was in a group with Andrew, Nold, Jelle, Joran and Coen. We all, except for Nold, play an instrument so we thought it would be easy. Well, that was not the case. We tried very hard but there is just a lot going on in that song. All sorts of small melodies, loose from the others. This meant that we had to practise a lot and very hard, so that is what we did. For at least four lessons we worked on this song and eventually is went quiet well. Nold had some difficulties with the rythm sometimes, but we helped him out and he did great. We got three shots
and we were being assessed on the best performance. But on base of what were we assessed?
The week before the playing test our class had to write a rubric for ourselves. That was actually a very fun thing to do, because you could choose yourself on what you wanted to be graded. It was also very interesting to show others what you think is important during such a playing test. It was difficult as well because you had to keep into account that not everyone can play an instrument or is at a similar level. Eventually everybody agreed that the input of a group was the most important thing. If you try it is always good because there can always happen something which makes the performance bad, for example when somebody is sick or the piano is not in tone etc.
Our group got the highest grade, so we were very happy with it and I think we earned it because we tried our best. Sometimes somebody got stuck or something like that and we would all try to help, so our group work was also very good.
Well, that's kind of it about the playing test. I really enjoyed it but cannot hear that song ever again. There is a little tune that keeps repeting and that really freaks me out right now, I heard it to many times, haha!
xoxo,
Stellaaaaaaaaaaa
I am going to going to tell you about the playing test for music class, that was a while ago: before the christmas break. So, during the first and part of the second term, we had to play the song Funky Town by Lipps Inc. I was in a group with Andrew, Nold, Jelle, Joran and Coen. We all, except for Nold, play an instrument so we thought it would be easy. Well, that was not the case. We tried very hard but there is just a lot going on in that song. All sorts of small melodies, loose from the others. This meant that we had to practise a lot and very hard, so that is what we did. For at least four lessons we worked on this song and eventually is went quiet well. Nold had some difficulties with the rythm sometimes, but we helped him out and he did great. We got three shots
and we were being assessed on the best performance. But on base of what were we assessed?
The week before the playing test our class had to write a rubric for ourselves. That was actually a very fun thing to do, because you could choose yourself on what you wanted to be graded. It was also very interesting to show others what you think is important during such a playing test. It was difficult as well because you had to keep into account that not everyone can play an instrument or is at a similar level. Eventually everybody agreed that the input of a group was the most important thing. If you try it is always good because there can always happen something which makes the performance bad, for example when somebody is sick or the piano is not in tone etc.
Our group got the highest grade, so we were very happy with it and I think we earned it because we tried our best. Sometimes somebody got stuck or something like that and we would all try to help, so our group work was also very good.
Well, that's kind of it about the playing test. I really enjoyed it but cannot hear that song ever again. There is a little tune that keeps repeting and that really freaks me out right now, I heard it to many times, haha!
xoxo,
Stellaaaaaaaaaaa
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis
This year I got concert tickets for Kitty, Daisy and Lewis for Christmas. I never heard of this group before but my father assured me that I would love them, he had seen them at Lowlands, past summer. They are called Kitty, Daisy and Lewis and are two sister and a brother, playing early rock & roll and blues toghether with their mom and dad. I couldn't wait to go, I always like something new and love rock & roll and blues.
So on the second Tuesday of the christmas break we: my parents, my sisters and I, headed to the Melkweg in Amsterdam. The concert was sold out and the building was full of rockabillies. We had to wait very long, the concert was supposed to begin at 20.30 but eventually started at 21.15.
I did not expect Kitty, Daisy and Lewis to be so young. Kitty was only 17, Daisy 19 and Lewis 21 and they made such good music already. The atmosphere was great and the band looked very nice. The father played the guitar, the mother the contrabass. Kitty sang, play the harmonica and drums. Lewis played the piano, sang and played the guitar. Diasy sand, played the drums and played the piano. It was so cool to see them play everything a bit!
I had such a good time, I liked the music a lot! When the show was over I immediatly bought their cd, which I know by head now.
If you want to check them out; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxW3Ed7GrhQ
Enjoy!
xxxxxxxx
dinsdag 19 januari 2010
Opera
During one of my music classes we were told that we would go on an excursion to Zwolle to see an opera. The opera was called Penthesilea written by my music teacher, Mr. Benedict Weisser. The opera tells the mythologic story of Penthesilea, queen of the Amazones, who falls in love with Achilles, the hero of the Trojan war. We would not see the real performance, but the general repetition.
On the December the 3rd, the day of our excursion, we gathered at the central station of Hilversum, where the wife of Mr. Weisser was waiting for us. She would guide us to the theatre and bring us back to the station in the evening. The train trip was long, but passed nicely, without any problem; everybody was too busy chatting and eathing candy. We left the train at the central station of Zwolle and walked to the theatre, enjoying the beautiful city. When we arrived at the theatre we first got an introduction to what we were going to see by the head of the theatre and after that went to the where to opera would be performed.
The first thing that came to my mind when we entered was: what a mess! The stage was covered with all sorts of broken object, for example destructed couches, tables, glasses. Also the colour black was very present. The walls were black, the roses on the ground were black and so was the furnature. I liked this decor very much, even though it was a chaos. When I sat down in the row that was assigned to our class, I noticed that the orchestra existed only out of five people: a contrabass player, a percussionist, a trumpet player, a guitarist and a forte-pianist. I expected a big orchestra but liked this as well, it made me curious, I did not have a clue how they would sound like together.
After approximately 5 minutes the lights went down and the music started. Pethesilea came up and set in. Her voice was very beautiful and sounded very good together with the modern classic music. Then Achillis, the bariton Alistair Shelton-Smith, joined Penthesile. Their voices were in perfect harmony with eachother and with the music. I thought the piece was very impressive, my idea of opera completely changed though. I always thought that they would have a large orchestra playing soft classic music, not like this modern music Mr. Weisser composed. I also thought the costumes to be different. The actors/vocalists wore modern cloths, not 17th century dresses. It was a very good experience.
After the performance we were allowed to speak with the member of the orchestra, which was fun. They told us about their instruments and played for us. It were talented, warm people. Especially the forte-pianist was very nice and joked with us. It was a good experience.
We decided to go to dinner somewhere with the group and Mr. Weisser's wife. We ended up in the city-centre of Zwolle in an nice Italian restaurant. Mr. Weisser would come a bit later. Almost everybody ordered pizza, but some prefered a pasta. We had a lot of fun and it was really cosy. Just when the dinner was served, Mr. Weisser joined us. He asked our opinions about the piece and we told him what we thought about it. The food was very nice and when everybody was finished we payed and walked to the station. It was already 8 o'clock, so we took the first train to Hilversum.
In an hour we were already in Hilversum, so everybody thanked Mr. and Mrs. Weisser for everything and said goodbye. Instead of going home I went to the cafe across from the station, because there I would go to see some jazz like I did before on Thursday. Again the music was great and the atmosphere nice. So, a good day full of music for me, I had a really good time!
See ya!
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