Performance Report 2

Introduction

The performance I attend was Sideshow: The Musical performed by UTD Student. It was on April 16th, 2010 at the Jonsson Performance Theater at 8pm. The musical was loosely based on the real life story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.

Music

The vocal pieces featured common themes of western music in that they featured the verse refrain texture. The song "Come see the freaks" was used as the main reprise through the whole musical. During set changes and other periods during the musical the music was played in the background and helped keep the same musical theme throughout the whole performance. The tonal qualities of each song ranged all across anger, sadness, happiness and love. Love was a major theme of the lyrics presented in the music and was an integral part of the performance as a whole. The instrumental music featured many aerophones which were particularly heavy on the brass instruments. Violet was the soprano vocal part and Daisy was the Alto vocal part. The pieces also incorporated the music culture of vaudeville which song dance numbers as opposed to solely music.

Performers

A key factor in performing was the necessity to keep the illusion of the twins being conjoined. The main characters Violet and Daisy stayed attached at the hip for the whole performance except when they were supposed to be apart for dream scenes. The freaks stayed true their character by using over the top acting to exaggerate their "freakishness". Choreography from the performers featured group dance numbers in which all characters were involved and synchronized accordingly. Another note, many of the performers who were not UTD students and were able to perform to match the level at which the school provides. With talent outside the performing arts program provided, the pool of acting and performance all matched evenly allowing no one person to outshine one another. Another aspect of the musical that enhanced the aura of a circus included the performers interacting with the audience. Opening the musical, the performers lined the auditorium, creeping from corners and repeating the lines "Come look at the freaks," which allowed for a haunting and mystical feel.

Audience

Audience involvement was widely incorporated through out the performance which kept interaction and chemistry alive throughout the performance. One performer, "Jake" would climb into the audience seats and would scowl at them as a ravenous monster, invoking a sense of fear because he is a "freak." Audience participation would change and adapt along with setting changes. As the transition from freak show to Vaudeville occurred, the audience would act and interact with the settings, from fear to enjoyment. The change from Vaudeville to the Texas Centennial would invoke the audience to tame their applauses to a more relaxed feel as the setting changed to an open fair. Emotions were openly showed as audiences would sigh, few would cry and be pulled along with the emotions of the performers. Interaction was key and made the performance come alive as everyone, performers and spectators would clash.

Time and Setting:

Performances were ongoing for two weeks and were available from Thursday to Saturday allowing for more viewings of the musical considering the theater had very limited seating. Again, centrally located at UTD, students were able to easily access a show. With limited seating, each night seemed crowded to see a performance put on by the music theater program. This location was also familiar to students and was easily accessible by other spectators (ie. family, friends outside of UTD, etc.) Lighting mainly took place on stage but was dim enough for the performers to see the audience.

In conclusion, the performance introduced UTD students to the world of vaudeville through the modern musical. It is almost a juxtaposition of the classic with the new by incorporating pre-1943 Broadway through post-1943 Broadway.

Works Cited

Side Show. By Bill Russell and Henry Krieger. Dir. Kathryn Evans. Perf. UTD Cast. Con. Winston Stone. University Theatre, Richardson. April 17 2010.

List from Class

1. Alternative

a. Grunge

i. Angry

ii. Apathetic

iii. Dirty performers

b. College Rock

i. 80’s version of alternative

c. Emo

i. Screamo

2. Indie

3. Classic

a. Southern Rock

b. Metal

c. British Invasion

d. Psychedelic

i. Influenced by Progressive

e. Folk

f. Hard

i. Loud

ii. Lots of distortion

4. Metal

a. Hair Metal

i. High Pitched

b. Thrash Metal

i. Fast

c. Death Metal

i. Bellowing low voices

d. Power Metal

i. Fast

ii. Fancy Themes

iii. Falsetto

e. Speed Metal

i. Techno Influence

5. Punk

a. British vs. American

b. Post Punk

c. Ska

i. Jamaican Reggae influence

d. Hardcore Punk

i. California Punk

6. Christian

a. Every other genre but with Christian themes in lyrics

7. Arena

a. Queen

b. Journey

c. Anthems

8. Progressive

a. Pink Floyd

9. Pop Rock

a. Commercialized Rock

b. Mainstream Radio Rock

10. Folk Rock

a. More about themes and lyrics

b. Tell stories

11. Rap Rock

a. Kid Rock

12. Experimental Rock

a. Instrumentals

13. Rockabilly

a. Country

b. 50’s influence

c. Psychobilly

i. Mix Rockabilly with Metal

14. Funk Rock

Rock

I have chosen Progressive Rock as my sub genre of rock. It is more artistic. In a sense creativity is derived from the use of artistic chord development and staying away from mainstream chord progression. Sample bands that can be classified as progressive are: Pink Floyd, Rush, Coheed and Cambria, Dance Gavin Dance, and And We Answer. It is is an experimental form of rock that uses jazz chords. It has been described as jazz fusion in some instances. A key characteristic of Progressive music is that is normally free form. The listener doesn't expect the music to go where it normally ends up. The music also incorporates obscure time signatures. Some songs experiment with different time signatures like duple and triple meter in the same song. The genre gets definition from the new focus from experimenting with various types of compositions instead of focusing on lyrically based progression. Most progressive songs sound different from one another because that is the goal of progressive music. It's supposed to sound different than anything else out there in the world. The atypical sound of progressive music is what drives the genre to keep creating more and more unique sounds. Progressive rock sound very different from other types of rock like screamo and alternative. Although there is not as much focus on lyrics, there are still lyrics in progressive songs but they normally do not fuel the creative spirit of the music as much as the composition of the music itself does.

That's Progressive!

Gullah People

It seems the Gullah people have a music culture that is very similar to the music culture of the ewe people we studied earlier this year. A lot of the focus of the music culture is rhythm and created by membranophones or idiophones. The dancing styles also seem similar and the videos promote the music culture as if it focus on group performances in festival style settings. The music is very tribal in nature and seems driven from old roots. Performance is driven mainly by the drums. And it seems that the drums are an integral part of all Gullah music. Dancing is key to the performers which consists of swinging arms wide and jumping around. The audiences in most performances clap along and cheer for the performers while the music is playing. It also seems most performances occur in the daytime at least that is how youtube videos portray it. The music seems like it is derived specifically out of the old ancestors from the slave trade and the repertoires of music seemed to have evaded outside influence. Most of the Gullah lyrics in their music is heavily influenced by the slave trade of the past making the lyrics historically reflective of this time period.

Shakespeare in Song

The performance I attend was the Shakespeare in Song performance by the UTD Chamber Singers. It was on March 27^th, 2010 at the Jonsson Performance Hall at 8pm. Most of the pieces were part of original Shakespearian plays sung in the style of madrigals.

Music

The music featured a polyphonic texture. At each point during the piece only one voice part would be singing the melody line. The tempo of each piece would vary depending upon the speeches that preceded the pieces. The concert was broken into speech parts and music pieces that would coincide with the plot lines of the Shakespearian plays. Accompaniment was there to support the singers in order to keep them on pitch. All the pieces were split into respective soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts. Most pieces were conjunct in nature, by using only small steps in between each note sung. Some pieces would be interrupted by speech parts which would create a feeling of urgency in the music. The tone of most of the pieces was minor in feeling and felt like they conveyed an emotion of sadness.

Performers

To match the theme of the pieces sung, the performers dressed in traditional Renaissance attire. Each scene/act would start with a speech that was transcribed from the original play. In response to the speech, the performers standing on the risers would sing along with the performers that were speaking off the right of the stage. The chorus itself would remain still on the risers, unless otherwise noted by the director, who informed performers and the chorus where to move. Interaction was restricted by speech, in which the speakers did not move around or about the stage, manipulating the space, they stood in their respectful corners, with a stand in front of them and read off the script. Tonal infliction in their speeches would illustrate whatever emotion they are to portray to the audience. Individual performers who were from the advanced voice classes had solos and stood apart from the chorus considering they are not part of the chamber production. Their solos would be separate acts and scenes taken from Shakespeare.

Audience

The Audience for the most part seemed genuinely uninterested in the performance. I say this because there were many glowing blue lights as the result of people texting on their phones. The audience was small and dispersed throughout the auditorium. Most of the audience collected in the back and it was apparent that most of the attendees were there for some sort of class requirement. It was a free open event, however most of the audience consisted of students with a few of the performers parents collecting at the front of the auditorium. After intermission, most of the audience disappeared and only a few saw the performance to its completion.

Time and Space

Because this was the final performance, most of the people who wanted to see it had already seen it. Also because it was on campus it was more accessible to UTD students as opposed to outsiders. However because it was on a Saturday evening, only people who truly wanted to attend the concert would go as opposed to others who would most likely have other plans. He familiar location of the Jonsson performance hall made the concert easy to find however it was a small auditorium. The lighting was not that dim, so most of the performers could see the audience and there was interaction between some of the performers and the audience.

In conclusion, the Shakespeare in Song Performance at the Jonsson Performance Hall by the UTD Chamber Singers, turned out to be a performance of madrigal music for a small audience that consisted of mostly students.

Works Cited

Shakespeare in Song. Dir. Director Kathryn Evans. Perf. UTD Chamber Singers. University of Texas at Dallas, Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson, 27 Mar. 2010.

Blog 10

Probably one of the most recognizable pieces in opera, this particular version was performed at the Real Teatre in Madrid. The music uses a strong timbre that makes the music more intense. The conjunct notes as the singer moves up and down the scale with his singing helps guide the music along and the ornamentation provided by the singer makes the performance unique to him. This is an aria so it is a solo performance by the character of Figaro which as a result brings all the focus to only Figaro. Even though there is a lot going on on stage, the viewer tends to only focus on Figaro because that is where the music is coming from. The quick tempo of this aria parallels the vibrato used by Figaro when singing. The orchestral music is very strong. The strings guide most of music along as it bounces along the beat. The whole orchestra provides the background for each accented note. This would be considered a cabaletta aria. The set is all black and white which which creates a contrast in the opera that isn't normally seen in operas. The set was designed with added symbolism as opposed to the stage normally just serving as an area for performance.

Avatar music

I did not get a chance to see the movie, however I did listen to the soundtrack online. My perception of the music is hindered from not viewing it with the accompanying visuals that are an integral part of the music culture because the movie is made for a movie. However upon listening to the just the soundtrack and having a vague idea of what the movie is about, I can tell that the composer went for a tribal feeling of the music. What i mean by that, is most of the music is fast paced and has heavy drumming for the feeling of tribal roots and being set in a forest. When listening to the music it seems that a key instrument incorporated was a wood block which seems to enhance the setting of of a forest type area. However because this is an alien race, and the movie is set in the future, one can hear electronic instruments used to enhance this feeling. It seems as if the ethnomusicologist translated the music culture of Native Americans to the big screen and digitally remastered for the futuristic alien feeling. Most of the songs feel fast as if someone/something is running most of the music is really upbeat and tends to be over the top and goes for an epic feeling. The view vocals that are dispersed through the soundtrack seem over dramatic just to further emphasize the feeling of foreign alien lands.