Assignment #9

Concert
My friend Beth and I attended one of the USC Symphony Orchestra's performances at the Koger Center. It was led by cellist Wendy Warner. It was conducted by Dr. Donald Portnoy The first part of the concert consisted of the USC Symphony Orchestra playing alone. The music was very slow and calming. I'm not really into orchestral music, but I actually sat and tried to figure out what was going on in the music. Then Wendy Warner came on stage to play with the Orchestra. It was amazing to see how grateful the students were to be playing with her. We were unfortunate and had to sit up close to the stage. Therefore, we were not able to see every person playing. I feel that if we were to have been able to see everyone playing we would have had a more enjoyable experience.

 Even though she is hard to see, this is when Wendy Warner was playing along with the orchestra. We were scared to take pictures during the performance. (Left)

Beth and I had some fun while listening to the orchestra warm up before their performance started. (Below)

Assignment #8

Play

One long weekend, I went back to my hometown of Greenville, SC and went to see White Christmas: The Musical  at The Peace Center, with my mother. This play was a rendition of the 1954 film White Christmas. After leaving the Army after WWII, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General. I expected this play to be filled with more Christmas or Winter themed songs, but in reality the characters mostly sung songs about love or coming out of the war. The costumes in this play were very authentic looking. The costume designer must have done plenty of research to learn what kinds of outfits people wore after WWII. Most of this play was spoken words compared to the amount of songs sung. I didn't really enjoy the musical as much as I thought I was going to.

The taking of photographs was not allowed during the play. Therefore, I took a picture of the backdrop that was shown before the play and during intermission.

Assignment #7

Dance

I attended the performance of Dracula: Ballet with a Bite at the Koger Center. My mother came down the Thursday before Halloween to see it with me. Dracula is a story of love and seduction. The young and ambitious real estate tycoon Jonathan Harker is trying to secure the listing of Castle Dracula. Jonathan is seduced by Count Dracula’s three wives; Jonathan’s daughter, Victoria, is kidnapped by Count Dracula; and his best friends’ lives are in jeopardy. This rendition of Dracula was a modern dance, therefore, more modern types of ballet were incorporated, as well as more recent song selections such as Lady Gaga and La Roux. It still followed the original plot line, but just added in more modern dance numbers. When I first entered the Koger Center I was expecting the ballet to be very boring and slow paced, but in reality when it started there were so many colors and the music selection was very interesting. I think this ballet was redone so a wider audience would be interested in seeing it. I would recommend this ballet to another person any day.

Count Dracula's Three Wives. (Pictured above)

The Picnic before Dracula comes and takes Johnathan's daughter away. (Picutured above)

Dracula's procession of the living dead performing a ritual in the graveyard. (Pictured below)

Assignment #10

Opera

1. The opera begins with the proclamation that Princess Turandot will marry the first prince of royal birth who can answer three riddles. If the prince fails to answer them correctly, he will be beheaded. Many men try, but none succeed. Then the Prince of Persia wants to take on the challenge and correctly answers all three riddles. Even though he has "won" the princess, he gives her a chance to get rid of him. He then lets her have til dawn to figure out his name. If she wins then he dies. Later, Timur and Liu are brought in and Turandot questions Timur, but at the last second Liu states that she loves the Prince. Realizing that she will now never be able to have the Prince, she kills herself. Next, Turandot admits to the Prince that she had loved him all along. The Prince then tells Turandot his name, but she then tells her father that his name is Love. They then live happily.

2. Mozart composed several works including Bastien und Bastienne, and Don Giovanni.

3. Opera contains only sung words, while Light Opera contains spoken and sung words.

We were supposed to draw what we thought when listening to the Opera. Here's my drawing.

Assignment #12

Music

A. The time for this music is common time or 4/4.

B. The solid green G note gets one beat.

C. The open green G note gets two beats.

D. One dark vertical line to one dark vertical line is called a measure.

E. This song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

1. "Peter and the Wolf" was written by Sergei Prokofiev.

2. Peter is portrayed as a violin.

3. The wolf is played by the french horn.

4. The grandfather is played by a bassoon, the duck an oboe, and the bird a flute. There is no alligator in the story of "Peter and the Wolf".

Assignment #11

The Phantom of the Opera
1. Obviously, the main art discipline in The Phantom of the Opera is music. The movie was filled with opera: a theatrical presentation in which a dramatic performance is set to music. Therefore, the script was sung instead of spoken, most of the time. Another art discipline was dance. The most specific scene where dance was used was the masquerade party scene. All of the cast had to have been choreographed in order to perform this dance. Also, theater was used in The Phantom of the Opera. Most of the movie was set in the Paris Opera House, where operas, which are mainly theater plays set to music, were performed. The viewer was shown several scenes where the actors were having dress rehearsal for their operas. Another art discipline was visual art. The Phantom would create little figures in his home, the recesses of the opera house. These figures represented the actors and actresses of the Paris Opera House. He would move them how he wanted them, representing what he wanted them to do. The final art discipline was movie. Being as this rendition of The Phantom of the Opera was a movie, this would be the best explanation. However, the beginning of the movie, which shows the Paris Opera House in 1910, makes it look like the movie is being filmed because the picture has that "old timey" feeling on screen, and it is in black and white.
2. Angel of Music
In this song, Christine is sitting at a shrine she's made for her father right after her first performance as the leading role in the opera. Meg, as well as the Phantom are calling for Christine. Finally Meg finds Christine and wished to know her secret of how she's such a great singer. Christine tells Meg that when she was little, her father told her that she was going to be protected by an angel of music, but he didn't tell her who it would be. Meg then asks Christine if she believes that it is her father that is coaching her. Christine knows that someone is coaching her, but she doesn't know exactly who it is. Meg then thinks that Christine is crazy and says that she is talking in riddles and it's not like her. Finally, Christine summons the Angel of Music and says that he's with her now, but it frightens her. During the opera, only Meg and Christine are in the room, and that is where they stay for most of the song.

Assignment #6

Theater
The theater seen in the picture is a Proscenium Arch Stage.

1. This is known as the Proscenium.
2. not listed.
3. This is off stage, where the audience cannot see and actors can stand when waiting for cues.
4. This could be labeled as the curtain, or Stage Right.
5. This is known as the setting line, where most of the action takes place during the play.
6. This is the auditorium where the audience sits.
7. This is known as the border, it hides all of the lights and other accessories used on the stage.