I chose chapter 65 Austin Wintory, Nascence from Journey. I did listen to this piece of music about four times to make sure all the sounds I was hearing. The first listening i thought oh this is nice but didn’t pick out exactly what instruments i was hearing. The second listening I could certainly hear a violin playing. I could also hear a cello playing in some parts of the piece. The third time i listened to it, I could also hear a didgerido playing as well. The elements of timbre and dynamics were played very well during this piece. You could tell when the dramatics were about to start or when the tone went down into a softer place. You could hear the violin go high and low and hearing the didgerido softly playing in the background. I really did enjoy the Nascence. I’m glad i picked this option as my piece to listen to. I have also listen to some more pieces from him and enjoyed them as well.

Both of the renaissance pieces were very enjoyable pieces to listen to. I enjoyed the King Singer’s more due to the fact it had to deal with gossiping women. I laughed during it because although i saw these grown men singing this piece, my mind turned them into bickering women which made me enjoy it more. The fact they can stay so in sync with each other was great throughout. I did feel it was a language barrier besides some of the sounds such as bop that i heard, i had no idea what they were truly saying in this piece. I did enjoy watching the men preform. When listening to new music it seems better to see the people and be able watch them instead of just hearing the music.

I did enjoy the Eagle Dance. It’s very amazing how people can make all these great sounds with just using themselves without all these instruments. I can say the eagle dance music is not the type of music that i listen to on a daily basis but i could see me out on a beach resort in Hawaii listening to that music.

I do feel the eagle dance music is better with dance. It makes you want to get and start dancing, and being that i can not dance it’s better to see other express themselves with this music.

Bobby McFerrin i really like watching his video. To see him pounding on his chest and it sounds as a musical instrument was great. I enjoyed how he got the audience to go along with him. Bobby used a good deal of high pitched sounds and it was nice.

I really did enjoy both pieces and I can’t choose which was better than the other. Each piece had their own special uniqueness to it.

Yes i did like listening to Play of Virtues by Hildegard a lot. I love the sound of a person playing a piano it’s very relaxing.  When listening to that excerpt, you could replay the things you read about her life and the things she went through and it does fit with her music.

Yes melody is very much important in music and this film because i have never watched star wars before but i have heard things about it and i know Leia is a big part of the film so her being a woman i feel the music had to match her and her confidence. The music makes me think of someone having a fight or a battle honestly. I feel when the music would go more up tempo then someone was winning and knocked their opponent down.

The second piece feels more sad and mourning. It feels as if they could be mourning the loss of someone on their team or they lost a battle of some sort. with the second piece it’s so different from the first piece of star wars. both pieces make me want to watch the movie to see if anything i said happens during the movie. Yes i can still appreciate Hildegard’s music because i enjoyed her music as well.

I loved the fact that they did narration during the course of listening to Benjamin Britten. It helped me to understand way more of exactly what I was listening to. I enjoyed variation 6 two oboes because I enjoyed the slow down and calmness of the part of the music. Yes it was a couple of the instruments that I knew exactly what they were such as the trumpets and clarinets.

I decided to learn about the timpani because I have never heard of it before. Timpani is a big instrument. I learned that the top is covered in animals skin and that was very interesting to find that out. It has a nickname called the kettle drum due to it resembling a kettle. I liked learning about the timpani.

I prefer the Gottschalk version of the Star-Spangled Banner over the South City Voices because I really enjoyed it with the piano parts playing especially in the beginning .  Although I very much did enjoy the south city voices because I loved their voices. It was so relaxing to just lay back and listen to Gottschalk and hear all the different sounds after listening to it five times. I listened to Igor version about seven times and I think i finally could hear the difference of SSB than how it would normally sound.

When I listened to Stravinsky and Hendrix I did not find it offensive at all. I enjoyed the Hendrix version with the guitar. Back in that time I can understand why people took it as offensive. They took it as offensive because this something that is near and dear to people’s heart and these two people changed it and decided to make it their own. People are not always okay with change. I would like to know why they wanted lgor arrested for it but not Hendrix? Maybe because he was a musician that was well like by people and Igor was not so much.

I first learned the star-spangled banner from going to Royals games as a child with my father. We have been going to games as long as I can remember and before the game the star-spangled banner was something I always wondered why they would sing it. As I got older I started to understand the meaning of the star-spangled banner and why it gets sung at all the events such as a basketball game, a karate tournament, and a graduation. The star-spangled banner means to me the world as a whole and our freedom that we have. I also think about the men that serve in the army and how much they have sacrificed for themselves and for the United States of America.

1. Did you have any musical instruction as a child? (through choir or band programs, or piano lessons, etc.) Yes, I sang in the choir during middle and high school.

2. Do you play an instrument(s)? No but I’ve always wanted to

3. What types/genres of music do you listen to? Jazz, gospel, some country, rap, r & b, pop and some pop rock.

4. How do you listen to your music?  (radio, internet, MP3, etc) When I’m in the car i listen to satellite radio or my in my phone. When I’m at home i usally do the music channel on the tv or plug my phone into a speaker and listen that way.

5. Do you pay attention to recent music and new artists? (How do you get that information?) Yes i do and they way i keep up with music is on Instagram, Tidal music app I have on my phone, or by checking the billboard charts.

6. How important is music to you in your life?  (for example:  Does music help motivate you in some way?  Or does music help you relax, or sooth your pain, or help you sleep? etc.) Music is very important in my life. It helps motivate me. It helps me get my emotions out such as crying when I have had a bad day. It helps me get through rough times in my life and still does.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton