Blog Posts – Page 8 – The Arts in New York City (CSI, 2016)

Blog #8 – Dr. Wechsler’s Lecture (10/26/16)

This week in seminar, Professor Kahan was unable to come in and teach, so we were treated to a guest lecturer, Dr. Wechsler, a music professor at CSI. When he first walked in, I knew he was going to be a character. He started off the class by giving us a brief lecture on the history of music production and hot music areas in the New York area. We learned that Tin Pan Alley was a hot meet-up place for musicians early on in New York City and it was especially popular amongst the likes of Irving Berlin, Martin Gould, Barry Manilow, and Bette Midler. He then told us about such companies like “ASCAP” and “BMI”. Additionally, we discussed the Carl Fisher Music publishing house which was a popular establishment used to sell music and instruments. We then talked about various piano clubs and manufacturers, including Chickering, Mason and Hamlin, Aelolian, Samick, Baldwin, and Steinway.

After the history and lecture of music, he then proceeded to show us one of his favorite cartoons, Betty Boop, a show that I have heard about it but have never actually seen. I believe he showed us this because he enjoyed the music used in the cartoon and how lighthearted and fun the show was (although he did mention a couple times how attractive he thought Betty looked). I thought the cartoon was entertaining enough, and enjoyed the jazz music used in the shorts. A fun fact that stuck out to me was when Dr. Wechsler said people used to throw shoes at cats on the street when they were in heat because their meowing would get too loud.

Towards the end of the class, our guest lecturer played some interesting sounds on his various instruments he brought to class. I don’t remember the exact names of the instruments and sounds he played, but they each proved very interesting for many different reasons. I liked it.

Overall, I enjoyed this guest lecturer and would definitely sit through another class taught by him again.

Michael Pinto

Blog #8

In this class, Professor Kahan was not able to attend the class, so we had a substitute professor, Dr. David Wechsler. I thought that he was an interesting character at first. He certainly knew what he was talking about and was well versed in music history. He started off his long lecture by just rattling off facts, telling the class about Tinpan Alley, Irving Berlin and Morton Gould, who started ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) which collect royalties from artists. Throughout the lecture he just kept stating facts that at about an hour in, I was kind of lost what he was talking about and wondered what this had to do with everything that he mentioned before. After he finished telling the history of art in NYC and important places, Dr. Wechsler played some music from his phone from the 1940’s, and put on some Betty Bop cartoons, which I enjoyed the most. After the music and cartoons, Dr. Wechsler told us about him and his credentials and how he got his start. He told us about he played for the Israel Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and how he is apart of the N.Y. Flute Club. He definitely has the credentials and experience needed to teach the class about music. For the last part of class, Dr. Wechsler played notes from both his flutes and some big machine, which was pretty cool to hear. Overall, I enjoyed the class even tho Dr. Wechsler rambled about facts the whole time. The use of the cartoons and instruments really made the class more enjoyable then in the beginning.

Blog #8

This week in class, our substitute was Dr. David Wechsler. He is a member of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and plays the flute/is the main director of The OMNI Ensemble. He discussed the Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley, as the popular hangouts in the city for songwriters such as Irving Berlin and Carole King in the mid 1900’s. Dr. Wechsler also told us about ASCAP and BMI, companies who collected royalties from artists for their music and performances to register them/give them licences for these events. I wasn’t surprised when he mentioned that as time progressed, there was a decrease in live music performances, but an increase in recorded music. Of course, technology changed and the times changed. However, I didn’t like hearing that it was once considered that music wasn’t a career, and it was actually frowned upon to pursue music, especially not for women. Music was used for cultural purposes, not for a profession, which is absurd to me because someone has to write the music that is used for culture. We can’t just listen to the same songs a million times, aside from the classics just about everyone knows.

Furthermore, Dr. Wechsler discussed different types of piano companies and different flutes. He spoke A LOT about himself, such as attending Brooklyn College then Stony Brook University, how he got into the Brooklyn Philharmonic, how he got one of his flutes, etc. Towards the end of class, Dr. Wechsler played a few pieces on his flute and electronic wind instrument. It was interesting to hear some of his pieces because they don’t seem to be the easiest to play. Unfortunately, I don’t think just flute music or the wind instrument music is what I am in to or would go out of my way to listen to. It just isn’t my type of my music and some of the sounds that came out of those instruments were odd and unappealing. I’m looking forward to hopefully change gears and discuss something new with Joe next week.

Bob Dylan Blog Post

Last week in class, we learned about Bob Dylan’s recent achievement, the Nobel Prize. We also listened some of Bob Dylan’s music. I had never heard of Bob Dylan before last week’s class and even thought Professor Kahan was talking about the candy store, Dylan’s Candy Bar, at first, which I quickly learned was not the topic of that day’s class. Bob Dylan is a very famous musician that sings songs of the folk genre. I enjoyed listening to Bob Dylan’s songs in class because I like listening to acoustic music. I especially like the sound of guitars and I also really like it when artists incorporate the harmonica into their music. One of the songs we listened in class, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” is an example of that. The moment the harmonica joins in during the breaks, you do not realize that the singing is gone. To me, it is as if he is having a duet with the harmonica. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” is currently my favorite song of Bob Dylan’s right now.

Another song we listened to in class was “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Although, this song has a really catchy melody, doesn’t really catch my attention in the beginning of the song. The lyrics, on the other hand, are very meaningful. Unlike the lyrics of songs nowadays, Bob Dylan’s songs are very thoughtfully written. Questions like “How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man,” “How many times can a man turn his head pretend he just doesn’t see,” and “How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people died,” were used as lyrics in the song, which were then answered in another part of the song with “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.” This sounds weird, but the lyrics of this song really resonates with something inside me.

The other songs that we listened to in class, “Girl From the North Country,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” and “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” did not sound as nice to me as the previous two songs. That is, however, only my opinion. Everybody has different tastes in music and I just happen to not like those three. I really like how Bob Dylan’s songs have such nice, meaningful lyrics that people can relate to. No matter how much time has passed since the time the song was released, people can remember and relate to the lyrics.

Bob Dylan

I had only ever heard a few Bob Dylan songs before the last class. My parents both listen to him, but I had always leaned more towards music ranging from rock to show tunes. Last weekend I listened to all of the songs that were assigned on the same day as the opera. The song that stood out to me the most was “Mr. Tambourine Man.” While listening to it I recognized that the Tambourine Man was a symbol for something else. The lyrics sounded desperate and pandering; lonely and searching for something specific. It then hit me that it could be a message for something addictive like drugs or alcohol. I researched the song and found out that many people speculate that this Bob Dylan song is describing the feeling of withdrawal from drugs. I thought that this song was extremely strong and powerful. I related it to a song that I was more familiar with, “The Familiar Taste of Poison” by Halestorm. I noticed that I got the same feeling when listening to both songs. In the song Bob Dylan sings “Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I’m not sleepy and there ain’t no place I’m going to” give off an air of tiredness with the world and a need to escape.

Another one of Bob Dylan’s songs that I found extremely powerful was “Shelter From the Storm.” This song spoke of sadness as well as a large fault of humanity. Many people never realize what they have until its gone. In this case, after some research, I discovered that Bob Dylan was speaking to his then soon to be ex-wife Sara Dylan. The stanza of the song that specifically spoke to me was “Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there, with silver bracelets on her wrists and, flowers in her hair, she walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of, thorns, come in, she said, I’ll give ya shelter from the storm.” Its describing how Bob Dylan’s wife took away all of his worries and anguishes and saved him from the evils of the world that he could not himself escape. It also portrays a sort of sadness because Bob Dyan only then saw how much Sara really did for him until he had lost her. All of those evils that pulled him towards the darkness had access all over again because there was no one left to ward them off; he is now alone.

All the King’s Men Assignment Cancelled

Dear all,

We will not be attending the dance concert — there are not enough tickets left.

I will send a revised syllabus for the remaining six weeks later this week. However, I want to alert you now that I am cancelling the All the King’s Men assignment. You’ll have enough to do in the remaining weeks.

I will also send out so more info about the 20-minute video about public sculpture in a couple days.

Best,
Dr. Kahan

Don Giovanni Blog Post

We went to watch Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera House last week. It was my first time actually going inside the Metropolitan Opera House and I was a little excited from either how I dressed or the fact it was my first time. I passed by it every day on my way to school back when I was in high school, but I never actually went. The opera was not bad either. However, I had trouble keeping myself awake because of what time the opera was at. I usually sleep around that time so I kept on dozing off throughout the show. It was a shame I missed a few parts because of that.

Because we read about Don Giovanni before attending the opera, the storyline was easy to follow. Something that I didn’t expect from just reading about the opera, however, was Leoporello’s character. Actually seeing everything I read about in real life action was surprisingly nice. After each of the character’s introductory scene, I would be either surprised at how different the character was from how I interpreted it or have a strange sense of satisfaction because the character was exactly how I imagined it to be. Leoporello ended up being my favorite character because of all the comic relief he was in charge of. The scenes with Leoporello in it usually made me laugh, which was something I unknowingly looked forward to. However, his loyalty to Giovanni was a little weird. One would think, with the treatment he has received from his master, he would have quit being his servant already and tried to find a new master ages ago, but he stuck with Giovanni all the way to the end. I could not really understand why.

My favorite scene from the opera was the part where Giovanni got dragged down to hell. However, I actually wanted Don Giovanni’s victims to be the ones to kill him instead. Although, being dragged down to hell is more severe punishment than being killed, I felt like he deserved it, especially if he was killed by Donna Anna, whose father was murdered by him.

The pit orchestra was also very skilled. I applaud them for being able to sit and play their instruments for so long. Every time I see a show with a pit orchestra playing along with the performance, I am always amazed from the synchronization. Overall, Thursday night was filled with new experiences and I did enjoy most of the opera.

Bob Dylan

In class this past week, we studied Bob Dylan and some of the work he has done. In my household, the name is well known and I actually had a conversation about the award he got with my father without mentioning that we talked about it in class. Bob Dylan is a country folk singer who was revolutionary for his time when he used an electric guitar for folk music instead of acoustics. With powerful songs that discussed extreme topics like the Vietnam War, Bob Dylan proved he earned his award with most of his songs, with lyrics like “how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free” and “how many ears must one man have before he can hear others cry”. I have never been a fan of Bob Dylan’s. There are may other artists who we heard in class including Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Simon and Garfunkel. I know many songs by Peter Paul and Mary, including If I had a hammer, Lemon Tree, and Leaving on a Jet Plane, and I like Peter Paul and Mary’s music better than Bob Dylan’s. One of the things we discussed in class was how well liked Peter Paul and Mary was to the normal population and how Bob Dylan stood out in a bad way making many people dislike his music. I believe this is why I don’t like Bob Dylan. I like the harmonies of Peter Paul and Mary compared to Bob Dylan’s raspy voice, and I think that his songs are too serious for me to listen to. If I were to compare his messages to another artists I would compare him to Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. With lyrics like “emancipate yourself from mental slaver, none but ourselves can free our mind.” I think that Bob Dylan makes his lyrics the way Bob Marley does, but Bob Marley’s singing is much more pleasing to the ear.

The opera

Over this past week, we saw the opera Don Giovanni and I absolutely loved it. I loved being able to read what was going on in front of me, and the fact that they had many different languages, but I’m surprised they didn’t have Russian. I like the plot of the opera and the scenes that were active, but contrary to popular opinion I did not enjoy the arias. I disliked the lack of movement and that really made those parts of the opera somewhat boring, but everything else was great. I especially loved the fire and the floor opening from below. Seeing this opera has influenced me to want to see another some day. After the first act, I realized that operas are not as fast paced as plays. The first act was about two hours long and it was hard to sit through it so I needed to buy a five dollar coffee which was ridiculous but it got me through the next act. In the next act I moved up to a closer seat and I have to say it caused to have a worse time than before. When I was sitting in my original seat, I was in the last row in the family circle and I was able to sit far back enough to be able to see the words and the stage at the same time. When I moved up I had to continuously move my head up and down to be able to pay attention to both the words and the action. Before I saw the opera, I watched a 3 minute summary of the opera on youtube so that I could read the words at points and not worry too much about the action on the stage and I think that was a good decision because I was able to really understand what was going on. I also did not realize how popular this opera was, but the woman who sat next to me told me that this was almost her twentieth time seeing this opera and that although she didn’t know Italian, she was watching the opera without subtitles because she wanted it to enjoy. I hope to get to the point where I can watch an opera comfortably without subtitles.

Don Giovanni

I originally thought I was not going to like “Don Giovanni.” I am a huge fan of the arts at Lincoln Center, especially ballets, but I was not too excited to see a three hour show on a Wednesday night. I was very skeptical of the opera because of the plot. Don Giovanni is a “Don Juan” character who seduces women, is very irrational, and amoral. This did not sound appealing because sexual violence is one of my biggest fears. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the performance. I do not speak or understand Italian, so I was very happy to see the translator on the back of the chair. If I did not understand what the characters were singing I do not think I would have enjoyed the performance as much as I did because I found the opera to be a drama with comedy. My favorite character was Don Giovanni’s servant because of the hilarious remarks he made throughout the scenes. I think the funniest moments were when Don Giovanni’s servant would narrate the true intentions or facts about his master when he was trying to seduce the women. My favorite scene with Don Giovanni’s servant was when he proclaimed that he quit being a servant, but Don Giovanni put coins in a row to lead him back. His servant came back crawling and picked up every coin that was placed down. It reminded me of when someone is trying to lead an animal to their cage or to a room, which was why I found it funny.

I enjoyed the first act because I felt that the story was building and building until the last scene. It was comical to see how Don Giovanni was “digging his own grave” through all of his actions and wrongdoings to the wrong group of people. The second act was slow at certain times. The arias were beautiful, but very long. My favorite scenes were the last few of the second act. Throughout the whole performance I was extremely curious with how the opera was going to end. I was expecting one of the women or men in the show to die, not Don Giovanni himself. During the scene where the towns people were looking for Don Giovanni at the time his servant was dressed in his clothes, I expected them to kill his servant and then he was going to make an escape. I was not expected the ghost to come to Don Giovanni’s house and drag him to Hell. The ending was very satisfying because it conveyed the message that all wrongdoing will be punished in the afterlife.