I never really understood music. Music was just something that I listened to and took for granted. When listening, I never consciously paid attention to what was going on in the background. If it sounded good, I listened. That all changed after sitting through this week’s lecture. After talking about the different aspects of music, including rhythm, melody or tune, harmony, timbre and texture, I realized there was more to music then an appealing sound. Who knew that you needed all of these things to come together to form musical piece!

To illustrate all of these aspects coming together, Professor Kahan asked Naomi to sing a few lines of “I’m So Pretty” from West Side Story. (She really did a great job being put on the spot like that!) This demonstrated how each element contributes to the finished piece. The singer provides the melody. The piano or music provides rhythm to keep the singer in time while increasing the texture of the piece. When it all comes together correctly, the harmony is fantastic! I had absolutely no clue that music had so many variables.

Another piece we examined was “Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky. The piece started out very soft and relaxing, as if I was alone in a peaceful forest. All of a sudden, it sounds like someone is tiptoeing softly towards me. The first thing that came to mind was Elmer Fudd in “Rabbit Season” with Bugs Bunny. After a few seconds of this soft music, the tempo increased and I felt like I was reliving a scene from “Jaws“. The change in tune and tempo invoked several different emotions in me throughout the piece.

Now, we were asked to take everything that we discussed about the pieces and apply it to an opera. As a class, we watched a scene from Camille, a 1936 movie about a man professing his love to a courtesan at a social engagement. In the scene we watched, it took the man about 35 seconds to explain to the woman that he was was madly in love with her. We then watched a scene from La Traviata, in which a man essentially does the same exact thing, however it took the singer 10 times longer to express that same emotion with the same amount of enthusiasm. Yet, the amount of emotion invoked in the opera viewer is incomparable. I guess that that is what makes the opera the opera. The heartfelt emotion and enthusiasm of an opera can make anything feel more beautiful and romantic!