Each of the five acts at the Chinese Music Festival at Carnegie Hall was unique and entertaining. The first act, the man who played piano, set the tone for the rest of the concert. At first the music was simultaneously slow and upbeat. These two sounds seemed contradicting and at first I cringed, as the two sounds caused dissonance. But then I realized that the two opposing sounds kind of worked with each other and formed a type of music I was not used to hearing. His piece soon became light and fast and reminded me of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

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Jeremy Geffen

Jeremy Geffen has one of the most amazing jobs in the world. He handpicks which performances will be shown at Carnegie Hall. He has probably seem hundreds of performances on stage, and even more while scouting out which ones he will choose. I learned a lot through meeting with him.

The snapshot photo day assignment was a very cool idea. All of the Macaualy students are unified on October 11^th because every person takes a photograph of his neighborhood on the same day. The twist that Professor Bergman added was also interesting.

Walking down the streets of New York I find that everyone is hurried and rushing to get somewhere. There is always an agenda and a time constraint. The people are so caught up in the hustle and bustle that they may forget to stop, look around, and notice the beautiful things that surround them.

I am proud to say that I am not one of these people. Maybe this is due to the fact that I am not from New York and have only lived here for two months. Whatever the reason, I find it easy to stop and notice the wonderful settings and situations that surround me.

Even though we saw the ballet performance a while ago, the third act is still very vivid in my mind. I had never seen a ballet before, but I had certain expectations about what ballet would be like. I was not particularly interested in ballet, or in dance in general. I did not anticipate seeing anything like the last act – the more modern dancing. Instead, I had imagined the third act – the traditional ballet routine. When the couple came out and started to dance, or “float,” as I saw it, I was speechless.