Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

The Ecstasy of Gold is from the score of the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, which is an awesome western.  It’s called Ecstasy of Gold because it is taken from a scene where one of the characters is hurriedly looking for the gold he knows is hidden in a certain grave in a huge graveyard. This version is from an album in which Yo Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone’s music from many of his movie scores (which includes the movie this is from).

I feel that this song expresses the feeling of striving to reach any goal, starting out slow and then gaining momentum until it reaches its peak, symbolizing the final attainment of whatever the person set his/her mind to.  I think this song works with any goal, physical or theoretical. I personally enjoy jogging to it. I know, exercising to classical music sounds weird, but this song really pumps me up when it accelerates.

Is it beautiful? I think it is. It has so many parts and while it starts out low and slow with an instrument or two, as it gains in tempo and crescendo, more instruments are added until its a full fledged orchestra. It sounds stunning. If you pay close attention you can hear all the individual parts yet also the bigger picture. Also, it has a lot of string instruments which tend to add soul to music and Yo Yo Ma plays the cello amazingly which is a real bonus.

Hear it for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI6zLayBeJQ

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqBBTm4Bh3k[/youtube]

Justin, I love your taste. I also chose a song by Lecare. Lecrae is a gospel rapper who grew up in the inner city of Atlanta. Lecrae is one of my favorite artists because of the message he conveys through his music. Lecrae’s commentary is mostly on popular hip hop which he believes is devoid of any meaning or substance. This song titled “Nuthin” explains his belief that hip hop artists communicate through their songs but they fail to communicate the right things or anything resembling a positive influence. This song is art because it uses hip hop to create a new culture within the genre. You would think this is another one of those meaningless raps but its the complete opposite. (Listen carefully to the lyrics.)

I believe that the lyrics to this song speaks for itself. This song isn’t just beautiful because of the way the flow of the instruments make you feel. It’s a combination of the background and the special lessons being taught by the singers. This song gets to me every time I hear it. It’s a song that may be called sad, but I think it’s a song about hope. I think it shows that it is possible to have a peaceful world and it’s not just concept used by children when they made their birthday wish or for girls in beauty pageants. “If everyone shared and swallowed their pride then we’d see the day where nobody died.”
The meaning conveyed from these lyrics show how all the troubles in the world could be solved if everyone just worked together and stopped feeling like they needed to win something all the time.
I just think it’s a beautiful message shared by a beautiful tune.

Macaulay’s “Night at the Museum” event was an extremely special and memorable experience. I have always considered art interesting and took AP Art History in high school. Although I enjoyed the class, I was disappointed that neither trips to art related events nor trips to art museums were ever organized. Consequently, I was especially excited by the idea that, for one night, the Brooklyn Museum was exclusively open for Macaulay students to collectively analyze and uncover the meaning of art.

Walking through the halls of the Brooklyn Museum, I was exhilarated by the wide range of art on display. Each time my group stopped to look at a work of art, we all made a huge effort to comprehend it. The discussions that arose from simply glancing at a work of art were intriguing. As we formed a human semicircle around the art and passed around a recorder, each person offered a unique perspective. I was also thrilled that we were able to build on each other’s views to form modified and more complex conclusions.

From the bright colors of the European paintings to the more dull colors of the Egyptian sarcophagi, the works of art in the Brooklyn Museum amazed me. I always believed that discussion between students is instrumental to learning, but I never before applied that notion to the analyzation of art. Currently, I would strongly suggest that anyone who genuinely wishes to have the most fulfilling experience possible at an art museum, or any other museum, ought to invite others to join him or her.

Blending in with the crowd isn’t always good– especially if you want to be known, or in this case, let your master be known. Lecrae is a hip-hop artist that, in this song, raps about the necessity of having someone with you. The true beauty of this song comes with its dual nature. Since Lecrae is a rapper who happens to rap about his faith, each verse is tied to his spiritual life. Anomaly is the name of the album that this song is from and I encourage all of you to go and listen.

I view this performance as beautiful because it conveys one’s desire for a genuine emotional connection with another individual without any need for a facade of perfection.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbLDFiQM-l8[/youtube]

One Man’s Dream by Yanni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihic3AqopZk

[quicktime]http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/ugoretz14/files/2014/09/Movie-on-9-2-14-at-10.58-AM.mov[/quicktime]

As soon as I walked up the subway stairs, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, the Brooklyn Museum.

The contrast between the front portion’s Greek influence and the main lobby’s modernness contributed to the “art” of the museum. Not only does the museum contain art, it is art. Many people think that a museum is a mere vessel that contains art, but rarely do they acknowledge the actual architecture and the artistic thought process that goes into the bricks and mortar of the Brooklyn Museum. When I walked into the hall what immediately caught my eye, other than the enormous screen conveying the texts of the excited Macaulay youth, was the symmetry of the room and how it was set up. It was the perfect place to hang works of art. Wherever you look, you see art. Look up, the ceiling looks as if it belongs in the hall of a king. Look down, and you see tiles- but what’s under it? Lights, lights that illuminate the entire hall.

And then there are the paintings and sculptures. The  main attraction.

One of the first paintings my group visited was called St. Joseph and the Flowering Rod. We gravitated toward this painting mainly because of our group’s heavy influence from the Christian Church. That and the painting showed an emotion that just brought people to it. We analyzed the painting with our background in Christianity, but it proved to be difficult. Sometimes it is better just to look at a work objectively. We then switched to the art background that we gained from going to public school in Long Island. We looked at the brush strokes and how they coincided with the emotions that were meant to be conveyed in the painting. Every part of the painting is there for a reason. The mere placement of light can change the context of the story we create from a heavenly standpoint to an earthly, more secular standpoint.  Which was clearly the case in the painting. The lighting from above  created a sense of God looking down on him.that coupled with his emotion made it seem as if he was in an emotional battle with the Lord.

The museum was a great experience overall. Both the paintings and architecture are a must see not only for the people who live in Brooklyn but for the whole world.