Concert Review

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st B

March 3, 2011

Concert Review

 

This past weekend we had our annual concert downtown at Hay Street United Methodist during Fourth Friday. I always love this concert in particular because it often draws many people who would not come to our concerts that are at school, so we get to perform for a different type of audience. Overall, I felt that our performance was good, but not as good as it could have been. I also think that our quality of performance varied between pieces more than usual.

The Seal Lullaby is one of my favorite pieces and I was very excited to perform it. We did not have as much time as usual to prepare this song, and our performance went fairly well considering this. However, I do think that we all have the skill and ability to do better than we did on this piece. Though we tried to get the dynamics right in order to portray the meaning of the song, we did not actually feel and portray to the audience the emotion of the song.

In my opinion we performed our best on Dirait On. We blended well together, had pretty good vowels, and did show some dynamic contrast. I think this song went better than it sometimes had because we were all focused and engaged. In this song, it is essential that we all are focused on our vowels and listening across the choir. One thing that I have noticed to be consistently wrong on this piece is the pronunciation of certain words.

Our performance of Witness was not true to what we are capable of doing and what we have done in rehearsal. I felt like we were pushing in order to fill up the space and be loud, but this compromised our sound. The song did not tune like it should, and overall we did not blend together. I think we need to try to sing more intensely without singing too loudly. In this song, we all need to listen to each other so that it tunes well. I think that in this song, we often forget to keep these things in mind.

Despite some things that we could improve in, I was happy with the way that our concert turned out overall. In my opinion, there are just a few things that are sometimes lacking across the board and that we should pay special attention to; maturity and depth of sound, and portraying emotion. These are things that we have proven we can do, but often forget.

Cultural Arts Review

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st B

January 20, 2011

Cultural Arts Review-Piano Recital

 

This winter I had the opportunity to go see a piano recital. Being my first, I was not sure what to expect. There were many younger children who gave short performances and then one movement of a concerto done by a high school student. Overall, I was very impressed with the level of performance and obvious commitment of all the students.

The first half of the concert consisted of children playing simplified classical pieces. I could tell that some of them were nervous, but there were no major mess-ups from what I could tell. They all seemed to have practiced a great amount and have been taught very well. I enjoyed seeing they all were, and I do hope that they continue pursuing their musical interests later on in life.

The second half of the concert was one movement of a concerto performed by a very talented high school student. She performed Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Opus 15, 1st Movement: Allegro con brio by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was accompanied by someone playing the part of the orchestra on keyboard. Before attending this concert, I asked around and did some research so I would know and understand what I was listening to. Concerti typically have three movements: an opening movement in sonata form, a slow, more expressive movement, and then a faster movement. This performance only consisted of the first movement, and it was obvious to me that the piece she played functioned as an opening movement. In my opinion, concerti are extraordinarily beautiful because of the way the soloist and the orchestra alternate from cooperation to opposition to make the piece flow. Even  before she started playing, I was impressed because Beethoven’s five piano concertos are some of the most difficult concertos to play.

The keyboardist did a dramatic introduction, and then the soloist entered and the spotlight was on her. She played quickly and lively and the music most certainly sounded happy-truly doing justice to the title “Allegro con brio” which means lively and with spirit. The quick alternating high pitches made me think of a little creature running, and the following low pitches made me think of something big and scary chasing after it.

It was so beautiful how the soloist and accompaniment alternate so smoothly without hesitation, as if they are finishing each other’s sentences. I loved this Beethoven piece because it sounds so free-spirited, happy, and adventurous. I felt that I should just close my eyes and listen because I have no idea what could be coming next. In my mind, I imagined this piece telling the story of someone’s life. It was as if it went in phases or in steps; there were sometimes setbacks, shown by pauses, a slower pace, or loud, colorful low notes, but it always went back to being happy and lively, like a person’s unstoppable joy for life.

There were very few mess-ups throughout the piece, and I was amazed at how well the student did with such a long piece. Seeing how much I—and everyone else at the concert—enjoyed hearing this Beethoven piece proved to me how classic and timeless his work is. Though he lived two hundred years ago, he truly knew how to please the listener, and no matter how much popular culture changes, works like his will always be treasured as works to enjoy as well as to learn from. The performance I saw made this clear, and the recital showed that people of all ages can enjoy classical pieces.

Concert Critique

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st period B

January 10, 2011

Concert Critique-Christmas Concert

 

We had our Christmas concert this week on January 6, unfortunately postponed from its original date in December. Varsity sang three songs, “Fum, Fum, Fum,” “Ding-A Ding-A Ding,” and “Banquet Fugue,” and Glee Club sang “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” Overall, our performance was good, but I do feel that we would have done better if we had performed in December when all of the songs were fresh in our minds.

On “Fum, Fum, Fum,” we did a good job getting all of the notes and rhythms correct, but we could have been a little more precise with diction. I think we also did a good job of not cutting off the word “fum” too quickly when they were fast and of making a dramatic crescendo leading up to the forte portion of the piece.

I felt that we did a good performance of “Ding-A Ding-A Ding.” I think that as a choir we were more together and more into this song because we all like it so much. Our precision was improved from how it was when we started, but I think we could still work on being precise one hundred percent of the time. Having a quartet sing the “Merrily on high” part with everyone else singing the “ding-a ding-a ding” part when we split worked out better than the other things that we tried.

In my opinion, of the songs we performed, “Banquet Fugue” was the one that could use the most work. The start by the alto section was not strong; we did not all come in at the same time and we did not initially agree on a pitch. We should have thought about the pitch more before starting. At a later point in the song, we again did not agree on a few pitches, which caused some of the harmonies to go awry. Overall, I felt that on this song, each section did an alright job, but we were not all together. We were not feeling the music together and were not singing as one. I also think that we should have put more emphasis on acting out emotions to better portray the joke of the song to the audience. We should have sung more properly and exaggerated throughout the piece, instead of just in a few certain places.

I felt that overall, Varsity Choir could have worked more on putting emotion into the pieces we performed. Things are different because it is Christmas music, and we all understand what kind of emotion it entails, but I do think that focusing on a mood or an emotion can help a performer channel the right kind of thought and energy into their performance, which would have helped us all be on one page together.

Glee’s performance of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” went very well considering we were missing two out of ten singers. I felt our performance of this song was extremely improved from our last concert performance of “Build Me Up Buttercup.” This could be due to more experience performing, having more experience singing with each other, or just having more rehearsal time with this particular piece. I think we blended much better and were more together than before, especially in the alto section. Our tone was good, we were well balanced, and we portrayed the fun mood of the piece fairly well; I was very pleased. Having had practice performing this piece on our school tour and at our McDonald’s performance really helped us feel comfortable performing it.

 

Cultural Arts Review

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st period B

January 10, 2011

Cultural Arts Review-PTA Art Show

 

I got to go to our very own Terry Sanford PTA Art Show, where students in all levels of art classes got the opportunity to display their work. I was very impressed by the talent and hard work that many of my fellow classmates show in their art. There were different types of medias represented: painting, sketching, photography, and sculpture. The art was organized by artists, and this made the differentiating styles of different students obvious, and I enjoyed seeing the contrast in their styles.

An example of this contrast was between one student whose style was clean cut and cheerful, portraying things like flowers in a vase or a chic living room scene, and another student, Becca Benson, whose work was more dark, while also being more creative and deep. She displayed a series of photographs that portrayed negative emotions, but ones that caught my attention and made me think about their meaning. One featured an above view of a dresser that was all out of order and falling apart, entitled “Neglected.” There was dust everywhere and it had no color. It was ragged and it, to me, represented cuts and bruises of someone who has been hurt and who feels alone. It showed the emotions of someone who feels that no one has taken care of them, just as no one took care of the dresser. Another photograph by the same artist called “Alive” showed the palm of a hand with a single drop of blood running down it. The blood was a deep red, while everything around it was black and white; this colorful contrast was a powerful tool that emphasized the pain. Overall, this artist’s series of photographs symbolized pain, hardship, brokenness, and a lack of feeling wanted.

One painting that I was very impressed with was a self-portrait by Hunter Stutts. He portrayed a hand holding a mirror, and in the mirror you could see his bedroom. The bedroom consisted of a picture of a duck, maybe representing his love of nature, a Terry Sanford academic letter to show his interest in school and learning, a chair which had fallen on the floor, and a broken mirror on the wall. The chair could show that he has fallen down before, and the mirror could represent brokenness or possibly a shattered self-image. What called my attention the most was something on his wrist-a carolina blue bracelet saying “Maxwell Family.” The fact that he made this bigger than anything else in the painting shows that it consumes a big part of his life.

Another set of work that I thought was particularly interesting was a series of pictures of an old penitentiary by Megan Washam. One entitled “Walk of Shame” peered down a corridor with yellow rusted walls that were falling apart against dark black doors. Everything looked dirty and the picture is skewed as if the camera was tilted to the side when it was taken. At the end of the corridor there is only darkness. This could represent someone’s path in life: their perspective is skewed and it eventually ends in darkness. Another photograph from the same series called “The Eye” is looking up at an outside penitentiary wall, which is broken and rusty. A camera sticks out of the wall, and the overall mood of the picture is eerie–it looks as if someone is watching you.

Overall, the art show represented a variety of medias, styles, and perspectives, and it gave me the chance to look for underlying meaning and symbolism which are useful when trying to understand all types of things.

Cultural Arts Review

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st period B

January 10, 2011

Cultural Arts Review-“A View from the Bridge”

 

“A View from the Bridge,” produced by the Cape Fear Regional Theatre, brought to life a dramatic story about prejudice, loyalty, and love. The play was done very well, with superb acting and impressive costumes and scenery. For me, it probed questions about family and independence and got me thinking about these things.

It started off with a scene full of chaos: someone screaming “Eddie Carbone!” and people running all around; then we see a murder about to happen. The lights cut off and the scene changes, and Alfieri, a lawyer, comes out and introduces a story which he says he watched happen but could do nothing to prevent. This first impression of the play had my mind running. I could tell that this story would not have a happy ending, and this set a somewhat gloomy tone in my mind.

The story revolves around Eddie, a hard-working family man who lives with his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine. Beatrice’s cousins from Italy, Marco and Rodolpho, are smuggled into the country and stay with the family. Eddie has already been struggling with allowing Catherine to be more independent and have a job on the other side of town, and when she starts to fall in love with Rodolpho, Eddie gets very jealous. Catherine no longer spends all of her free time with Eddie, and Eddie seems to think that Rodolpho is “not right.”

“A View from the Bridge” takes place in New York City in the 1950’s, when men were still very much in charge of the household, and when any man who seemed somewhat feminine may be pinned as homosexual. When we recognize these things, it is understandable that Eddie would be angry when someone within his household is going against his desires and what society deems right. However, when looked at from the mindset of someone from the twenty-first century, most people see Eddie as being overbearing and prejudice. This made me see how much American society has changed in the past fifty years in this respect; most young women I know my age are now expected to choose for themselves what they want to do after school or who they want to marry. However, I also saw some saddening similarities, because there are still some parents who have ideas for how they want their children’s lives to be that they push onto them, creating a struggle for the young person who has to choose between what they want and what their parents want.

Another similarity I noticed was how quickly Eddie was to label Rodolpho as homosexual because he liked to sing and joke around more than what he was used to. It is too often that people today will call someone “gay” or a “fag” when they do something outside their expected gender role, such as a man watching a chick flick, or a woman having a passion for athletics.

In the end, Eddie went to far in an attempt to get his way. When Catherine decided to marry Rodolpho against his will, he turned Marco and Rodolpho in to the Immigration Office, and this betrayal ultimately led to his own death. This could be seen as a lesson to recognize when to let go of things or that each person has to make decisions for themselves, and trying to make a decision for someone else will not work.

Cultural Arts Review

Abby Murray-Nikkel

Mr. Haning

Varsity Chorus 1^st period B

January 10, 2011

Cultural Arts Review-“A Christmas Carol”

I had the opportunity to attend “A Christmas Carol” produced by the Gilbert Theater this Christmas season. Their presentation of the classic was both impressive and heartwarming. Overall, the acting, costumes, and scenery were satisfactory, even to one who has seen and read the story multiple times.

The narrator, a cute old lady, set the mood for the story by drawing the audience in with her enthusiastic way of speaking. The elaborate costumes, complete with old-fashioned bonnets, muffs, and hoop skirts, along with the realistic scenery, sucked us all back into the nineteenth century.

The story begins with an overall agitated and depressed mood. Scrooge rejects any type of kindness shown to him, and causes everyone around him to adopt his unhappy mood, with the exception of his nephew, who is cheerful and hopeful no matter what.

The play starts to get good when Scrooge is first introduced to a ghost-his good friend and business partner Marley gives him a good surprise when he shows up at Scrooge’s house on Christmas Eve. Marley informs Scrooge of all the mistakes he made in his life by loving money and business too much, and not caring for the people around him, and he tells Scrooge that he will be doomed forever if he does not change his ways. This scene is pivotal to the rest of the play, because it reveals, to the audience and to Scrooge, what the rest of his night will include. In my opinion, this scene was not done as well as it should have been. Though Marley’s ghost had an adequate costume and delivered his lines correctly, there was a lack of passion and emotion in his portrayal. This hindered me from being absorbed in the play and really believing everything that was going on. However, after this scene, this did turn around, and I was able to follow along much better.

One of my favorite scenes in the play was when Scrooge was a young man who fell in love. The emotions he portrays are so uncharacteristic of the Scrooge that we first meet. He is so overwhelmingly happy when first in love, but then we suddenly see a change in him. The woman he loves tells him that he is a different man, that his heart has changed. He no longer passionately loves her, he now loves money more than anything, and this causes her to leave him. Scrooge shows no strong emotions when she leaves, because he is already consumed by his love of money. This scene speaks to me because it shows how easily a person can change from being loving and caring to greedy and cold. Increasingly in our society, people focus on material things to satisfy them, and this example should serve as a warning to us all.

Another scene that stood out in my mind is when Scrooge sees people’s reactions to his death; no one seems to be sad. A few men who are talking about it wonder what will happen to all of his money. A poor couple is happy to hear of his death because they were indebted to him. This made me think about how important it is to think about what kind of legend you will leave on earth when you are gone. Scrooge obviously was not very concerned with this, but this is an important thing for us all to consider when evaluating our actions and how they affect other people and the world itself.

In the end, Scrooge changes his ways and becomes a person who is kind to all and who keeps Christmas in his heart all year long. His transformation is important because it shows us that it is never too late to change our ways for the better. This classic story serves as a great reminder at Christmastime, which is now so focused on consumerism, that the most important thing in life is our connections with one another.

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