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Music and the Society

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  Music and the Society How Does Music Serve the Society?   Olympic Opening Ceremony (1984: Los Angeles) Image source: https://hips.hearstapps.com/toc.h-cdn.co/assets/16/30/1024x684/1984-summer-olympics.jpg?resize=980:*   Welcome to my final blog for this music class! I have been enjoying learning and appreciating music more since the beginning of the musical journey with our instructor Ms. Kljaich and the class. For this blog, I am going to discuss the functions of music to our society, or how does music serve our society? In our daily life, music is almost everywhere. Major life events cannot be the same without music, such as graduation, wedding, festivals, parties, and funerals. World events and ceremonies must have music to proceed, such as Olympics and inauguration of presidents. Music is pervasive, fundamental, entertaining, therapeutic, and uplifting.   Music Brings Us Together People of different cultures, beliefs, ages, and social classes could be brought to
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Music and the Fictive Dream - The Butterfly Lovers

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  Music and the Fictive Dream The Butterfly Lovers Liang Shanbo & Zhu Yingtai   Image source: https://asian-film.com/en/liang-shan-bo-yu-zhu-ying-tai/               Liang Shanbo & Zhu Yingtai , also called Butterfly Lovers , is one of the Four Great Folktales in China. It is a famous love story and regarded as the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet . When working on this week’s project, the theme music of Liang & Zhu kept on coming to my mind. It is my interest and pride to explore and present it in this blog. There are many presentations and versions of this story, varying from Chinese stage plays, operas, classic films, modern movies to cartoon stories. I choose one of the classic films produced in 1963, which is also translated as The Love Eterne to introduce this enchanting musical. Before diving to this masterpiece, I would like to give you an idea of this well-known romance in East Asia.             Image source https://asian-film.com/en/liang-shan-bo-
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Role of the Performer

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Role of the Performer The African Children’s Choir® Image source https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.marshallindependent.com/images/2017/08/15204226/africanChildrensChoir-copy.jpg   Around fall of 2016, the African Children’s Choir came to visit Sitka in Southeast Alaska and performed in my church. Ever since, I never forget their lively beats, bright voice, sunny smiles, unique drumming, and energetic dancing in their colorful ethnic costumes… They spread joy, strength, and hope throughout their music performance. Image source https://cdn.africanchildrenschoir.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/banner-2.jpg   Background Information The African Children’s Choir is a Christian organization under Music for Life Institute. They are travelling choirs made up children, aged 7-10 years old, from 6 African countries since its establishment, including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana. The Choir was founded by Canadian Ray Barnett when he travelled in wa
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A Musical Trip to the Pearl of the East

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  A Musical Trip to the Pearl of the East Chinese Folk Music   Image source https://d31kydh6n6r5j5.cloudfront.net/uploads/sites/392/2020/06/208524_orig-scaled.jpg?resize=960,540   For this musical trip blog, I am going to share about the folk music from China, my motherland. While exploring this topic during past week, I got emotional and felt so proud of my native folk music…Hope you will also find it as a precious pearl in the East, just as I will.   History of Chinese Folk Music According to Wikipedia (2021), China developed music culture over 9,000 years ago based on archaeological evidence. Some of the ancient instruments include clay music instrument Xun, bamboo flute (Di Zi), and bronze bell set (Bian Zhong). A formal system of royal court and ceremonial music was established in Zhou Dynasty around 1,000 BC. The Imperial Music Bureau was established in Qin Dynasty around 200 BC. In subsequent dynasties, Chinese musicians developed a large assortment of instruments an
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Evolution of American Musical Movie

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  Evolution of American Musical Movie   Image source:   http://barkerhost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/11/459fPVvI4lkEV0piSfcq0irKHi8-0.jpg   Musical movies (films) were developed from theatre or stage musicals. They are characterized by singing, dancing, and dialogues. The Jazz Singer starring by Al Jolson in 1927 was recognized as the first musical movie in the US. It introduced the sound era of motion pictures with the advent of sound in the early 20 th century. Afterwards, a series of musical movies were produced on the novelty of sound. In 1939, The Wizard of Oz became a landmark for musical movie because of adoption of new technology such as color motion picture process and better sound recording. Color had not become a popular feature until late 1950’s. Musical movies got developed toward better synthesis of plot and music. This beginning period was called the first classical sound era or First Musical Era. In the 1960’s, musical films became critical and achieved
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