Chapter 6 Music Review

A reconstruction of John Cage's '4'33' by David Tudor-https://www.lionsroar.com/433/

"In a world of peace and love music would be the universal language"- Henry David Thoreau

        Music is a powerful subject in humanity that is found in a variety of ways in a variety of elements. As said by Thoreau, music is a universal language in all cutures, even in the context of a supposed perfect world. Two cultures to thank for the development of music is the ancient egyptians and Greek. A popular theory of music came from Greek culture, specifically Plato who describes music as "... the heavens as divided into eight spheres ,on each of which a siren sings a note of astounding sweetness."  ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.156). 

     These ideas of music reformed in western culture in the form of guidelines in music are tone, scale, rhythm, melody, harmony, the orchestra , and silence. An example of one of these guidelines is John Cage's 4'33 which demonstrated silence. This is four minutes and thrity-three seconds of literal silence. 

Portrait of  Lugwig Van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

"We need only listen to the D minor performed on an organ to be astounded that one pair of hands could master so difficult a composition"- ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.165)

     Music has a variety of styles from past and present as well as figures that pioneered certain music. Two well known figures in music is Johann Sebastuan Bach and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Bach is known for his complex yet improvised forms of music with an emotion style. Similiary ,Beethoven is known for his symphonies that conveyed intricate and complex rhythms , harmonies , dissonance. Beethoven is also notablefor losing his hearing but still composing music during his music career.

    The quote above from the text talks about how complex the D minor is and how amazing it is for one person to compose it. People don't think much of this fact but music in general is complex. Common people focus on more on how music sounds rather than how it's made in most cases.

Photo of Beatles-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles

" A hundred years from now, people will listen to the Beatles the same way we listen to Mozart"- Sir Paul McCarttney

    In music , we have several different genres. These genres include art songs, folk, spiritual, gospel, ragtime, jazz, blues, rock, hiphop, contemporary non- western music, and the musical Avant-Garde. The most interesting of these to me are the Blues, Rock, and Contemporary non-western.

   The blues was predominantly African American music style with origins in ragtime and jazz. This was a style for composers to convey sadness and tragedy. This form of music was pushed by soloist with a variety of problems in their life such as addiction and social discrimination.

 Alot of early rock songs were able to hit mainstream and become what is known as popular songs. These are songs that can make an impact in some way to a culture. Rock'n' roll introduces a new bounc sound to a generation. This movement brought around big names like Elvis Presley and The Beatles. This can be linked back with the quote above by Mcartntney since a bug name like the Beatle indeed would be remembered because of the culture shock they were during there time. They brought up not only a new sound of music but a new way of how people interacted with popular musician, especially with how it effected the younger ones of that time period.

Contemporary Non-Western music refers to music of other cultures other than the traditional western along with a variety of sounds. An example is with Algerian musician Khaled for his popuar jazz hits. This spread of this music is supported with he internet.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, this chapter explores the idea and variety of musical sound as well as its heritage throughout the world. It talks indepth about what makes music music and the genres explored through music. Some genres more mainstream than others  but music nonetheless.

 

Chapter 5: Art Review

            

Photo Of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)-https://www.biography.com/artist/pablo-picasso

" Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up "-Pablo Picasso

           Early works of art imitate the real world and experiences people of time went through. Imitation was not only key for visual at but also music and dramatic art. As it states "...imitation means that the artist uses reality as a starting but not neccessarily an ending point" ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.106). The painting " The Bar at the Folies Bergere" by a French artist by Edouard Manet is an example of imitation as it shows relation to the real word without being exact.

      Sight is the power of the artist that allows them to notify on even the small details of things sharply. This can actually reate to the quote above by Picasso. In the quote , Picasso is trying to convey that we should keep a childlike outlook when it comes to art since children themselves pay close attention to small things and findsfascination in them. He is just saying artist should have the same outloo with their art. A goal of imitation is creating their own reality while referencing real life. 

     There are a variety of styles an artist can take.Artists differ from eachother how they see and interpret the world.

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1494-98-https://www.artsheaven.com/painting/artists/v/leonardo-da-vinci/the-last-supper/

" Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible." -Paul Klee

       One time period of art was classic art. Classic art in a general sense reflected the likeness of a cuture's art. Example are the ancient period of India cassical art with their lifelike sculpures and Japanese with their pottery and household utensils. 

     In terms of western culture, classical art refers to the artistic works of Greece and Rome. These Greek and Roman works were color and precise with their making. These works often of Greek gods and imitations of real people. An unfortunate of these works is that the colors faded and lost their original quality. 

    Medieval art s the art that reflected the time period of the medieval age. The art of the time were christian based dued to the prominency and domination of the religion. Medieval art that followed christian religion conveyed idea more than it did so imitation. Giotta di Bondone was apart of this era but prepared more for the Renaissance era of art. Giotta " experimented with an imitation of how the eye works" ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.113). Giotta was most known for his fresco work "The kiss of Judas".

  The Renaissance began in Italy and mean "rebirth". The Renaissance age of art combated ideas such as religion and brought around a renowned interest in knowledge. The artist of this era worked without fear of censorship and brought up controversial points. The relevance of this age actually is conveyed by the quote above by Paul Klee. It states how art kindof conveys certain ideas visibe rather than going solely off the appearance of it itself. Four arists of this Renaissance that were of importance is Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Sophonisba Anguissola, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael were known as the three greatest artist of the era. 

  They are well-known for coming up with techniques and making remarkable works that went against the standards of the time . Leonardo is the best example of the three because of his variety of interests in things such as painting, sculpture, architecture, invention, and conceiving. He's known for setting his works up and is even described as " being like a stage director"  ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.116). "The Last Supper" is an exampe of his way of setting things up. Women at the time weren'tvery involved which  what made Sophonisba and Artemisia notable for their works in the post renaissance.

Self Portait of Van Gogh-https://www.mcgawgraphics.com/products/vincent-van-gogh-self-portrait-detail

          Art continued to slip through the cracks of what was accepted of their times. The goal was to capture feeling rather than depiction and was criticized for such. This movement to make abstract or out f the norm art was know as impressionalism. One notable impressionist artist was  was Claude Monet's " Sunrise " which aimed to capture realism but in a experimental way.

    In the midst of impressionism came the age of Post imperssionism age. He's known for his strage  style and was ridiculed in his lifetime until he commited suicide. His paintings such as " Sunflowers" and " The Starry Night" were finally recognized after death and became priceless ong after the recognition

Photo of Alfred Stieglitz-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stieglitz

                    Alteration in art refers to imposing something new to an already familiar world. Some forms of alteration is cubism, surrealism, superealism, camera art, pop art, performance, prank, and installation art. 

         All of these have roots within post modernism. An example of one of these alterations is with Alfred Stieglitz within his camera art. Camera art itself is a popular form of photography. Alfred is most know for "Camera Notes"  which led way for the study of photography in its art and science.

Photo of Blue Mosquein, Instanbul -https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/istanbul/blue-mosque/ps53944883.cms

        "We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us" - Winston Churchill

       Architecture relies on form and function to be formed well. Architecture can convey meaning within it's structure or just have have some sortof reason for it's creation or the intrcities in their stucture. This can be refered to by the quote above by Winston. It's basically saying how building created can have  some sortof cultural influence on a society for a vairiety of reason. Two types of architecture are religious and secular.

     Religious focuses on buildings with religious use behing it. An example of a religious building is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul which is meticulosy made. Secular refers to a building with no religious eason but for activities. Frank Lloyd is an example of an architecture that has done secular architecture. An example of his work is the Guggnheim mueseum in New York.

Conclusion

    In conclusion this section highlightes the different varieties of art such as painting , architecture, and photography. This section also showed the meaning of art throughout time periods and it's influence on culture throughout history. 

Chapter 4 Literature Review

                                                   

                               An  Overview of Chapter 4

Stone tablet of Gigamesh -https://www.ancient.eu/gilgamesh/

"Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience... from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation" - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

    Literature has a way of not only embedding itself in history but mirroring historical ideal/ events of their time periods. This way of embellishment is relevant to the quote above by Solzenitsyn where he talks about literature representing the experiences of generations as it evolves.  One literary idea that was prominent was the idea of identity or what of themselves or what of themselves they were able to leave that reperesented what or who they were.  This was an impulse relevant ththroughout history, an example being John steinback's character , Grampa Joad , from his 1939 work "The Grapes of Wrath". Grampa Joad dies of a stroke and his grandson plants a note on his grave stating his grandfather's name and cause of death but addittionally mentions the grandfather's poor background. This character is identified clearly but isn't expressed beond his poor back ground and cause of death. It leaves no record of him personally and is hollow in nature. 

          Epics is a key genre is literary heritage that focuses on a narrative that shows off the adventure of a strong hero without a neccessarily moral standpoint.An exampleof the narrative poems is "Gilgamesh" who is represented as a super human , undefeated and feared by gods. This indset might've been reflected by society who built their " myth heroes...to seem unconquerable as indeed they hoped their society was."( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.70). Survival was a primary concern for this time period and they hoped to achieve this lifestyle. 

           One early piece of literature considered to be an earky masterpiece is Homer's "Iliad".  This epic introduced changes in the genre. This narrative poem shares it's roots in greek history and shows off the waging war between the Trojans and Greeks. What makes this story notable is despite it's cultural roots in a greek society, the storyfocuses on the a Trojan defender by the name of Hector . The literature shows off the flaws and fauts of Hector leading to his downfall and the tragedy of the story. Hector fights for the side of Trojans and is in belief that he is fighting for the right. He is shown to have flaws in his personality that isthe ironic cause of his death. Although dying by Achilles who fights for the Greeks, Achilles is not portrayed as the villain because he's also fighting for what he believes is right.This tragedy brings up the moral principal of how things are not always black and white. As it states in the text, "... real life is not a simple struggle between good and evil. " ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.74)

Wiiam shakespeare (c. 1564–1616)-https://www.biography.com/writer/william-shakespeare

          "The poet speaks to all men of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten" - Dame Edith Sitwell

                   Poetry can be found in several forms and styes. They follow a variety of themes aswell, some of these type of poetry are lyrical, sonnet, haiku, and religious. There are also different timelines of poetry throughout history. As the quote above from Sitwell reads, poetry can be very expressive and bring out emotions in humans that are usually kept down and not always expressed socially. 

             Lyrical poetry came about as a civilized pleasure in Rome and as an expressive poetry that conveys deep personal feelings. Sapho's "Ode to Aphrodite" is an example of lyrical poetry being expressed in themes of love. Another type of poetry is the sonnet. The sonnet was created by Italians in the early renaissance. It's a 14 linepoem that has had a number of variations in form throughout centuries. William Shakespeare is most notable for his uses of sonnets in Engish heritage which adopted a sortof iambic perimeter rhythm. Shakespeare's use of the five repetitions each line created an emotional effect and were notable as a great work of literature for their use of lyrics, scanning, metaphors, and conceits. Two more poetry are haiku and religious. Haiku were pioneered by Matsu Basho and is a form of japanese poetry. Haikus' are described as being " derived from direct observation of nature but in words that ordinary language canont match"  ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.81). Religious poetry are poetry that simply are means of praise to a deity . This use of poetry are common within religious spaces and alters where these deities are being primarily praised.

       As we know , poetry has also found it's roots throughout history. Premodernism poetry efers to poetry refers to poetry written in the last 100 years and can show historical values of those times. Within this premodernism is the poetry of the Harem renaissance and poetry in our daily life.

    "Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late becuase he had been swallowed by a whale" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

                     Another form of literature is the novel. A novel is similiar to epics being that they are long narratives that convey a story. Every country and culture has produced some form of nove or has a widespread of certain novels and storytelling. Early wesern novels were especially flourished in spain . One of the first well known novelist was a man named Miguel de Cervantes  who was very popuar with his novel " Don Quixote". This novel inspired works of other novelists that were pubished around the time.

               American novels didn't have much recognition and were often put down for being american in general. Overtime novels in Americ started gaining recognition and gaining awrds for being amzing and literature changing works for there times. Some examples of these american novels are " The Great Gasby" by Scott Fitzgerald and Mark Twain's " Huckleberry Finn". These novels are imbedded in fiction. This idea reates back to the quote above by Marquez where he describes how , in a comedic way, how fiction came about. Although being a ridiculous quote, it's basically just saying that fiction came about as a way of twiting the truth or coming up with on top of the head scenarios that aren't true.

       Prior to the 19th century , children were an afterthought in novels but with the coming of the 20th century young heroes in literature started popping up. These novels recognized the troubles of children during the time and their mindset and used it as a narrative. These stories came about and were called coming of age novel for the children in these novels growing up and coming to terms with themselves and decisions they make. These novels tackle a wide variety of social qualms and at times depressing themes/ topics. As it states in the text, " ...writers invented the coming-of-age novel...which centers on the early stages of youthful consciousness and often painful transition to maturity."   ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.94)

       Similiar to the novel is the short story. Short stories are as the name states it to be and are shor narrative stories. They gain there recognition in the 19th century through magazine fiction. One author famous for his short stories is Edgar Allen poe who is known for his ominous and brooding themes in his stories. One thing shprt stories are known for is there ability to bring out an epiphany among it's readers and execute a message in it's short narrative.

Conclusion

         In conclusion, there are 3 major types of literature: poem, novel and short story. Over time these genres have evolved through history and have become classics and masterpieces throughout and with in their time periods.

                 

   

Chapter 3 Myth and the Origin of the Humanities Review

                            An  Overview of Chapter 3

"Myths are clues to the spiritual potentiality of the human life" -Joseph Campbell

          There are many forms of Humanities, mythology included as being long running. It has been expressed for generations through music and dance. All humanities are closely related in the roots of myths in fact. They are commonly traditional but fabricated to explain things such as phenomenons of nature, origin of humanity, customs, religion, etc. This can be correlated with the quote above by Campbell where it talks about myths connecting with ideals with share throughout our lives.





1981 Film 'Excalibur'

" The human passions transform man from a mere thing into a hero, into a being that spite of tremendous handicaps tries to make sense of life"- Erich Fromm

            Archetypes are the models we follow to understand ways of thinking, humans, and the nature of universe. Carl Jung is a psychologist-philosopher who came up of the idea that everyone has some sort of universal knowledge of archetypes.As it states in the text when referring to Jung's ideas " Jung believed these models are shared by societies all over the world" ( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.39).  These archetypes being passed down generations are labeled as collective conscious by Jung. There are two ideas of how these myths and archetypes are spread and sympathized universally. One is the migratory spread of stories where it kind of just naturally traveled to different regions and cultures. This is the more scientific approach.  Another is that humans in general just share common needs , no matter where they are geographically.

               A common archetype is the hero. It's a culturally universal story progression for most myths and media in general. Monomyth is a coined concept from Irish novelist James Joyce and basically is the belief that "hero" is same no matter where. This can be supported by the quote above where it talks about the intricate of heroes in myths and how they are just trying to get though obstacles thrown at them to get through life. The hero is sort of like a place set for the viewers to relate with and cheer on.

         

           The birth of the hero is one trope that is shown within myths. This usually occurs through circumstances whether it be a superstitious figure or destiny. In some circumstances this birth can also be seen as a curse to the hero or those affected by the hero.

      A hero destined is usually point out early on especially for deeds. In the text, an example given is " ....young Arthur's removal of the sword Excalibur from the stone that had held it until the rightful owner should come along"( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.40). With these recognition usually being early in life, there is a theme of the idea for the need for acceptance in terms of a monomyth. The idea of an adolescent from an ordinary or even dreary background being recognized for greatness or becoming important is one that has connected with people in there daily lives.

    The hero's great deed is the indicator of a hero finally growing up and marking the end of childhood. An example of this is with Theseus killing the Minotaur of Crete. Critics have interpreted this act as Theseus ending his childhood and entering maturity for this deed. Most of these deeds in mythology are physical but they can also be emotionally. These feats or the hero themselves can be empathized by the audience and celebrated. We can correlate with the hero's accomplishments in our daily life whether it be a birthday , marriage, etc.

   The hero' loss of power is a downfall part in their journey. Myths don't always end happily, especially in the west, The death of the hero is one example of the hero's loss of power.  In return for this death though the hero is remembered for their good.  History reflects the notions of this with historical heroes that might've been controversial during there time but uplifted long after there death.The failings of the hero can also make them greater if they can overcome them. A sentence that supports this is " Great heroes fail , but their failures only testify to the bigness of their lives"( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.42). 

      The special someone is the person we can relate with and try to connect with when comparing them to our lives. They have several accomplishments and are recognizable to us.  This can be a correlation between ordinary people and athletes or celebrities who have achieved several things in their lifetime in comparison.

       Words hold power in terms of what the hero says. They can be catchy or emotional but are almost always memorable in the end. This is like wise with numbers. An example of the power of numbers in the number of verses in the ten commandments

     The circle in myths can come in a variety of forms/ideas and physical shapes. As it states in the text " ....the circle is an unbroken line with out beginning or end that encloses a uniform space, people have used it symbolize oneness, and eternity"( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.45) . Culturally, the circle is universal for being more than something or having to do with the roundness of subjects essentially if I had summarize it.

      The journey is the whole of what the hero goes through to achieve his goal. We expect progress and growth in the character with the journey they accept. This is different from the circle because e" whereas the circle guarantees life without end , journey is supposed yield important results"( Janero & Altshuler , The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a technique for living, 2011, p.46).

       The garden can be interpreted as sort of a paradise in contrast to the circle or journey. It's the peace from obstacles or troubles. This is mostly notables in biblical works such as Adam and Eve.

   Bods as human beings is an odd one. Greek mythology is most notable with personifying gods. They were given appearances , although being said to be more beautiful than humans, were still somewhat attainable. This is despite their physical perfections too. They also had personalities, often unpredictable.

" Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree" - Ethiopian proverb

        Mythology has been expressed  by our ancestors as ways to explain the unknown. The main ideas they tried to explain was natural phenomenon and how to deal with problems hat come in life.

         Creation myths is the myth that tries to explain how things came to be. This has range culturally from Asian mythology to Greek mythology. How things actually came to be is still debated to this day between several contrasting ideas.

      

       The point of the Natural world myth is to explain natural and daily phenomenons that occur in nature. An example of this is the belief that the deity Freyr was what brought about good harvest in Scandinavian communities. Greek mythology is another good example with trying to explain the seasons with Greek gods. 

     Our ancestors often had questions about what brings about humans to do generally evil things.  The quote above taken from an Ethiopian proverb is a good way to describe human suffering specifically caused by other humans through wars and such by describing it as starting with one person and it spreading and effecting everyone.Through mythologies, the concept of human suffering is explored to reassure the idea of justice and what is right at the time. It was also to find the cause of human suffering in general or why it happens. One common example for explaining this concept is that it happens because a god was disobeyed or offended. Being cursed by fate is another way to explain human woes and this curse s usually caused by a sin being passed down generations.

Little red riding illustration by Daniel Egenus

" The fairy tales take a child's anxieties and dilemmas very seriously and addresses itself  directly to them: the need to be loved and the fear that one is thought worthless; the love of life and the fear of death"- Bruno Bettelheim

             Many people are exposed to stories at a young age. Childhood tales can teach alot of basic lessons that can stick with them in life whether they realize or not. These tales can teach them specific lessons or just be a breather and escaped from the stress of life. The quote from Bettelheim  fully expresses the ideas of fairy tales where it's just taking fears of the child and putting it into a positive light and try to teach them something out of these feelings they might have or just relieve them from these negative feelings.

There are a few stereotypes in terms of appearance of those in the tales where the good guys are usually attractive while the bad guys are the unattractive. Where they live also contrasts greatly in stereotypical ways along with other factors. This to me doesn't take away from the lesson if we take these myths from first value.

   Names in these take can help children develop ways to identify new language and make identifications  within the child themselves.

  Childhood mythology can at times highlight on certain dangers usually those that can be disturbing. An example is with Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where the story itself underneath is about how greed is bad and destroys things despite it's go lucky tone. These stories , although dark at times, can teach children important lesson and focus on themes that may not be fully obvious to a child but convey a message.

" Truth is one , the sages speak it by many names"- The Vedas

      Mythology can help produce common sayings within a society. These sayings can seem cliche but all have truths to them in the end. The quote above reflects this idea because some sayings can be said in a variety of ways but will send the same message if they share the same message in the end. Some of these common sayings are " All you need is Love", " It must be Fate", " There's always room at the top" and "Everybody does it".

Prometheus unbound , AESCHYLUS & SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe , John Farleigh

" I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality"- Jean Cocteau

         Mythology can enhance the appreciation of the humanities. Some works listed in influencing humanities such as drama and cinema is Endymion and Prometheus Unbound. Both are myths that go out of their way to explain certain questions and contemplation in people's daily lives.  This connects with the ideals that of humanities that are meant to spread ideas and come up with explanations of life.  Mythology giving us context to life can relate with the quote above by Cocteau where they compare mythology to history. Mythology is so close with us that it's something that sticks with most for life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mythology is a really powerful form of humanities. It has been recreated and retold through generations and are universal in many ways. To our ancestors , myths were meant to explain the unknown but as we grow up with them they start leaning more teaching lessons are being used as class studies on the heroes of the said myths. Myths is one thing that despite it's longevity in humanity , will never fade away.