Tuesday, January 28, 2020

An Overview of Antonal Music

An Overview of Antonal Music Kenneth Laino I. What is Atonality? Unfamiliarity is the basis of atonal music; a musical genre whose foundation deprives the wired human minds desire of a tonal resolution. In a sense the whole movement can be seen as anarchical expression. For generations it has been ingrained in our western culture for music to stay in a particular key or to develop the idea of tonality, where music plays at the constant ebb and flow of resolution and tension yet such principles that seemed inherent to the very existence of enjoyable music are cyclically toyed, abandoned, and reinvented. The modern era was prime for such radical changes in philosophy. In order to avoid an era of resignation, leaps of defiance were stated and claimed to achieve a sense of progress and identity. As such we can view the experiment of atonal music as characterized by the occurrence of pitches in novel combinations, as well as by the occurrence of familiar pitch combinations in unfamiliar environments (Forte 1977, 1). Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center or key, it refuses to conform to a system of tonal hierarchy, where pitches focus on a single, central tone, and instead retorts with mastery of independent function for the creation of new roots- thus atonality is inspired.   Ã‚   II. Origins: The Development of Impressionism and Expressionism The early 20th century was a culmination of an artistic endeavors, experimenting in different styles both in the visual and audial mediums. The main proponents explored in this musical era would be the inclusion of impressionism and expressionism. For a brief look into the musical scene of impressionism there was leading figures, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, both of whom were dissuaded by their labels given by critiques, that imbeciles call impressionism, a term employed with the utmost inaccuracy. An aesthetic and philosophical term borrowed from the parallel, artistic revolution; a vivid analogy to painters who would focus on the audience perception to achieve an overall impression. Simply put, the key goal was to arouse emotion and convey moods, and as such various composers in Western classical music followed suite arriving at the defining characteristic of the entire impressionism movement: color or in musical terms, timbre. Displaying landscapes through orchestration, harm onic usage, and texture. Other elements developed included the general use of new chord combinations (that were unresolved such as the 9th, 11ths, 13ths), ambiguous tonality, extended harmonies, parallel motions, extra-musicality, and relishing on top, the use modes and exotic scales. In order to capture a sense of detached observation, the normal syntax is usually disrupted and individual styles are carry through to maintain that integrity of the works meaning. Already essential themes to the era including experimentation for the mediums progress, the destruction of well established systems, expressing the individual, and moving away from the tonal key. As the mostly French focused on Impressionism, the corresponding movement of their rivals, the Germans, are going to focus on music differently; thus Expressionism is in existence. The underlying construct in Expressionism is psychological rather than artistic. With the advent of influential psychoanalysis studies, such as Sigmund F reud, making people think about the reasons why they behave in certain ways, drawn out the more oppressed, twisted side of the human psyche. Expressionism had a dark, intense color and unlike Impressionism were generally not solely instrumental, in fact operas were a hallmark of these styles in order to reciprocate the story of peoples actions. In the 20th century there is finally variety in the ways of expression. In order to truly create tension or the sense of a person loss, Atonality is an excellent tool to convey that. The music lacks focus and doesnt have a sense of direction as were dependent on patterns and repetition to guide us thus we move away from a tonal key and instead builds an exuberant amount of tension in the perspective of possibly someones personal strife and the general mental condition. The leaders of this movement would be Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. Alban Berg would use structures well-known and prey on them. For example an opera by him, Wozzeck is common in it having three-acts labeled as Exposition, Development, and Catastrophe. He leads us into the thought of a sonata cycle where the end is a typical tragedy. Staying faithful to tradition, each act has 5 scenes familiar to a balanced classical style. However these characteristics are just for surface appeal theyre twisted each act is a set of variations, placing it under new context. It attempts to drive the listener it away a sense of tonality. And he uses Sprechstimme, a compositional technique similar to modern day improvisation where the score for the singer would be specified rhythms but intentionally be left without the notes which created a structured eery sound where the pitches arent specified and lost a direction of key, and possibly amplified with the abandonment of lyrics for spoken words. Techniques and styles that were the byproduct of expressionism and impressionism were vital to evolution of atonality in the 20th century split in music. III. Writing Atonal Music : 12 Tone Technique After the deaths of Mahler (1911) and Debussy in (1918) the world was open to pushing the limits of western harmonies. In fact a small 20th century split developed between tonal composers, lead by composers such as Igor Stravinsky, saw over a gradual evolution of the tonal system, expanding on musical ambiguity but still remained in the confines of the well-established tonal system. Eventually this process would lead to a point of no return which serial or non-tonal composers would turn to, such as Arnold Schoenberg, whom dove straight to a convulsive transformation of the tonal system to a complete new language of music. Of course disputes of which side truly represented modern music were brought up, Stravinsky almost switching tonality on and off versus Schoenberg who declared a complete break with tonality and symmetric syntactic structures. Yet they shared the motivation; to increase expressive power in music. Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer and conductor who migrated to America during WWII. During his time, he focused on promoting new music to the world to advance a sense of progress, and thus supported new ideas and impressionist movements in his works. In 1905 he composed Pelleas and Melisande a popular story at the time which importantly introduced the first use of a trombone glissando in an art music. Gradually, we sense pleas to escape the chains of tonality, with his development of Quaternary Harmonies (building chords on fourths) in pieces such as Kammersymphonie (which means chamber symphony) in 1907 as influenced by the impressionists who would use these quartal chords because it didnt lead anywhere. Eventually he would have dissonance that never resolve a lingering tension. In 1909 he would abandon writing key signatures at all! His first piece resembling any form of atonality would truly be his Opus 11. A string quartet with a soprano voice rejecting tonality would sing Ich fà ¼hle Luft von einem anderen Planeten (I feel the air of another planet) And thus breath was finally spoken, which lead to the idea of free atonality (which would not be until his Opus 25, the first use of his 12-tone technique). Atonality at the time seemed to fulfill the condition of progress and continue romantic expression from Mahler and it seemed to be the next logical and inevitable milestone; however, by reaching a dead through the abandonment of all the rules and absolute freedom from constraints made it difficult to listen to. Even with the intuitively brilliant syntax of these works, unfortunately, it was hard for the composer and listener to avoid the innate drive for atonality. The experiment to get away from tonality sadly ended with the burdening sense for a resolution, without a working structure, and without any cues or clues for general memorability. In the end if you listened to Atonal Music you would know why its never used again. (Luthye, 2017) In order to begin writing atonal music like Schoeneberg, lets focus on the most basic compositional strategy in writing for the serial method (which is to use all 12 tones all the time but without any tonal relationship). The goal of atonality is to move away from a certain key. Tonality is developed through the repetition notes and thus notes must equally used without a specific relation. In the Twelve-Tone System or Dodecaphonic Technique you develop a tone row, however unlike Debussy who always stayed with in the key, it must use all 12 tones before it can repeat any of the tones. After writing a tone with 12 different tones the goal is avoid repetition to maintain interest and avoid making that tone row the new tonal center. Common variations include, a retrograde, playing all notes in the tone row backwards and an inverse, playing all notes in intervals of the opposite direction (notes go equidistant in half-steps but in the opposite direction.) Keep in mind however a tri-tone interval would remain the same as theyre equidistant. From there the music can be simply written with personal variation; with multiple applications such as an inverse-retrograde and retrograde-inverse, variety of rhythms, and having many different tone rows the possibilities are endless, so get creative! Atonality takes its roots in being a product of a period of extreme artistic progress. Though its inability to be defined as art, or even appealing lead to its downfall its experimentation wasnt in vain. Though not fully used, it showed us the limits of music and expanded musical expression in pure variety; allowing for full control of chromaticism and modulation still seen today in Jazz. Sources: Beach, David (ed.). 1983. Schenkerian Analysis and Post-Tonal Music, Aspects of Schenkerian Theory. New Haven: Yale University Press. Forte, Allen. 1977. The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02120-2. Kostka, Stefan and Payne, Dorothy (1995). Tonal Harmony. Third Edition. ISBN 0-07-300056-6. Schoenberg, Arnold. 1978. Theory of Harmony, translated by Roy Carter. Berkeley Los Angeles: University of California Press. Zimmerman, Daniel J. 2002. Families without Clusters in the Early Works of Sergei Prokofiev. PhD diss. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Monday, January 20, 2020

The Road to Abolishing HUAC Essay -- ACLU American Civil Liberties Uni

The Road to Abolishing HUAC: A Comparison of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee The history of the United States in the twentieth century was significantly influenced by the actions of civil liberties organizations. However, during the reign of the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the 1950s, civil liberties organizations compromised their principles and did not protest HUAC’s repression of civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) purged its Communist members and sympathizers, condoned congressional investigating committees, and failed to defend individuals whose civil liberties had been abridged. Although the ACLU sought to censure McCarthy and called for the abolition of HUAC, its policies had shifted to the right and it rarely took direct action against HUAC. As a result, several former members of the ACLU created the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC) in 1951 to pick up the initiative dropped by the ACLU. Corliss Lamont, a fervent defender of civil liberties who left the ACLU for the ECLC, cla ims that he â€Å"remained on the Board [of the ALCU] and fought for fundamental civil liberties principles as long as [he] was able to†¦[but] was fighting a losing battle† (Freedom 278). By 1957, the ECLC dedicated its resources to abolishing HUAC but could not engage the ACLU in its campaign. One questions why the ECLC was active in the condemnation of HUAC in the 1950s, but the ACLU was not. Historians have cited anti-Communism within the Union, a desire to preserve its reputation, and the Union’s lack of resources as reasons why it was not involved in an abolition campaign. Research best supports the claim that the ACLU did not joi... ...LU. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999. Samuel Walker is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He earned a Ph.D. in American History and is the author of books on civil liberties, policing, and criminal justice. He is also a member of the ACLU and this book is recommended in Ellen Shrecker’s Age of McCarthyism. He claims the ACLU was inactive during the Cold War because of weak leadership, poor judgement, an effort to keep the ACLU free of communism, and the belief that cooperation with the government was the best way to defend civil liberties. That he is a member of the ACLU lends questions to the objectivity of his analysis; William Donohue notes that the book â€Å"demonstrates as much independence of thought as would a tract written by a senior member of the Pentagon on the history of the Department of Defense†.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Cell Phone Use in Schools

Cell Phone Use in Schools. With all the innovation in the last decade, cell phones have become apart of daily life for people all over the world between using cell phones to contacts family and friends to playing a little game of bejeweled. But what many schools are considering, is allowing the use of cell phones in schools. Cell phones can offer as a learning tool to students. Also, cell phone use in class brings some harm to the classroom. In addition, Policies about cellular devices have altered in schools across the U.S. A critical issue affecting many is allowing or banning cell phone use among students. Cell phones offer as an easy, accessible learning tool that most students already have. Besides a convenient tool for students, cell phones make it easier on teachers. Teachers can create a class blog for students to communicate or debate on issues from class (Rogers). This class blog gives them the ability to constantly have access to talk to their classmates via web from home, the classroom, and potentially anywhere (Rogers).The teacher can monitor the class blog at her convenience as well, not just in a classroom setting (Rogers). Also, way a cell phone may be used in a classroom setting as a research tool. Students can search for background information on subjects. Rather than looking for words in a dictionary or spending time in the library looking for that book, all the information a student could possibly need is at the tip of his/her fingertips. Lastly, teachers and administrators can set up polls using websites like wiffiti. om or polleverywhere. com enable students to answer polls anytime, anywhere (Engel and Green).Teachers and administrators can set up polls for a class, a certain grade, or something that involves the entire school. Now it’s easier for students to be involved with issues on campus and have on say about the decisions or changes being made about their school (Engel and Green). Overall, the endless benefits of cell phone us e for students will provides unlimited learning tools. Throughout the U. S. many schools have cell phone policies specific to their high school but many schools are changing the policies. Many schools across the board have become more lenient in allowing cell phone for students in the classroom or on campus. At Dickison High School, like many other high schools, their policy has been lifted and allows students to use phones during lunch (Wishmayer). Lifting the policy was intended to give the high schoolers enough freedom so less texting and calling would take place during class (Wishmayer).Although cell phones include disadvantages such as being a distraction to students or being used to cheat on assignments, with the help of schoolteachers and administrators, strategies of preventing abuse of cell phones can be enforced among students. One solution to cell phones abuse is making the phones visible to the teachers (Ferriter). Most teachers and professors worry about sneaky students texting answers to other students. William Ferriter says his solution is, â€Å"†¦require students to place their cell phones on the top right-hand corner of their desks when they come into class.That way you will know if someone is texting or calling a friend when they're supposed to be learning. † Secondly, teachers should holds kids accountable and force them to act responsible (Ferriter). Talking about responsibility and accountability will not get to the rebel sitting in the back corner or kid that attends class once every two weeks but some of the kids will be understanding and aware of the choices they are making. Using threats of banning cell phones is not the right approach and will probably be ignored anyways.Lastly, unless school policies state otherwise, if a student is not using his or her cell phone appropriately, the teacher may confiscate the phone until the end of the class period or even day. For violating dress code, students receive punishments of so me sort. If breaking the rules of dress code has a punishment, cell phone policies should be able to have punishments for cell phone abuse. With all the advanced in the last few years, cell phones have become a major apart of every day life for people across the United States.Firstly, cell phones may provide as a learning tool with the endless resources. On the other hand, cellular telephones can distract students and could be used as a way of cheating. In addition, policies about cellular devices have altered in schools across the U. S. Lastly, there’s ways to prevent abuse of cell phones with help and support of faculty. In order to make a decision in being for or against cell phones, schools must weigh the benefits and harms of cell use of students and find a solution with the best interest of the school.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Diabetes And The Importance Of Education - 1270 Words

Diabetes and the Importance of Education Diabetes has become an epidemic in today’s society. Diabetes affects almost every system in the body, and with an estimated 346 million people in the world with diabetes, healthcare has been heavily affected by the disease (Ramasamy, Shrivastava, P., Shrivastava, S., 2013). One of the biggest issues for healthcare workers when it comes to diabetes, is that it is such a complicated disease. With so many different systems being affected, medical professionals have had to learn how the disease process works, what causes diabetes to work through the systems, and the best treatments to address all these issues. Through much research, the healthcare system has grown very knowledgeable on diabetes. One important aspect of treating diabetes has been in the introduction of diabetic education. 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