Posterous theme by Cory Watilo
Kacey Kuchenbecker

Music as History

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1959), by Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933)

Record what you see in your mind’s eye when listening to this piece. What emotions does it spark? What questions might you have?

The picture used in this music piece looks like to me a picture of the atom bomb erupting in Hiroshima. It looked like a very big black mushroom cloud, and the music was really creepy. It was a really loud high screeching noise. To me it sounded like nails on a chalkboard, high pitched screaming, and the scary tone that usually plays in horror films when someone is about to get killed. Kind of like the scary music used in jaws when the shark was following its prey. The end of the song played sirens, which is usually heard when a disaster has occurred. That was creepy too.

2.     Black Angels (1970), by George Crumb

Record what you see in your mind’s eye when listening to this piece. What emotions does it spark? What questions might you have?

This sounded like screeching bats! This also reminded me of someone who plays their violin as if it were to sound like nails on a chalkboard. This piece scared me more than the Hiroshima one! The beat and tone of the music changed drastically too. It would go really high pitched and scary, and then quiet and soft, then back up to loud and scary yelling.

3.     Ukrainian Sand Artist Kseniya Simonova

How does the music assist her visual art in telling the story? How do other sound effects play a role? What are your personal thoughts on this performance?

I thought the whole performance was amazing. The way the girl used the music to tone the emotion of the picture was at perfect timing and her hand motions were in tune with the music. (When the music was peaceful and slow her hand strokes were slow, when the music was upbeat and quick her hands moved very quickly to the beat.) I really enjoyed the drawings she did. Especially in the sand! That looks so hard to do and she perfected it. Her pictures kept me very entertained, and I could tell the audience really connected with the drawings by their reactions.

4.     They Dance Alone, by Sting

How does Sting effectively use lyrics and music to tell the story of Pinochet’s crimes? Write specific notes from the video ad web site.

The video showed very emotional pictures that showed how the people felt during the time. The lyrics helped me understand the song a lot more than just listening to it. By reading the words it made me think a lot more.

5.     Sunday Bloody Sunday, by Bono and U2

What makes Bono an effective speaker as well as music artist? How does the background music contribute to his speech? How does his singing style make the lyrics powerful? Why do you think this is one of the most powerful anti-war songs ever produced?

It wasn’t boring at all; he sang the song with a lot of heart and communicated his speech within it. Instead of just righting a song about the problem, he got to speak and let the audience know where he was coming from and how he felt.

6. Russians, by Sting

What is the message of this song? What can you learn about the Cold War or the political climate of the 1980’s from this song? Does this song lose relevance after the fall of the Soviet Union (explain)?

I liked how she used actual footage from the Cold War into her video. I could easily tell by her accent that she was Irish, which made her even more connected into her song because it was a big problem in Ireland.

7.     We Didn’t Start the Fire, by Billy Joel

What is the message of this song? What is unique about the song? What things did you learn about history? Why do you think he chose those particular events/ people to mention- are there any you think he should have mentioned but didn’t?

The song was very upbeat and catchy, but had a lot of meaning to it too. The tune made me want to listen to what he was saying. The pictures were interesting to watch too.

8.     Strange Fruit, by Billie Holliday

Notes on film: The speaker was very vivid and clear, the music was a little off because the topic was very gruesome and violent, yet he was using happy blues music. But I think the title of the song was interesting, “Strange fruit”. Once I listened to the lyrics of the song, It all began to make sense. It was dedicated to the blacks who were hanged in the trees (meaning strange fruit).

 

Personal thoughts: The photos were graphic and sad. It’s awful to know that whites would treat African Americans so badly. And it makes me feel bad because I am white! What I found appalling is that they would hang the African Americans in front of crowds! Why would someone want to watch someone being hanged! That’s just wrong.

9.     M.I.A Interview:

What are her views on the power and purpose of music? Do you agree?

I love how committed and passionate she is about the life of Sri Lanka. She didn’t become a musician for the fame or money, only to educate and communicate what was/still is going on in Sri Lanka.I do believe that music is a good way to get your thoughts and situations going on around the world out, but I don't think those are the only reasons of becoming a musician. Some people become musicians because they love music, like performing, etc.

10.   Playing For Change Website

In your opinion, is this a worthwhile effort? How else can music be used to promote peace throughout the world?

I think the Playing for Change Is an awesome idea. It not only is an organization to raise money for donations, but it shows the cultural taste of music from all around the world. Playing for Change promotes peace throughout the world because it’s away for us all to connect by music, no matter what our race, looks, or beliefs are.

11.   A Knight’s Tale and Marie Antoinette- use of pop music in a period film

What were the directors’ reasons for using modern pop/rock music in their historical films? Do you agree with them- why or why not?

Kind of, it’s hard to tell because the song is fun, upbeat, and young which describes the scene in the film. So in a way yes it does fit in the film but because there in Versailles Palace, which is a very formal palace, it made it a little odd, but not bad.
In A Knights Tale even though the song was catchy, I thought it made the scene a little awkward. Normally in the period of time there wouldn’t be rock music. Also because of the scenery the music didn’t fit it well. Plus with the people dancing and clapping along.AWKWARD.

Use of Technology Survey & questions

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     1. What technology did you use most? For what purpose? (Did it help for school? Socially? With a sport? For entertainment?)

The most technology I used the most was my cell phone and my computer. I used my cell phone the most on this day because I usally ALWAYS have my phone with me, i'll usually text my friends. I used my computer the most too because I need it for a lot of things for my homework and for facebook, email, and itunes.

     2. What technology seemed to take up time but didn't seem to produce any meaningful positive results for yourself? Explain.

Probably watching t.v for about 2 hours. I could of been doing something more productive, but I had done a lot of work earlier that day so I mainly was watching tv cause I was tired and needed to rest.

     3. Was this an ordinary day or an atypical day for you and technology?

Kind of, because usually im doing more things to occupy myself so I don't use technology. But I do use the computer and my phone A LOT. But its usually very rare for me to watch 2 hours of tv all at once,

     4. If you add up the total time you were a consumer of technology, how much time did you spend using computers, cell phones, mp3 players, video games, or other technological tools? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?

I used on the day about 8 hours of technology. On a weekend that to me seems like a somewhat normal time of technology I would use. But definatly not on a weekday.

5. Do you feel time spent using technology interfered with or took away from time you could have been spending on other activities? Explain.

I don't think it took too much time of my day. Normally on a weekend It would because i'd be doing more things besides using technology. But since I didn't really do anything on that day, I had more time for using technology.

For my Guernica project I am not sure what I want to do yet, but I want my visual to be a poster or painting. I love art and I want to get my topic across using art.

Art Viewing Reflection

 1. Provide your own thoughts, after having watched the film and this "SmartHistory" video, about the significance of this painting as it relates to History and Art History. What, do you feel, are the most important things about it? How does it transcend time and why has it influenced so many other artists after its production? How do you feel about the way Goya "copied" newspaper sketches of the time, and how later artists "copied" him? Discuss your thoughts on some of the symbolism.

It inspired different artists to create art in a simular consept such as Picasso "Massacre in Korea" and Robert Ballagh "The 3rd of May after Goya" who created a modern pop art painted of the Third of May. I think its okay for him to copy the newspaper sketches, but I think it would be right for him to give the persron credit who made the sketches. For those who copied him and made the art into a different style of art, I think it would be appropriate for them to give credit/add that the original ideas came from Goya.

2. An artist is a passionate person. How does passion inspire public action? Compare Goya's motives in creating this piece with the motives of David in painting "The Death of Marat". Also, what elements are similar in the two works and what are different? What do you feel, is the lasting legacy of both?

Passion inspires public action because art tells a story. When an artists' art is put on a display, its meaning and story is shared with the public. The viewers then create an opinion off of the art. The Death of Marat and the paintings of Goya are simular because they both share violence, death, blood, hatred, and intentional murder. They are different because they involve different types of murders.

3. Art as History: How is Picasso's quote: "Art is a lie that brings us closer to the truth" apply to both the Third of May and Death of Marat, given that you now know the historical circumstances (with realtive accuracy) behind these paintings?

Lies of the painting "The Death of Marat"- the letter was really a note of traitors, the knife was never in his hand (he was stabed until he bled to death), and the artist made his skin look as if glowing and beautiful when really it wasn't.

Lies of "The Third of May"- The hole in his hand was not real (it was added from the artist), the soldiers weren't as close to the victims as Goya portraid them to be (they were further away), and the soldiers weren't as lifeless as the paintings were.

Personal Narative Powerpoint Presentation Reviews

Suicide of Socrates (Peter and Jeremy)- What I found interesting about this topic was that instead of Socrates being beheaded or killed by someone else, he was forced to poison himself!

Cleopatra's Seduction of Antony (Renee and Giselle)- What made me interested about this topic was how people had thought that Cleopatra was just using Antony for power. She was said to be very manipulative.

Dinner With Atila the Hun (Lei and Aaron)- I thought it was very interesting to learn a little background about the huns. I didn't know much about the huns other than they were from central and northern Asia and that they were in Mulan.

Norman Invasion in 1066 (Shane, Alex, and Micah)- I thought it was interesting how people back then made tapistries that told stories.

The Black Death (Romane and Lilli)-  I thought they did a good job explaining the effects of the black death. I liked the video they had too...soo CREEEPPYY!

Assasination of Julius Ceasar (Michael and Keanan)- I liked their video from the movie that showed the assasination, even though they were gory they were still interesting.

Battle of Agincourt (Joey and Daltin)- Their presentation was good and they did a good job explaining the batthle of Agincourt. I liked the video that they showed too from the movie, it helped me understand more of what happened on the battle field.

Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (Nicole and Gabby)- Their presentation was very good and I liked the videos they had of the execution from different movies. I found it interesting how her ruling tied in with Queen Elizabeth.

In the Shadow of Vesuvius: Pompeii

Pompeii

1.) "I look back: a dense cloud looms behind us, following us like a flood poured across the land."

In the movie, the director used special effects to show the dark clouds of Vesuvius covering over Pompeii and the Ash clouds that seeped through the town.

2.) "It was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night."

The lighting was very dark to show that the clouds were so dense and thick that the sunlight was completally isolated from Pompeii.

3.) "Outside, however, there was danger from the rocks that were coming down, light and fire-consumed as these bitss of pumice were."

The movie had many small rocks to resemble the pumice that fell from the sky caused by Vesuvius. The director had scenes were piles of pumice were scattered on the streets of Pompeii to show how much was falling from the sky.

 "In addition, it seemed as though the sea was being sucked
backwards, as if it were being pushed back by the shaking of the land. Certainly the shoreline moved outwards, and many
sea creatures were left on dry sand."

I think in the movie they could have shown more of what was happening on the shore. They showed people waiting at the boat ramps waiting for rescue, but thats it. More shore sceans could be better to show so the viewer has a broad understanding of what happend all over pompei, not just what was happening in the streets.

The people of Naples, Italy and the other areas surrounding Mt. Vesuvius (the volcano that destroyed Pompeii) are at risk for another devastating eruption. What if the history (and potential future) of the place in which you lived was dangerous or afflicted by some sort of recurring natural disaster - would you still live there?

 I think it depends on the time and age that i am when it would occur. I don't plan on living in Hawaii the rest of my life, but It would be very hard to leave knowing I could possibly never go back. Oahu will always be appart of my life because I was born and raised here!

Art of 9/11

9_11_heart_roots

This oil canvas painting was made by Dominic Barbar. He quoted " Even though you took the Twin Towers and broke our hearts, we still have strong roots. You made us stronger and united us. We'll always have freedom." This picture stood out to me because the colors are very vibrant, and it really made me think about what was going on in the picture such as the broken heart with the roots.

9_11_flag

The acrylic painting was made by Antoinette D'Ammora. This picture stood out to me because it shows that even through that tough time when 9/11 occured, theres still hope and that it only united America even more than before. Its not upsetting to look at like some of the others and I really like how the artist was creative about wrapping the flag around the towers, showing that America is still mentally strong.

This video stood out to me because it seemed like such a real situation that would have happened on 9/11. On September 1, 2001 it was just a typical day for everyone, no one knew what was about to occur. When tragic events happen you normaly remember everything what happend such as what you were doing, wearing, etc. I really liked the animation of the video, it wasn't just a cartoon, it was art. I liked how thw quality was as if there were paint brush strokes.

I liked how this person used digital art in making this video. I thought it was a very clever idea for the creator to build the twin towers using the victims names. Nothing much happend in the video, but it made it a lot more powerful and make more sense.

History Detectives: Analysis

The video from "History dectectives" was " A hero in Hawaii, Civil War Canon & Stuntman Pioneer. The first part of the episode was about mysterious pieces of metal believed to be engine parts from the Japanese Zero that attacked Pearl Harbor and crashed on Niihau. After investigating the pieces, visiting the crashing site, and having the pieces observed by mechanics that study the war craft of the Pearl Harbor attack, history detective Eduardo Pagan concludes that the fragment of metal are engine parts from the Japanese Zero. The second part of the episode was about a man named Robert who believed he have had the shavings of Old Secsession, that were the first fires of the Civil War. History detective Elyse Luray had Robert's shavings and the shavings from the museum tested by an XRF to determine what elements were present in the sample. The radiation from the XRF could tell if the shavings matched or not. After the shavings being tested, they were both very simular, but did not match which concluded that they were not fired from the same canon. They could not fine for sure if Robert's shavings were the first shots fired in the Civil war, but the shavings were from Old Secsession which was a very symbolic canon to the North and South during and after the Civil War. On the last part of the episode, saddle collector Terry had a sadle that he believed was once owned by stun man pioneer, Yakima Canut.The sadle was very well used and worn out. History detective Wes Cowan found a picture of Yakima Canut riding on a sadle that was VERY simular to the one Terry had owned. Dective Wes brought the sadle in to many collectors and rodeo specialists for more information about the sadle, and later discovered that the sadle was used by Yakima Canut in rodeo tournaments and was not a fake.

Artifact Inquiry

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ARTIFACT_INQUIRY.docx (15 KB)
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Galileo in Pop culture

1. The viewer had to have prior knowledge about the certain events and people in history (such as julius caesar or robin hood) to understand what role they play in the ad.

2. The benefits of using historical themed content in pop culture is that people can learn about history in fun creative ways such as songs or digital media. The dangers of using historical themed content in pop culture is that some things may not be historically true about a certain person, and sometimes may make them look bad than they actually are. It is not good for young viewers because since they dont have prior knowledge about the history, they will form an oppinon already based on a comercial, not from actual history.

3.

Galileo_shirt

One of the ways using historical themed content in pop culture in a comical way.

 

Galileo_doll

A Galileo doll- doesn't show any significance about his history or what he acomplished, but its a way of advertizing to kids to buy the toy.

this is a video about the history of Galileo. This is a good video to learn facts about Galileo to know a brief backround about him.

My Philosophy of History

It is important to learn history because it gives us a better perspective of the world and its backround. What happened in history influences us to create new devices to improve society. Mistakes in history can give us the enlightenment for us to learn from those mistakes and to try improve, so those mistakes don't happen again. History is important to learn because it gives people better knowledge about what the world was like back then, and how its made what society is today.

 

Arch_history_hw

 

Civilization Video review

What did these pieces seem to say about civilization? progress? history? human nature?

The pictures in the video represent the change throughout history. It shows the changes within the world's civilization from when cavemen dressed barbarian like and lived within nature, to present day when everyone lives in a house, has a job, and has to follow the laws and orders by the government. This video also showed different types of human nature such as philosophers, discoverers, artists, rulers/ kings&queens, etc. This video showed a variety of rulers from ones who used their power in a positive way such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or Nelson Mendela. And the rulers who abused their power and used it for force, killing, or violence such as Aldolf Hitler or Pol Pot.

Do you agree with any of them - why / why not?

I think the person did a good job of getting important events of history into the video. I don't think there is anything they missed besides some Roman history such as the construction of the colosseum or the Pantheon.

What did you enjoy about them?

Seeing the world's history in pictures in 5 minutes! Watching the pictures go from paintings (ancient) to actual photos from the more modern history.

If you were making a similar type of survey-of-history video, what might you include and what creative measures would you take? (for example, the filmmaker used "Bolero" because it progressively gets more intense).

 Some creative measures i would take would be such as the tune of the music. I would make the more darker events a more intense tune and make the pictures change quickly, and make the less intense events a more lighter tune and have the pictures change at a slower pase.

Are there any questions you have about the pieces?

not for now :)