Third culture event

My third event I went to see Shepherd's Wind Ensemble concert. I have always been a big music fan since I played music for over ten years. This was a different type of concert where students got the chance to conduct the wind ensemble. This was a nice change to see and great for the students to gain experience.

The music selection was very interesting to see from every student. Each student got to choose a piece of music and rehearse it with the ensemble. There was a variety of songs; folk, classical, modern, fast, ballads, hymns, world music, chorales, and so on. There was at least one student from every section that conducted in front of the ensemble. I really enjoyed the whole concert and I had a few favorite pieces.

The first one I enjoyed was "On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss" by David Holsinger. This piece is a hymn and it is one my favorites every time I hear it. It calms me down every time I hear and when the refrain comes in I always hear the words, it is well with my soul. The second was "Prelude and Fugue in g minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach. I'm always a big fan of Bach and when they first started playing this song, I thought I knew it. Then I looked at the program and saw it was by Bach and then it made sense. The third one was "Morning in Madrid" by Bill Calhoun. I never heard of this piece but the Spanish theme behind it was done really well. The conductor had spent a great time preparing the piece for the concert. I saw the way he conducted and how the ensemble responded to him, everybody enjoyed this piece. The last favorite piece from this concert was "Abram's Pursuit" by David Holsinger. Again you could tell the conductor and ensemble were playing the song at a high intensity. I was really impressed with this piece and give props to the ensemble for making this song sound awesome.

The whole concert was great and giving students the chance to conduct is an awesome step for their future. I'm definitely going to see more Wind Ensemble performances in the future.   

Second culture event

With my second event, I went to see William Shakespeare's play "The Two Noble Kinsmen." I've been to operas, concerts, musicals and so on but never a play. This was a first for me and I was curious to see it, to be honest. It was very the program I received, it gave a little synopsis about the play and the story behind it.

I'll give the short version of it, two cousins (Palamon and Arcite) get sent to jail as prisoners of war. They both see Emilia, whose beauty is beyond what they have ever encounter in their lives. They both ended up getting out of jail, Palamon by escaping and Arcite by an exile of the kingdom. They both end up fighting for her hand in marriage and Arcite wins the fight. Palamon is about to be put to death before the news of Arcite; he has been killed by a horse that fell on him. Palamon takes Emilia's hand in marriage and the story ends as so. Emilia is the sister of the king and always has an attitude with him. Emilia doesn't want to marry either of the two cousins, but is forced to marry one. This play consists of comedy, tragedy, and of course the Renascence time.

I really enjoyed the play and it was nice to see a Shakespeare's play that I'm not familiar with. Everyone knows "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" but maybe not this one. At first it was hard to follow along with the story, because of the old English talk. After a while, I got used to it and just enjoyed the play. I might be interested to see another one. The only thing I would possibly be a critic of is the music and sound effects. I felt if they are going to use it, then they better make sure that it's really good. I know how it is to rehearse something like this and get it ready to performance status. It's not easy and it's why I admire everyone that played part in it.

The next event is something that I'm more familiar with, a concert from the Shepherd Wind Ensemble...     

Culture event one

With my cultural events, I decided to attend different types of events and explore new things. The first one is normal to me, but I felt I could relate the film to my project. This past weekend, I went to the theaters to see the new Bond movie SKY FALL. My film is based on this character which he thinks he is a detective so I thought why not.

The Bond series has been going for so long, that it's impressive how they managed to keep it going. I really enjoyed this movie and two things stand out about it. This film seemed darker and kept me very attentive throughout the film. This is the first time where I saw Bond seem old or even vulnerable. It wasn't the Bond that we come to known over the years. Even a little more realistic in some cases, I almost thought that he could die. It didn't happen though, it would've been a short film if he did die.

A few key things I noted from the film; music, good vs bad, scenes. All the norms that come in spy/detective movies I saw in this film. It was really excited to compare my film with this one and see all the norms I put a twist on. I switched the music for the protagonist and his fellow opposite. Made a simple situation into a serious situation, but all as a perception. The use of objects to represent past events, in SKY FALL they brought back an old Bond car from the Gold finger movie.

It was definitely a different type of James Bond, but it was very well done. The next event I did was a play from the Shakespeare's time......