Music appreciation paper

Every musical needs two things script andmusic, the musical that I saw at the civic center “ A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum. ” It is witty characters and humorous songs made it a delight to see and you left with a smile. The music was the best out of the whole play. The orchestra was small having a piano, two violins, bass guitar, reed one and two, trumpet one and two, trombone, and percussion each instrument being a big part of production. The play starts with a song “ comedy to night” giving a background in the streets of ancient Rome of three houses.

The center of the house Senex who lives there with his wife Domina, son Hero, and the many slaves them owned. Hero has his own slave Pseudolus who is the main character and head slave Hysteria. One of the other neighbors is owned my Marcus Lycus, the house is a whorehouse. The other neighbor is Erronius who has been gone for many years trying to find his children who were abducted my pirates. Thing singer who plays Pseudolus tone was raspy, pitch high, two beats, and tempo allegro the music flowed well and pulling the audience in quickly with it being very humorous.

I thought the texture was monophonic being only one person singing the song and form being AB. The song ends giving a summary of the whole play, and it goes on to the next song. Hero the son of Senex has fallen in love with a girl who he has never spoken too. He starts to sing “ love, I hear” his tone was rich, pitch was high, dynamic was mezzo forte, the tempo of the song was allegro it was a lovely song that expressed his love for a girl he has never spoken to. The song had two beats with the texture of the music monophonic because it was only one person singing it. After he ends he tells his slave Pseudolus if you get me that girl.

I will let you be free and Pseudolus is so shocked that he cannot believe it and starts to sing “ free” his texture is very raspy, with tempo vivace, and dynamics Mezzo Piano. The pitch is high and form verse course and recitative singing like speech. This song was very funny and a great laugh. The play goes on to Pseudolus and Hero trying to think of plan so they go to Lycus house to find the girl to buy her from Lycus. When the song “ the house of Marcus Lycus” starts to play, this song is made more dancing then singing the pitch is low, form was verse then instrumental, the tempo moderato, and dynamic mezzo forte.

This song has a lot of bras and saxophone. The next song “ lovely” where tone color of Hero is dark and Philia is bright, the pitch is high, the dynamics is forte, tempo of the music was andante, and with each the song being four beats. Pseudolus tries to keep them together; however, one problem Philia is to be married to the Caption a general for Rome. They Pseddolus, Philia, and hero start singing about what their life could be called “ pretty little picture” it is high pitch, a funny song with the dynamic being forte.

The form is verse, chores, verse, chores, and the texture homophonic because it had three people singing it. Pseudolus tells hero to hide Philia in the house while he goes to find away to keep them together. However, Philia is not smart at all and does not know what her husband looks like and gets confused with Heroes father Senex and he thinks Philia is a new maid Hysterium brought on. An a new song begins “ Everyone Ought have a Maid” the song is sung by Senex whose tone is bright, then Psedulous comes in with a raspy tone, and then Hysterium who comes in at the end and tone being mellow.

The texture for this song starts monophonic, then because Psedulous joins in it becomes polyphonic, and then because Hysterium joins in to the end it becomes homophonic with all three singing together. The tempo was vivace with the three men, pitch was high, the form was verse, chores, verse, chores, and with two beats. After the song ends Senex hides from his wife and goes to take a bath and tells Hysterium to bring the maid Phila after he finishes into Erronius house where Senex was staying. But while this is happening, Erronius returns home, finally having given up the search for his long-lost children.

Hysterium, desperate to keep him out of the house where his master is bathing, tells the old man that his house has become haunted – a story seemingly confirmed by the sound of Senex singing in his bath. Erronius immediately determines to have a soothsayer come and banish the spirit from his house, and Pseudolus obligingly poses as one, telling Erronius that in order to banish the spirit, he must travel seven times around the seven hills of Rome (thus keeping the old man occupied and out of the way for quite a while). Hysterium starts to go crazy and sings “ I’m Calm” the music has a lot of plucking from the strings.

The tone was mellow, with only one beat, pitch was high, and tempo Presto, dynamic is fortissimo, AB form, one beat. The story goes on to Histerium not bring Phila to Senex who she thinks is Miles Glorious. However, Phila comes out and goes and hugs Hero while Senex sees and Phila then winks at Senex. Both men are confused and wonder what the heck is happening. They start to sing “ impossible” the pitch was high, tempo vivace, dynamics mezzo forte, texture polyphonic, form verse chores, and tome color for the father Senex was bright and Hero the son was dark.

After the song the captain Miles Gloriosus comes into town and comes for his bride who he paid for Phila. He starts to sing ‘ Bring me my Bride” his tone color was dark, four beats, tempo allegro, texture homophonic, pitch low and form verse, chores. They finished the song and Act one ended. Then Act two starts with Complicating matters further, Domina returns from her trip early, suspicious that her husband Senex is ” up to something low. ” She disguises herself in virginal white robes and a veil (much like Philia’s) to try to catch Senex being unfaithful.

She starts to sing “ that dirty old man” out of the whole cast, I hated her voice she was screaming the song and belting all the words. Her tone color was bright, two beats, pitch was high, tempo allegro, dynamics forte, texture is monophonic, and AB form. The story goes on where Hero and Phila in front of all three houses and wishing they could be with each other. They try to think of a plan, but they had nothing so Phila start to sing “ That’ll show him” in this song Phila is telling Hero that when she is kissing the Captain, but she will be thinking of Hero and kiss the Captain more. She is not the smartest girl.

Her tone color was bright, pitch high, tempo allegretto, texture monophonic, two beats, and form verse, chores. Pseudolus convinces Hysterium to help him by dressing in drag and pretending to be Philia, ” dead” from the plague. An starts to sing “ lovely (reprise)” to make him feel beautiful and confident to be a girl even though he is a guy. His pitch was moderate; tempo andante, dynamic mezzo forte, he is tone color was rich because he was a smoker, and texture monophonic. While Hysterium is acting like Phila dead the captain wants a big funeral for her so all the slave girls and soldiers are there morning her.

And the “ funeral sequence” starts in the song there were words from Miles Gloriosus and everyone else doing a melodic crying. In the whole play this is the only song that has three beats, pith moderate, tempo andante, AB form, dynamic mezzo piano, and texture monophonic. Unfortunately, it turns out that Miles Gloriosus has just returned from Crete, where there is of course no actual plague. With the trick revealed, the main characters run for their lives, resulting in chase with both Miles and Senex pursuing all three Philae’s; Domina, Hysterium, and the actual Philia – all wearing identical white robes and veils.

Meanwhile, the whores from the house of Marcus Lycus who had been recruited as mourners at Philia’s ersatz funeral have escaped, and Lycus sends his eunuch out to bring them all back, adding to the chaos. Finally, the Captain’s troops are able to round everyone up. Pseudolus appears to be in deep trouble; however, Erronius, completing his third circuit of the Roman hills, shows up unexpectedly to discover that Miles Gloriosus and Philia are wearing matching rings which mark them as his long-lost children. Philia’s betrothal to the Captain is canceled by the unexpected surprise that he’s her brother.

Philia weds Hero; Pseudolus gets his freedom and the lovely slave girl Gymnasia; Gloriosus receives twin courtesans to replace Philia; Erronius gets his children, and a happy ending prevails for all – except for poor Senex, stuck with his shrewish wife Domina. It ends with are last song “ final comedy tonight” with Pseudolus singing and then everyone joins in. the pitch is high, tempo allegro, dynamics mezzo forte, texture polyphonic, AB form, two beats, and the genre of all the songs would be a musical comedy. This musical was fun and delight to see and if I could see it again I would.

For my cousins birthday we got to go to Taylor Swift concert in South Carolina where I stayed for spring break withfamily. On March 23 we went and it was amazing, there was seventeen songs she sang and also Ed Sheeran as her opening act. It was load and a lot of fun, their genre of both singers was pop. Ed Sheeran was the opening act singing A-Team pitch low, two beats, texture monophonic, dynamic piano, tempo moderato. The next song he played “ give me love” pitch high, tempo allegretto, dynamics crescendo, texture monophonic, and tone color was dark. He did sing more songs; however, I came late so I only got to here two of his songs.

Then the amazing Taylor Swift came on and started to sing “ state of grace” pitch was high, dynamic crescendo, tempo allegretto, and texture monophonic. Taylor’s next song was “ holy ground” pitch was moderate, dynamic forte, tempo presto, two beats, and form verse, chores. She is an inspiration to all girls who want to be themselves and to have fun. Her voice never wavered and kept going to the very end. Her next song “ you belong with me” which is one of my favorite songs from her. Her pitch was high, dynamic mezzo forte, tempo allegretto, form verse, chores, and two beats.

She does clothing change and goes to the next song “ the lucky one” pitch low, temp moderato, dynamic mezzo piano, and texture polyphonic. Her next song which is now her signature “ red” tempo moderato, pitch high, dynamic mezzo forte, texture monophonic, and two beats. ” the lucky one” pitch high, dynamics mezzo forte, tempo moderato, and form verse, chores. She starts to sing after giving an inspirational speech “ mean” tempo allegretto, dynamic mezzo forte, texture homophonic, and two beats. She starts to sing after giving an inspirational speech “ mean” tempo allegretto, dynamic mezzo forte, texture homophonic, and two beats.

Next song “ stay stay stay” texture homophonic, tempo vivace, pitch moderato, and dynamic crescendo. She changes into another outfit and starts to sing “ 22” her tone color bright, tempo vivace, and pitch high. She changes again and talks to the fans and tells that this most requested and plays acoustic “ starlight” pitch low, texture monophonic, two beats, and dynamic mezzo piano. The next song was a duet with Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift called “ everything has changed” texture polyphonic, dynamic mezzo forte, tempo moderato, and form verse, chores.

The next song is her and her guitar “ begin again” pitch low, tempo andante, dynamic mezzo piano, and texture monophonic. Her next song “ sparks fly” which she starts playing on a twelve string guitar. Pitch is high, tempo is allegro, and dynamic forte. Taylor’s next song starts off with her violinist making an awesome entrance. Then Taylor comes out in a new outfit singing “ I knew you were trouble” pitch was high, tempo presto, dynamic forte, and form verse, chores. She goes on the piano and talks to fans about writing her songs and being amazing and then starts to sing. All too well” pitch was low, tempo adagio, dynamic piano, and texture monophonic. Taylor changes and comes out of the stage singing “ love story” pitch high, tempo allegretto, and two beats. Taylor changes again and starts to sing “ Treacherous” pitch low, tempo moderato, and dynamic is mezzo piano. The last song “ we are never getting back together” which is a fun high pitch song, tempo is vivace, dynamic forte, and two beats. I loved the play and the concert, learning about the music was fun and I learned a lot. I won’t look at music the same.