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Music Provides Catharsis: A look into music's therapeutic properties

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 Music is seen by many as a way to release pent-up emotions such as anger, sadness, or love. It can be very helpful to listen to music when dealing with difficult emotions because it provides an outlet for those emotions and makes the listener feel like there are others out there that feel the same way. For centuries, music has been a way for people to connect and share their feelings in ways that enhance the communication process and lead to bonding and a sense of mutual understanding. While everyone feels differently about every situation, many feelings are common amongst people during different situations in their life. For example, a bad breakup can cause many people to become sad and even depressed. This situation is also the cause for a lot of music to be written and performed. Because of this mutual expression between performers and listeners, a connection is formed that can help listeners feel understood and like they are not alone. The first musical example in this work is...
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Music and the Fictive Dream: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

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 In this blog post, I chose to discuss Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy  as it was performed in The Nutcracker.  This piece of music was originally written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and originally performed in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. This song was written to be performed by the lead female ballerina in The Nutcracker , which premiered at the same time. This piece of music is known as the most well known song performed in The Nutcracker musical, often being played in advertisements around Christmas time. During its conception the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was designed to sound like "drops of water shooting from a fountain." Because of this, Tchaikovsky was in search of an instrument that could create such a sound. In 1891, he was introduced to the celesta and decided it was the exact sound he was looking for. A celesta is similar to a piano however its sound is much different. The instrument produces a chime-like sound, produced by hammers striking different met...
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The Role of the Performer- Britney Spears

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 This week's blog post is about Britney Spears, an extremely popular and talented performer and singer who was most popular during the early 2000s. Born in 1981 in McComb, Mississippi, Britney began singing at age two and throughout the early years of her childhood began performing in talent shows, auditioning for tv shows such as The All New Mickey Mouse Club, and developing her singing voice. When she was a teenager, she began working with Jive Records and soon released her first hit song, Hit Me Baby One More Time, which was produced in 1998. Throughout the next 10 years of her career, she released nine albums as well as other singles, many of which quickly became popular in the pop music world.  Britney Spears faced criticism throughout her career for her rocky personal life and possible mental health issues. In 2008, her father was granted conservatorship over her. This would effectively allow him to control her finances and decisions while she was still performing and re...
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The history of Reggae Music

 This post delves into the history and cultural significance of Reggae music and looks to explain what this music was used to accomplish. Reggae music began in Jamaica as a way to advocate for the rights of the people and resistance to oppression. Reggae music was influenced by Rastafarianism, a cultural and religious movement promoting pride in the African identity and equality for marginalized peoples. Reggae took influence from earlier forms of Jamaican music such as ska and traditional African drumming. It then progressed as a way for people to connect and share stories as well as shared beliefs and experiences. The piece of music below shows what some consider to be the first recorded Reggae song, "Do the Reggae" by Toots and Maytals, first recorded in 1968. This song provides a great example of the evolution of Reggae music. Reggae music utilizes a 4/4 time and often includes and emphasis on the third beat, creating what is called the "one-drop effect."  Do th...
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The history and evolution of CD's

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 The compact disc (CD) originated from the optophone, which used light to record and playback sounds. Later, this design was used by Sony and Phillips to create the LaserDisc, which used laser beams to transmit sound onto a disc to be played back at a higher quality. Later, this technology was used to create the compact disc, which used similar technology but played audio with less errors, higher quality, and an increase in play time. Upon its release in 1982, CD's became very popular, selling almost 400,000 in the first three years. Soon, they were dominating the at-home music market, and were the most popular music-playing device until digital downloads and later streaming platforms became popular.  The Sony and Phillips companies worked together to make CD's compatible and universal. Their collaboration allowed for people to be able to buy any CD from any store and play them in their devices such as the Walkman, the first portable CD player. In addition, CD's proved to b...
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Musical Analysis 2

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 For this musical analysis, I chose to analyze the song "I'm not pretty" by Megan Moroney. This song was released as part of her Lucky  album in 2023 in the United States. I chose this song because I really enjoy listening to it and it has a lot of different musical elements that can be easily pointed out and analyzed.  One of the elements that can be analyzed in this song is the use of different types of guitars to change both the dynamics and tone of the song. The song starts out loud with a twangy, steel guitar playing the recognizable melody of the song. It then moves to a softer dynamic as a slide guitar plays the beat of the song.  Another element that can be analyzed in this song is the use of a casual vocal delivery and cascading lyrical melody and the tone of voice of the singer which adds to the "country" element of the song. It also shows the singers' feelings about what she's singing about as the message behind the song is that she is not bot...
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Musical Analysis 1

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv2WJMVPQi8 The musical piece that I chose for this analysis is Symphony No.5, written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1808.  This piece of music has many different string, woodwind, and percussion instruments working together to form a work of art. This piece is an excellent example of how articulation, pitch, and texture can change throughout a piece of music and showcases the large range of different string and woodwind instruments. Although this symphony was written over a hundred years ago, it is still one of the most well-known pieces of classical music. Listening to this symphony makes me feel an overwhelming sense of suspense and anticipation and that something is going to happen. It is good music to use in movies during chases and suspenseful moments. This post was not very popular when it orginally came out. However, reviews from critics such as E.T.A. Hoffmann helped its popularity grow.  Another noteworthy topic of this symphony is how ma...
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