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Blog Post #5: Freiburg, the Heliotrope, and the Vauban neighborhood, Dr. Dyer

The impression I got of Freiburg was that it reminded me a lot of the old city of Nurnberg and this was probably because of the area that we stayed in was right next to the Munster Cathedral. I also thought it was cool that they had tramcars running off of electricity, instead of buses, that went across and throughout the city. Visiting the Heliotrope and the Vauban neighborhood was interesting and I thought it was cool that we were able to see renewable energy at its finest. However, I found that the Heliotrope, as Dr. Buble suggested, was too expensive and impractical for all regions and it seems more of a cool project than anything else. But I found that the simplicity and the practicality of the Vauban neighborhood more appealing because of how it was implemented and how it can be easily implemented in most modern day societies without too many problems. I don’t think that the Heliotrope is something that can be implemented in the US yet, mostly because of how expensive it is and the housing market culture in the US is much different compared to Europe, but I do think that the solar settlement could be easily implemented and not just as a small residential area in a city center. I think that eventually, when solar panels get even more affordable, entire suburban areas could be created based off of the design of the Vauban neighborhood. Technologically I think that this type of intentional planning and development is feasible, but politically I think there would be backlash or problems because of a lack of understanding of science and specifically renewable energy.

As for the trip as a whole I found it to be extremely enjoyable. It wasn’t too fast or too slow and I think that we had plenty of free time to do what we wanted but with enough structure so that we weren’t completely clueless. I thought that some days were more hectic than others in the morning, but that’s understandable because we were constantly trying to make public transportation that if we missed we’d basically waste the entire day. Some recommendations to future participants that I would make would be:

Go on a brewery tour at some point

Eat all the food, its all good, especially the street food

Try to do the most things that are available to you

Drink the beer, or at least try it, its all good and cheaper than the water

Have a bottle that you can fill up with water for the day. You can’t live off of beer no matter how hard you try

Look up ahead of time what you want to do on a choose your own adventure day otherwise it will get hectic in the morning or don’t and just tag along with a group that already knows what they want to do and enjoy yourself regardless

If you are given the opportunity to do something that you normally wouldn’t have the opportunity of doing back at home, such as getting to go see the Munich Philharmonic, do it

GET LADERHOSEN!

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Blog Post #5: Alphorns, Dr. Keehn

1. Somethings that I learned about alphorn history that day was for the most part nothing too new since we had covered its history pretty well in class except for that the name was given to it by the tourists that visited alps.

2. I found the milling process of the mouth pieces as well as the way in which the bell was cut to be interesting processes in creating the alphorn because I didn’t expect those types of machines to be involved in the creation process.

3. It wasn’t too different compared to inside the classroom, mostly because I am bad at playing it, but I did think it was pretty cool to blast on a horn in the mountains. Make the cows know its time to be milked and all that.

4. The only other time I remember coming across music in Switzerland was in Bern when that spiritual group had a few musicians in it. The experience was mostly weird but it didn’t seem any different from most other street performances we had come across.

5. Tourism, for the most part, put the alphorn into the position it is today. It gave it the name and brand recognition of the instrument of the Swiss and probably wouldn’t have been thought of to be used as instrument until much later without the tourism. I find this to be interesting because it shows how tourism and people of other cultures can influence another culture so heavily just by visiting the country.

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Blog Post #4: switzerland, dr. Dyer

The impression I got of Switzerland is one that enjoyed the sites and the view but wasn't entirely impressed by the country itself. The reason for this is because of the amount of Swiss nationality that I don't see any reason for and I find that this parallels with the US because we are supposed to be this area of change and a melting pot of cultures but I just don't see it. The reason I'm not impressed by the Swiss nationality is because they are proud of being neutral which to me means they are proud about not taking a stand on any issue even if they knew that being neutral was wrong. Main differences between Germany/Austria and Switzerland was the amount of travel and how the travel worked as well as how expensive everything was in comparison to Germany and Austria. Also Germany has the best street food without a doubt. The way that the exhibits changed my opinion of Einstein was that they humanized him for me in how he enjoyed music and how he had an affair which basically to me means that he made mistakes like everybody else. Sure he slept with his cousin which is pretty messed up but he at least made mistakes which is something that anybody can relate to. From talking to and seeing how the people in the alps live I truly think that they are harassed because I wouldn't be able to do that but also because they wake up in the morning to these mountains that tower over them and certain people that live in the alps have to live like there is a possibility that they will for the next day because of avalanche or something like it. Basically what I am saying is mad props to them.

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Blog Post #3: Salzburg, Dr. Dyer

The differences between Austria and Germany where interestingly large to me. The beer wasn't nearly as good for one thing and, at least for Salzburg, the city felt unkept as you got closer to the inner city, and the dialects where different cause while majority of the people where speaking German it still felt like they weren't. Otherwise it was basically the same as compared to other cities we've been to. While the loose schedule was nice I would've have liked a day in Salzburg where we did things together as a group mostly because not only do we get to experience something together that we can then discuss later, but I felt like because I had more leeway to do things I didn't do as much as I could've which is fine but I still left Salzburg wanting more because of this. The dinner was great, the food was well prepared and I thought that was overall a positive experience and even the concert was too because even though I missed majority of the side show that was the rest of the audience it made me feel better about myself because even people who are older and who should be more mature than us where worse than we were as audience members. I also enjoyed the concert regardless of how poorly they played but this was probably because of how much passion and vigor I saw that they were playing with. However, visiting Salzburg doesn't change or give me any sort of different impression of Mozart and his music than I already had. If anything it only made me think that the people of Salzburg think of him as some sort of demigod by the way they sell all the merchandise and how the Mozart house literally did everything in its power to only bring out the best in Mozart. So basically I didn't have a good impression of Mozart in the first place and going to Salzburg made me think of him more so as this child prodigy that never out grew his immaturity due to the fact that he was celebrity and thought that everybody would love him anyway.

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Blog Post #3: opera Dr. Keehn

1. Some of the complaints that Wagner had came from how most of the people who had seats couldn't get the full experience of the opera or what the composer of the opera would have wanted and this definitely shows in the more traditional opera seating arrangement and is what we had experienced that night since the most any of us could see at one time was half of the stage. This type of seating arrangement is probably more or less only at operas and isn't something I typically would experience. Wagner's style of seating is more seen in the movie theaters and concert halls of today than anywhere else. 2. While I found the avant grade approach interesting and it was really cool what types of discussions it would incite I still think I'd prefer a traditional style opera because when I am watching something that somebody created to get a message or a point across I'd like them to not make me think as much about it, and I am not saying be heavy handed about it but the approach in that the director took in this version of Tannhauser kind of reached too far in my opinion for it to be any more enjoyable than it could've been. 3. I think Wagner and Ludwig hit it off so well is because both had big ideas and went to great lengths in order to pull them off, Ludwig with his castles and Wagner with his operas. Both wanted to show grandeur at their highest points and in the case of Wagner it was with German culture in the arts and with Ludwig it was the same except for 12th and 13th century architecture and history. 4. After the first act I did enjoy the opera a lot and would recommend it for the next trip. I didn't really have any particularly favorite character within the opera but I did think that Venus' portrayal was interesting and I think will be seen more in not just the opera but in other forms of entertainment as well. I think that the clapping is outrageous and really awkward to the point of annoyance and I think this is shown in the performers expressions every time they'd come out to bow again and again.

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Blog Post 2: Nürnberg and München, Dr. Dyer

My impression of the Nürnberg area is one that is more of a limited lens since I didn't leave the old city that often while there. However, the areas we visited in Nürnberg solidified my impression of Nürnberg as being one of high cultural significance even during Hitler's reign. With the free time I had it was mostly still used on figuring out how I should approach free days so I mostly just hung out with different groups of people and got to see the majority of the old city and I was able to appreciate the beauty of its reconstruction, being able to blend in old architecture with new or more modern architecture for the time. One experience I got in Nürnberg that I don't think I'd be able to do in the US was being able to go out with people and enjoy a city. When I'm back home I never get to go out and see sites or get to observe the culture of bigger cities so I don't really have much to compare my experiences in Nürnberg to back home. Probably the best things I did in München was basically everything: the castles were cool and the architecture was extremely impressive, the Mahler 5 symphony was incredible, and the BMW factory tour was so cool. I think the only underwhelming things in München were the opera and the castle tours since the tours were so short and I could only see half the stage during the opera. King Ludwig II was a lunatic but it may not have been only that. Since he became a king at the age of 18 he may not have been mature enough in order to realize that what he was doing was wrong and because of this he never grew as a person and also since he had so much power. So yes he was crazy but mostly because he was a product of being put into to power at too young of an age. The nazi party rally grounds was more of a wake up call for me because after standing where Hitler stood and imagining myself in front of thousands of people who will do anything for you I realized how absolute power could corrupt somebody because it felt not necessarily good to stand where Hitler stood and imagine that power but it felt more awe inspiring and powerful than almost anything I have ever felt before, it was terrifying. At Dachau, the place had this unsettling quiet to it even with the large amount of people there. While there I attempted to imagine what the prisoners where going through and attempt to feel for them but I wasn't able to do so until I got to the crematorium. Going through the crematorium was hard, not just from knowing what happened there but realizing how many had been through there and had died there. After the crematorium I took a walk around the execution areas and the mass graves of all the people that died and I felt a sadness and depression that I haven't felt before for something that I am so far removed from. It was hard to not cry when walking through that area after the crematorium. However it hasn't changed my outlook on anything if anything it has only solidified and made my ideas about Germany, ww2 and the holocaust even stronger.

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Blog post #2: Wagner house and museum, dr. Keehn

1. The most fascinating instruments I had seen at the museum had to have been the string instruments that had the extra strings underneath the bridge of the instrument in order to produce more resonance and create a longer and a deeper sound. I also thought the dragon trombone was interesting since they would normally have a tongue on the inside in order to add more to the instrument. Oh and the cane instruments were cool too because of how they needed to be designed in such a way so that the quality of the music they would create wouldn't be worsened due to the limits set on themselves. 2. Science and music colliding at the museum was interesting because of the way in which they use X-rays in order to make a full scan of older instruments so that they wouldn't need to break the instrument in order to understand how it was made, like the trumpet in a can. And yeah as a scientist I was intrigued by this because it's a way for science to help preserve history. I didn't completely know how to interpret the way in which culture was expressed through the instruments within the museum because the instruments we looked at were the predecessors of our modern day instruments. Although it was interesting how the different families of brass workers would have their own designs and ways in which they represented that the instrument they made was theirs. 3. I thought it was interesting the ways in which different members of the Wagner family reacted towards anti-semitism and how some were more fanatical than others while some members of the family completely rejected the idea. I don't think it alters my perception of Wagner's works at all though because while he himself was anti-Semitic his descendants shouldn't affect how his music is interpreted because they didn't create the works and aren't Wagner. Hitler's first listening to a Wagner opera and his reaction afterward makes sense to me because Wagner's work is big and pronounced and would incite strong emotions that would make somebody like Hitler feel powerful and it only makes sense that he would use Wagner's music in order to attempt to incite those same emotions among his people. The funny part is though is how he appreciated Wagner's work even before he knew that Wagner was an anti-Semite. 4. Even though Hitler was a guest to the Wagner house I didn't feel the same way that I felt at say the rally grounds when I stood where Hitler did when he'd give his speeches. I think the reason for this is because even though he is evil beyond belief it almost made him more personable because he would go and visit people he considered his friends even if it would be to manipulate the Wagner family. I didn't really feel anything at the grave of Wagner either but that's more so because it was so ornate and seemed almost unnecessary to be there.

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Blog post 1 from europe (Dr. Keehn)

1. My expectations for the Beethoven house were basically met because when we talked about it before hand we knew it was going to be a museum that was all about beethoven's life and it was just that. The tour guide also was quite interesting and didn't drone on like she didn't want to be there which I appreciated it because it showed me that the people who work at the Beethoven house care about the work they do. The concert exceeded my expectations especially since we got to hear two pieces of wonderful music and that both were performed on a piano that Beethoven would've used at the time. 2. It was definitely a lot harder to focus on the first piece because I didn't know it and I didn't know what to expect so I only listened to it half heartedly. Comparatively when listening to the moonlight sonata because we had heard it and discussed it prior made me truly appreciate the way it was being played and I could pick out parts that were played differently compared to other times I've heard the piece. 3. Hearing the moonlight sonata live definitely made me appreciate the piece more compared to hearing it recorded. The live performance also, since it's not perfect, had its own little sound to it that differed from any recorded version mostly because of the piano it was played on and because it didn't feel generic like it did recorded. 4. The piano used, as best as I can tell, differed from a modern piano mostly in sound and feel. By feel I mean more or less like I felt like I was there at the time getting to experience hearing Beethoven playing. While probably not as good as Beethoven the pianist knew his way around the instrument and I think that if he didn't have such a great understanding of that piano then there would've been a completely different feel to the pieces we got to listen to. 5. I don't think it should influence somebody who would like to play the piece on keyboard or modern piano because the piano from 1824, while a piano, can't be compared to a keyboard or modern piano do to the change in tone and quality of the sound that a keyboard or modern piano has.

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Blog post 1: first thoughts Germany (Dr. Dyer)

Trains are amazing, Germany is definitely more efficient in basically everything they do compared to America, I found it interesting how their slum districts are covered in foliage and how they discuss environmental changes as facts and not a controversial topic. It is also interesting how the food and air seems just better here. The one bad thing I'd say is that smoking is not frowned upon since people can be seen smoking basically everywhere. Otherwise Germany is basically a step up from America but that could also just be from me being on vacation. Frankfurt seems like more of a business town where people live and work compared to Köln and Rüdesheim where they are more tourist cities. However, even though they are more like tourist traps compared to Frankfurt, the sites of both Rüdesheim and Köln are fantastic. The Köln cathedral itself was awe inspiring and amazing both from the ground, the top and on the inside. Rüdesheim, while not as impressive as the Köln cathedral, was beautiful wine country and an amazing view from the Niederwald monument and the forest trails, while possibly explosive, due to the amount of leftover explosives from both world wars, was indescribable. The Beethoven house in Bonn was also very interesting and I really enjoyed how in depth they went into his life and I think I was able to appreciate it more from learning the material in class making it worth it to go.

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Blog Post #20: Musical Events in Germany

I am really excited about the Beethoven Concert at the Beethoven house because his Moonlight Sonata is one of my personal favorite pieces and I enjoy the story of Beethoven’s life more than the others because I feel that he is a more relatable person and the struggles that he went through in his life is what I feel makes his pieces more powerful.

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Listening Post #5: Strauss

1. The article tells us not to expect a symphony piece since it is all one flowing movement and it also tells us that the is inspired by a hike that Strauss had and this piece was his recounting of the tale. This means we are to expect a flow that begins with somber more mellow tones that begin to pick up as the climbers begin to climb after the sun comes out. This then is to transfer in to more ominous and urgent tones as the party gets lost in a thicket and then begin to traverse a glacier. As the piece continues we get falling tones to represent the climbers falling down the mountainside and then the piece is more or less reversed that of the beginning.

2. That this is going to be the best piece of music I have ever heard. And aside from that the piece is meant to represent the alps that Strauss lived outside of.

3. 

4. 

Nacht (Night) 0:00

Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise) 3:00

Der Anstieg (The Ascent) 4:10

Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Forest) 5:50

Wanderung neben dem Bache (Wandering by the Brook) 7:10

Am Wasserfall (At the Waterfall) 8:30

Erscheinung (Apparition) 11:00

Auf blumigen Wiesen (On Flowering Meadows) 13:00

Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture) 14:10

Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Through Thickets and Undergrowth on the Wrong Path) 16:00

Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier) 18:45

Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous Moments) 20:00

Auf dem Gipfel (On the Summit) 22:30

Vision (Vision) 25:00

Nebel steigen auf (Mists Rise) 28:45

Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The Sun Gradually Becomes Obscured) 32:00

Elegie (Elegy) 36:00

Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm Before the Storm) 38:30

Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and Tempest, Descent) 40:00

Sonnenuntergang (Sunset) 44:00

Ausklang (Quiet Settles) 47:00

Nacht (Night) 55:00

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Blog Post #19: The Alphorn Reflection

After playing the Alphorn I have a new found appreciation for any horn musician since it is very hard to actually buzz on the mouthpiece. After playing it I found that it is really interesting as an instrument and I could see why most other horn players would pick it up as a hobby. After watching others play it I thought that it was really interesting how some people could just pick it up without any problem and then there were others where we just had trouble playing a note. But it was definitely really interesting to listen to.

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Blog Post #17: Alphorns!

I know next to nothing about alphorns so here it is then. When I imagine an alphorn it is typically somebody from the Ricola commercial or somebody similar looking blasting away one long loud note on this giant pipe shaped instrument. However it is an oddly pleasant sound that it makes.

I never knew they made carbon fiber alphorns, I think that is very cool and it allows for more people to learn how to play the instrument and I like that people are attempting to add new ways of playing the instrument in order to make people more aware of the instrument. However I do understand the reasons for wanting to keep the Alphorn competition more traditional. Its to sustain the culture and to keep it from getting to far removed from its roots, which was a communication tool for farmers to communicate with one another over long distances. I also never knew that it could be heard from 25 miles away. Especially after listening to some of the videos I think my opinion of it has changed dramatically.

Ricola Commercial: While it gives the alphorn this stigma in America for being this mountain traditional style instrument it at least made people aware that the instrument exists and I do not think we would know of Ricola as well as we do now without it.

Alphorn Treffen: This video was pretty cool because it has a bunch of alphorn players gathered together to experience their culture and makes them bond more. The sounds that the alphorn made were also really interesting and while it does not have much tonal shifts or changes I don’t think that it needs them in order to appreciate the video.

Lisa Stoll und Kapelle: This is the stereotype that most Americans would know as Swiss music and would say that this is the only place you see the alphorn.

Eliana Burki Le Notti de Luna: This one sounded more like it was influenced by Swiss culture and the more traditional sounds from the previous video but it definitely has its own spin on it which I feel gives it life.

Eliani Burki Vacuum Funk: In this video it seems more inspired from jazz and she uses the alphorn like this giant saxophone which is really interesting especially since you would never expect to see the alphorn used this way. Still since it has very minimal tonal changes she tends to need to repeat the same notes, which is fine because the sound is still different from the more traditional style of alphorn playing.

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Blog Post #16: Musical Works from Concentration Camps / Discussing Musicians in Germany

To be blunt no. To be more complex about the subject, I feel that the value that the works had when they were made in the concentration camps is more or less lost since most of these works will not be played by the people who made them since they are dying off. This makes me think that it is not necessarily worth it, if you want to apply worth in the form of time as a currency, for people because it may not give you much back. However, I also stated in class that it is more subjective than that and that depending on the perspective of the person you ask these works may hold more weight or more value in that aspect. If this is the case for some people I say go for it. It doesn’t hurt to recreate these works and it doesn’t hurt to not recreate these works.

As for German musicians, I didn’t find it as surprising as I found it hilarious how brutally honest the author is in the operafolks article when discussing their opinion on how a singer should sing an aria. 

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Listening Post #4

1st assignment:

Movements:

1st: Instruments used: piano, violin, and clarinet. Overall sound is foreboding and kind of flighty at times.

2nd: Instruments used: Piano, clarinet, cello, and violin. Overall sound is more explosive at the beginning and then slows down towards the middle of the movement becoming explosive and towards the end of the movement.

3rd: Instruments used: Clarinet. Slow at the beginning which represents the dawn and then moves to more scattered patterns to represent the flight of birds. Slows towards the middle and then gets kind of screechy towards the end to represent the birds coming back.

4th: Instruments used: Cello, clarinet, and violin. Melodic and somewhat flight like at the beginning which then pretty much repeats for the whole movement.

5th: Instruments used: Violin and piano. Very somber tones that continue through this movement which are complimented with the slight eeriness that the violin brings in.

6th: Instruments used: Piano, cello and clarinet. More explosive and some what all over the place with the piano and cello. Seems to be more of an elevated mood or a frightened or spooked mood.

7th: Instruments used: Piano, clarinet, and violin. Very similar to the 5th movement in sound and style. Becomes explosive and hectic towards the middle and closer toward the end of the movement.

8th: Instruments used: Piano, and cello. Seems to be a redeemed somber tone in this movement, mostly cello with the piano giving very faint hints of life in the background.

2nd assignment:

Movement 3:

The third movement is as described in the chapters we read, it begins with soft tones from the clarinet representing the breaking of the first light in dawn which is then followed by rapid almost random notes to represent the birds chirping in the morning. This is then followed by flowing notes throughout the remainder of the movement which goes up until the end which brings the birds back with the represented chirping and then silence for the end of the day.

Movement 7:

Obviously the artist is attempting to represent the colors and shapes that Messiaen saw when making this movement and does so quite elegantly in the way that he aggressively slams paint onto the canvas during the explosive parts of the movement and then works in calming patterns during the more relaxed portions of the movement. The end makes the most sense since it represents the tangle and complete chaos that is attempting to be portrayed.

Movement 8: 

Since the 8th movement is supposed to be about redemption it only makes sense that the artist would then cover the work that he made from the inspiration of the 7th movement in a large coat of white paint that slowly but surely covers the entirety of the canvas.

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Blog Post #15: For the end of time

This piece was created because of the inspiration the artist got from birds making noises in the early dawn during world war 1. The work was then continued during world war 2 in order to better the composer’s and the musician’s lives while captured by the nazis. It seems that the author pieced the story together from conversations that the musicians had with one another as well as written works that explain the story in different ways from the different perspectives that each individual had. The characters in this story are: Messiaen, composer of the work, Pasquier, who played the cello, Akoka, who was the clarinet player, and Le Boulaire, who was the final member added to the quartet and played the violin.

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Blog Post #13: Dachau

Music played an in important role in Dachau such that it was, as described in the article, part of the deception of life within the camp. It was meant only for the SS and to punish the prisoners. People were forced to participate or were killed or berated and in fact would be tortured with music in order to break them. Am I surprised by this, no. It seems cruel and unusual but we are talking about concentration camps here and Dachau no less.