- Adagio for Strings
- A New Perspective
- Athena & Advertising
Adagio for strings
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://members.tripod.com/~ebbisham/barber2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://members.tripod.com/~ebbisham/barber.html&h=815&w=614&sz=97&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=qaOMIZaAtsIEwM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSamuel%2BBarber%2B%252BAdagio%2Bfor%2BStrings%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG
Context/Description:
Tuesday and Wednesday this week I began an in depth study of the famous piece by Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings. This piece of music is approximately seven and ½ minutes long with two versions. One is the original and performed by a string quartet, and the second is subtitled the Agnus Dei and contains song lyrics. The piece was written by Samuel Barber in 1936. Of his own work, Samuel Barber once proclaimed that this was his “knock out” piece. It is the most famous of all his musical compositions.
Analysis:
This piece of music has been utilized in many films including The Elephant Man & Platoon. It was also officially canonized for funeral music for important people after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 19th, 1945.
Adagio for Strings banks on harmony and progressing chords (essentially it is just noodling around with notes on the piano that are close to one another). It is played in the minor key which gives the composition a very sad and nostalgic feeling. When the strings build up to a passionate climax, the strings hit high notes that sound like people crying. The music is like a dream, like a memory; it is not like an episode but like a continual piece. And it has no conclusion. The music simply fades out at the end in a major triad and doesn’t resolve.
The original string quartet version is by far the most intense piece and some have claimed it resembles a love scene, but the second version with lyrics was created by Samuel Barber to counter the acceptance of his piece as a funeral hymn. Agnus Dei is Latin for “Lamb of God.” Apparently Samuel Barber decided that if his piece were to be associated with death that he wanted to at least have a say in whose death it portrayed. It is both symbolic and telling that he chose Christ the Lord as the figure of this piece of music—a piece of music which seems to reach so many people throughout the world. Every time I hear this piece I can not refrain from crying. It provokes tears out of me. This piece is deeply felt music, people can connect to it, and it is not difficult to play.
Lesson Plan Ideas:
I think it would be worthwhile to examine Adagio for Strings in a classroom setting to teach how sound and voice create another layer of meaning for musical texts. First I would have students listen to the original version of the Adagio for Strings, and have students write down the things they remember (or are thinking about) as they listen to the music. At the end of the first listening exercise students will also write down what they think this song is about. Next we could listen to the Agnus Dei version after which students would be provided with a worksheet that has the English translations for the Latin text. Use Think Alouds and promote free and open discussion in order to stress the new associations that come to this piece when examined through this context. The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate that what we as readers bring to the table when analyzing any form of literary repute (our first reactions or associations) plays a big part in our interpretation of what is actually written (like the words added to Adagio for Strings). It might even be neat to do this activity with a lesson about a poem with Christian elements to it such as William Blake’s “The Lamb.”
A new perspective
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.he.net/~altonweb/cs/downsyndrome/lessmannfig10.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.he.net/~altonweb/cs/downsyndrome/lessmann.html&h=259&w=330&sz=21&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=-SIXAAv4SdWtDM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3DOptometric%2BExtension%2BProgram%2Bfoundation%2B%252Bcow%2Bpicture%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG
Context/Description:
I went to go get a Utah Driver’s license on Thursday and came to a shocking revelation. I couldn’t pass the vision test with or without my glasses on. I needed to get a new prescription because my eyes had changed since I had first gotten glasses for driving four years ago. I went to the
Analysis:
In order to get a new prescription of glasses you first have to go through an eye exam. At the end of the eye exam you sit in a somewhat comfy chair with a gadget in front of your face which is like a cross between binoculars, a face mask, and a tourist sightseeing contraption. Through this device you view the eye chart while the eye doctor keeps asking you which lenses looks better: “one” or “two.”
In this exercise, I was able to see the chart in many different perspectives. I saw through different lenses. What appeared to be a white background with blurry black shapes soon became discernible lettering. And it changed my interpretation of the images that were before me. But what is more interesting to me is that until I had gone to try and get a
Lesson Plan Ideas:
An important part of promoting media literacy is to get our students to understand that there isn’t necessarily one right perspective to look at things and interpret them—but that we can always find at least one way of looking at something that can make our interpretation more clear than it initially is. The task is to find that unique frame of reference. In order to teach this difficult concept in the classroom I would first show students the picture that I have posted above and ask them to tell me what they see. Answers can and will vary unless any student is already familiar with the trick of this photo. Gradually use coaching to lead them to the correct answer: the picture is of a cow (see enhanced picture below). Use this exercise as an attention grabber/introduction to a lesson on analyzing contrasting points of view, analyzing media images, visual perception, or to stress how the focus of meaning can shift when we make marginal figures central or vice versa. It would be perfect for starting a lesson on Deconstruction and pointing out that even while we know the image now (of a cow) we cannot make a definitive statement about the meaning of the image as text.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pmlive.com/assets/Athena_proof1_large.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pmlive.com/communique/consult_profiles/listing.cfm%3FshowCompanyProfile%3D1%26CompanyProfileID%3D293&h=703&w=500&sz=227&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Jk4wF1OeOhl-3M:&tbnh=140&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAthena%2B%252Badvertisement%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG
Context/Description:
I’ve been reading many myths, legends, and folktales. In one of my classes it was mentioned that advertisements frequently depend on myths and other legends to make their sales pitches more effective. That intrigued me and so I hopped onto the internet later this past week and googled one of my favorite mythical goddesses looking for evidences to see if she has been used in advertising. The goddess I chose to search was Athena. To my surprise I found advertisements from water bottles to house columns—but the one that I like the most was an advertisement by the Athena Corporation. It is featured above.
Analysis:
This advertisement promotes the Athena Corporation which also has to do with a medical practice. This is significant because Athena was also a goddess of healing. When I see the tag line “We Keep Our Promises” it makes me recall all the times that Athena has promised to help return a husband to a bride or wife in mythology. The myth of Penelope and Odysseus comes to my mind. This corporation will help you in your time of frustrating wait or disappointment.
It also plays to the audiences who are familiar with the tales/myths that involve the young ladies being abandoned not too long after their marriages. Dido, Medea, and Ariadne come to mind. All three of these ladies used their cleverness to help a man, so that they could marry the man… but then the men they chose did not love them back to the same degree. Those men did not keep their promises; nor did they value the aspirational thinking of the women they took advantage of.
Athena, the goddess of wisdom, can help you to know how to deal with your grief or depression concerning yourself or your body; that is one thing that this advertisement implies. And although you cannot or may not be able to trust in men—the employees of the Athena Company will help you—they’re all women.
Lesson Plan Ideas:
I would use this advertisement to help my students start thinking outside of the box. In order to teach a lesson on critical analysis of the image I would stress the use of rhetorical questioning to discover answers. For example, why would a medical company use the central image of a bride in their advertising? How would the meaning change if it was a groom on the church steps? Would the tag line still be true? What if there was a flower girl on the steps bored as molasses? Do you think the myth of Athena would still work in that case or would the advertisement require a different god or mythical quality of some sort?
After an open period of critical analysis, have students read a different myth in class such as Pandora’s Box or Prometheus (but any myth will do depending on what myths you want your students to concentrate on during the term). Assign students to then create their own advertisements for a specific brand of product using either the myth of Pandora or Prometheus (for example) as their focus for marketing the product. Require that they come up with three designs: one targeted to males, one to females, and one to children. Their advertisements could be put on display in the classroom for Back to School Night or something.
No comments:
Post a Comment