Music - Enrichment Activities #3 p.84

Characteristics often attributed to Romanticism, including musical Romanticism, are (Kravitt 1992, 93–94, 107):

 

•             a new preoccupation with and surrender to Nature

•             a fascination with the past, particularly the Middle Ages and legends of medieval chivalry

•             a turn towards the mystic and supernatural, both religious and merely spooky

•             a longing for the infinite

•             mysterious connotations of remoteness, the unusual and fabulous, the strange and surprising

•             a focus on the nocturnal, the ghostly, the frightful, and terrifying

•             fantastic seeing and spiritual experiences

•             a new attention given to national identity

•             emphasis on extreme subjectivism

•             interest in the autobiographical

•             discontent with musical formulas and conventions

Music - Enrichment Activities #1 p.84

Compare the music of the romantic and classical periods.

Classical music is more known for its defined movements. The first movement usually is in Sonata form with an Exposition that moves from tonic to dominant, a development which develops themes from the Exposition and a recapitulation where the music moves back from the dominant and/or other keys to the tonic. The second movement is slow - typically an adagio or andante, the third movement is a scherzo or minuet and trio while the final movement is a Rondo, sometimes theme and variations.

The symphonic structure was adopted in the Classical time. More significant works were composed including the 9 Beethoven, the 100 plus Haydn and the 40 some Mozart Symphonies. You will notice that Romantic Symphonies are thicker in texture because the orchestration calls for more instruments but also the use of more brass instruments.

 Classical symphonies are usually strings, basson, flute, oboe, french horn, trumpet and timpani.

The sound of classical music is very smooth.

Romantic Music –on the other hand—is more flowing than smooth.

The shift here is from absolute music to program music. Romantic music tells a story, and you should be able to pick up the story the composer is trying to tell.The music is much thicker in texture, much more expressive especially with the use of rubato, and much more virtuosic. In the Romantic Generation, music was directly influenced from literary means.

The Romantic Symphony calls for a larger string section, a full compliment of winds (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and piccolo), full compliment of brass intruments (trumpet, trombone, french horn and occasionally Euphonium) and percussion.

 

 

TLE- Appetizers, Desserts, Sandwiches

Photographs that Changed the World - CLE - Poster

"Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead."
James 2:7

 

 

Poster - CLE

 

 

CLE Reflection - October

Love

“No one should separate a couple God has joined together.”
Mark 10:9

 

Very recently I have watched a video on YouTube where kids reacted to gay marriages. After showing the kids a bunch of clips and videos of gay people getting married, they asked them why people get married in the first place. At first the children were very sure of their answers. Most of the children answered that they married each other because they love each other. But then they were asked what the difference between being girlfriend and boyfriend and marrying was. Now this caught them off guard. Note: all of the children in this video are from the U.S. Divorce is legal in the U.S.

They then began to doubt if marriage is really important if you can break it off anyway by divorce. One of them even said, “what’s the point of marrying then?”

This struck a nerve. This simple question hurt me. What is the point of marrying if its promises could be broken easily by divorce? What is the point of making this covenant if you can easily back-out? What is the point of marriages if couples can still break off from their relationships; break off families? What is the point?

“No one should separate a couple God has joined together.”

This message is loud and clear yet plain and simple. If you read the rest of the verses that surrounds this passage in the Bible, you’ll see that Jesus clearly explained to His disciples that a marriage is joining two souls together as one. One. Two people together; a team. What happened?

Well, divorce happened. Well, not only that actually, some people just leave their spouses behind. And this is not rare. I have friends who have been abandoned by fathers and mothers. I see how damaged and broken they are. They’re lost.

“No one should separate a couple God has joined together.”

People have forgotten the sanctity of marriage, they have forgotten what marriage should be. Marriage—more than a ceremony or a union of two people—is a promise. It’s a promise that you will stay side by side, with each other, through the worst, and through death. It’s a promise that you live as one.

You cannot tear apart a heart and expect it to beat as whole. Separation, divorce, or whatever you want to call it, tears apart not only hearts but futures. It tears apart children. How will they believe in love if the first ones who should have taught them how to love, showed how to deprive them of love?

Everyone yearns for love. We people are made for love. God created us that way so that we need each other, we help each other, we become one.

But what is the point of becoming “one” if you can easily cut that one in half?

People are broken, I get it. But what I truly don’t get about this world, is why people would still find ways to twist something so beautiful and make it disturbingly horrific. Broken marriages cause broken families. Broken families cause broken children. Broken children become broken people.

It becomes a cycle. People break people, they break promises, they break lives. This is because they are broken themselves. And what is good in living in a broken world?

But you know, that’s the most beautiful thing about love. Real love stays no matter how broken something is. Real love is eternal, real love is strong and it is pure. It is stronger especially when flaws are bigger and when fears are deadlier. Real love stays.

 

That’s what’s missing. Love. Because why would you leave someone if you truly love them? Why would you leave them just because you can?

“No one should separate a couple God has joined together,” can also be read as;  “no one should separate a couple Love has joined together.”

God is love.

One time, I have asked God how He could still love His people even when they get so cruel and heartless. He told me “love them still.”

He’s accepting them for who they are, or for what they are even now. He loves them even when He knows there’s a chance they will never love Him back.

That’s love, you see. Love stays. God stays.

I think we should all learn from Him. I think we should all remember how to love.

CLE Reflection - September

Doing Nothing

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead.”
James 2:7

 

This passage is one of my favorite passages in the bible.

These few words have the impact of the fire of seven suns, burning through the ignorance of what makes people these days. Well, that is if they actually understand what this passage means.

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead” is same as saying “awareness without action is useless.” Both statements are incredibly true.

That is what I see in everyone most of the time. That is what I see in this world.  From newspapers, to television shows, to transportation vehicle, to the streets. Awareness without a action; a dead world. People looking, but not really seeing. That is what most of us are now nowadays, we look but we don’t see, we know but we don’t care, we do but we don’t do good, we help but we only help ourselves. Don’t believe me? Let me show you.

A man wakes up, turns on the television. The weatherman on the news talks about the change of climate recently and slips in a brief information about global warming and what causes it. One of those said causes is pollution. The man turns the television off, walks outside, and takes a pack of cigarette from his left pocket. He lights a stick and smokes it, looking at the black fog the cigarette creates. And he doesn’t even have a tinge of guilt, he’s not even remembering what he just saw on the news. But that’s understandable, right? People smoke, it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. I mean, it’s only the destruction of the ozone layer. It’s only his world.

A woman goes inside the church, rosaries and scapulars jingling in her pocket as she walks. She has memorized almost most of the passages in the Bible, she knew every prayer in existence. She prays the rosary very frequently as routine. She walks out of the church and was greeted by street children, extending their hands to her, asking for money or at least food. She gets annoyed, shouts at them, and swaps them away. She goes home without guilt. But that was okay right? They were just children on the street. They were just hungry, it wasn’t her fault they’re like that. It’s their parents fault. It’s fine right? What she did was what everyone else would do? I mean, who really paid attention to those beggars? They don’t really matter to anyone, right?

An honor student answers her homework; she encircles the drawing with a man throwing garbage at the right places; in garbage cans. She goes home that day, buys candy, unwraps it, and flicks the candy wrapper to the side of the road. She doesn’t even blink, she continues on walking back to her house. Why should she care about trash as small as that? The street sweepers are going to clean it up anyway, right? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like it’s a big deal right? It’s not like this planet gets any cleaner. It’s no big deal.

What did I just show you? Did I hit a nerve? I’m sure you see these kind of people everywhere, and I’m also sure that maybe a little part of you is like them.

Taking selfies is so much better than paying attention to the beggars on the streets. It’s okay if that jeep bursts out black smoke, you can’t do anything about it anyway. Every other vehicle does it, why should we care about this one?

Watching television shows is so much more worth my time than watching the news. It’s all the same, same old bad things happening to the country. It’s a waste of time to care, we can’t really do anything about it anyway. And why should we do anything about it? It’s not like we’re affected. It’s not like it’s our problem, right? Television shows are much more entertaining.

 There are no garbage cans, might as well throw trash there, they’ll clean it up anyway. It’s not like we should really care about what’s happening around us, we handle our own problems, we don’t need any other burdens. It’s a waste of time.

We don’t have to entertain those children asking for food, they’re just annoying. The police should just take them away so that they don’t disturb people. No big deal... we have no time for that. It’s not like we should really care, we should just mind our own business.

Don’t want the baby? Just abort it. It’s just a bunch of cells. It’s not actually alive yet, right? It’s not like it has a soul. Just kill it, it doesn’t matter. It’s not alive yet, so it’s not really killing, right? It’s just stopping it from living. It’s not like that’s a bad thing, right?

That kid over there gets bullied all of the time. You don’t know him, why should you do anything about it? You’re only one human being, you’ll get hurt if you interfere, might as well just stay quiet as they beat the life out of him. Doesn’t really matter, he’s not your friend, you’re strangers. What’s important is that you stay away from them. You don’t want trouble. It’s not like you can do anything anyway, right?

Do you see what I’m doing? Do you see what’s happening? And more importantly... do you see yourself?

But then again... it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. We don’t steal. We don’t cheat. We don’t kill. We’re just minding our own business. We have our own problems. We’re technically still good people. Right?

Wrong.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” –Albert Einstein

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead.” –James 2:7

Doing nothing is worse than doing evil things. Doing nothing means letting what you see be rather than making a difference and actually taking part of changing the world. Doing nothing means letting evil have its way, even when you know there’s something wrong.

Conclusion

 

So what exactly am I saying? That all people are bad for being ignorant? That this world is indeed dead? No. I’m not saying that. I’m saying, look at what’s happening right now. Look at yourself.

Do you see it? Do you see what has to be changed? Do you see what has to be done? Can you look at this world and finally for once... actually see?

Awareness without action is useless.  So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?

I hope you don’t.

I hope you stand for yourself and for others. I hope you sacrifice little pleasures for the sake of this world. I hope you go out and feed the hungry. I hope you go to the streets and pick up garbage that isn’t yours just for the sake of cleaning the environment. I hope you be kind to strangers. I hope you stop bullying. I hope you do what’s right... not what’s easy. I hope you start with yourself, look at this world, and make a change.

So what is it going to be?

Be afraid of being different from them all, or try standing up to make a difference?

It’s your choice. It always has been.

Choose well.