Padda Blog 9
- Music and Racism by Justin
The topic is how music and racism is connected and how music often talks about the topic. In terms of the songs he chose, “Black Man” by Stevie Wonder. The song talks about different attacks on people of color that have occured and brings light to these social issues. Many different instruments are used and the important point in the song shown in class was very interesting as the instrumentals behind it were unique.
If I were to do the topic I would choose “Riot” by XXXTentacion and “The Bigger Picture” by Lil Baby. Both songs speak about racism especially towards African Americans and how police brutality occurs in America even in the 21st century. Both songs came up due to the Black Lives Matter movement and show the major protests that were going on at the time.
2. Music and Death by Regina
The topic is how death and music are often tied together and how death is shown in different music types like composition and game OSTs. “Dies Irae” – Death Motif, is a composition apart of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. It explores death through a drug dream, they signify death through its score and an interesting moment would be the first four notes as they show death. The 2nd song they used is “The Strings and Keys” from the game Omori. The song signifies the final duet between Mari and Sunny, after Mari killed his sister without meaning to. A prevalent moment is at 4:15 in which it shows a piano fadeout to a singular violin note. It is a beautiful song that signifies the loss of a loved one.
If I wrote about the topic I would use the “Welcome to the Death Parade” by My Chemical Romance and “Veil” by Keina Suda. Both songs talk bout the loss of loved ones. However, MCR uses the Black Parade as a way to set a narrative of life and death and the song signifies the start of the end. Veil on the other side, talks about the loss of a close person and how it affects them. Both songs are amazing. Veil at 0:50 bursts into a new timbre and pitch making it amazing, while death parade the first 40 seconds just set the tone of the song through its instrumentals.
Limo Blog 9
The presentation I choose to talk about is Susan Impellizziari’s playlist. Her topic was music and grieving. In her presentation Susan did a really good job by explaining what grieving is in a short and simple understanding way. She chooses songs that show different stages of grieving. I find this very interesting because a song that can connect to grieving the loss of a loved one can also relate to a different stage of moving forward from it. In her presentation Susan talks about the song “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert, she relates to this song because it was her and her grandfathers song. After he passed away she listenings to this song to remember him, but most importantly the song brings back specific memories that helps her grief in a healthy way because while music holds memory music also hold emotion. the second song Susan choose is “I’ll See You Again” by Westife, this song demonstrates the acceptance phase of grief and is a great choose to close off her playlist topic.
I did not choose this topic but if I did a song that I would have put on my playlist would’ve been “Suppermarket Flowers” by Ed Sheeran. I would’ve chosen this song because it speaks about grieving someone and compares the passed loved one to an angel. The song is written from the acceptance stage of grief and we see this when Ed Sheeran sings, “He’ll say, ‘Hallelujah, you’re home'”. But the song also helps listeners get to that stage of grief where they can move on. The second song I would’ve chosen to put in my playlist would’ve been “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. This song speaks about the passing of one of the bandmates father, but in the song the lyrics mention, “Seven years has gone so fast Wake me up when September ends”. This lyric stands out a lot because it shows how much of an impact the lose of a loved one can make on someones life. People take different amount of time to grief a passing and sometimes before they even realize years have gone by, and this is an experience that the band shares in this song. This song stands out a lot compared to the rest of the bands songs because instead of sounding so pop-rock it sounds very soft and very similar to The Beatles.
Blog 9 Pappalardi
In Despina Markakis’ presentation she finds a connection between music and animal cruelty. Despina found that many animal welfare organizations use music to connect with people and their cause. Examples of these groups are Music Against Animal Cruelty, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or (ASPCA). These groups use lyrics, background music, and musicians to perform for their charity. The first song she uses as an example is “Behind the Mask” by Goldfinger which speaks out on animal liberation and radicalism in the animal liberation movement. The second song she uses is “Exotic Animals Suite: I. Exotic Birds” by Mark Dal Porto which uses woodwinds to recreate bird noises.
If I wrote about this topic the music I would choose would be “In the Arms of an Angel” by Sarah McLachlan, and “Get Off My Back” by Bryan Adams. The first song is connected to the infamous ASPCA commercial about neglected animals needed for adoption. The commercial uses the sad lyrics of wanting to be cared and loved for to convince people who watch the commercial to help these animals. The most musically interesting moment would have to be the very beginning because as soon as you hear it you might tear up a bit. The second song is less well known and is used in the movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” The song is used in the part of the movie where Spirit, the horse, is trying to be tamed by the ranchers who captured him. the entire time spirit is bucking them off not wanting to be tamed by them. The song is supposed to show the unwillingness of the horse and the cruelty he is put under. The chorus is full of energy and emotion that can only be described as anger and frustration.