1. Music and addiction can be related to “Addiction” by Kayne and “Your Love is my Drug” by Ke$ha. Addiction is associated with “Addition” by Kayne because West speaks a lot about addictions that he’s developed as he became famous in the song. The lyrics they mentioned were “What’s your addiction? Is it money? Is it girls? Is it weed?”  It also uses musical texture and one melody while he asks questions. He also pronounces the question in a low tone and stays on beat. 

“Your Love is my Drug” by Ke$ha is associated with Addiction because Ke$ha speaks about the emotions that come with feeling addicted to something. How being in love has the same side effects as being addicted to a drug. A quote they mentioned was “…I’m lookin’ down every alley I’m makin’ those desperate calls I’m stayin’ up all night hopin’ hittin’ my head against the wall”. Ke$ha uses autotune to make the song sound like dance-pop and electronic. She switches back and forth to a high dynamic.

2. Music and addiction can be related to “Sober” by Selena Gomez and “Rehab” by Amy Whinehouse. “Sober” by Selena Gomez discusses a girl who is struggling in her relationship because her boyfriend only loves her when he’s drunk. The lyrics that stood out to me were, “But you don’t know how to love me when you’re sober. When the bottles done you pull me closer.” Her boyfriend doesn’t know how to love her when he’s drunk. This song relates to alcoholism which is an addiction. A musically interesting moment is the first 20 seconds it’s just the beat with a weird sound that’s repeated throughout the whole song. This song has consonant and dissonant sounds because at certain points she sings low notes and then higher notes that sound pleasing. 

“Rehab” by Amy Whinehouse is associated with addiction because it discusses her trouble with addiction. The lyrics “They tried to make me go to rehab. I said no no no” demonstrate that she doesn’t want help for her addiction. It’s actually sad because Amy Whinehouse died of alcohol poisoning at 27. The song has a lower pitch bc she has somewhat of a deeper voice compared to other female artists. The melody is also very catchy. A musically interesting moment is at 0:22-0:26 when she says “if my daddy thinks I’m fine”, it has disjunct because she drags out the words “daddy” and “fine” causing a long distance between the pitches.

A song that I believe is good music is “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. It uses the same melody as “I’m Blue” by Eiffel 65 making it a remix/cover of the original song. The dynamics change throughout the song. It starts a little soft then it reached a crescendo because it got louder, she started singing higher pitches, and more instruments were added in the background. The song also has a consistent piano melody in the background of the whole song. Furthermore, it’s electronic music which I believe makes it different compared to other pop songs. It can be a part of the “US Popular Music” unit because it can demonstrate how different genres are popular in the US. It could also be a part of the “Instruments and Music Technology” unit because this song has electronic music embedded into it. It can show how electronic music can sound different.

In a Catholic Church Gregorian chant is performed, it’s polyphonic but has elements of modern music. However, the range of music in Catholicism is extremely large. They believe that music and songs should encourage participation in the liturgical assembly. It’s also meant to cause feelings of “joy, rapture, loss, fear, longing, hope, humility, serenity, connection to God, connection to others, gravity, and solemnity”, as stated in https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/practices-values/music .

“Amazing Grace” is a song that both Christians and Catholics use. This piece expresses religious belief through its lyrics. For instance, “The Lord has promised good to me/ His word my hope secures/ He will my shield and portion be/ As long as life endures.” This song is meant to reiterate how Catholics believe that the Lord will protect them and they believe that there is hope and good because of him and his words. This song has moments of Melismatic and Syllabic singing. This song has no musical instruments. It’s acapella because there’s one main voice and then certain moments where there’s a group humming or singing along in the background.

I went to see Chase Atlantic perform in the summer of 2022. Chase Atlantic is a dark alternative pop group with elements of rock and R&B. They performed at Pier 17 which is a rooftop venue in Manhattan. There was a stage and the rest of the roof was full of people. I bought tickets for this concert 4 months before the actual day, because they sold out really fast. I really love Chase Atlantic’s songs, and 2 of my friends also did, so we all decided to go. The audience dressed how I assumed they would. Some had very emo/goth outfits, meaning a lot of fishnets, big black eyeliner, layered silver jewelry, lace, etc. Chase Atlantic consists of 3 guys, and they all dressed very causally, however, the lead eventually just wore pants. As for the interactions, all the fans screamed when the band performed, and there was a point where someone fainted and the band stopped playing and waited for the person to be brought to safety. What surprised me was that the band also threw water bottles at the crowd because it was really hot. Other than that it went as I expected. 

In comparison to the Khalid performance, they were similar because everyone had their phones out, sang along, and screamed when they started a new song. However, they are different because the performers had no dancers and the lead was jumping around a lot, unlike Khalid since it’s a different genre of music.

1. The author believes that once the music began it caused laughter, however, once the dancing began the audience catcalled so loudly that the performers couldn’t hear the orchestra. Eventually, a fight arose between 2 people in the audience, and then the audience started throwing vegetables and other objects at the stage and orchestra. It’s not certain if police ever arrived at the theatre, but 40 people were forced to leave. Even though all this transpired, the ballet was performed until the end. It’s unclear whether the audience was upset at the choreography or the music composition. 

2. The author says that what actually happened that night was not a riot. They say that since the dancers’ stomping movements were inspired in part by dances in Siberia, etc, the Europeans weren’t used to these “exotic” moves, and the aristocrats laughed because they thought they were supposed to. However, music lovers, critics, etc, were appalled and responded by complaining and insulting the aristocrats. The ballet ignited anger, but the anger was not all directed at the stage. The author uses Tamara Levitz’s “Racism at The Rite,” musicological research, to defend their points. Levitz cites various sources that described the atmosphere as confrontational and impassioned, but not physically violent. There are no mentions of any fights, and much less a riot, in the early stories. Furthermore, another piece of evidence proving there was no riot is that there was another ballet, Carl Maria von Weber’s Le Spectre de la rose, also choreographed by Nijinsky. If the riot was as destructive as portrayed, it would be impossible to perform another ballet after the destruction. 

3. I was confused and scared. Now we have seen scenes of exorcism and the dancing looked just like that. The intense music made me feel uneasy and grossed out. It was creepy. If I was in the audience in 1913, I probably wouldn’t be as scared because there weren’t exorcist scenes to even compare the performance to. I think I would still feel uneasy and really confused.

“Hound Dog was written by 2 Jewish composers, Leiber and Stoller. Big Mama Thorton was an American R&B singer and songwriter. In 1952 she was the first to record Leiber and Stoller’s “Hound Dog”, which became her biggest hit. Elvis Presley is a more well-known name and therefore when he covered “Hound Dog” in 1956, it became a worldwide hit. Elvis Presley was an American singer and was even said to be the “King of Rock and Roll”. “Hound Dog” originally was not “rock & roll”, it was “blues”. It’s originally meant to show female rage at a man who played her. 

However, Elvis’ cover diluted the meaning of the song. Big Mama Thorton was singing to a man, while Elvis was singing to a dog. He didn’t use the original lyrics, he chose to use the “Freddie and The Bell Boys” version of the lyrics.

In Big Mama Thorton’s version, she sang it with a screaming blues intensity. She sings it slower like in 0:23-0:27 when she sings “You told me you was high class”. 

Elvis however sang it at a faster tempo and added different instruments like the drums. Like in 0:16-0:20 you hear the powerful drums and Elvis saying “Well they said you were high class” really fast. With Elvis’ version, you can dance more and faster to it. It doesn’t have the anger that the original Big Mama’s version has. They are similar because they have similar lyrics and they both use guitar in their versions. They are different because the tempo is different, Elvis’ version has more instruments, and the meanings of the versions are different.

The purpose of a musical format is to store music. In order to store music digitally, you have to slice the audio signal and store each slice as a binary code. Also, the way the music is stored affects the shape of the music. For instance, MP3S “only record a limited range of frequencies and cut out the rest; small size but compressed sound”. Also, for records the grooves get “worn out as you play them, causing a ‘hiss’ sound.” Musical format has been used in different forms. For example, as records, tapes, MP3S, analogs, and digitally. I have experience with this technology because I have listened to records before. Most music uses a musical format and it influences the music because it helps to order sell and promote the music/artist. For instance, Tate McRae has started selling MP3S of her newest album “i used to think i could fly”. One of her most popular songs is “she’s all i wanna be”. https://youtu.be/uS_y_65CcpA

“Centuries” by Fall out Boy. Fall Out Boy represents various genres, including Alternative Rock, Pop, emo pop, and pop rock. I like the message of the song but also the intense moments this song has. I liked this song because it begins with a soft melody for a few seconds and then immediately gets more intense by introducing more instruments. Then near the end of the song before the last chorus, the same soft melody played in the beginning, is played again. I found this very interesting because it reminds you how the song began. Lastly, throughout the whole song the same piano repetition/melodic line is played in the back, which is homophony. Chords also accompany it in order to create the song. https://youtu.be/vR18NP-acL4

The most interesting thing about the Romantic period is that its music is focused a lot on emotion over reason and more on individuality. It was during this time that a lot of musicians used music as a way of letting out their intense emotions. I already knew that there was more emotional intensity and rule-breaking during the romantic period. The textbook says that the Romantic period was a time when music emphasized intense emotion over reason, “freedom and spontaneity over order and control, individual over universal experience.” Also that many artists demonstrated their unhappy love relationships, etc through their art. During this time they also increased the number of performers and instruments in the orchestra, and meant to be performed to larger audiences. 

I listened to Nicolo Paganini and the music sounded like what I would expect it to. There were moments of dramamtic playing and moments that were calm, thereby reflecting the change in emotions one feels. It also sounds like music that would be played back then, and not so much in the present. His music was mainly violin playing and would be seen as more popular back then than now.