My presentation I chose is Music & Friendship by Joanne.Friendship refers to a long-term relationship between two people with trust, respect, and mutual understanding. Music is a kind of thing that can resonate with people. When two people who don’t know each other listen to the same singer’s song, then bonds can form. For me, a strong friendship is hard to produce, so I will cherish every friend I make.

Joanne talks about two songs, the first song is “For Youth” from Bts. Although I am not familiar with BTS, my high school friend likes BTS very much, she always talks about them with me. The song was written by BTS to thank the fans for their continuous support, which shows the friendship between the fans and BTS. While listening to the song (3:27), the fans can be heard singing along. I love it when one of them is singing and the others are singing in synch.

The second is “If You Suddenly Think of Me” by ChiliChill, a fan-written song released during the second-anniversary celebration of Genshin Impact. Coincidentally, I also play Genshin ^^, and I love this song. The song is about the friendship between the archons and the player because, during the story of the game, the player develops a strong friendship with the archons from four different countries. The interesting thing is that the song was sung by the archons’ voice actors in the game. The song is warm and catchy, with the guitar showing the melody at the beginning and the whistle added to make the song more interesting.

Friendship wasn’t the theme I chose, (I felt great joy while writing this blog, happy and warm music always makes people feel better :D) but my playlist is full of these kinds of songs. I chose two songs to relate to this theme.

1.Let the wind tell you（让风告诉你）by ChiliChill.

You may be familiar with the author because the song is also related to Genshin Impact. It’s from GenshinImpact’s first-anniversary celebration. The song shows the friendship between the player and companions who meet as they travel in the Genshin World. It’s a lovely song, with a bell sound at the beginning, accompanied by strings, which slowly get louder, and a short pause followed by a rhythmic drum beat. I enjoyed the climax at 2:57 when the chorus of “LaLaLa” made me feel warm.

2.キズナ（entanglement）by ANCHOR.

The song expresses the idea that friends can always be connected even if they are far away from each other. The video shows two girls doing the same thing in different places, with each other’s song playing in their headphones, before meeting as night falls. The song is also the theme song for the Japanese film sabakan, after two teenagers met by chance in the 80s and began their adventure to go see the dolphin. The two children in poverty, family discord, and even life-threatening influence, step by step become each other’s entanglement. By the end of the day, the dolphins are almost forgotten, but they have gained the most important friendship. At 3:43, you’ll hear some electric guitar sounds, with the drum beating and the singer singing, and the electric guitar will be louder at the end. The lyrics said that “As long as we are under the same sky, we will not be alone. Just like before, don’t give up. Let’s move forward step by step together.”. This song resonates with me. When I listen to it, it always reminds me of my friends on the other side of the earth.

The music I chose is You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. Taylor is an American singer-songwriter whose songs come in many different styles. Each of her songs is like a little story, creating a picture in my mind when I listen to it.

This is country-pop music, with banjos and electric guitars. The song is adapted by Taylor Swift based on the experience of a friend. It tells the story of the girl‘s unrequited love for the boy. Finally, the boy leaves the girlfriend who doesn’t love him and gets together with the girl. The song opens with a banjo melody, followed by catchy lyrics from Taylor Swift. The lyrics “But she wears short skirts/I wear shirts” show how she sees the difference between herself and the man’s girlfriend. “If you could see that I’m the one/Who understands you/Been here all along/So, why can’t you see? /You belong with me. “It can show a girl’s unrequited feelings of insecurity. At 2:25, the melody of the electric guitar solo takes over, along with the drums.

I think the song is related to American popular music and the influence of this song is huge. The song has been played 1.3 billion times on youtube, and the story in this song can resonate with many people. It is a representative pop and country music in the United States, and it also adds the innovation of electric guitar on this basis.

My religion of choice is Buddhism. Buddhist music originated in India and gradually flourished around the 1st century AD. Buddhist chants are a kind of Buddhist music, which has been spread from ancient India till now. It is a kind of music with the nature of chanting, with both melody and singing.

The variety of Buddhist activities and rituals has given rise to different styles of music, which can be roughly divided into two categories: popular Buddhist music for folk purposes and Buddhist music for religious rites. Although popular Buddhist music has the musical theme of Buddhism, it is not limited to the chanting of believers in temples or Dharma meetings due to its good melody but is widely accepted by the public, such as Li Na’s Guanyin Bodhisattva and Huang Siting’s Love Affair. Buddhist music mainly refers to the Buddhist music of Buddhist chants, which is sung by the devotees in monasteries and some dharma meetings. In the temple, monks perform this music in the form of chanting during morning and evening classes. Buddhists sing or recite scriptures on a daily basis to remember the teachings of Guanyin to calm their hearts and sublimate their perverse desires.

When I was very young, I visited my great-grandmother with my family, before she passed away. She lay unconscious on the bed with a radio playing the Great Sorrow Mantra. I was too young to understand the meaning of the song. After that, for a long time, I associated the Great Mercy Mantra with death and I was afraid of the Great Mercy Mantra for a few years. As I grew older, I learned that the Great Mercy Mantra had the power to heal, purify and protect. The Great Mercy Mantra praises Avalokitesvara, respects the Bodhisattva’s compassion and compassionate qualities, and asks for protection from suffering.

The Great Mercy Mantra begins with a bell sound, then the sound of the flute enters, and the flute ends at 0:37 seconds, to be replaced by a human voice. Buddhist music does not have very distinct pitch fluctuations but instead centers around a major melody to sing Sanskrit. Use this way to remember the text and its teachings. After the chorus of male and female voices is over, the sound of the flute appears again, accompanied by the sound of the pipa, and the erhu is added at 2:50. 3.12 The second loop begins. The number of cycles of the Great Mercy Mantra varies from person to person. As far as I know, Buddhists usually chant the Great Mercy Mantra at least three times a day.

I had never seen a concert before I started this project, and I chose Taylor Swift’s Concert after doing some searching. After watching the concert, I was hooked. The concert that I chose was “Taylor Swift ‘s reputation Stadium Tour 2018”. Taylor is an American singer-songwriter whose songs come in many different styles. Each of her songs is like a little story that creates a picture in my mind as I listen to it. The concert took place in the stadium. Reflecting themes of Reputation, the concept of the Reputation Stadium Tour incorporated Goth subculture, Broadway theatricality, and snake motifs.

I like the song in the concert called “Style/Love Story/You Belong With Me”.She mashup the three songs very smoothly and harmoniously. She switched songs before I knew it, and the smoothness was amazing. At the beginning of each of these songs, the audience will cheer and shout. In the middle, the band comes out and Taylor says to the audience: “Dallas, will you please make some noise for my incredible bank?” Then the audience cheers. Taylor’s words and songs lifted the mood of the audience. The audience danced and waved their hands, singing along with Taylor.

I was surprised by the design of this concert because the songs have so many styles, and the stage changes depending on the song style, after “Style/Love Story/You Belong With Me“ and a moment of darkness, Taylor changed clothes and brought the crowd to their peak again with “Look What You Made Me Do.”Completely different styles was shock me. It was a perfect concert.

Compared with the“First movement of Symphony No. 5, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven， Performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim” There is a big difference between them. Taylor’s concerts focus on the songs and interaction with the audience. Taylor will channel the audience’s mood and immerse them in the atmosphere of the concert. Beethoven’s concerts are focused on the performance of the music, the audience will not hum along with the music, very quiet to listen to the orchestra. The audience clapped only at the beginning and the end.

 “100 years ago today, ‘The Rite of Spring’ incited a riot in a Paris theater”

The premiere of The Rite of Spring by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky is considered one of the most important and violent performances in modern history, as well as one of the most notorious. In this article, the author gives a general account of what happened on the night of May 29, 1913. At the beginning of the ballet, the orchestra plays. But soon after the orchestra began playing, many in the audience laughed at a high-pitched bassoon solo because they thought that was harsh and creepy. The orchestra continued to play, but the jeers became louder and louder, and the audience thought the orchestra’s performance was noisy. Then the dancers came on stage and the noise was at its highest. Because the dancers wear bizarre costumes, the dancers eschewed elegance and fluid movements and dance weird and violent movements. The audience had never seen such a bizarre ballet performance, and the noise of their discontent gradually drowned out the orchestra, so much so that even Igor Stravinsky was forced to stop Shouting backstage. But this has had little effect. The audience was divided into two groups. On one side were those who thought the performance was not art at all, and they mocked and cursed it. On one side, the audience is curious about the avant-garde performance. They were unhappy with the invective, and scuffles broke out between the two factions. The orchestra found themselves drawn into the melee too, everything available thrown at them. 40 people seriously interfered with the performance and were ejected, probably by the police but there was no physical evidence. Despite the chaos, the orchestra continued to play until the end of the performance.

 “Did Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring incite a riot at its premiere?”

In this blog post, the author argues that the riot never happened. There was some audience dissatisfaction but only verbal aggression and no physical altercations as reported. The author believes that the audience’s dissatisfaction comes from two reasons, one is the seat of the audience and the other is because of racism. The author was greatly helped by Dr. Levitz’s article, in which Levitz pointed out that due to the peculiarities of the theater architecture, the sound of the orchestra would reflect off the concrete, and the sound that would bounce back would amplify the music of the band. The sound of the orchestra, which is already harsh, is made even harsher by environmental reflection. Levitz argues that the effect of the theater and the theme of “Rite of Spring” set off a disturbing chain reaction. The second reason was that the actors in The Rite of Spring were dressed in costumes similar to those they had seen exploited people wearing at colonial expositions. Some aristocrats thought this was pleasing to them, so they laughed at the performance onstage. Some people were shocked by the unreasonable behavior of the nobles, so they responded by complaining and insulting the nobles. And so the conflict began.

In today’s world, various types of ballets/performances are very common. So when I first listened to this ballet, I didn’t think it was noisy, I didn’t think like people in the last century. On the contrary, I would be curious to see what kind of story the ballet would tell and look forward to its development. If I were in the audience in 1913, and I had not heard anything like The Rite of Spring, I would have been shocked, shocked that there was such a unique way of performing it, and would not have laughed at it as much as the audience did.

The selected song is 天ノ弱(Amaojaku) by 164, a Japanese musician who is good at producing rock and VOCALOID music. This song is about a cowardly girl who chooses to escape again and again when she treats the coming of love. She obviously likes him very much but she speaks the opposite again and again. In the face of the boy’s affection, the girl felt at a loss, she still couldn’t speak her heart out. However, time waits for no one,the boy who love her has not been get a response. Until the boy met a new love, then the girl remembered the past, only to find how much they like this person, and sing this regret and sad song.

The story is sad, but the rock style of the whole song makes the mood of the whole song change. In this version, the girl seems to have gotten over the incident, as if she were telling a story that happened a long time ago. But in my opinion, this song is just like the girl in the story, singing this song easily and happily, but the heart is very sad, covering the sadness with rock and roll. This version focuses on the girl’s regret for not speaking her mind. Say “I’m a bron coward” out loud to express the emotion of the regret. The style of this version is rock and roll, so the song rhythm is very fast. In 2:26, the burst of emotion culminates with the electric guitar.

Akie, a Chinese online female singer, rearranged the song to make a piano version of 天ノ弱 , changing the previous electronic rock style. This version is very lyrical, the lyrics and melody do not change, this version pays more attention to the loss and sadness that cannot be confessed, the song speed is very slow, just like a young girl in the pain that cannot confess herself. I like the performance from 2:59-3:26 very much. The simple piano chords in the background and the gentle and slow singing of the female voice show the despair and sadness of the girl watching the boy leave her most vividly, and then she says to herself: “You are a born coward”. I think this is the unique charm of piano. this two versions of the songs are really difference, electric guitar and the piano play completely different emotions, and in my opinion they even change the context of the phrase “I’m a bron coward”.

The technology I chose is audio recording.

The original purpose of audio recording was to preserve and reproduce sound.Audio recordings include analog and digital recording.Analog recording refers to printing sound waves directly onto physical media (such as records and magnetic tapes).Digital recording is more familiar to me. It refers to converting sound signals into binary code and then processing them on a phone or computer, such as recording music or sound on a recording software.Sometimes I will record songs on my laptop or phone and process them.

The music genre HIP HOP was born from the  technique of sampling, where rappers isolate a snatch of song and play them over and over again to produce a percussive, rhythmic sound, and then innovate it. As the technology in our life is continuing developing, the technology for entertainment is also being more and more advanced, synthesizers play an important role in the music of the 21st century.In Japan, there is a speech synthesis engine called Vocaloid.They recorded and synthesized human voices, and then presented songs by typing in tones and lyrics.And the singers created by these music software are called virtual singers. The advent of this technology means that a song can be created without a band and singers.Here is a song that was created using this technique：https://youtu.be/e1xCOsgWG0M

The song I chose is a game boss battle theme from Genshin Impact’s La Signora Battle, which was composed by Yupeng Chen, a Chinese composer on the game team. Genshin’s music serves the story in the game, so listening to their music allows you to visualize the story in your head. The main character in this song I chose is called La Signora, she is a sad and pathetic character. The innocent girl lost her lover and turned into a crimson witch. She resorted to all means and joined the evil forces to achieve the goal. She was willing to burn her life to fight against the injustice of the world.

The song is divided into two phases. From 14 seconds, celesta joined in. The cold timbre of celesta made people feel cold, and the bass strings and bass drum formed a heartbeat sound, which made people feel uneasy and dangerous. More and more strings join in, and at 60 seconds, dynamics become louder and louder. Then the female chorus joins in to sing the melody, and the female chorus here gives me the feeling that she is telling her suffering. At 2:08 seconds, along with the harp, the male chorus joins in, as to sigh and feel sad about her suffering. Then they call and respond, making the emotion stronger, and finally, they seem to reach some kind of consensus. The music stops and phase one is over.

In 4 minutes, the second phase begins, which is very different from the first phase. Compared with the cello sound in the first phase(at 0:02) , the rhythm of the music is much faster, and the string instrument was replaced by the electric guitar. At 3:36 seconds, the female voice joined again, this time no longer feeling sad, replacing sadness with anger. At 3:57 seconds, drum and bass, strings, and male chorus joined in. The crazy strings made me hear her anger. At 4:30, the electric guitar replaced the crazy strings again, bringing the emotions to the highest level. After the guitar is over, the female voice appears as an operatic solo with the flowing sound of the harp. It is as if she suddenly recalls the good times she had with her lover. Then the drums and the male voice come back and bring her back to reality. Finally, she stands in the fire singing her sorrow, flaming herself up, sacred and solemn.

This song mixes classical music with modern electronic music on the basis of opera. that is what I think is most interesting. Yupeng Chen combines these two elements so well that it sounds totally compatible. it was blew my mind when I heard this song for the first time while playing the game.

Here is the link: https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VnMOQ2j2l4

Textbooks describe this period as a departure from tradition. In this period, there were so many different styles of music and genres, so there was no dominant style. For me, That is the most interest thing about this period, because in the evolution of traditional music, repertoire styles tend to evolve in isolation, they confined to their own culture, in 20 century,With modern technology and contact with people from all over the world, composers began to integrate and innovate elements from different countries. “performers study and gain mastery in Repertoires of cultures other than their own, And composers can draw on the entire world of music in creating new crossover styles”(textbook）

In this period, a harmonic system different from the past musical tradition emerged, which is atonality. Traditional music is based on smooth, natural, and regular progress, while atonality composition is contrary to traditional music, atonality has no tonal center. “That rejected Principles of a key center and the distinction between consonance and dissonance that had been Foundation of Western Music for centuries.”That’s how the textbook describes it.

I listened to Arnold Schoenberg’s piece called “Phantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1949)”.Arnold Schoenbe is the creator of atonality. Before I heard it, I imagined it to be chaotic, in fact, it was more chaotic than I thought. It presented on violin and piano. It was very different from the traditional music I heard before. This piece was irregular, which made me feel anxious and upset. In the end, the rapid sound of the violin and piano made this mood reach its peak.