Motet Music Essays - Medieval Music, Renaissance Music,

Motet Music The genesis of the motet is, like the biblical birth of Eve, a matter of appendage. In the case of Eve, a rib was removed from Adam and fashioned into a women; the motet was a rib added to pre-existing clausulae. James C. Thomson describes this development as follows: ?In the thirteenth century, perhaps sooner, it became the practice to add a new text to the upper voice of a clausula. The newly worded, was then called motetus.? (Thomson, 56) Despite its somewhat haphazard birth, the form was widely accepted. Grout describes its popularity as: ?Thousands of motets were written in the thirteenth century; the style spread from Paris throughout France and to all parts of western Europe.? (Grout, 99) Originality was not a hallmark of the thirteenth century motet. In fact, of the two essential characteristics of the motet, one was that ?it was constructed on a cantus firmus, some pre-existent melody (Thomson, 57) The other was that it had at least two different texts. As Grout points out, ?the stock of motet melodies, both tenors and upper parts, lay in the public domain; composers and performers freely helped themselves to the music of their predecessors without acknowledgment and altered it without notice.? (Grout, 99) A unique characteristic of the motet of this period is the mixing of melodies and rhythms. Alfred Einstein described this technique as: ?This may be called polymelody, the compulsory combination of the two or more distinct melodies with different rhythms (Einstein, 26) With the acceptance of such combinations came the development of stranger mixtures. Side by side with a sacred liturgical text appeared secular texts of sometimes outrageous contrast. The mixture of sacred and secular text was a result of the fact that less and less notice was taken of the connection between the texts of the tenor and duplum. Einstein theorized this development was arbitrary, however most belief the music is premised on an, ?internal perception? (Bukofzer, 28) and to the musician, ?to them a detail was a value in itself.? (Mathiassen, 70) The motet blended the different planes of music. An additional development in the technique of mixing and adding is that not only was it polyphonic, polyrythmic, and polytextual, but music was now polyglot: ?one or more vernacular (French) texts might be substituted for Latin ones.? (Thomson, 57) During this time, composers of the Notre Dame School concerned themselves with the development of clausulae in ?rhythmically identical patterns.? (Harman, 53) Harman writes: ?This was not only the culmination of the Notre Dame preoccupation with rhythm, but was also a very important innovation, because it eventually developed into the chief structural device of the fourteenth century motet.? (Harman, 53) The structural device alluded to above, goes under name of ?isorhythm?, (same rhythm). At first, this concept of single rhythm was applied solely to the tenor part, but gradually the principle was applied to the other parts. Creating a greater unity and sense of whole to the listener. Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) ?was a master of the isorythmic motet.? (Thomson, 59) It was he who pioneered the application of the principle to the other parts. He and Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-c.1377), whose ?claim that the ear should be used to check a completed composition was the first indication that the combination of the given melodies? was beginning to yield to a freer, more individual attitude towards creative art.? (Einstein, 34) Machaut was the most prominent practitioner of the strophic motet and preferred the use of French text. (Saide, 625) The fourteenth century also witnessed a change in attitude toward text. The polytextual thirteenth-century motet was replaced by the fourteenth-century forms, which typically had a single text, treated either as a solo (the French ballad) or distributed between the voices in such a way as to keep the words always clearly understandable. (Grout, 157) The development of the motet from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries can be characterized as a gradual turning away from the abstract, nonsensuous principles of construction toward pleasure of sounds for their own sake, and toward a clarity of structure immediately apparent from the music itself, without reference to esoteric meanings. (Grout, 157) Many of the motets written during the fourteenth century were constructed in

Strongest and Weakest Parts of a Magnet

Strongest and Weakest Parts of a Magnet Did you know that the magnetic field of a magnet is not uniform? The strength of the field varies depending on its location around the magnet. The magnetic field of a bar magnet is strongest at either pole of the magnet. It is equally strong at the north pole when compared with the south pole. The force is weaker in the middle of the magnet and halfway between the pole and the center. If you were to sprinkle iron filings on a piece of paper and place the magnet beneath it, you could see the path of the magnetic field lines. The field lines are closely packed at either pole of the magnet, widening as they get farther from the pole and connecting to the opposite pole of the magnet. The magnetic field lines emerge from the north pole and enter the south pole. The magnetic field gets weaker the farther you get from either pole, so a bar magnet is only useful for picking up small items over short distances. Where Is the Magnetic Field Strongest? Iron filings make a pattern tracing field lines because each bit of iron is itself a tiny dipole (the separation between magnetic fields). The force the dipole experiences is proportional to the strength of the dipole and proportional to the rate at which the magnetic field changes. The dipole tries to align itself with a magnetic field, but at the ends of a bar magnet, the field lines are very close together. What this indicates is that the magnetic field varies strongly over a short distance compared to the variation closer to the middle of the magnet. Because the magnetic field changes so dramatically, a dipole feels more force.

Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Environment - Assignment Example Although solar energy has been in use for a long time, generating electricity from this source has not been fully adopted hence this has locked up great benefits associated with this alternative source of energy (Foster; Ghassemi, & Cota 47). Even though the solar energy is free, there are hindrances to achievement of this technology. For example, the cost of installation of solar harnessing equipment is extremely high. Also, the availability of solar energy fluctuate from place to another with some parts of the globe receiving maximum solar energy while others have low solar intensity. Also, solar availability is affected by the seasons and time of the day (YouTube). Implementation of this law will result to increase in efficiency of solar energy production since many people will invest in solar energy hence encourage innovation (Foster; Ghassemi, & Cota 47). Although the availability of solar energy may not increase, the efficiency of harnessing this energy will result to increase in the amount of power output lower cost of production (Boxwell 49). The cost saving on environmental management compensates the additional cost of generating solar energy on a large

Famous theatrical person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Famous theatrical person - Essay Example His first film role was in 1939, so he had a good decade of stage work to his credit before that first film role. Olivier was tall, dark, and handsome; all of the ingredients that attracted women to him throughout his stage and acting career. He was incredibly talented, and took on roles that challenged his range of abilities, such as that very early experience of playing the female lead in The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare was a vehicle for his stage career, and it was only natural that it overflowed into his film career. â€Å"He directed and starred in a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V, a role that earned him his first Academy Award (online 2011).† But he was devoted to the theatre, and spent a lot of money that he earned making films to revive and reinvigorate interest in theatre stage productions (online 2011). In 1963, â€Å"he became producer-director of the National Theatre Company, to raise money for this company, he accepted virtually all movie ro les offered to him, from the 1960s-1970s he appeared in over 30 films (online 2011).† One can only imagine Olivier’s love for theatre, but it was a devotion that stayed with him throughout his life.

Ethnomusicology: Developments of Māori Music

Ethnomusicology: Developments of MÄ ori Music Music in Context A: Ethnomusicology Discuss some of the more recent social, cultural and technological developments that have informed studies in ethnomusicology Introduction For this essay I will be focusing on the MÄ ori people of New Zealand, and looking at the changes and developments in both their traditional music and that of their modern popular culture, much of which is adopted from American and European sources. I will include the work of several ethnomusicologists who have experience in the areas of MÄ ori music, modern New Zealand popular culture, and American rap music and its sphere of influence. The MÄ ori people Have had their own traditional songs since they first inhabited New Zealand. However, there have been changes to the cultural situation of the music and how it is received by both the white public and MÄ ori youth. In this essay I will focus on three points, the transcendence of MÄ ori traditional music, the changes made as a reaction to this and the influence of other modern genres and styles, specifically American rap, to discuss these changes and how they have informed ethnomusicology either positively or negatively. In doing so I hope to show that a vibrant musical continuum is working in New Zealand youth culture, informed by both their traditions and outside influences, and yet is making original new music because of this. Song loss and researching traditional music The MÄ ori have inhabited New Zealand since the 14th century when they arrived from other Pacific islands seeking new lands to migrate to and cultivate. It is hard for an ethnomusicologist to find or have found any songs surviving from the earliest parts of MÄ ori history, for several reasons. Firstly, as many MÄ ori songs are to do with traditions and practices, when those traditions or practices become obsolete or go out of use, then the songs will be lost with them.For example, when canoes started to be replaced with sail ships, all songs about canoeing were either lost, or modified to talk about sail ships instead. Secondly, because of superstitious beliefs, many songs have restricted performances, where only certain members of the tribe or community are allowed to attend and listen or join in. This also limits the number of MÄ ori who will learn theses songs, as they are taught purely by oral tradition. The teaching itself is a point of interest, as traditionally the folk songs of MÄ ori are taught in a very strict sense,as they are not meant to change organically or be re-interpreted, apart from if the community as a whole learns a new version in line with a new meaning, as with the canoe/sail ship example above. In most cases, the songs will be passed down through generations, preserved as accurately as possible, which would in fact make it easy for an ethnomusicologist to discover these antiques of folk song. However, these traditions were cut abruptly short by the intervention of European missionaries. The missionaries were accepted to a degree by MÄ ori curiosity, and arrived decades before the treaty of Waitangi in 1840,which signified the taking of New Zealand by the English under queen Victoria and the official surrender of the MÄ ori as a people (though conflict did continue for years). These missionaries took it upon themselves to educate the seemingly primitive MÄ ori tribes in every aspect of Christian and European ideals. This included their music, as the Europeans found their traditional folk chants ‘idolatrous, ‘indecent and even ‘lascivious.The missionaries set about their task quickly, so much so that by 1830, a letter sent from a missionary to his brother-in-law at home in England read; Quietness and good order has succeeded to their native wildness; we never hear anything of their songs or dances. In place of their traditional music, the missionaries taught them hymns and church music. In doing so, they also taught the rudiments of western music theory, which they encouraged the MÄ ori to adopt as their new musical language. This meant that many new MÄ ori songs were created, using traditional words and stories, but with diatonic harmonies that made them listenable and distinguishable to a European ear.Though this was widely acknowledged and followed through to the MÄ oris own teaching, some traditional songs were kept hidden and secreted in both MÄ ori text collections and those of curious westerners. One such was John McGregor, a guard of captured MÄ ori warriors held in a beached hulk at Auckland harbour. John ‘collected and later published a large number of songs written down by the captives.He could be said to have been one of the first to research and record MÄ ori traditional music, yet this white interest in the music did not start to reappear until t he twentieth century. This change occurred on a grand scale over the next century, and to this day MÄ ori music is seen as synonymous with hymns and European-based melodies. This view has been widely held by the white general public for all of the twentieth century, though many MÄ ori know it not to be entirely accurate. Ethnomusicologist Mervyn Mclean stated that among the public at large, however, such songs are a mostly hidden tradition.A revival of the MÄ ori culture began in the 1960s, dubbed the MÄ ori renaissance,and with it came both the technology and the motivation to record and preserve the traditional songs that were left among the populace. This made the job of collecting and studying MÄ ori music a lot easier for ethnomusicologists, as up until this utilisation of new recording technology, they had been hard pressed to source singers and songs out. Mclean mentions that ‘preparations for fieldwork took an inordinate amount of timein the late 1950s, and mentions that without th e huge advantage of meeting several willing MÄ ori Elders I would not have had the resources to survive in the field. Changes and modern learning The traditional MÄ ori song forms, as well as being non-diatonic as previously stated, were in fact completely incompatible with western tonal language. Though the melodies sung could be transcribed into musical notation, they were not in a fixed time signature or particular key as we would understand it. The lack of harmonic movement mystified witnesses to performances in the nineteenth century, as the MÄ ori music relied more on repetition, both rhythmic and harmonic, and different performance approaches by different singers, for the colour and variety in their music.

Last poem Essay

Dogen was greatly surprised by the fact that making a strong accent on the study of koan Chinese masters did not teach their disciples Buddhist sutras, which made the core study in Buddhist monasteries in Japan (Tanahashi, 5). Dogen’s discontent with the style of teaching became even a reason of his refusal to take Dharma transmission from one of the masters. In 1225 Dogen decided to leave Rinzai school of Chan Buddhism and started his journey in order to visit Ru-jing, whose style of Zen teaching differed from ones which disenchanted Dogen. Ru-jing was the thirteenth patriarch of Soto lineage of Zen Buddhism. During that time he lived at Tiantong Mountain in Nongbo. Soto school, presented by Ru-jing made an accent on sitting meditation, or zazen. In general it used much softer methods than Rinzai School did. Studying Zen with Ru-jing Dogen has finally reached enlightenment of mind and body. The legends state that he finally reached liberation after hearing the Master’s words: â€Å"Cast of body and mind† (Tanahashi). These words became especially meaningful for Dogen and he later used them in many his writings. As he states in one of his works: †To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things of the universe. To be enlightened by all things of the universe is to cast off the body and mind of the self as well as those of others. Even the traces of enlightenment are wiped out, and life with traceless enlightenment goes on forever and ever† (Kim, 195). In 1227 Dogen received Dharma transmission from Ru-jing and finally admitted that he has reached the answer for the question of all his life. Dogen was greatly influenced by his teacher Ru-jing. All Dogen’s religious philosophy is marked by two major tendencies. The first peculiarity of all Dogen’s teaching is his attachment to Buddhism tradition and second one is a strong accent on individual search. These tendencies can be traced not only in Dogens’s books but also in his lifestyle. Dogen did not reject traditional Buddhism. He only wanted people to give critical evaluation of its doctrines and principles. Dogen criticized competition among different schools of Zen because they were tiring Buddhism to pieces. He proclaimed identity of faith and believed it could have been found in Soto Zen. He did not even want to apply the name Zen for his sect and did his best to follow his teacher’s lifestyle living without attachment to anything. In 1228, after reaching enlightenment, Dogen returned to Japan. He came back to ti Kennin-ji, a monastery where he spent several years learning from Eisai and his successors. After coming back he wrote a detailed description of sitting mediation called Zazen. The manual was called Fukan Zazengi, which can be translated as â€Å"Universally Recommended Instruction for Zazen. † His teaching appealed to many people and he gathered a lot of adherents around himself. After some time he had to leave Kennin-ji because of tension, which arouse inside the Tendai community. This tensions with caused by the desire of Buddhist leaders to suppress new forms of Buddhism, including Zen. Dogen left Kinnin-ji temple in 1230 and moved to empty temple situated to the south from Kyoto in the place called Uji (Tanahashi , 40). Dogen founded small temple in this place and soon this temple grew into Kosho-Hirniji Temple. The tension between Dogen and Tangai community did not stop, though. That is one of the reasons Dogen gladly accepted Hatano Yoshishige’s proposition to relocate to Echizen province, located far from Kyoto. After relocation Dogen’s disciples built a new center for Zen practice and called it Daibutsuji Temple. Dogen later renamed this center to Eihei-ji. This temple remains one of the most popular Zen temples in modern Japan. Dogen spent all his further life living and teaching in this temple. Shogun regent Hojo Tokiyori invited Dogen to come and teach him Zen in 1247. Dogen accepted this invitation and made a long journey to Kamakura in order to meet Shogun and retuned to Eihei-ji the next year. In 1252 Dogen became seriously ill and after realizing that he was not going to recover he gave his robes to his favorite disciple Koun Ejo. This way Koun Ejo became Abbot of Eihei-ji. After appointing Koun Ejo an abbot Dogen left for Kyoto looking for remedies from his illness. The remedy was not found and Dogen died in 1953. Soon before death he wrote his last poem.

Health and Social introduction Essay

The sector that I have chosen to write my report on is ‘children and young people’, I chose this sector because I am hoping to work with children when I am older. The client group is children who are 2 – 4 year old(Nursery age) the care setting will be nurserys in England. The work of the sector Nurseries provide full day care and education for children from as young as six weeks to pre-school five year olds. Day nurseries are different from nursery schools and can be privately run, community, council or workplace services. They all must be registered and regulary inspected by Oftsed though and must comply with the guidlines of how much staff there should be to children(for under two’s, one carer to three children; two to three year olds, one carer to four children; three to five year olds, one carer to eight children). All staff there must have or must be working towards the relevant qualifications in children. The care setting and client group The purpose of a nursery is to provide care for those under the legal school age(5). The care may be needed if the parents work or if the parents just want their child to get used to been around other children of similar age so they can get their confidence up. In a nursery there will usually be between 10 and 26 children in it depending how big or small it is. Nurseries are more likely to be in a rural area because families with children will more likely live there, any care setting for children in Urban areas will more likely be private care. Facilites in a nursery : Nurseries will have a lot of many factilites that are suitable for the children, there will be a mix of play areas which are an important part of the childs development in the nursery years. There will possible be a soft play area for younger children, plenty of toys(suitable for the ages) a sand pit and/or a water pit for them to, depending on the age the nursery accepts though. They may even have an outside area for play which would be best for the oldest children in the nursery, the outside area would have tricicles(maybe) and possibly Jungle-Jim equipment that the children can play on. Inside they are likely to have a small reading area(where the children will sit down on the carpet like they do in reception). Toilets, possibly a changing room depending on the ages the nurseries accepts. They may have a small kitchen or an upstairs caffeteria if connected to a school. The differet practicioners : Manager, deputy manager, room leaders(depending on how big the nursery is), workers, volunteers, special education needs coordinator(senco). If the nursery is big they will possible have a cook and maybe an administrator. The clients will only meet the room leaders, workers, volunteers(as these are the ones who look after/teach the children) and maybe the senco depending on if they need one. The manager and deputy manager are there to make sure that the nursery runs smoothly and that they keep to the standards expected of them(buying supplies, keeping in contact with parents). The room leader is there to be in charge of a certain room in the building, these are only needed for the bigger nurseries.