Arts Class Web Journal

Final Blog Post One of my favorite aspects of this class were the weekly discussion posts between my classmates and I. Since this class is entirely online, you can feel very distant towards others and it is not as interactive. I really like that Professor Davenport made sure that we got to interact with one another and encouraged participation through fun discussions without making them feel like a mandatory task. I felt like I learned new outlooks and viewpoints from my fellow classmates. I really enjoy discussions in classroom settings and feel it helps me develop new ideas, so these posts helped with that aspect. It was interesting to see everyone's unique musical background and preferences in the beginning of the quarter. Then to see how people's musical knowledge has expanded, was really fascinating. My own musical knowledge has definitely expanded through this course. I was exposed to orchestra at a young age and did not realize how much I had missed it! This cour...

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA For my final concert web journal, I unfortunately had to watch a pre-recorded concert online due to the major COVID-19 outbreak. The concert I watched was by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from a 2017 performance. The piece was a Beethoven Concerto for the violin and orchestra. The main violinist was Hilary Hahn and conductor was Leonard Slatkin. Right from the beginning of the performance, the camera focused on Hilary so I knew she would have a major piece in this performance. She was wearing a beautiful multi colored dress as well as standing while performing. I thought that it was interesting that they opted to make her stand out so much more than the other performers. Typically, orchestras want everyone to be wearing the same color so that they truly appear to perform as one. I was very impressed that Hilary played the piece without looking at any sheet music. It was a very complex piece with changes in tempos, a wide range of notes, etc. My favori...

STANFORD COLLABORATIVE ORCHESTRA On February 29, 2020 I attended a concert by the Stanford Collaborative Orchestra at Stanford University. I was down there for Family Weekend visiting my cousin who attends the university. Since the concert took place during Family Weekend, the audience was a majority of relatives and fellow students. At first, the concert struck me as a little unusual in that there was a full orchestra but no conductor. However I learned that this was an intentional decision not only for this performance but for the way the orchestra is always ran.  Traditionally, chamber orchestras are directed by conductors who are in charge of leading rehearsals, making key musical decisions, and guiding the overall vision for the direction of the group. The Stanford Orchestra wanted to invert this model and be condutctor-less in an effort to create a musical group where the members democratically and collaboratively engage in the process of music-making. This collaborative...