For today and tomorrow, we will begin discussing our next essay, which will be a definition essay. You will be asked to devise two drafts and then develop one into a fully developed essay (replete with at least two sources). This will be due late next week.
To begin examining how to define something, today I will assign the essay Pearls Before Breakfast, which asks the question, "Can we recognize beauty when we see it out of context?" Read this tonight and leave feedback on this post in the form of two observations from it and then two responses to classmates' observations.
Here is a video from the story -
Next, to explore the concept of beauty and how we might define it, I want you to create a "beauty blog." There are several former examples from past classes in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Below is the assignment sheet. Include ALL of these on your blog, which will be due Friday.
Then - for your first draft of an essay seeking to define beauty, write a short research based essay around your personal definition of beauty. To help you with this, I am embedding a list of quotes about beauty. You may use one of these quotes (or one you find on your own) to write your first definition draft around. For this rough draft, you do not need to include a works cited.
Your beauty draft will be due on Monday.
So to recap, there are three things due
1. Read and post two observations (and then another two responses to classmates' observations) regarding the article "Pearls Before Breakfast."
2. Create a beauty blog and send me the url by Friday.
3. Have a draft of a personal definition essay of beauty by Monday.
Observations from Pearls Before Breakfast.
ReplyDelete1. Bell never mentions Stradivari by name. Instead he just refers to him as "He".
2. It surprised me when I read that nobody even clapped for Bell when he was done playing a musical piece.
I think your second point is interesting. But given the context of the 'experiment' I don't think ti's all that surprising. It might be for us here in NW MN, but street performers are a common sight in large urban areas. The fact that he is a virtuoso is lost on them, though. I am saddened by that, but not all that surprised. Worse yet, I don't know if I would have reacted any differently!
DeleteI also found it interesting that he only mentions Stradivari as "he".
DeleteMy first reaction to "Pearls Before Breakfast" is that beauty is an experience. But that I mean it has to have context. If you see a Lichtenstein painting in the Ralph, for instance, it is out of its normal, traditional context and wouldn't garner any attention; however, if you were to hang a Lichtenstein in the Museum of Modern art, it would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThis leads me to wonder, how do we create contexts for beauty?
I agree with you. Beauty needs to have some context in order to appreciate it. I don't even think I would recognize a great work of art as a great work of art if it were hung in the Ralph.
DeleteVery true! If something is not in the right place where it will be most easily recognized, it is going to go unnoticed, most likely. The people at the metro station were not there to discover a famous musician, they were there for other reasons.
DeleteMy second observation is from page 9 of the article. The author is interviewing Mortensen when he observes that while he isn't familiar with classical music, he did recognize something powerful in it: "'Whatever it was . . . it made me feel at peace'" ("Pearls Before Breakfast"). This illustrates an important aspect of beauty: it moves us in some way.
ReplyDeleteBeauty may stop us dead in our tracks (such as when you see a bride begin to walk down the aisle); it may overcome us (people have sat in front of Rothko's paintings and cried); it may inspire us (I recall leaving the movie theatre as a six year old after seeing Disney's "Song of the South" and skipping down the street singing "zippa dee do da / zippa dee day" at the top of my lungs before I realized how foolish I must have looked. The point was I was swept up in the moment and the music); it may make us smile (such as when my daughter handed me a Scooby Doo Valentine's card with every single heart sticker she had plastered to it) . . . the point is that art or beauty gets inside of us and moves us in some powerful way.
The trick, it seems to me, is taking our time to appreciate it and to revel in it more often than we actually do.
1. I found it interesting that he got as much money as he did. I thought that no one would even care about him and just blow him off as just another street performer.
ReplyDelete2. Another thing that I found interesting was the child being pulled through the metro station by his mother. He recognized that what Joshua was playing was different than other street musicians and he wanted to stay and listen to the music.
I thought it was a lot of money to get as well. Mostly because when I was in NY and there were tons of street performers, I didn’t give any of them money. But then again, when we sang on the street, tons of people, mostly who were probably tourists from other countries, gathered to hear us sing.
DeleteIt was funny to read about how thrown off Bell was. In a concert hall, Will Smiths basement, or wherever he performs, he is sure to get feedback. Positive feedback is "validated" because people buying the tickets have the desire to watch him shred.
ReplyDeleteAnother point was the pattern with children. That was a category who took notice of the music. I found part of the article interesting with how kids are born with poetry, but it gets taken away.
Watching Bell play made me really admire what he does. I dug deeper and found a 40 minute Beethoven concerto. I sat through 5 minutes and was happy with myself. The song was 40 minutes, but the time it took to get to know the music must have taken a few days out of his life. It was all memorized just like his performance to busy people. It's easy to see that he feels the music he produces.
It's great that he puts so much passion into his music. The sound doesn't make me appreciate his music, its the devotion that makes me admire it.
DeleteI found it interesting that the outcome they had predicted was so wrong. Even though Bell was a good looking man as well as an outstanding performer, I can not believe so few people took time to listen and that he didn't make as much as assumed. I obviously wouldn't recognize him if I were on the streets but I would put money in the case just because I feel like people who perform like that deserve a tip.
ReplyDeleteAlso, like what David said, I agree with the pattern of the kids. They find anything interesting, and to want to listen to a violinist on the street is something to admire. My cousin who is four, would honestly love to see something like that and find it to be so awesome. Something out of the ordinary is intriguing to young kids.
It didn't surprise me that more people didn't stop. Obviously somebody who doesn't have any musical background or experience isn't going to know what he is playing, nor will they have any clue who he is. Yea he might sound good, but if you don't have a clue about music as an adult, you're not going to be able to appreciate what is in front of you. The only two people who truly enjoyed his performance the way it was intended, had a musical background. The others knew he was a good musician, they just didn't know how good.
ReplyDeleteI also love how the children all wanted to stop. Children live in the now. They don't care what they have going on later or if they are going to be late, they just find everything beautiful because it is new! Kids still find everything beautiful.
I think it's safe to say that people didn't give the time to care if he was good or not. The general public is only concerned with their own lives.
ReplyDeleteMusic is comparable to coffee, you have to have an acquired taste for it. Also, there's good coffee and bad coffee, good music and bad music. If you've never had a chance to experience it in both forms you don't know what to look for. People also have a different taste for things. One cup of coffee will taste like crap to one individual, yet to another it will be delicious. You can expect the same for music: a hip hop guru must likely will not enjoy something as genius as Beethoven.
I agree with David. Kids just know when there's beauty around them. As their life progresses they lose their sense of beauty.
Like Becca said, if your not into music to start out with, you'll never know what is good and bad music.
I agree that with that first statement. Not a lot of people will turn on the radio to listen to somebody playing violin.
DeleteThe people that he was performing for were on a typical schedule. They are used to doing it every day, and they have higher priorities than appreciating beautiful music. That is a sad thing, but it's the truth.
ReplyDeleteMost of those people probably didn't have an intellectual education on classical music. I certainly do not and I didn't see his performance as special as I probably should have. Regardless, I am not the only one who thinks this way, and that could possibly explain why so many people ignored his performance.
I agree with Steven. I don't understand what was so great about that violin. It was so old, and clearly we have better technology nowadays, so shouldn't we be able to mimic the sounds of a Strad or even create something better?
I think it is weird so few people looked in his direction. Even if they are busy they should still be able to notice all the wonderful noise around them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if I was put into the same situation as these people, I would also probably not stop for long for Joshua like the majority of them did, do to being late for something or because of earbuds. never realising what I had passed
I agree with Blake, and I also like how he compared the music to coffee. I only like the coffee I have been introduced to, just like music. The comparison is so true.
ReplyDeleteJust because I have been to both New York and Washington DC and have been around the people, I can completely believe that no one stopped to listen to him. All they care about is getting where they are going. You don't bump, talk, or stare at other people. Mind your own, and everything will be fine. I, personally, probably would have stopped. Or at least slowed my pace when I walked by, but that's only because we don't have access to that around here.
ReplyDeleteI can also see why only one person knew who he was. In a place as big as Washington DC, there is no way every single person is going to even be familiar with the name Joshua Bell. I have no fricken clue who he is. Those people who are rushing to work also probably aren't music majors... They are people who have regular jobs with regular start times. They most likely didn't study classical music, or know who the best musicians are.
I agree with Sheena about the predictions. It just goes to show that people don't know and/or appreciate classical music much anymore. It only appeals to a certain crowd now-a-days.
I also like Cody's point to David post. Knowing about the musician is more important to me than the music. I like the story of him and his history is more interesting that him playing in a public space.
I think people didn't stop because they just weren't interested. Street performers are a common thing in that area.
ReplyDeleteSome people just aren't into music like that either.