Music appreciation is the process where one is thought to listen for particular music and how to understand them and identify the lessons learned from the music. In most cases music appreciation focuses on the western art that is normally known as the classical music. In the Los Angeles, I visited the opera music that was performed in a very big hall by well-known opera musicians. This is the concert that was attended by several people from all over the U.S. The performers were well groomed and the costumes they used signified a crucial experience that the music players had regarding playing of opera. The music was made of vocal pieces which were accompanied by musical instruments. Furthermore, it was also accompanied by the orchestral overtures and interludes. The music was continuous throughout the concert, and this made it an important opportunity for the audience to appreciate the stage performers. The musicians had mixed performing styles which included the discrete pieces that were separated by the recitative that included the singing approaches as speech.
During the performance the scenery, movements and costumes were set by the actors. The stage was enjoyable since there was choral singing from all the singers and performers. Furthermore, the dancers ensured that the music is catching, and the costumes they wore were attractive and could make the audience dance as they dancers on the stage. It was like there was a costly variety of dramatic entertainment that was enjoyed by every attendant of that concert. Even though there were many supporters of the music, it also had destructors that wanted to ensure the concert did not take place as planned. However, their plan did not succeed since the supporters overcame them. The distractors came with intense criticisms which were null and void as the target of those distractors did not succeed. Since most of the people were eager to know what was happening, they had to protect fully the performers from those critics. I liked the music since the lyrics used was attractive and up to date. It was of great importance since the playing of the music created an emotional impact on all the performers and the audience. Most of the dramas or music that I have attended before did not show the performance of high quality like the opera music of that day. The opera was well prepared since it involved the art of many people and not just the performers alone. The ideas generated during the performance depicted skills of high quality which could not be understood by any other music genre.
Another music that I attended was choir music organized by the Gospel Churches of America. The performers were majorly young people whose performance outcompete the old tradition of performance. It was important for the organizers to come up with the program to teach the people the importance of music. It was also an important opportunity because it natured the talents of the young people. Through the program, one could understand the importance of gospel music. To compare, the gospel and secular music, the organizers allowed both the groups of the music performers to show their performance. The musicians were in the position of commanding respect from the audience as it was smoothly played. Furthermore, the gospel music was divided in such a way that the soloists comprised of ladies and the base players were men. The chorus was answered by all the musicians, and the audience was involved at times to make them active and concentrate in the concert. Contrary to the gospel music, the secular music played in the same auditorium had a different environment. The music was started with ululations from all the players. In the stage, the instruments that were used included the orchestral instruments and music equipment. Guitar and flute were played by George, who was an expert in playing both instruments. The dancing was highly concentrated by all the players in the stage which also motivated the audience and they would also dance at one stage of the music. The concert was greatly attended by people from different regions. It was important as moral lessons were learned. At the end of every stage of the concert, the players could give out the consequences of a particular style of playing the music and what the dancing at the stage signified as far as the moral lesson is concerned. All the concerns were important when it comes to music appreciation. Music is used to relay an important message to the audience and the public in general. Through the music, one can understand the culture, economic and social lives of the particular community. The costumes used by the performers are a good indication for the cultural believes of a particular group in the society. Furthermore, such events are important because they are used by the performers to show their talents. The government can thus identify these talents support the musicians. What is more, through the music, important lessons such moral behavior can be learnt.
Music is of great importance when it comes to cultural values of the society. It is known that many musicians have been expressing their feelings concerning a community’s culture through the music. Instead of the musicians expressing their feelings about a particular culture of specific society, through other means, he or she sees it easy to expresses such ideas through the music. The opera that was performed in Los Angeles was a pure expression of American people’s culture. The costumes used by the performers revealed how dignity of Americans has faded as a result of the globalization and technological advancements. The performers stressed through the music that it is important to preserve our culture.
Bibliography
Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006
.
