Spring 2015 Concert Review

Author's Note: The band teacher had us do another review like the one I did two years ago. I'm pretty sure it's much better than the other one. 

On Wednesday, April 22, 2015, the Pewaukee High School Bands - Concert Band and Symphonic Band- performed at the High School. All of the pieces were either composed or arranged by Wisconsin musicians. Waves of sound filled the auditorium with beautiful sounds that made the audience want to move along with the music.

Although the tone of the very first note played in the concert, which was during the piece “Couple O’Chunes”, was wobbly with bad intonation, it blossomed into a lively, energetic piece with no further intonation errors. The Concert Band piece, “Patrick on the Railway”, sounded like a variation of “The Ants go Marching In”, bringing the audience back to their childhood and producing a feeling of nostalgia. “Different Voices”, performed by Concert Band, brought attention to the different sounds that can be produced using our instruments, voices, and tapping instead of the usual instrument playing methods. After every piece performed by the large ensembles, a piece was performed by a small ensemble, bringing variety to the auditorium, so the audience could get a feel for what the different instruments sounded apart from the big group. Flute choir’s piece “Toccata” opened up very flowy with slurs plus crescendos and decrescendos, then opened up into a fun, bouncy piece.

In general, the performers seemed to be very prepared and maintained correct posture throughout the performance. However, the biggest things that could be improved throughout the ensemble are balance and intonation. For the most part, balance and intonation were alright, but when they weren’t alright, the contrasting sounds pierced the audience’s eardrums. If all of the balance and intonation issues were worked out, the performance would have sounded even more lovely and pleasing to the ears. Overall, the concert was a gorgeous combination of music performed by extremely talented young musicians.

The Power of Love

Author's Note: Also in English, we read Elie Wisel's Night. This is the summative I wrote. It was a little rushed, so there still might be some mistakes, but it's not too bad (I hope).

Words are used to express ourselves and convey feelings. No matter what, all words can have an impact on people, whether it be a positive one that strengthens them or negative one that tears them down. Although hope has been known to give people a sense of purpose and motivate them to move forward, Elie Wiesel’s purposeful punctuation in Night reveals that the most powerful word is love, proving that we must preserve love or at the end of the day, when all hope decays, we will be left with nothing.

Someone may believe that hope is the most powerful word in the English Language, due to Wiesel’s use of exclamatory comments. In order to prove their power, the Nazis blamed the Jews for the loss of World War 1, and attempted to eradicate them. At first, they were mocked and Jewish stores were vandalized. Little did Elie know that it was the beginning of worst times. Jews were cut off from the world and put in enclosed streets, called ghettos. When the time came to come out, Elie and his family were ecstatic about being part of the world again. Except they were really being transported to concentration camps, shoved in extremely tight quarters on the trains. They were they dumped into huge camps, along with thousands of other Jews. Eventually, the prisoners were to transfer from Auschwitz to Gleiwitz. They were forced to walk for miles, but had hope that if they pressed on, they could survive. Elie states that the S.S. officers shouting at them gave the prisoners hope; “‘Hold on! We’re almost there!’ ‘Courage! Just a few more hours!’ ‘We’re arriving in Gleiwitz!’ These words of encouragement, even coming as they did from the mouths of our assassins, were of great help” (Wiesel 92). The officers’ optimistic words pushed the Jews forward. At first, Wiesel gives the illusion that hope is needed and powerful, however, Elie, along with other Jews, lose hope and cling onto love for survival.

Therefore, love is the most powerful word in the English language as demonstrated by Wiesel’s purposeful punctuation. After spending countless hours with no one to talk to except his father, Elie’s relationship with him grew. Before the camps, Elie hardly knew his father, but now they know each other inside and out. Now they are equal with understanding. Elie describes, “I felt a tear on my hand. Whose was it? Mine? His? I said nothing. Nor did he. Never before had we understood each other so clearly” (Wiesel 68). Of course, Elie had always loved his father, but with nothing else left- no possessions, no other family, no free will- Elie needs to preserve their love and make it grow to protect his father no matter what. If Elie doesn’t preserve his love for his father, when there is no hope and nothing else to live for, the battle for life will be lost.

Although hope can give the illusion of purpose, love is the most powerful word in the English language. If there is no love, only hope for love, then when all hope is gone, there will still be no love, and there will be nothing left to live for. However, if we love one another and create bonds and relationships, when all hope is lost, there will still be love.

Lord of the Flies Writing Responses

Author's Note: The following are writing responses I wrote in English for the book The Lord of the Flies for practice for the final. I will post the final for this book later, because it is very different from the writing responses. 


#1: Animalistic Diction

Civilization has been established as a way to cage our inner beasts. If taken out of civilization, that beast is allowed to roam and thrive. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the use of animalistic diction illuminates that if a group of people is let into the wild without any form of civilization or concrete rules, they will slowly lose touch with the society they left. Unless we are kept under control with a sense of ethics, we will do bad things knowing they are wrong, and turn into something we did not know lived in us and will not change back.

Once someone realizes they have been let free, they will allow that side of them show. During a plane ride, something goes terribly wrong and crash lands into an island with no adult survivors. After a few months of being on an inescapable island in the middle of nowhere, the little boys trapped there start getting bored. Except not long after arriving on the island, once Jack, one of the boys, decides to see what he is capable of by going out hunting by himself. “Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.” (Golding, page 49). When Jack first starts his hunt, he leaves as a human, but once he gets into it, he starts to show parts of his inner beast. Soon, Ralph, too starts to turn into a savage beast and become less human. “Ralph carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it. ‘Kill him! Kill him!’... Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.” If a so-called leader can easily be turned into a something unknown, there is definitely a beast inside us all. We need to keep a working society in order to keep our inner beast caged and not let the craving for power stand in our way.

#2: This is What Happens

Little spurts of power excite us, but too much power is never a good thing. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the thirst for power controls the boys and overrides them, illustrated through change in characterization. A working society hides the savage part of people, and if for some reason that fails, everyone will all  turn into something we did not know lived inside us and will not change back, our innocent lives forever ruined.

Once someone realizes they have been let free, they will allow that side of them show. While on a plane, something goes wrong and a group of boys crash land onto a remote island. After a few months of being on an inescapable island in the middle of nowhere, the little boys trapped there start getting bored. Except not long after arriving on the island, Jack, one of the boys, decides to see what he is capable of by going out hunting by himself. “Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees.” (Golding, page 49). When Jack first starts his hunt, he leaves as a human, but once he gets into it, he starts to show parts of his inner animal. After realizing he has a thirst for power, Jack has to become less and less human to quench it. “Jack was on top of the heap, stabbing downward with his knife… Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.” (Golding, page 135). Instead of hunting for food, Jack killed the pig over and over again so he could see more blood and stab the flesh of the pig. He felt the need to slaughter this innocent mother pig just to fulfill his need for power. This is what happens when we are separated from society. This is what happens when we don’t have rules. This is what happens when we are let free.  

#3: Light vs. Dark

Darkness is thought to hold evil. For this reason, most little kids are scared of the dark, and when they hear an unknown bump, they are not confident it is not a monster until the lights are turned on. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he uses the repetition of light to illuminate how the boys on the otherwise deserted island realize that light triumphs over darkness, but there is not enough light to cover the darkness of the night; there is not enough light to cover the evilness that seems to lurk there. Even when things seem to be going down the wrong path, there is still hope, until we stop believing. If nothing seems to be going right, we must not be without faith, or we will be plunged into darkness.

Without civilization, we will fade into the darkness. While on a plane, something goes wrong and a group of boys crash land onto a remote island. Even though the way they were raised showed a promising future, once they are released into the wild, their inner beast is allowed to roam free. Before they know it, the boys are plunged into savagery, or darkness. “A sliver of moon rose over the horizon, hardly large enough to make a path of light even when it sat right down on the water… there were other lights in the sky, that moved fast, winked, or went out, though not even a faint popping came down from the battle fought at ten miles’ height.” (Golding, page 95). Once the boys have become savages, there is no turning back into the light they used to be. There is not enough light left in them to cover up the darkness they have encountered. When the lights go out for good, they will never come back on.

#4: Ineffective Ending

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the ending was too abrupt and simple to be effective enough to leave an impact on the audience. The last chapter was sudden, yet thrilling for the reader. “The red rock that he could see at the top of the cliff vanished like a curtain, and he could see figures and blue sky. A moment later the earth jolted, there was a rushing around in the air, and the top of the thicket was cuffed as with a gigantic hand.” (Golding, page 193). Although the beginning of the conclusion was fantastic, keeping readers at the edge of their seats, the ending just sort of happens, and lingers in the air like fog until the reader realizes it was the end. This makes it very easy for the reader to forget about the moral of the book and the impact the heavy topics were supposed to have. The incomplete ending not only forgets to remind the reader of the moral of the story, but also leaves them hanging, craving for closure and filled with questions, wondering what happened to the characters.  

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Formative Writing Responces

Overall Author's Note: In English this year, we read the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (shortened title). To practice for the sumative, everyone had to write three writing responses. I probably won't post my sumative, because it's just a glorified version of my last response. Here are my responses: 


#1: Behind Closed Doors

Author’s Note: In this writing response, I wanted to do a poem because I haven’t written a poem in a really long time and wanted to uncover my long lost poet self. The motif I chose to write about was the motif of doors, and the fact that people hide behind them just like Mr. Hyde is doing, trying to mask something.

People everywhere

Are really in disguise

Putting themselves away

Isolated from society

Solitary

Torn away

Hidden

Cover up the past

The door acts as a shield

Preventing

Stopping

Pondering

Unaccompanied

Unapproachable

Unattended

Non-existent

Truth kept under lock and key

And careful supervision

Careful contemplation

Never to see the light of day

#2: The Adventurous Fog a.k.a. Fogquhar

Author's Note: In this writing response, I chose to write a poem. I felt it was the best way to get my point across. The poem can be read three different ways, with a little different meaning each time. Any way you read it represents the fog masking up the secrets kept in the novella.

Creeping along ~~~ Silent, crawling, floating

Always there ~~~ Watching, waiting, impending

Blinding the truth ~~~ Blocking, preventing, forbidding

From those who seek it ~~~ Holding, hiding, keeping

Changing it ~~~ Distorting, crafting, diverting

No one will ever know

#3: Of Course He's Evil

Author’s Note: For the third writing response, I chose to write an IITS ITS CLEAR to hopefully get some good feedback so I know what to work on for the summative. I tried to use unique and cogent voice in my piece (especially in the beginning and the end where it is easier to get creative). In the intro, I used purposeful syntax and diction to make the reader feel uneasy to help enhance my point. I used purposeful organization (obviously) because I stuck to the IITS ITS CLEAR format. Some of the components got mixed together, but that was so everything would flow nicer. My depth of analysis can be found in the analysis section. I tried to make my depth of understanding and what I was trying to say well known. I also used proper mechanics. My membean word is belligerent.

Unnerving, unearthly, cunning things sneak around, shadows in the dark, frantically searching for something, anything to feast on. Demons, monsters, and other evil beings silently prowl around, watching, waiting to come out. Although invisible, we can can catch glances at them just by looking at people. The evil things are craving an escape so badly that they shine through someone’s face. In Robert Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a mysterious man of the name Mr. Hyde is obviously hiding something. Whether it be a concealed secret or a deep hatred, Mr. Hyde is definitely evil, illustrated by the use of the motif of repressed evil. This representation is proof that when evil is locked away for so long and it is finally released, it is like a tea kettle, heating up, boiling, threatening to spill, until it does.

Everyone has at least a little evil in them, but sometimes it is easier to see. Right when Mr. Hyde is introduced, he is described as satanic. Mr. Einfeld said to Mr. Utterson after encountering a strange man, “I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black, sneering coolness- frightened too, I could see that- but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan” (6). Of course, Mr. Utterson didn’t completely believe him right away because no one should be judged without even seeing them. Eventually, after finding out Mr. Jekyll wrote in his will that Mr. Hyde replace him if he dies or is gone for more than three months. Mr. Utterson couldn’t stand not knowing what Mr. Hyde looked like after Mr. Einfeld had described such a horror of a man, so he went out to look for him. After finally meeting him, Mr. Utterson thought to himself, “O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend” (20). First impressions matter, and the first impressions of Mr. Hyde of both Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson were that he was some sort of satanic figure, giving off an evil vibe. This is where the evilness inside of Mr. Hyde began to seep through his face, but not quite ready to act. Soon, that time came. When the evil was ready to pounce, it caused Mr. Hyde to act out in a belligerent, inhumane way. “He had in his hand a heavy cane… Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed [a man] to the earth” (29). Just like Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson suspected, Mr. Hyde was up to no good. He has an evil side, and it could be easily caught just by looking at him. This emphasizes the idea that everyone, no matter how they appear on the outside, has at least a little evil inside.

Reaction Outcome CER

Author's Note: In chemistry, we had to write a lot of CER's (claim data reasoning). This one was probably my best, and it is based off of an experiment we did, which I refer to as "the reaction outcome challenge".

      Atoms and mass are conserved during a chemical reaction. In the reaction outcome challenge lab, Potassium Chlorate (KClO3) was heated, turned into a liquid as the intermolecular bonds were weakened, and was continually heated until it turned until a solid as intramolecular bonds formed stronger than the intermolecular bonds, keeping the molecules packed tightly together. The new substance weighed 39.17% less than the original substance. At first, it seems impossible that the Law of Conservation of Matter wasn’t broken. But really the oxygen, that was in the substance and then wasn’t, did not actually disappear. Before the lab was conducted, the following measurements were made: the mass of the empty test tube- 21.64g, the mass of the test tube with the potassium chlorate- 24.12g, and the mass of the test tube with the manganese dioxide catalyst and potassium chlorate- 24.17g. So, the mass of the potassium chlorate was 2.48g, and after the substance melted and solidified again, it weighed 1.61g, or 39.17% less than the original substance. To prove it, 39.17% of the substance (the amount of oxygen) was multiplied by 2.48g, the total weight of the initial substance, to get 0.97g. 0.97g was then subtracted from the total substance to get 1.51 g. The oxygen left the test tube, and did not leave completely. Since 39% of the KClO3was oxygen, and during the process about 39% of the mass was lost, the oxygen only left the test tube and didn’t actually disappear.

      The release or absorption of energy from a chemical process depends on changes in bonding and interactions. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can’t be destroyed or created; it can only change from one to another or be transferred from one object or substance to another. This indicates that energy can enter and be absorbed by substances or exit and be released from substances. The process of energy entering and being absorbed by a substance is endothermic, and the process of energy being released and exiting a substance is exothermic. During change number three of the endothermic and exothermic investigation lab, solid Ba(OH)2 and solid NH4SCN produced a liquid chemical along with ammonium. The reaction got very cold as the solid compounds liquified. It did not melt to become solid, but in fact energy was absorbed to break the bonds of the solids to become liquid. The energy had to come from somewhere, so it was taken from its surroundings, or the beaker. Therefore, this process was endothermic, as energy was absorbed. An example of energy being released, or an exothermic process can be found in change number four from the endothermic and exothermic investigation lab. Change number four was a spontaneous combustion of the purple solid potassium permanganate. Spontaneous combustion is the ignition and burning of a substance that occurs without using an external source of heat such as a match or burner. The potassium permanganate increased in energy; it released energy in the form of heat, creating a seemingly random fire.

21st Century Instruments and Architecture

Author's Note: In band class, we were split into groups of five to research the different time periods. My group's assigned time period was the 21st Century. I was in charge of finding information on the instruments and architecture (how it relates to music). Not too exciting, I know. But the architecture part is pretty cool if you think about it. 

The original symphony orchestra started out as random musicians playing whatever instruments were available. Soon, the modern orchestra started popping up all over the world. Orchestras still have a big string section, with smaller sections for brasses, woodwinds, percussion, harps and keyboard instruments, just as they have been for two hundred years. The orchestra has similar instruments to band, with an added string section. Other instruments in different genres of music are now more electric, such as electric guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers.

The comparison between music and architecture reveals that the architectural design process has the same elements and components of the music process. The art of music consists of a composer, listener, and the musical work, while architecture consists of a designer, user, and the architectural work. If we recognize the literal meaning of architecture, we will find that the same emotion is in music. Work affects a person, and makes them feel a certain way. The success of the architectural works depends on many factors, the same as in music. Modern architectural work contains the same mixture of unity, variety, rhythm, and harmony as music. According to a mutual relation between music and architecture in design, “arches and colonnades will be transformed to music pieces, columns to drum hits or organs, transparency of glass curtain walls to the most pure voice, the spaces between forms to music pauses, and floors will be changed to music notes”. There have also been architectures specifically designed to look like musical instruments to prove to people there is a great relationship between architectural design and music.

Is Technology Making Us Smarter?

Author's Note: I wrote this for a class I took this year as an essay about technology. My argument is whether or not technology is making us smarter. Read on to hear more about the technology issue that is happening in many parts of the world.

Technology advances have had both a positive and negative effect on society. Although technology has made us “smarter” in the fact that we can now find and kill diseases, help sick people of all ages, able to accomplish more, and have made many other technological advances, as individuals, we aren’t becoming smarter. In fact, we aren’t as smart as we used to be. Of course, this is not true for certain people, because certain people are extremely smart, but society as a whole is becoming less smart. We aren’t as smart as we used to be.

The internet makes it hard to think for ourselves. If there is a school question, everyone asks the internet, right? Well, if something is not clear, especially in school, the internet should not be used. When we use the internet, we are just trying to find the quickest way possible to understand something to write down to get a good grade and remember for the short term. However, when the internet is used, we aren’t really thinking about what we are doing, and are easily distracted by ads and other websites. By being distracted, it is harder to recall information, even if it was just viewed. This also makes it difficult to process information, analyze it, and respond to it in a normal way. If that is taken away, people can’t think for themselves.

People rely on the internet to not only remember things for school, but facts in general. Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor of psychology, designed an experiment to determine whether  people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, just as students are more likely to recall facts they believe will be on a test. Participants in the experiment typed 40 bits of trivia into a computer, half of them believing they would be able to retrieve the information later, and half believing the items typed would be erased. According to the study, The subjects were significantly more likely to remember information if they thought they would not be able to find it later.” If something happened to technology where would we be? There would be no internet to look up what to do. Important personal information would be lost, and people who didn’t back up this information by printing it out will be at a great loss.

With all this technology around, everyone has seemed to forgotten to interact with one another. Instead of talking face to face, or even calling someone, people prefer to text or use social media. This causes social anxiety. Most people would frankly rather stay at home than go out and talk to people they don’t know in a professional way. Bruce Feiler, the author of an article about the Millennials being more socially awkward, said, “Dr. Nass [a professor at Stanford University] told me about research he was doing that suggested young people were spending so much time looking into screens that they were losing the ability to read nonverbal communications and learn other skills necessary for one-on-one interactions. As a dorm supervisor, he connected this development with a host of popular trends among young people, from increased social anxiety to group dating.” If kids don’t learn the communication skills they need, they will have increased social anxiety.

Society as a whole is not smarter than it used to be. We have lost some of our smarts, memory, and communication skills. Even though technology has allowed for great science and medical advances, it has hurt society. The only way to improve society is to put down the phones, stop looking at that screen, talk to people around us, and live life.

More Blogging?

I haven't written a post in a really long time. For a while, it was because I no longer had to do it for school, and then it was because I couldn't ever think of what to write. But this summer I think I'm going to start posting things that I have already written, and could just post here. That way, when I look back on this blog, I'll have a ton of things to read that might have gotten deleted along the way. Plus, I have seen some of the awesome comments written on my pieces. Thank you so much to everyone who has written comments; it makes me happy to see that people are enjoying my writing.