Oops...I forgot...Apple!

So I forgot to post on the article on Apple and Steve Jobs. I saw the article as an interesting look at how technology plays in meeting the needs of consumers and how Apple has succeeded due to its ability to meet consumer wants and needs. Although I'm not a Mac or iphone owner, all I hear from people who are is that for how technologically advanced they are, they are so easy to use. A friend of mine said of her Mac book just the other day, "it works how you would think". The appearance of Apple products is certainly no accident either, sleek and clean to attract the appeal of consumers. I have faith that this tablet will be a hit as well and am anxious to see what it will be like.

Baroque and Opera

I found yesterday's class fascinating. Once again we explored more about music and theater in the Baroque period. I have been fortunate enough to learn about theater trends in the past century during Dr. Luter's "Development of Musical Theater" course on campus as well as about the earliest theater productions in ancient Greece (the performance space, types of productions etc)in Marguerite Bennett's "Ancient Greek Theater" course. The way theater evolved all those years in between was something I had little knowledge of. I was able to appreciate the way the structure of the theaters were evolving and how for the first time, all the technical inner workings was hidden to the audience, how things were controlled, painted, manipulated to look real or to give a certain illusion to the audience. It was also interesting to learn that the theater trends were representative of the societal situations of the time. Because of the new "fruits" we had stumbled upon in the discovery of America, we had an abundance of wealth which was reflected in the saturation of color and use of extravagant technology and spectacle. So, technology became more important that the story lines of the theater pieces. The evolution of music was also interesting...how music was sacred until the influence of Mozart and how he was the master of polyphony. Anyways...anxious to see what we'll be talking about tomorrow!

First Blog!

So this is the first blog I've ever written! I'm anxious about starting this class (Art 211): excited to test my creativity yet a little nervous about what to expect. From the first day's lecture it seems like a class I won't mind putting the extra work into because it will be something I enjoy. As a performing arts and comm major I took this class initially because I knew it would satisfy a comm credit and my last honors credit and I had a few friends who had taken it and loved it. I didn't expect that we'd be talking about opera. the baroque period and musical theater! Now I'm even happier I decided to take this. My only fear is that I won't think of creative enough ideas for the various projects. But I guess we'll see what happens!