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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I had never really given sound and music much thought in anything I write. Most of the sound I would mention came from the characters. In this chapter, Hatcher talks about the importance of sound and music in a play. According to Hatcher, sound can also be music. Certain sounds can have a significant emotional impact on a scene (door closing, glass breaking, etc). The way certain words are said can also establish mood. It all depends on what is going on in the scene. Spectacle is what we see onstage. This is where the audience is amazed with what is going on in the stage.
ReplyDeleteR.A.W. was kind of hard to follow. At first, I didn’t know I was reading a musical. There are four characters in the musical. In the play, the characters don’t have names. They just have the same description and a number. It was hard for me understand and visualize what was going on. I didn’t really understand what the play meant by “slides”. I just thought they were posters of some kind being shown whenever they were mentioned. I think a play like this needs to be seen for a better understanding. You will be able to hear and see everything.
-Juan Gloria
I never really understood the impact that music made in a play. I always thought that we had musicals and plays. I never knew that a play could have character driven action with the use of music. In Hatcher's tutorial I now see that music can be used to bring a new energy to the play and also to the characters themselves. It makes sense that Aristotle would use the sung word to make his point. Music brings a rhythm to the play. Even the kicking of a wall by a bachelor to be married in "Marriage" is a kind of stress inducing sound magnified as we hear later the rapid clips of horses hooves mimicking the kicking of the wall bringing about a tremendously worrisome situation to the bride to be where ultimately all the bottles of champagne pop at the same time alleviating the scene of any more anxiety. In the play R.A.W I found the point of it hard to follow. It was too cut up for me to really understand it. I felt as though it was dealing with stereotypes that white men had about Asian women, and how they were so willing to do things for men that white women didn't thus giving the men a false sense of strange, and exotic beauty and behaviors. I did like the play when it followed a type of poetic rhythm. I could see where in this play the sung parts were invaluable. The language of the words were just as important as the words themselves. There was so much going on in this character's mind. I believe that by singing the words, it made more sense. Especially on how the character was trying to reveal to us the inner workings of her thoughts as an Asian American going through this type of ordeal that only prejudice could bring about.
ReplyDeleteSpiro Zagouris
The play R.A.W. was pretty interesting in how it told the story. I found it unique how it was able to tell a story between many characters but focusing on a subject that related to the four women. I can see myself being confused if I decided to read the play instead of watching it because it does help to visualize and hear the audio cues in order to gain the full experience. I enjoyed the hard thumps when the four women were going on about how society has portrayed them, since it added to the intensity of how they feel. I can see how Hatcher believes that sounds and music can add to being immersed into the play and getting an understanding of the point the writer wanted to show. I had wondered if we were able to add audible sounds to our plays and didn’t think we were able to add them. Now I feel that I would like to experiment with adding sounds to my play since it would probably be a better way of showing a character’s action than just dialogue. An example of this would be how when someone slams a door with the loud thud, it can represent anger, or even worry, when someone is trying to get away quickly.
ReplyDelete-Ruben Quintero
I knew that there were musical productions like broadway that focused on music being the performance but reading about the different ways you can incorporate music or even lyrics or sound. On page 48 Hatcher says, “Language is about words. But the sound of those words can be musical.” I really liked these sentences since it’s true. This reminded me of the way Eduardo writes. He does it very lyrical and poetic and will incorporate sounds like in the piece we read in fiction the class. The music section also reminded me of Sandras play because she added some singing in it. It was interesting to read about spectacles. I always thought that “bigness” and spectacle were the same thing, but reading the section made me understand better that is whatever looks “neat” and makes one go “wow.”
ReplyDeleteThe play R.A.W was extremely interesting and I thought it was very cool. There was a certain rhythm to it, the way the four women would speak, the amount of words they each said, it was all connected musically which I think added so much to the play. The four women were working together to create this melody of them being able to do and be whatever they wanted to be and not have to follow Asain women stereotypes.
-Rebecca Muniz
I really liked how on page 49, Spencer explains how music is almost necessary. In a way, I thought of this almost how most of us or some of us will think “What is the soundtrack to my life?” It’s a question I surely have thought about from time to time, but I guess it backs up how Spencer says it is a “vital part of the human experience.” Almost as if music is something we are always thinking about and expecting more and more of. It’s really not something that should be ignored because it could provide a heart to the play you are writing or another type of element you didn’t know could make your play better and spice it up. I really liked R.A.W, especially visually. Hearing the different stories of the different Asian women and their encounters with men and how they expected them to be as Asian women. One of the lines that stood out to me the most is how the men expected her to be pretty because they assumed just because she was Asian, she’d have a pretty face which they didn’t get. This made the musical/play more real for me because you really see a real issue at play. I liked the incorporation of music. That isn’t something you could just read on paper. Visually seeing it gives you a better understanding of what the play is really about.
ReplyDelete-Faith Ortiz
In the Chapter I like how this delved into the musical aspect in plays and how words sounds are important. I read somewhere that a lot of plays were written in rhythm as a way to help the actor remember the lines. I also liked how it delved into what was a spectacle. Spectacle being anything that’ll look cool on stage. However, what I didn’t like, specifically in the music section, was that the author referenced plays rather than showing textual examples.
ReplyDeleteIn the play what I liked about the play was how musical and poetic it was to read. Especially with the repetition of the lines “because I want to be love.. And be loved. Yes. I do.” (294, 296) which resembled the hook of a song which ties in with chapter and how music has, until recently, has been a big part of the spectacle of a play. I also liked how in the play it had 4 different woman speaking as if they were one to show how asian women are stereotyped in different ways but yet “all asian look the same.” However, I didn’t like how in the performance of the play several line were skipped.
-Eduardo Guerra
“Music has great power in our lives” (Hatcher 47) when I read this line I stopped reading and thought of all impactful musical pieces to me. The I realized how much these pieces I thought about added to either the scene or artist. Personally, I would have difficult including any music in my plays. That’s because each time I write a new scene for this class I imagine how it would look like in Movie or television format instead of onstage. I do this because it helps me give an idea of what music can be used for these scenes. However, I find it difficult to think of music in plays. But as I continued to read Hatcher, you don’t necessarily need music. You just need sound. “We can stretch it [Music] to include sound.” (Hatcher 48) I then watched R.A.W and noticed how they used a Japanese ritual sound to illustrate that the woman onstage are Asian. Hatcher then talks about the spectacle and how having a set that looks appropriate helps the audience perceive the play. In R.A.W the lights went dim and would occasionally have a ray f light single out one of the four women on stage. If this wasn’t done the effect of these women’s diction wouldn’t be as effective.
ReplyDelete-Abel Arredondo
The first play that I ever acted in was a musical. The guy that they had originally casted did not want to sing when he had tried out so they picked me up. A lot of plays that I’ve seen have been using things like rhythm and assonance to grab attention in ways similar to music. I think that plays starting with music already have my attention. Speaking of attention, spectacle is something that I had to do as well. I think I was in 2 fight scene during my high school acting career. For some reason, they always wanted me to be the one who “died.” The play mixed music and made it part of this weird spectacle that was also a power point presentation. I felt like a learned something too. I hadn’t heard the song and I guess I couldn’t actually experience it which is unusual. I think that it is interesting that it becomes a lot more of an experience when you add that layer. Also, I could see there being something about the rhythm and the visuals. I couldn’t really pick up on the rhythm in the talking as much in the second half, but I still felt like I was connecting with the characters which was cool too.
ReplyDelete-Ricardo Martinez Jr
this chapter I really enjoyed since it was dealing wtih music since music is very impactful with our daily lives. Oddly enough in my place i do have a "song" that is in there because i felt like it fits the play. Yet I struggle with it when Dr. M told me "why this song? what is the meaning? " After reading the chapter I have to agree with Faith that my thoughts were what was the sound track to my life and again it just showed how much music is needed and we should use it when we can.
ReplyDeleteThe play R.A.W. was beautifully done it flowed wonderfully and really felt like it had a rhythm to it when it was playing just how these women tell different stories make me wonder how they were able to work the music into it. It just was great to read but to see in visually it was better.
Andi Rubalcava
I wasn’t surprised about the importance of music and sound. I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos where people make fun of movie clips where the music and sound effects are removed, and it makes all the difference. Yes, dialogue is important to se the tone of the play, but music sets the mood and can create the atmosphere needed. A slam of the door, the break of a glass sound, can all create an important moment in a play, which is pretty interesting. In R.A.W., there may have not been a blatant sound being played throughout the play, but there was a flow and rhythm that gave it a good flow and transition to each character. It reminded me a bit about the musical “Chicago”, another piece that focuses on sound and the empowerment of woman. It was a pleasant connection and I found it very interesting. It especially reminded me of the musical number “Cell Block Tango” where the focus of the women is the only thing we focus on, but in R.A.W., we get the perspectives of different women of Asian ethnicity, breaking the stereotype that people have come to know. The beat and flow that they created just made it come all together and set the mood.
ReplyDelete-Kimberly Villanueva