Blog Ten-Rossini's "The Barber of Seville"

I chose two acts from the same play of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”:


The first act appears to be the barber himself, while the second act shows Rosina, a beautiful and wealthy woman who has been locked away from society. A link between the music and the story is quite visible: for example, when the mood changes to happy, the tempo increases and facial expressions accompany it; these are known as cabalettas. On the other hand, when the mood moves to somber, the tempo slows and tones lower; these are known as cantabiles. Both acts that I chose seem to be cabaletta arias, so a happy solo in the play. The first the act contains a “Rossini Crescendo” which was known as a building up of excitement by repeating a single word. In this case, the word is “Figaro” which means barber in Italian. On the second video, Rossina’s aria, she appears to have received some gifts. As the tension builds when she is about to unwrap the gifts, her pitch begins to get higher and higher and the speed of her singing increases as well. The stage and props in the second scene also play a large part in explaining the story. For example, when Rossina receives the presents she begins on a second floor balcony and almost seems reluctant to come down, which shows the story’s idea that she had been cooped up in her room by her parents. Rossini’s inclination for theater as opposed to the usual complete focus on music definitely brought a new spin on opera.

Avatar Music Culture

The music from Avatar has such a unique sound included with the typical Western culture that I cannot pinpoint where it is even from; and, from what I can make out from my research, this seems to be the idea. It appears as though James Horner and Wanda Bryant wanted to make a music culture unique to the Na’vi tribe and therefore created their own by combining forms from various real cultures. Horner wanted to combine this Na’vi music culture into a traditional Western orchestral sound in the Soundtrack. If you listen closely, one can most definitely hear this in the soundtrack of Avatar: for example, the song “Pure spirits in the forest” has several sounds that seem like they may have come from some sort of primitive tribe. The musical instruments sound like they are archaic and could have been made out of materials from a forest. An example in the “Pure spirits of the forest” song is the flute that you can hear: the timbre is not as high quality as the rest of the instruments and it appears as though this was done on purpose. Also, some of the sounds in this song are quite unique and resonate similar to a marimba combined with various other sounds that could definitely be associated with various tribal instruments. One can easily pass up these little nuances in the music since they usually only consist of part of the songs. Lastly, the drums are quite prominent in the music, and in the movie they can be seen in various forms; again, these were modeled after true instruments such as the Japanese Taiko. This only scratches the surface of the effort put into creating an entire music culture and putting it into a Western album; the feat is quite impressive!

Obzeet Music Ethnography

Introduction

Obzeet is a South African restaurant located nearby the intersection of Frankford and Preston in Richardson Texas. The restaurant is one of the most laid back restaurants I have even been to with a quiet environment to eat in with a patio on the backside of the building. Even the name means “groovy”! The music culture of Obzeet fits right in with the environment of the restaurant too: laid back. Although there are several different genres of music in Obzeet, they all have one thing in common: they are not there to impress, they are simply there to enjoy music. The music in Obzeet ranges from jazz to rock (with several variations of each in between) and is a very soothing mix of these genres for the enjoyment of the people who eat there.

Methodology

Before this assignment I had been to Obzeet several times but had never viewed it in this way. Sharing in this music culture, then, was as easy as going to the restaurant and having a meal. The music is normally played outside on a patio in a nice relaxing atmosphere. Lately with the cold and rainy weather though, the music was done inside of the store which branches onto the restaurant itself. The majority of my information came from two sources: waiters/waitresses and (in a lesser amount) the musicians themselves. I never actually set up a formal interview with any of the waiters or waitresses simply because they did not have time during their work schedule to have a full on conversation. Therefore, as they came to our table to serve us I would ask questions as we went and slowly gain information from there. These sources gave me more information towards the restaurant itself and not as much information about the bands themselves because for the most part they did not know too much detail about the bands (several bands cycle through as time progresses). The other interview conducted was with the two members of tu-tones; this interview was fairly short as well since it was during a 15 minute intermission, but it gave me sufficient information to get an idea of their inspirations and their repertoire.

Aspects of the Obzeet Music-Culture

There are certain aspects of this music culture that make it unique. All of the music is in a slow tempo, and relaxed form. The focus of the restaurant is not always on the music itself; sometimes it is more of a background ambiance to set the mood for the meal. Other times, though, the music takes center stage (literally and metaphorically) while interacting with the audience and causing them to dance. For example, 3 of the 4 times I went to Obzeet, Eric Erickson was playing a solo acoustic set. One of the techniques that Eric is known for is that he brings with him a home-made repertoire of songs that he knows how to play and the audience is allowed to select which song they would like to hear next from this list. This helps give the audience a more welcoming feel, and shows that their opinions are important. This was demonstrated by the fact that the same elderly couple was there every Tuesday in the past and each time they would choose the same song to hear and begin to dance with it. (Upon further investigation from the waiter, I found that they met at Obzeet, got engaged and even married there all with Eric playing; this shows a great appreciation for the music from these customers.) More recently, the duo “Tu-Tones” was playing on a Friday night (the music starts about 7:00pm on live music nights) and I got a chance to talk to them and discover a little more detail about the culture at Obzeet. The Tu-Tones are a duo that travels around Texas and not only in Obzeet, but Obzeet is a regular venue on their schedule. They were unlike any other band I had seen before in the fact that “Mr. 18 Karat” plays the guitar, drums, sings and sometimes plays a tambourine all at once! “Stompin’Bill Johnston” is more of a main vocalist (lyrics only occur in about half of their songs though) and a harmonica player for the duo but can also play several other instruments such as the guitar, and a synthesizer. This unique blues band takes their music from several older blues legends such as Little Walter and Jimmy Reed, and these inspirations come out in their songs (the majority are cover songs of these previously mentioned artists and various others, but some are originals). The cover songs that are performed by the two men take certain ornamentations and blues scales that are very familiar to the 1960’s and 1970’s form of blues, which demonstrates how the Tu-Tones continue to bring out these traditions even today. In addition to drawing off of previous artists, several features that seem to be the norm at Obzeet show from these two talented men; the first being the enjoyment of their music. I could see from the smile on their faces while they played that this wasn’t just another job, it might as well have been a very enjoyable hobby; the interview only backed up this idea as they stated: “you ain’t workin if you’re havin fun right?”. The majority of the bands that play in Obzeet take this attitude on as well. So much so that every artist that I tried to find using other sources (besides the www.Obzeet .com website) simply did not exist on the internet. Popularity is clearly not a huge concern for these musicians, and most don’t even have albums to sell to the public. The artists’ relaxed attitudes vibrate throughout the restaurant as you can see when you look around at the other customers tapping their feet and, every once and a while, dancing along to the music. The materials used in the restaurant and the band are even relaxed, with running water to sooth your nerves, loose clothing to give the band a relaxed feel, and ambient lighting to calm your soul.

Conclusion

Most of the features that have been mentioned can be expanded to practically every band that plays at Obzeet: overall it all comes down to the open and accepting environment. There are no fancy clothes here, no worries about peoples’ opinions, race, or religion; simply a mellow environment where people can enjoy themselves and this includes the musicians. Of all three musicians that I have experienced in Obzeet, these characteristics hold true and I will have to assume that this holds true to the other bands from what the waiters/waitresses have told me (the third was not mentioned due to the fact that I saw him several months ago and do not recall his name).

Tu-Tones Live at Obzeet­. By Mr. 18 Karat and Mr. Stompin’Bill Johnston. The Obzeet Restaurant, Richardson. February 6^th, 2010.

Sommerhalder, Christian. Program notes. Tu-Tones Live at Obzeet. February 6^th, 2010. Richardson: Obzeet.

Blog 8 Obzeet(3)

The major difficulty in describing this music culture is that it is so diverse. It is quite hard to find things in common from one band to the next (although that may not be the primary goal). I have been trying to find things in common that maybe the restaurant owner saw in all the bands, but I have been struggling so far. Next time I go, I plan to ask specifically if there is indeed anything in common between the bands. So far the interviews have been fairly easy, because I just ask a waiter or waitress questions if they have time to discuss it. The only problem that arises here is that I haven’t gotten the same waiter/waitress yet, so I have to repeat the fact that I am doing a music culture project each time. The only other difficulty is that normally the bands play outside on the patio which makes up about half of the restaurant, but with the cold and rainy weather, the bands have been playing inside the store which is adjacent to the actual indoor section of the restaurant. This causes the atmosphere to be different, and the bands aren’t nearly as accessible. It also prevents audience participation (dancing) which was probably my favorite part of the Obzeet culture.

Extra Blog

I just realized that I forgot to post the website for obzeet on my last blog, so here it is: http://www.obzeet.com/ You can take a look at the bands and what times they play. Also, they have a menu and information about their store.

Blog 7 Obzeet(2)

I have been to Obzeet a couple more times since the last blog post and things are starting to come along. As I said before, Obzeet is South African for the word groovy, and the music culture is just that: groovy. The musicians are very laid back and have fun with the audience. One musician interacts with the audience by laying out a song sheet of which the audience can choose which song they want to hear next. (The list is obviously limited to the songs that he knows how to play.) I have seen two other artists, one which plays various old classic rock songs, and the other is a pair who plays a harmonica and acoustic guitar, putting them into an interesting mix of blues-like jazz. The weather is cold enough to where the musicians no longer play outside on the patio, but they are now inside; the restaurant has a store attached to the side of it, and the musicians play here, so they are more of a background ambiance than before where they were center stage on the patio. I have been talking to one of the waitresses that work there and have found out some interesting facts about the restaurant, which will go into my paper. Overall, I haven’t talked to the musicians themselves yet, but it is going pretty smoothly. The bands do covers of various other bands, with possibly one or two original songs put in the mix as well, so the music culture is very diverse and different from most I have seen before.