Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a creative and significant composer of the Classical era.  He composed over 600 works, many of which are recognized as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, opeeratic and choral music.
Mozart's father Leopold, was a minor composer and experienced teacher. At age four, Mozart's father began teaching him minuettes as a game. Mozart showed extraordinary ability from early childhood. By age five, he was already and expert on violin and keyboard. He began composing and performing before European royalty.
Mozart greedily learned from other musicians that he came in contact with. He developed a maturity and vividness that could be light and stylish as well as dark and obsessive.
During Mozarts childhood, his family made several trips around Wurope where he and his sister performed as child prdigies.  One particular concert tour lasted three and a half years..  During the tour, Mozart met many musicians, including Johann Sebastian Bach whom he visited in London on two different occasions.  In 1767, he composed the Latin drama, Apollo et Hyacinthus.
Mozart travelled with  his father from December 1769 to March 1771. His father wanted to show off his abilities as a budding composer and performer. While rhey were in Milan, Mozart wroter the opera, Midtredate, re di Ponte, in 1770. The opera's successful performance led to other opera commissions.

Between April and December 1775, Mozarts developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos and produced five in that period of time. They were the only ones he ever wrote.

Mozart spent time in Paris and Vienna composing sonatas, symphonies and operas. It was in his final year that Mozart composed some of his most admired works.He gained extreme pleasure from the success of some of his works. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35.

The Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty has often been labeled "the greatest period in China's history."  The voyages of Zheng He were among the most epic in history, and they extended China's influence throughout much of the world as it is known.  Literature flourished, and many famous novels that are still read today were written, one being Journey to the West, a fairy tale based on the real story of Xuan Zang's epic trek to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures during the Tang Dynasty,  The Ming tombs are still an architectural marvel today, and the Great Wall we see at present is in fact mostly built during the Ming.  The classic Chinese garden design also developed during this period, and acupuncture and a system of scientific medial diagnosis was developed.  All in all, the Ming Dynasty was a time of unparalleled achievement, but also the beginning of a dark era for China which was the "closed door policy".

The Ming-Qing period was highly productive musically, resulting in developments that are important not only in this period but as highlights in the entire continuation of Chinese music.  During this dynasty period (1368-1644), the art of traditional opera developed rapidly and diversely in different regions.  When these distinctive opera styles were performed at the capital, artists combined the essence of the different styles and created the Beijing opera.  This music continues to be enjoyed and appreciated even in modern times.  The art of qin and the regional traditional music were also part of the Ming dynasty.Some other prominent developments of this period include the area of theory and musical literature.  The Kun opera flourished during the Ming dynasty.
The reign of Emperor Welzong started the end of the Ming dynastythis reign was also known as Chongzhen. Corrupt court officials and the domination of the eunuchs caused the crisis of the Ming Dynasty.During that time, the ruling classes exploitation along any peasants. with natural disasters caused extreme hardship to the people. Rebel military forces launched battles in the northr]ern area of the Shaaxi Province in 1628. One of the rebel leaders, named Li Zicheng was trusted and supported by many peasants.  Li Zixheng captured Xian and a new regime was founde in 1644, called Dashun.  In the same year, the end of the Ming Dynasty was signified in Jingshan Hill of beijing when Emperor Welzong hanged himself.

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chael was commissioned in the year 1475 by Pope Sixtus IV.  The chapel was created to be used as the chapel for the pope, and was intended as a sign of papal authority, which it still reflects today.
Sistine Chapel history shows that while this is one of the most well know works of Michelangelo, it also cost the artist his eyesight.  When Michelangelo was chosen to create the fresco painings he did so unwillingly initially, and was not happy to be called away from his work on the tomb for the pope.  It took Michelangelo more than four years to paint the ceiling and he spent much of this time bent backwards painting on top of the scaffolding.  Speical scaffolding was used so that mass would still be possible, and the scaffolding started higher up the wall that usual because of this,  Due to the extraordinary talents of Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel has become one of the most famous art displays in the western world. 

The interior of the chapel is gorgeous and attracts millions of visitors each year,   On the inside, the chapel is divided into two by a transenna, and a fence made from marble.  The part facing the altar is only accessible to priests.  Each of the two long walls has six large arched windows.  The walls are covered by three virtual rings with decorations.  The exterior of the building and the architecture is nothing special, and is quite plain when many churches and other historic structures are considered.  The chapel has a rectangular shape.  It has a barrel-shaped roof, topping 20 meters.   The paintings include nine frescos on the ceiling, and these frescoes show nine scenes from the book of Genesis in the Bible.  The paintings on the walls and on the ceiling are widely considered to be the peak of Renaissance art.  Out of all the things to do in Rome, and everything that the city offers, the Sistine Chapel is one of the top attractions for visitors all around the world.
The Sistine Chapel Choir is a choir based in the Vatican City and is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world.  At the present time, the choir comprises approximately twenty adults singers and thirty unpaid boy choristers.  When the Gregorian melodies were still the sole music of the church, it was the papal choir that set the standard for the rest of Christendom, both in regard to the purity of the melodies and their rendition.  After these melodies had blossomed into polyphony, it was the Sistine Chapel that it received adequate interpretation.  Here the artistic degeneration, which church music suffered in different periods in many countries, never took hold for any length of time.  The use of instruments, even of the organ has ever been excluded,  The choir's ideal has always been purely vocal style.

The chapel has been recently restored (1981 through 1994).  The newly-revealed bright colors reveal Michelangelo to have been a masterful colorist, and close-ups of the frescoes show complex brushwork that would not be matched, or even attempted, until the Impressionist movement of the nineteenth century.  Now that the electric lighting has been removed and the frescoes illuminated solely by the light from the windows, the original colors and effect have been restored.

One of the most popular tourist destinations in Rome-Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel receives some 1600 people every hour during the summer.  Visitors are encouraged to bring along binoculars, and patience, to view the 10,000 square feet of ceiling painted by Michelangelo, amidst the crowds.  No photography is permitted in the chapel.

Medieval Witchcraft

 http://www.celticattic.com/olde_world/witchcraft.htmWitchcraft refers to the use of certain occult and spiritual practices to seek the assistance of supernatural powers in resolving the problems whose solutions cannot be achieved through known rational means.  The process involves reciting prayers and performing rituals in a specific format.  Prayers and rituals when performed with utmost sincerity and faith often fructify into the desired results.                                              

Witchcraft has existed since man was born and he had to struggle for his survival against unmanageable forces such as famines, floods, epidemics or other occurrences which could not be easily explained.  Witchcraft had all the more reason to exist in the medieval times when human knowledge was still primitive and there appeared to be no other solutions to daily problems that plagued the people of those times.

Sometimes the practitioners of the witchcraft did not use prayers but resorted to rituals and extreme practices such as the use of blood or asking evil spirits for help.  Like other branches of knowledge, witchcraft has been
manipulated.  The first crusade against witches was held in 1022 AD when a witch was burned to death.  Witchcraft history echoes the terrible campaign against witchcraft in Salem in 1692 in which 150 people were tried as suspects of practicing witchcraft.

Individuals accused or practicing witchcraft were classified as heretics.  Once the victim was caught, they were coerced into confessing their crime through inhumane tortures and was then either hanged or burnt alive during the inquisition.

The music used in rituals, magic, worship and spell-work are the liturgical music of paganism. One term used  is functional music, because the music serves a function for a purpose other than musical performance.  In this instance it serves as part of the religious and magical workings.  These basically fall into three sub-categories.

Chants are used during the ritual and magical workings.  The purpose of chants are to raise energy from the inside and outwards to direct to a focused set of goals.  The goals can be to cast a circle, invoke deity of spells (healing, money spells,etc,).

Meditation is a procedure that directs an inward movement.  It is to direct energy into the person and up to the higher self and build the inner temple,  The music used for this practice is to aide in the focus.  Usually the music is slow, soft and instrumental, but it can use vocal music as well as faster tempos.  It all depends on the type of meditation.

Music does not have to contain text to send energy to the gods.  Many drum circles and instrumental music serve the same purpose.  Many times drumming is used as an accompaniment to chanting and are more often than not improvised.  Instrumental music can also be any type of music.  It can be an instrumental version of a chant, improvised or abstract music.  The instruments used for magical goals can be specific to the type of magic that is being created.

Witches were normally portrayed as ugly old hags so as to make them the target of hatred and dislike.  The fact is they are very normal people and in some cases witches were very pretty ladies.

I like modern music because it's the type of music that my generation grew up with.  I like the group Nickleback.  Most of their songs are upbeat.  I always listen to them when I feel like I need to chill-out.  The bass and drums provide most of the rhythm in their songs.  The interesting fact about modern music is that it can have a variety of rhythms, melodies and harmonies.  These sounds come from many different types of instruments. Melody is often divided into different phrases.  Rock songs can be divided into parts like the verse and the chorus.  Most of todays rock music has very thick texture due to the variety of different instruments that are being used. There are many different sounds in today's music than there was in the past.  A common texture is made up of harmony, tempo and rhythm.  Texture is often considered the heart and soul of music.  Harmony involves finding notes that sound harmonic to each other.  Harmony is a factor that makes beautiful textures in music.  It is often referred to as harmonious in modern music.  A melody forms the basic framework of any song.  It is divided into different phrases.  It is said to be the horizontal aspect of music.

Hi! My name is Bethany

My name is Bethany McFerrin.  I am 18 years old and a senior at Greenbrier East High School.  I like popular music.