Tuesday, October 29, 2019

A Review of Pete Zimmer Quartet Prime of Life CD Release Essay

A Review of Pete Zimmer Quartet Prime of Life CD Release - Essay Example The instruments especially the saxophone could be heard clearly all through mainly emphasized the melody. The guitar clearly brought out the rhythm of the musical. The melody, harmony, and rhythm combined to bring a soothing and exiting feeling. The performance was one of the preeminent jazz performances I have attended. This paper focuses on the different aspects incorporated in the performance to bring harmony, mellow and maintain the right rhythm. The stage was gorgeous since it was dimly lit using candles mainly placed at the back at the background were burgundy curtains that gave the stage an amorous feel. However, the stage looked quite small and the band members were positioned close together, which limited their movements. At the back was the band member playing the drum while the rest of the band took positions to form what looked like a rectangular. Two of the band members remained standing while the rest remained seated. Just like most jazz musicals, the music was harmonio usly spacious with a similar chord structure played repeatedly. At the start, the saxophonist played the rhythms to outline the formation of the song (Riggs, 2008). At the far back was Zimmer playing the drum while the rest of the band took positions to form what looked like a rectangular alignment. ... All through the performance, Zimmer played the drum with swings using sticks and brushes, which propelled the rest or the band forward. Bernstein moved from side to side as he plucked the guitar to keep the rhythm of the musical. The music was delicate and swinging with a graceful rhythmic undertow such that though the music lasted long the energy is desirable all through. The song played included â€Å"Carefree,† â€Å"Getting Dizzy,† â€Å"Search,† and Jeremy Pelt.† The â€Å"Prime of Life† was one of the songs played and the title of the CD that Pete Zimmer Quartet was launching. All the songs had an either fast or moderately fast tempo. The song of the day â€Å"The Prime of Life† was played in each of the three sessions. The rhythm or the music had a moderately fast and bouncy tempo with the drumming swinging from elusive to strident style. The rhythm could generally be described as syncopated and quite complex. Just like most jazz musica ls, the rhythm was swingy and irregular. The swings sounded exaggerated creating a forward momentum emphasized by the drum. However, towards the end, the jazz musical was slightly slow and relaxed. The different instruments could be heard playing the same melody but at different rhythms. I can only describe the overall rhythm as somehow tensed with some sense of looseness. The harmony of the jazz musical played could be described as quite racing with short off beats at the end of all phrases. The beats were quite emphasized all through with off beat’s being stronger. The harmony was in one way or another unpredictable, which is a common feature in most jazz music. The sound of the bass helped maintain the harmony. The jazz musical was similar to most jazz performances in aspects pertaining to the rhythm, tempo, as

Friday, October 25, 2019

Coming Full Circle :: College Writing Education Essays

Coming Full Circle Roger Sale, a former professor at the University of Washington says, "I can't know what I want until I see something I like." This is said in response to the common question asked by students, "What do you want our papers to be about?" Hearing this must get tiresome for teachers as well as students. Sale, in his essay on "The Relationships Struck Between Writer and Reader, Reader and Writer, Student and Teacher, Teacher and Student", suggests not telling the student exactly what is wanted, to be flexible and "suggest to all students that what is important is what they think, not what the teacher thinks." Over the years I've found that teachers and students go through stages in the education process in what they want to hear and what they like. Throughout this process students learn that not all teachers have the quality of being flexible, and often wonder "Does it matter what I think?" I think and certainly hope the stages come full circle. When we were young and learning to write it seemed that each sentence was an accomplishment, something to be proud of. In elementary school our teachers encouraged creativity. Writing was fun, not a chore. It seemed we could write about anything and our teacher would write "Very Good!", stick a red star on our page and encourage more. In fifth grade I wrote a poem on the color brown. I have no idea where the source for this poem came from and I wish I could remember what others wrote. Did we have to write about a color, specifically brown? Probably not. I do like this color but why not pink? My poem is absolutely morbid! To this day I am chastised about it. Leave it to Mom to put it in a scrapbook for my entire graduation party to read. Following is a sample of "Brown." Brown I need you I'll give you my dead animal for all you have Brown I need you How ridiculous! Who ever heard of a fifth grader writing so passionately, yet morbidly about a color? Know what? My teacher claimed he liked it! Maybe he feared my morbidity. At any rate I continued to write and enjoy doing so. There seemed to be little or no boundaries in elementary school. My teachers were always flexible and encouraging; they seemed to care what I thought. There comes a time in junior high when teachers don't encourage creativity and individuality. Coming Full Circle :: College Writing Education Essays Coming Full Circle Roger Sale, a former professor at the University of Washington says, "I can't know what I want until I see something I like." This is said in response to the common question asked by students, "What do you want our papers to be about?" Hearing this must get tiresome for teachers as well as students. Sale, in his essay on "The Relationships Struck Between Writer and Reader, Reader and Writer, Student and Teacher, Teacher and Student", suggests not telling the student exactly what is wanted, to be flexible and "suggest to all students that what is important is what they think, not what the teacher thinks." Over the years I've found that teachers and students go through stages in the education process in what they want to hear and what they like. Throughout this process students learn that not all teachers have the quality of being flexible, and often wonder "Does it matter what I think?" I think and certainly hope the stages come full circle. When we were young and learning to write it seemed that each sentence was an accomplishment, something to be proud of. In elementary school our teachers encouraged creativity. Writing was fun, not a chore. It seemed we could write about anything and our teacher would write "Very Good!", stick a red star on our page and encourage more. In fifth grade I wrote a poem on the color brown. I have no idea where the source for this poem came from and I wish I could remember what others wrote. Did we have to write about a color, specifically brown? Probably not. I do like this color but why not pink? My poem is absolutely morbid! To this day I am chastised about it. Leave it to Mom to put it in a scrapbook for my entire graduation party to read. Following is a sample of "Brown." Brown I need you I'll give you my dead animal for all you have Brown I need you How ridiculous! Who ever heard of a fifth grader writing so passionately, yet morbidly about a color? Know what? My teacher claimed he liked it! Maybe he feared my morbidity. At any rate I continued to write and enjoy doing so. There seemed to be little or no boundaries in elementary school. My teachers were always flexible and encouraging; they seemed to care what I thought. There comes a time in junior high when teachers don't encourage creativity and individuality.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

AIDS and Society: The Growing Concern

Over the past centuries, the field of sociology has primarily focused on looking into various problems faced by different societies not just to understand more about this.   More importantly, the study of sociology is to be able to provide the needed knowledge in order to find a solution for what has been considered as a social problem.While there are some social problems that are isolated and merely experienced by certain societies, there are some issues and concerns that have greatly affected societies found all over the world.   The AIDS epidemic is one such problem.The fact that, to this day, there has yet to be an effective treatment that would successfully treat this disease has not just caused the number of individuals being infected to increase.   It has also greatly affected how other members within a particular society relate and associate with individuals infected with AIDS.This paper will discuss the different factors that have qualified the AIDS epidemic to become a social problem.   The paper would also provide relevant information regarding the background of AIDS as a disease and the various ways on how the AIDS epidemic has influenced society in general.The AIDS EpidemicIn order to fully understand why the AIDS epidemic is considered as a social problem, information regarding the disease must first be established.The AIDS epidemic was the primary area of discussion in the United Nations Security Council in January 2000.   The huge priority with regards to the AIDS epidemic was in part to the alarming statistics the council received the year before.By 1999 alone, about 34 million individuals living all over the world have contracted the AIDS virus with another 18.8 million of these individuals dying from the disease in the same year.The statistics have also shown that while the AIDS epidemic is most prevalent in Africa, the United States has been ranked as the number one country in the Western world with the highest number of individual s infected and succumbing to the AIDS virus (Young, Schvaneveldt, Lindauer & Schvaneveldt 2001).AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a virus which, as the name suggests, attacks the immune system of the human body.   While the virus itself is not fatal to human beings, it is the fact that the immune system of an individual who has contracted AIDS is no longer able to ward off infections and other diseases brought about by bacteria and other kinds of virus that causes the death of an individual afflicted with the AIDS virus.The virus has been traced to originate from Africa.   It is believed that the virus, which thrives in the bodies of monkeys have been able to mutate and once entered into the human body, begins to damage the immune system (Langone 1991).AIDS and Its Impact to SocietyFor an issue to be considered as a social problem, the problem must be seen as one that poses a severe and grave threat towards the members of a particular society (Drass, Gregware & Musheno 1997).   There is no doubt that the AIDS epidemic has now been recognized as a social problem that continues to grow to this day.Once believed to be a disease that only infected homosexuals engaging in sexual intercourse with members of the same sex (Langone 1991), recent studies have made societies all over the world view the AIDS epidemic in a different light.Apart from the fact that there are now individuals being inflicted with the AIDS virus as a result of unprotected sexual intercourse involving partners from the opposite sex, the AIDS virus has also been known to also inflict children.In the report provided to the United Nations Security Council in the year 2000, out of the 34.3 million individuals all over the world who have been infected with the AIDS virus, 1.3 million of these were children below the age of 15 years (Altman 1995; Young, Schvaneveldt, Lindauer & Schvaneveldt 2001).The general perception that the AIDS virus is a major social problem ha s greatly influenced other parts of society, primarily when it comes to equality and advocacy.   How the general public perceives a particular social problem would greatly affect the association and relations that they would eventually have to those that they perceive to be the instigators of the problem.In the case with the AIDS epidemic, individuals who have been discovered to carry the disease experience a number of various incidences for racism and prejudice to arise.The most profound example of this can be seen during case proceedings in litigation hearings conducted in the court houses of the United States.Studies with regards to the manner as to how legal decision making in the United State court houses are carried have determined that social influences, particularly those involving cultural dynamics and social dynamics have greatly influenced the outcomes of various court cases which involves at least one individual who has been diagnosed to be infected with the AIDS virus (Drass, Gregware & Musheno 1997).One particular social dynamics that play a crucial role in decision making process done in court houses in the United States is social status.   Studies have shown that individuals that have a higher social status ranking would be likely to experience the ruling of a court proceeding to be in their favor as opposed to those who have been considered to have a low social status.Individuals who have been infected with the AIDS virus have long been regarded as individuals with a low social status ranking primarily due to the fact that those who surround them view them as carriers of something that would definitely cause adverse harm to the individuals living with them.In effect, individuals who have been infected with the AIDS virus have been viewed within the same ranking just as how members of a particular society would view and individual indicted for committing a heinous crime (Drass, Gregware & Musheno 1997).The ideologies and beliefs upheld by a particular society is another dynamics that greatly influence legal proceedings involving an individual who has been inflicted by the AIDS virus.   The culture upheld by a particular society is based on the sharing of common beliefs, traditions and ideologies among each other.Discrimination based on the culture within a particular society normally occurs based on the gender, sexuality and ethnic background of an individual.   Recently, the status of an individual as to whether or not he or she is inflicted with the AIDS virus has also been included in the list.In fact, the culture within a society in the manner as to how they perceive individuals infected with the AIDS virus not only causes decisions made during court proceedings to rule against the individual who has been inflicted with the AIDS virus.An individual who has been diagnosed to be infected with the AIDS virus are often subjected to alienation, branding and other forms of oppression from other members within a part icular society (Altman 1995; Drass, Gregware & Musheno 1997).

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Beijing & population

When we consider the ever increasing global population in today’s world there are many factors which influence the dynamics of population growth. In the past population dynamics was only a matter of live births, deaths and migrations. Life expectancies among the populace were low due to famine; war and disease being common factors keeping most populations from growing.However with the advent of modern technology these issues are no longer the threat they once were. Developing countries have now realized that the continued population growth in a country can be a hindrance to their economic development.However an effort to categorize the population growth in the form of population dynamics is far more difficult today due to various extraneous factors that exist. This topic will take Beijing as an example to illustrate the complications in this subject. It is important to note first that China is the first country in the world with a billion people as its constituents. The popula tion growth of China was in the first phase of democratic transition during the late 19th century meaning they had a high birth rate and a high death rate due to widespread famine at the time.However, the Chinese government realized that their country was in the second phase of democratic transition during the 20th century. Meaning they would had a high birth rate and a low death rate with a high rate of fertility which the government surmised would be a huge blow to their economy. In order to counteract this government began enforcing the single child-policy offering incentives for those parents who had one child and taxing those who had more than one. They also encourage sterilization, abortions and kept a strict record of the parents who had children while discriminating against those who had two or more.They started family planning programs which were geared towards voluntary fertility reduction. Migration was also encouraged for youths who wished to leave the country for seek n ew economic opportunities. While all these factors lend themselves to being calculated by the formulae set by population dynamics. In the case of Beijing these dynamics cannot be calculated due to the immense population which resides there. It should also be noted that most of the population which participates in these voluntary fertility reduction programs are those from the middle class.While those individuals from the lower class not only have more children than the middle class they are also harder to document due to the fact that most of the lower class population is involved primarily in the field of agriculture. Their lower social economic scale lends them to being uneducated and undocumented thus creating a problem in ascertaining the factors of population growth. Additionally the increasing technological progress has also increased the life expectancy in China creating an environment where higher populations of the Chinese people are close to sixty years of age.Documenting the growth activities of such a massive population is not only time consuming and costly. It also creates new complications for the population dynamic that may be unforeseen in a controlled simulation. Economics may increase causing greater emigrations or vice versa, new diseases such as swine flu may strike the elderly portion of the population causing a fundamental decrease, the government may successfully implement greater controls to ensure population decrease, etc.Thus, it is inevitable that the population dynamics of a billion people would reveal certain problems in categorizing the growth potential of a country. However, we must realize that more than anything else this is simply due to the inherent unpredictability’s of the biological and environmental factors at play. References Sociology Online. (2005). Population Patterns And Trends. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from Sociology Online: http://www. sociologyonline. net/text/intro/main/c4b543n. htm