Music Experience Essay Example

Music Experience Essay I attended a course on Music Experience in spring 2010. I voluntarily opted for this course because music is a very interesting topic and I wished to have an entertaining elective class to complete the semester. In addition to this, I heard from my seniors that the course would be very easy for one to get A class. Finally I was happy to note that it fitted my schedule easily.Since I had very little knowledge and experience in music, I was eager to know more about different types of music. The enthusiasm inside me towards music made me feel attentive in the class and I was able to learn more and gain experience about music. I could experience how the music students practice during rehearsals and preparations for the concerts. I could later see how they actually performed during the concerts including their facial expressions. After completing the course, I could feel satisfied that I had a nice experience in music and I could gain additional knowledge in music. I can confidently say t hat my expectations were met and I was able to get what I wanted.At the same time, I was disappointed to see students taking a nap or playing with their cellphones during the concerts part of the course. I was also disappointed to see people coming to concerts for just name sake by either coming late or coming few minutes before the termination of the concert. However, I could cherish seeing an elderly person playing piano, and I was very much impressed by his performing and acting. He was very energetic and used to jump sometimes while he was performing. In one of the concerts that I attended, I was surprised to see an entire family performing in a music concert. I don’t remember their names right now, but I could observe that all the family members in that group including their children were using different musical instruments. I was very much impressed by the way they entered the stage, as they were playing a nice music with the saxophone instrument while walking onto the stage. I would personally rate their performance as the best concerts I had attended. The performance of the group was very professional and they started their show with a very amazing play using viola and piano instrument. They had set a good example for the ever-famous proverb â€Å"First impression is the best impression†.My experiences during the course affected a lot of those connections that I described at the beginning of the semester. As mentioned in my home page, other than piano and guitar I didn’t know much about any other musical instruments. Now I have come to know about Viola, Saxophones, violin, and the bassoon. Before the course, I was never attached towards listening to Jazz music, but now I have discovered that I have started liking jazz music and I am eager towards attending jazz concerts in future.One fine Sunday, to be more specific, on 28th March, I was free and hence I planned to attend a concert and later I felt lucky to have attended it, as the concert turned to be one of the favourite concerts, I had attended. Karen Johnson was playing on violin and Joanne Kong was playing on a piano. I liked both the performers and it was based on a classical music. Schumann music comprised of lots of pieces and I enjoyed listening to it too. I could discover and gather much information about Schumann music and learnt how difficult it is to learn and play using different pieces. However, I wasn’t impressed much by the Bass instrument, and I couldn’t list out the reasons for disliking it. While listening to bass, I was feeling as if the sound didn’t come out of the instrument. On the other hand, experiences gained by me in watching several live music and live performers helped me to rate a musical concert based on the performance and encouraged me to attend more and more concerts even after the classes were finished.After completing the course, whenever I used to listen to music on my PC or Radio, I used to think how the performers are able to captivate us towards their music.I would personally feel that the most effective thing in the Experiencing Music course was attending the concerts, Convocations, and the rehearsals. I learnt newer things from each and every concert I attended and I learnt several things, which I wasn’t aware of earlier. However, I guess that the least effective thing was writing the online reviews about the concerts based on the responses from those who attended the concert. This can be overcome by initiating a discussion panel in the class between the students under the guidance of a professor who will help everyone to know more and enable them to gain a better experience on such concerts. Finally, I was enjoying the course with lots of fun and it helped me a lot to know about music. It would be nice if some international music and pieces are played in some of the future concerts which will enable the students to gain experiences about international music.

Grow Your Own Multicolor Mineral Crystal Specimen

Grow Your Own Multicolor Mineral Crystal Specimen Natural minerals need millions of years to form, but you can make a homemade mineral in just a few days using inexpensive ingredients you can get at a home supply store. The chemicals grow different colors of crystals, which look like a geological specimen. The result is pretty enough to showcase at home or in the lab. Homemade Mineral Materials alum or chrome alumcopper sulfateborax or boric acidwaterfood coloring (optional)rock or other material for a base Regular white alum is sold as a kitchen spice. If you use this alum, youll want to add food coloring to grow colored crystals or you can stick with the natural clear crystals. Chrome alum (also known as chromium alum or potassium chromium sulfate) is available online and grows natural purple crystals. If you have both chemicals, you can mix them to produce natural lavender-colored crystals. Copper sulfate grows naturally blue crystals. It is sold either as a pure chemical online or as a root killer at a home supply store. Check the label to make sure copper sulfate is the ingredient. The product will look like a blue powder or granules. Boric acid is sold as an insecticide (roach killer) or disinfectant powder. Borax is sold as a laundry booster. The white powder of either chemical produces delicate white crystals. Procedure Growing a homemade mineral specimen is a multi-step process. Youll grow one layer of crystals on a rock, let the specimen dry, then grow another layer of a different chemical, let it dry, and grow the third layer to complete the project. First, find a rock and a container just large enough that you can add liquid to cover the rock completely. You dont want too big of a container or youll have to make up a lot of each crystal solution. Make up the crystal growing solutions one at a time, as you need them. In all cases, the procedure for preparing the solution is the same. Dissolve as much chemical as you can in boiling hot water. Add food coloring, if desired.Filter the solution through a paper towel or coffee filter to remove any sediment.Allow the solution to cool slightly so you dont burn yourself and dont accidentally dissolve any pre-existing crystals (for the second and third crystal sets).Place the rock or other substrate in a container. Pour the solution into the container until the rock is covered.Allow crystals to grow overnight or for a couple of days (until you are pleased with them). Then carefully remove the rock and place it on a paper towel to dry. Empty the container of solution and let it dry.When the rock is dry, return it to the empty container and add the next crystal solution. While you can grow the crystals in any order, my recommendation is to start with the alum, followed by the copper sulfate, and finally the borax. In any case, Id do borax last because the crystals are relatively fragile. Once the mineral specimen is complete, allow it to air dry. Once it is dry, you can display it. Over time, changes in the humidity of a room will alter the appearance of the crystals. If you wish to store the crystals, gently wrap them in paper to help keep the humidity stable. Alum Solution Recipe 5 tablespoons alum1 cup very hot water Copper Sulfate Recipe Copper sulfate saturation is highly dependent on water temperature. Determine how much water you need to fill your container. Heat it in a kettle or microwave until it boils. Keep stirring in copper sulfate until no more will dissolve. There will be undissolved material in the bottom of the container that you can filter out using a paper towel. Boric Acid or Borax Recipe Stir boric acid or borax into very hot tap water until no more will dissolve. Additional Crystals To Grow If three colors isnt enough for you, you can add delicate needle-like crystals of Epsom salts or red potassium ferricyanide crystals.