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Photo of the Sounds of Mexico performance

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A view from some of the top-most seats of the Auditorium

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A few of the unique instruments from the "Beyond the Music" presentation

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View from onstage at the Symphony Center

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My group and I during the beach clean up

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This was a piece of art that I did not appreciate, as there seemed to be little thought behind it.

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Symphony Center
Today, we visited the Symphony Center where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra makes its home. In 1891, the Chicago Orchestra has no place to house regular concerts as the Auditorium Theater was too big to make a successful turnout, therefore they broke away and constructed their own concert hall with 2510 seats. Since then, the hall has been renovated for larger space, better acoustics, and overall comfort. I found it fascinating that every material was considered for optimal acoustics. It is a much different perspective when you are standing on the stage that great artists that you look up to have performed, rather than watching them from an audience point of view. I guess that I can say that I have performed there, as we all sang happy birthday on the stage...
Scavenger Hunt
Later that day, we went on a very competitive scavenger hunt throughout Chicago in small groups. It amazed me how much music history is actually hidden within Chicago. Old buildings that are now company owned had the history of being, say, the first music store in Chicago. On the back wall of an office building, there are inscriptions of what was one of the most well known instrument stores in Chicago.. Though we did not win the hunt, I did appreciate discovering the hidden music that lies within the modern city.
Jazz Festival
After the hunt, we gathered to hear the Jazz Festival at Millennium Park. As a classically trained musician, I found a new genre of music quite eye opening, as improvisation and different chord structures/ keys were prevalent in all of the jazz musicians` playing. Next to us there was a man sketching the stage and jazz performance which made me think about how art inspires other art. Not just how music inspires other music, but how other art can be expressed in different ways and interpreted through different forms.

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Opera House
Today we toured the Lyric Opera House, and one of my first observations was the extensive entailing of trumpets in every architectural design. The guide informed us that the building`s architect tried to include all of the instruments in his designs, but I only noticed trumpets and harps... Concerning production, the Lyric shows subtitles on small screens to make the performances more palpable to an audience on a larger scale. The extent of the Lyric is great as it shares 1/3 to 1/2 of its productions with other companies. When we toured backstage, I heard multiple vocalists warming up backstage and I was astounded by the grandness of their voices. As a string player, it made me appreciate all of the training and maturity that the vocalists must have experienced.
Ravinia Performance
We attended Inna Faliks and Daniel Schlosberg performing a Mahler Symphony 1 transcription for four hands piano. During this performance, many questions arose, but the main question that I had was: Does the piano transcription successfully emulate the expression and purpose of the symphony? By the end of the performance, I came to the conclusion that since the transcription was limited to only one piano, the transcription could not match the great amount of intensity and expression that the original piece had. Another question that I left unanswered concerned the process of transcribing a great symphony: How did the performers decide which sections of the orchestra to transcribe?

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Beyond the Music Presentation:
Juan Diaz of the Sounds of Mexico Ensemble gave a presentation on the different genres of Mexican music. Though each genre of Mexican music originated from the same root, the styles branched off and varied throughout the different regions of Mexico. In this geographical division, the various styled of Mexican music individually constructed their own instruments and repertoire. Juan passed around instruments of different styles in which  I found fascinating as the structures seemed similar but produced a characteristic sound making the style unique. Two styles that I found  fascinating were the Danzas de Concheres and the Danza de Venedo Yagri. Unlike most Mexican music, the purpose of this first dance was solely for religious and native purposes instead of social events. I thought this was interesting, because the dance highlights the cultural background that Mexican music branched off from. The second style that I thought was striking was another naturalistic inspired dance, where one must "become the deer". In this dance, the dancer/ musician plays the scratch stick starting slowly and gradually increasing in tempo to emulate the quickened pace of the deer. Overall, I thought the geographical separation and the several evolutions of Mexican music was the most interesting part of the presentation as it made me think: are all styles of music branches of one single style? And to what extent does geography play a role in creating different styles?
Sounds of Mexico Concert
Later that day we attended the Sounds of Mexico performance at Millennium Park. The mission of the ensemble is to promote music from Mexico. This mission was certainly achieved at this performance as I was taken aback by the extensive attendance and the full engagement of the audience. Even though I could hardly understand the lyrics of each song, I, along with the audience was fully engaged through the passion of the performers as they impressively danced, sang, and played instruments to several different genres of Mexican music mentioned in the presentation earlier that day.

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August 29                          Day 2:

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August 29                          Day 2:

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Beach Clean:
At first glance, the beach looked manicured with untouched sand, the water was sparkling blue, and the skyline stood magnificently over the lake. But once we gathered into groups and searched in the sand, bits and pieces of trash were everywhere. By the end of the day, the groups collectively picked up bags and bags of garbage. Curious, how we collected waste in the wasteful form of a plastic bag... I found it somewhat ironic. I consider this experience as eye-opening, because it is just as easy to pick up trash as it is to pollute. It made me think: why do people pollute when it is so easy to pick it up? We found lots of 'natural' trash such as chicken bones, orange peels, stems etc. but I know that it does not belong as it will not decompose or will end up in the water. This experience was also disheartening, because I felt like we picked up great amounts of trash in one day, but I know that the beach will be littered once again the next day. This activity also made me question: if we found so much trash in just a few acres of sand, how much trash could there possibly be in a denser area, such as Chicago?
The Museum of Contemporary Art:
I was truly looking forward to the Modern Art Museum as I find myself appreciating more alternative and thought - provoking pieces of art. I thoroughly enjoyed the third floor of the museum, as the amount of uniqueness and detail that was embraced in this art astounded me. Every time I stepped closer to the murals, I would notice new details that I had not seen from afar which contributed to the work as a whole. On the other hand, I did not really appreciate some art in which the description stated their art was made with a special material or created using a difficult technique, because I found myself appreciating works that held extensive thought behind its creation which posed a question or claim to the onlooker.
Jazz Concert
After we strolled through the museum we went out back to hear outdoor jazz. The back of the museum was swamped with people who truly appreciated this genre of music. I watched near the front of the audience, and when I looked out upon the members I noticed many people, young and old, grooving to the music. Most people say that Jazz is a dying artform, but as I looked out to the audience, I found them and myself truly  appreciating what they were hearing by audibly and physically jamming along.

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Chicago Soundscape:
When I pause to listen to the Chicago soundscape, I hear motion. The city is in a constant state of movement, whether it be overhead trains rumbling by, cars spurring past, people talking in a hurry, even the metal on the tracks and bumps in the road can be heard as they are emphasized by movement. As well as movement,  there is also improvement. I can hear the clanging of chains and banging of nails into wood as the as new buildings and roads are being constructed blocks away. From the sounds that I heard, Chicago is a city that never stops moving whether from place to place or moving forward in development.
The Auditorium Theatre:
Imagine a Victorian family strolling over 500,000 Italian imported tiles and gazing up at dozens and dozens of arches, perfectly entailed with nature inspired engravings. The elegant structure, built under the unusual circumstance of the four most wealthy business owners of the time, boasts of its grandness by attempting to be one of the tallest buildings in Chicago- ten stories high with an additional seven-story tower. Inside there is a perfectly styled acoustic auditorium and from the highest seats, nearly 9 stories up, you can hear the performers` every note at its best and likewise, can hear just as well, you.

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Before we left to discover Chicago, we discussed our definition of a 'music scene'. My definition is a network  of all things musical; symphony, opera, jazz clubs, underground concerts etc. in a certain area. Other key words that the class considered part of a 'music scene' were the audience and their reactions, venues of the area, musical genres, culture, overall atmosphere.