Survival is Insufficient As a person who is an avid believer in the arts and an artist themselves, I understand the importance of music, plays, dance, and performance. Not only the work of the Traveling Symphony, but the mere existence of arts in Year 20 is so crucial to the rebuilding of civilization. Creativity is what separates us as humans from animals. It takes courage to present part of yourself to others, moral fiber to create something that can inspire others and evoke emotions, and determination to work hard and produce the best product possible. The fact that these characteristics are being found in people who have lived through enormous tragedy and devastation is almost a miracle. They are reaching past survival and achieving a …show more content…
Even before the flu, this is reflected in stories like Miranda’s. She was trapped in an unpredictable relationship with a person she didn't truly know, surrounded by celebrities and paparazzi who worked behind her back, dragging her down for personal gain. She was unhappy and unstable, and coped by paralleling her life in her Station Eleven comics, which ended up paralleling life in Year 20. Miranda works past these barriers by challenging herself, and she emerges as a successful business woman, and increases her accomplishments by working on comics for self-fulfillment instead of wealth or fame, unlike Arthur. In this way Miranda’s goals are similar to the Symphony’s. Instead of seeking power or dominance like cult leaders that have arisen in the new worlds settlements, the Traveling Symphony simply strives to reinstate humanity and purpose into the lives of those they …show more content…
What it means to be remembered, what I want to be remembered for, certain questions concerning memory and fame. I love watching old movies. I watch the faces of long-dead actors on the screen, and I think about how they'll never truly die… Not just the famous ones who everyone knows… but the bit players… They're all immortal to me. First we only want to be seen, but once we're seen, that's not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.” Both Kirsten and the Frank recognized that it is possible to survive past your life, and into the next. For these who achieved this they did not only survive, but they became
Music is a form of art that has the ability to connect people from all over the world. When the pandemic hit the world, in Station Eleven, everyone scattered. “On Day Four the food from the Mexican restaurant ran out…they lit their first bonfire on the tarmac, burning newspaper…Someone had raided the Skymiles Lounge,” page 243, Mandel shows how people began living to the point of survival. The Traveling Symphony is a group of individuals who not only worked together to survive, but they also continued to do what they love, “Kristen stood in the state of suspension…a sense of having flown very high…A man in the front row had tears in his eyes,” page 59, and they spread that passion. “Survival is insufficient,” is their motto, but it is also their way of life. This phrase is who they are.
Being hopeful is an eye opening experience that encourages people to move forward in a difficult situation. The author of the book Station Eleven is Emily St. John Mandel is a novel that details this exact thing. This novel has these three characters that demonstrate a sense hope; Kirsten, Clark, and Jeevan. Kirsten’s hopefulness in this novel is to have civilization restored which gives her a positive look on things. Clark makes the Museum of civilization to help remain positive and give other people a sense of hope that things are going to be ok. Jeevan always has hope that he can help people with his medical experience and that he’ll do everything he can to help them. These three characters have a huge understanding of what it means to have hope and to never give up. By examining the characters in station eleven, it is clear that many of the characters had a feeling of hope which encouraged them to persevere in hard situations.
-While watching a production of King Lear at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto Jeevan watches as the actor playing Lear, Arthur Leander, has a heart attack.
Over the course of history, the arts have played an important role in aspects of people’s lives. More specifically, music is something that has been around for centuries and will continue to play a part in shaping people into who they are. There have been numerous talented composers in America, but some worth mentioning are Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin.
Music is known to leave its mark on people helping them to overcome challenges in their lives or to give them courage to defy the odds. In one’s daily life, music is normally taken for granted or is seen as nothing special. As ordinary as it may seem, music can convey emotion in times when the body is numb or all hope is lost. Similarly, in The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, the cello’s music gave people hope and determination to live their lives in spite of the rampant siege around them. Therefore, music very much impacts the lives of the principal characters Dragan, Kenan, and Arrow.
My life would be incomplete without performing music. I’ve spent time, in concert bands, in bell choirs, in school and church choirs, and singing, playing in music festivals, and in pit bands trying not to laugh my head off at the actors’ improvisations. But the art that truly speaks to my soul does not lie in creating music, it lies in dancing to it.
Additionally, bravery is something that is hard pressed to retain in chaotic times of war.
The 2013’s Americans for the Arts policy roundtable program let the panels from different backgrounds got together and discussed about what arts should focus on this year, and the topic they came out was “Arts and Healing: Mind, Body and Community ” (“2013 Report And Recommendations”, 3). When I first saw this topic, one name jumped into my mind, James Rhodes, a rising British pianist. He was abused by his teacher back into teenage time, and this tragic experience brought him not only physical harms but also mental illness. He got involved into some drug issues and everything just seemed so messed up. However, it is music that pulls him back from the edge and let him become whom he is today. He once said in the interview “On the piano”
This article discusses the world’s need for classical music and why it will always be relevant. The author explores what makes certain things “art” and why certain other things are simply entertainment. He claims that classical music can never die because it is fundamentally different from many other types of popular music. It defines what makes art different from entertainment and answers the age old question of who gets to judge between them. In an age that dooms classical music to inevitable failure, this article offers a refreshing different perspective in a much more hopeful light.
For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become
I now realise that the Arts, including music, creates opportunities to engage, inspire and enrich our lives. Music making and responding can challenge, provoke responses and enrich our knowledge and understanding of ourselves, our communities and the world.
The arts aren’t just about putting on a show for the people of this city, it is much more than that. The arts appease the gods as an offering. We use songs and plays to honor the gods so that they may show us favor in our endeavors and put us before our enemies. If we upset the gods by not performing these simple tasks than our great city will be doomed.
Before hearing this lecture, I had no concept of the types of music in concentration camps, much less a sense of the music within World War II. The lecture taught me how music and the arts are something that can’t ever be stopped. Even though it’s not mandatory for human life or a lucrative career it has permanently etched a place inside of culture and the continuation of history.
This speech is Karl Paulnack’s welcoming address for incoming freshman students. He addresses that music isn’t apart of arts and entertainment rather music is an invisible force that helps us piece ourselves together. Paulnack believes that music is an essential part of life and goes to prove it by telling his experiences with it. He describes the first moment he truly understood music and the impact it has on people. Paulnack portrays the day after 9/11 after he struggles to find any meaning in being a pianist. After a long time of questioning himself he observes the city and notices something. He sees that in this time of grief and sadness people are singing. From this he learned that music is a form of expression, it allows people to express their feelings when they have no other words to describe them. Paulnack goes on to describe what he says was the most important concert of his life. He and a friend were playing a concert at a nursing home. During their performance, one man began to cry, it was at that time Paulnack knew the man was a veteran. After Paulnack and his friend finished the piece, they announced that the piece they were playing was Aaron Copland's Sonata, which was a work
My grandfather, George Eveleth, was eight years old when he and his family survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Their house also survived, and on that day, George sat on the front steps watching the parade of refugee’s stream passed on their way to the tent city in Golden Gate Park. His father left the house that morning and when he returned, he brought with him two items - an antique clock and a banjo. George took up the banjo and by the time he was in high school, he was playing professionally. Along the way he met and was mentored by a local percussionist and bandleader named Art Hickman.