Hayden Library

The second situation is outside of the Hayden Library there was a guitar player with some people sitting around him conversing to each other. There was no commotion and the audience members were quietly talking to the guitar player and with themselves. The first detail to evaluate is if the music is relaxing or loud, and the music coming from the guitar was soothing. Guitar music can be loud, but it was an acoustic guitar playing some calm music. The second aspect would be to see how the audience is around the music. The audience during this time were conversing with each other, some were talking to the guitar player. This is perfect example of how Arizona State University can bring the community together because of live music. It also shows how many people interact with each other during live guitar music. The third detail we can use to grade this situation is the setting of where the music was being played. The guitar player and the audience members were outside the Hayden Library on the lawn, that is a perfect place with no distractions and it would not be busy at all. The area is completely isolated for groups to sit on the lawn and talk with each other. This is a prime example to show how interaction between people happens when someone is playing a live acoustic guitar. The guitar was playing soothing music and the crowd around the guitar player were talking to each other and it seemed like they were having a good time. This situation was perfect for each of the grading points and is a prime example to show how people interact during live guitar music.

Arizona State University Stadium

Another setting would be the music live coming from the Arizona State University stadium, the music is loud over the people sitting in the stands waiting for the game to play. The music does not completely drown over the people’s voices, but it does make it tough for a conversation to happen. There is absolutely no acoustic guitar being played, but there is an electric guitar to pump up the crowd. The stadium creates a game environment, which makes people become excited to watch the game that is about to start. The first detail is that the music coming from the speakers are blaring out over the giant stadium. Loud music usually means that there is no way for someone to have a conversation with another person. The second aspect to notice is whether or not the audience is talking to each other. Before a football game, the crowd is usually conversing with each other, talking about the upcoming game or various other topics at the time. The third detail to grade is to see if this situation helps the setting of where the music is being played. It is in a stadium and the stadium does offer time to talk with the person next to you. The music is not fairly loud during football games and friends do have conversations if the game is really that boring. The purpose of this event is to watch the football game and not talk with the surrounding people. This situation is not ideal to interact with other people, and the audience is usually focused on the football game rather than discussing with each other about a variety of topics. 

Underground in the Memorial Union

The fourth setting would be the music played over the speakers at the underground level of the Memorial Union. The music is being played while people are bowling, playing pool, or even playing ping pong. The first thing to notice is if the music is relaxing and the music coming from the speakers are pop songs. The songs are not being played loudly where people can not talk over them. It is more background music rather than speakers blaring out music for the people there. The music was not exactly a relaxing genre of music, but it was not annoying for people around there. It did contain guitar music, but it had a poppy feel to it. The second aspect to see is whether or not the audience is talking and the people there were talking to each other. They were having conversations about the local sports team and other various topics. It is good that they were talking to each other, but the music was not influencing them. The music was just in the distance being played. The third detail to notice about the underground in the Memorial Union is the setting of the underground in the Memorial Union. The groups of people who gather in the Memorial Union downstairs do converse with each other about everything. This fourth setting underground in the Memorial Union is a good place for people at Arizona State University to discuss while music is being played. Even though it is not guitar music, the area is does have people talking to each other.

Evaluating Places Project 2

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Project 2 

          Arizona State University provides a diverse cultural setting for the students attending. The live guitar music in ASU is a good place to interact with people. Good criteria to grade whether it is a good group of people to converse is if there is relaxing music being played. Usually there is someone with a guitar playing music with a circle of people talking with each other and listening to the music. The second criterion would be to notice if the audience is jamming out to the music or if they are actually talking to each other. The third aspect would be where the music is being played. 

        The first part of the criteria is important because people can not speak to each other if there is hard techno blasting from the speakers of a stage. The quiet music from an acoustic guitar soothes people around them. The acoustic guitar music compared to an electric guitar has people relax to the sound rather than rocking out to it. There are times when an acoustic guitar can excite a crowd, but the criteria is focused on calming guitar music. The guitar is a very important part of the criteria because it is the only instrument that people use regularly to group people together to listen to music. A piano would be a great instrument to listen, but its a gigantic instrument to have. It is not as portable as a guitar. Even the electric guitar is hard to carry around because it needs electricity for the amplifier to make the noise. An acoustic guitar is universal to people around the world. Many people know about how an acoustic guitar is used for musicians on the road. It only requires one person to play the guitar. The one person can have an immense impact by bringing different people just by playing the guitar (One Person, One Music). There have been many instances where one person starts playing music for a group of friends. Later on in the day, tons more people come to listen to the music. It shows how people are attracted to groups. Once the group starts to increase in size, more people interact with each other. The interaction will definitely create a better community for Arizona State University. Different cultures listen to the music, and it brings them together to listen to the music.

         Noticing if the audience is talking with each other is extremely important, because many people sit there to just listen to the music. The criteria is to see if the people are discussing with each other about different topics and it does not have to be only about the music. The discussion between the audience makes people talk about a general topic. Discussing about something that they can all relate to, has the audience talk to people from different cultures. People connect with each other when they are talking about a similar subject. There is a book used here that is generally known to different colleges other than Arizona State University (Journal of Historical Research in Music Education). It was written by a professor in Ithaca, New York and if it reached ASU then it must be a well known book to college students (Journal of Historical). This indicates that many musical college students, no matter where they are from, have probably read this book and can talk to each other about the historical side of music (Journal of Historical). This similarity has them talk about a topic and effects the community because more people meet different types of people from around the world. 

         The last aspect of the criteria is where the music is being played. Many places would be perfect but they are not made for an audience to listen to music. If the area is bigger it does not mean more interaction will happen within the group. Smaller groups might be better if the people are talking to each other. The area is not a big factor in the criteria because anyone can play a guitar or sing anywhere they want. 

     Concerts definitely bring people together, they bring the community together with relaxing music playing in the background. Music is evolving as well, and even though it is turning into rave concerts. It still brings them together to be able to talk about the music. It’s just harder to converse during the concert compared to an acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar is not noisy compared to another concert, but music is evolving (Classical Music Aims to Evolve, Build Audiences Without Alienating Old Guard). Acoustic guitar music could be something entirely different as more years pass. The lyrics in songs nowadays are mostly about clubs, compared to the lyrics 30 years ago where it was not all about clubbing.  No matter what the lyrics are, people in groups interact with each other. 

Research Sources: Music Around ASU

My proposed topic for the second project in English 101 is the music around the Arizona State University campus. The music around the campus brings the community together to be able to converse about music, relax, and listen to the different artists on campus here. This topic interested me because I am into a variety genres of music, especially live music, it appeals to me for the atmosphere that is created when a group of people listen to an artist playing their music live for them. Music coming from speakers is another form of live music even though the artist is not playing for the crowd. The music coming from the speakers, do turn the crowd into a whole dancing and singing to the tune. The way I can evaluate this my topic for how music brings the community together to discuss with each other is by whether or not the music is soothing, if the audience is discussing with each other, and the setting where the artists performing. I am going to use sources for Project 2 and my first source will be a book called Journal of Historical Research in Music Education written by Mark Fonder, the source deals with the historical side of the music education that is taught in Arizona State University. The ideas the book has are how music has evolved and needs to be changed every year in order to be taught, they have a new edition come out every year since 1999. The source interests me how music is changing so much and even though what I consider soothing music could be something completely different a couple years from now. Thats exactly what i learned from it, how music is changing every year and the professors who teach have the choice to change the book because the publishers have a different version for every year. Another source I will be using is called One Person, One Music this source containing 345 pages written by Aaron Ziegel shows how one person when playing or making music gets so involved with the music it transforms people. This source could help me out by proving the point of becoming a different person when you are involved with the music and how other people could be captivated by it. The third source I am going to use is Classical Music Aims To Evolve, Build Audiences Without Alienating Old Guard written by Lucas Kavner containing 15 paragraphs, this article deals with how classical music is too proper and no one comes anymore because of the rules to be part of a concert. They want organizations to change it up so it is more friendly towards normal people, it shows how music is evolving for everyone around the world even if the genre is old. 

Evaluation: Shooter

Bob Lee Swagger played by Mark Wahlberg is a retired sniper from the US military, is told that an assassination on the US president might happen and this turns out to be a setup, where the rest of the movie is about Swagger trying to figure out why he was setup and who did this to him. The movie is an incredible thriller with the usual explosions and car chases. The one thing I really appreciated in the movie was the plot was not normal with a happy ending. Even though some parts of the movie were predictable the overall plot was not predictable at all and the ending will surprise some of the viewers. That is what I enjoy in a movie, the plot has to be surprising to the viewers because if we can guess the ending then what’s the point of watching the movie. The plot in this movie was spectacular and I throughly enjoyed it. The acting is another part to evaluate when watching a movie, Mark Wahlberg did an impressive job portraying an ex-military soldier being chased, he was a perfect match to play Bob Lee Swagger in this movie. The other actors that had notable roles in this movie were Michael Peña, and Danny Glover. Michael Peña did an extraordinary job with his role playing as Nick Memphis. I easily could tell he put work into this role just like he had with the movie Crash where he did a splendid job acting. In Shooter, Michael Peña played an FBI agent who has the drive to find out why Bob Lee Swagger told him “I didn’t shoot the president.” This sparks him to go on several adventures with Swagger adding more action to the movie. Danny Glover’s acting was excellent as well, he played a great bad guy in this movie, his character develops throughout the whole movie and from the first scene to the last scene you can tell how he became a different person. The plot of the movie shows the audience how he is not what we thought of him and his character becomes a totally different person. The directing done in this film was very well done, it was not anything mind blowing, but the scenery and effects were great. The action scenes were spectacular because of the explosions and the way Mark Wahlberg acted throughout the action scenes. Overall, the movie Shooter was done well, and I was surprised at how good the movie was with plot and the acting. I was expecting a movie with a normal ending, mediocre acting, and a million explosions. The movie surpassed my expectations and it was a movie that I would definitely watch again.

Project 1 Reflection

Project 1 Reflection: Project 1 was based off the Hayden Library Entrance, and some of the challenges writing this paper was having to observe every little detail and find a way to write about it. Having to immerse yourself in the detail and write paragraphs I found it to be quite tough because I haven’t written an essay in quite a while. Adapting an authors style was  difficult because I had to analyze how the author wrote in order to try to be like him when he’s writing. The strengths I had when writing this essay was being able to flow from one idea to another. I felt like it was easy to go from one part of the Hayden Library entrance to another because they were all connected to each other. Analyzing the places was another easy part for me because I enjoy looking for the deeper meaning. Having to find out what more there is than rather looking at the surface was enjoyable and meaningful for me. There were plenty of opportunities to analyze something in the area I was sitting at, the people next to me, and the area surrounding me had a ton of information for me to analyze. I learned that I need to know more vocabulary words to show my description of the area and the extra vocabulary could help me when I am trying to explain my viewpoint in an essay. I did not get to the depth of analysis that I wanted to, I found myself to be blocked because I couldn’t find the perfect words to describe what I was trying to explain. I want to improve my sentence structure for my next essays. The sentence structure helps a lot with the flow of the paper, and having a paper that is easy to read will definitely help with the grade. When people have abrupt endings or ideas that pop up out of nowhere in an essay are very hard to follow along. When someone knows how to explain their viewpoint in an essay without having any sudden changes will definitely get a better grade. This assignment taught me to analyze things around you more and learn to not look at the surface of people or your surroundings because you will definitely miss something. The use of adapting an authors style is going to help me in more writing assignments because I can learn to see how they write and add it to my paper so I can write clearer and better for the next essays that I have to write.