With week one done, I think I am well into my crash course on music history of the 1920’s. I feel like I’m learning another language filled with composer names, genres, and works of music. What’s helpful though is that these “vocabulary words” continue to appear and interact in our readings and research, reflecting the collaborations between composers, choreographers, dancers, writers, and artists. Honestly, the interconnectedness of the music scene surprised me the most, but that is probably thanks to our narrow range to one year in one city.
Even though we have a specific topic, there are a host of resources available to us. I feel excited, but honestly a bit overwhelmed by all of the possibilities and work in front of us. We’ve already added so many events to our spreadsheet. Our work will be even more evident when we are able to start assembling the map. I’m excited to learn more about how we’ll do that at our technology trainings next week!
I really enjoyed reading and learning about how the historical context had an impact on the music scene of Paris. For example, I wouldn’t have necessarily considered how the Russian Revolution impacted the music scene in Paris. I’m really interested in learning more about the international affairs of 1924. Additionally, some of the readings from this week, notably Pasler’s “Composing the Citizen” addressed the government’s role in supporting the arts and its impact on forming the “French citizen.” I am interested to explore this more, especially to examine the impacts of these factors on the french cultures having experienced the French culture for the last 5 months. Obviously I’ll need to do more researching into these topics to develop a succinct focus of research, but I was just particularly drawn to these issues when I came across them this week.
Here’s to week two!
–Breanna