In the two Eastern European scenes, I noticed some instruments that were more familiar to me. The first scene begins with a kid walking and two men are playing music under a tree. One instrument I noticed was what appeared to be some sort of vibraphone, which was played with mallets. The other instrument was a violin. While the man did play the violin with the traditional bow, he also done something that was foreign to me before watching the film. One string was broken and he produced a new sound appropriate for the song by pulling on it. I thought that this was a very interesting aspect to the movie and scene because I have never seen anyone play the violin this way. I felt this scene was also interesting because it was a political song. It discussed the tyranny in Romania these men suffered from.
The second scene took place around in a town around railroad tracks. It this scene, there are plenty of familiar instruments. Like the previous scene, there are violins played in the traditional way, but there are also accordions, flutes, and a bass. I felt that with all these different instruments, a fuller sound was produced. Unlike the scene before, this song had instruments that ranged from the actual sound of the instrument, as well as the range of the notes that could be played. I thought this scene was interesting because everyone circled around the musicians, which I enjoyed because I could relate to it. Whenever I go to the 3rd Street Promenade, many others including myself circle around and enjoy the entertainment of the musicians playing. It is interesting that while the music is much different intheir culture and Western culture, the instinct to crowd around musicians is the same.
And another interesting thing that I noticed in the movie is when there is a song about Auschwitz. I probably would not have been so affected by it had I not seen Schindler's List the previous week, but it opened my eyes to the knowledge that not only Jews were prosecuted and sent to the death camps. Gypsies were as well, and I felt a sense of sympathy towards a culture I know nothing about.
1 comment:
Overall, good post. I liked this observation: "I thought that this was a very interesting aspect to the movie and scene because I have never seen anyone play the violin this way. I felt this scene was also interesting because it was a political song. It discussed the tyranny in Romania these men suffered from." But you could also talk about how the violinist manipulated the timbre to reflect the tyranny he sang about. I also liked that you noted how little attention the Roma have gotten--even though they were equally persecuted by Nazis--because they don't have as much political clout and visibility. You should put this in the first paragraph and then support it with the material from the film.
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