Musicals! My Awe-some Journey (Somebody had to)

When I signed up for this class I was so intrigued by the title. Literature of Awe. A class about Literature and Awe sounds like it would be a fun class and it was. I thought starting off the semester with 2001:A Space Odyssey was a great way to so the many faces of awe. The book and certainly the movie had a little bit of everything. It had the terror, and the transcendent, the spectacle and the sublime.
However, I think when I really got into researching awe I found it often in religion. I wrote about a book called Believing in Christ  By Stephen Robinson and explored what I felt was awe.
As the semester went on we looked at the idea of awe in the every day. We had our wonder journals, which helped me see wonder in the world but in my mind awe was reserved for rare moments of transcendent feelings.
Once I figured out I wanted to write about those feelings, what I called Ultimate Awe, I wrote a blog post about Frozen. I had just seen the movie and had walked out with my mind racing over the possible implications of the movie. There was just so much more there than a talking snowman. As I thought about the themes and the issues in Frozen I began to think of other musicals. I thought about focusing my paper for the class on stage musicals.

Memoirs + Social Proof

I got in touch with Lisa Roylance and she sent me a copy of the paper she presented at the recent BYU English Symposium titled "The Importance of Memory Holes in Memoir." Not only will the paper itself be a great resource, but Lisa will also be great to bounce ideas off of and take advice from. Her paper is very interesting, and her list of references has a lot of sources that I think I may end up using in my final paper. I'm really excited to have found someone else researching along similar veins!

Here's a quote from the end of her paper:

"Memoir reminds me of the inevitable imperfections that I have. It brings me to more questions than answers sometimes, more spaces to look at and patches to sew. I’m the only one that can do it, though. I am the doctor looking at my past and living in my present, and both are full of mistakes. I am the patient wanting to learn and find healing from the cuts and scrapes of my past. That, I believe, is the true power of honest memoir – allowing the reader to find their own past filled with holes and “I don’t know’s” to peer at the light caught in a drop just as it dangles from the web" (Royalnce 15).

Updated Audiences for Memoir

Social Proof

At the BYU English Symposium, there was a panel title "Memoir: Unlocking Identity and Memory through Narrative Style." Although I was unfortunately unable to attend the panel, I plan on contacting some of the presenters to read copies of their papers. I have a class with Lisa Roylance, the girl who presented the paper "The Importance of Memory Holes in Memoir," so I'm planning on asking her tomorrow about it. Judging by the titles of the papers, I think these will be really helpful to collaborate with as I continue structuring my paper.

Paper Venue

As far as publishing my paper goes, I'm thinking I'll just go with the 1966 Journal. I'll probably submit to a few other journals, too. But right now I'm think that I won't go the blog publishing route. I think my paper is getting too long/academic to be well-suited to that type of format. Even though blogs are a sort of memoir and it might be interesting for bloggers to read about why exactly they find blogging to be so fascinating, I think the very nature of blogs (simplicity and brevity) would cause them to reject anything near an academic paper.

Musical Experiences: Project Prototype

So I asked a few of my friends to answer a few questions about experiences they have had with musicals. I gave them some examples and asked them some questions but wanted to leave it a little bit open so they could respond genuinely. I feel like the main purpose of the creative project is to show the awe of your topic by engaging others so they invest their time in wanting to know more. I wanted a very personal feel to each persons video. I will slowly post more as I get them but so far I'll share the one that has been very helpful, informative, honest, and enlightening.

This is my friend Tanner, an acting major at BYU. It was cool to have a clip from someone on the inside if you know what I mean.

Sorry it's so long. I will need to clip it when I put them all together. If you want to let me know what I should take out that would be great.
But for sure let me know what you liked and/or learned. Did your opinion of musicals change? Did it make musicals a more serious genre for you? What do you think?

Sources and Searching

Right now I have a really interesting list of a few theorists, some ideas on certain aspects of musicals, and a book I read about Awe earlier this semester. I feel like I'm still searching for the way I want to connect the three. I really want to focus on the human connection that comes from the combination of all of the elements of a musical. Wagner had the whole idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or "his idea of unifying all the works of art via the theatre." (#1 below) and I think there is value in entertaining this idea further. Here are some of the things I've looked at and mused over:

Annotated Bib.

Allen, Alexis. "Behind the Broadway Buzz : An Analysis of the Communications Campaigns of Broadway Musicals." Honors Project--Brigham Young University, 2005., 2005. Print.

       This is a paper on how the general public is specifically catered to in the creation of musicals. What emotional aspects must be there for a genuine connection to occur. It gives specific examples of different campaigns that I will reference in my paper. 

Bernhard, Randall Lee. "Contemporary Musical Theatre : History and Development in the Major Colleges and Universities of Utah." Thesis (Ph.D.)-- Brigham Young University. Dept. of Theatre and Cinematic Arts., 1979. Print.

This paper is super specific and I am looking into a better book about History of Theater in general, I don't like the one I have. But this book has been helpful in diving into some of the more recent developments in theater. Colleges are a little incubator for new ideas to grow. This article will help me with the end of my paper as I seek to show the relevance of the musical.

Edney, Kathryn Ann Tremper. "'Gliding through our Memories': The Performance of Nostalgia in American Musical Theater." 2009. Print.

This paper is very idealistic. But also makes some very good points about how we emotionally connect to theater performances. It has some great information about the transcendent aspect of musicals in the sense that they can bring you away from the world. I don't know if I will use it as much but possibly for a brief introduction to awe.

Garber, Michael. "Reflexive Songs in the American Musical, 1898-1947." 2006. Print.

This paper focuses specifically on American Musicals and how the songs comment on the current events in context of the story. They use irony and parody and tropes to build what he calls, "An implied community." I wanted to talk about this connection, community aspect of musicals at the end of my paper. How we connect to the play and how we and the play connect to the others watching and to life in general.

Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Eds. Hull, R. F. C. (Richard Francis Carrington),1913-1974., C.G. Jung, and translated by R.F.C. Hull. 2nd ed. ed. 20. Vol. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980. Print. Archetypen Und Das Kollective Unbewusste.

Again with the community aspect of musicals (Can you tell I like the concept?) Any way here's a theorist on the topic. He gave me more of a way to read a musical, more of the formulaic way a musical is structured by giving me a background of stories and how they are structured and affect us.

Schneider, Kirk J. Awakening to Awe : Personal Stories of Profound Transformation. Ed. Kirk J. Schneider. Lanham, Md.: Jason Aronson, 2009. Print.

Walters, Sally. "Algorithms and Archetypes: Evolutionary Psychology and Carl Jung's Theory of the Collective Unconscious." Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems 1994: 287-306. Print.

This was particularly helpful becasue Jung talks about how our thoughts and perceptions change and are affected by outside stimuli. Gets a bit too sciencey for me but it will help in identify reasons for the reactions to musicals. Are we conditioned? 

And of course Wagner- I just found him, really excited. So excited I kind of want to base my whole paper on his ideas. Any way I'm looking for a good source for him.

I also have many (17) libretti that I have looked over and loved

I will put them in as I use them. I won't use them all. 

Also I will actually annotate, don't worry. I just haven't written the paper so I'm not exactly sure where and what I want to pull from each source, I just have a general idea. Any ideas?

Greg gave me his ideas about Miracle Plays and other suggestions that will really help with the history part of the paper. 

        Dr. Burton suggested I look at Schrader, getting on that.

       If any one has any theorists they think would work well let me know, I have Jung so far.

       Also If you guys think of a musical that would fit a specific aspect of awe (theme, imagery, showcase splendor, inspiring music, etc.) Let me know, that would be helpful to get more examples in the paper. I also just love hearing what everyone says, what the favorites are. We've got to have a little fun right?

                                                  Any suggestions are great! Thanks Guys

Wagner

Prototyping with My Story On My Own

So class today renewed my energy and enthusiasm about my project. I started out doing an info graphic about musicals and their, "Formula" or in other words the fact that their is always a comical if not just a more light hearted piece in a play and then there is a theme song, and reprises and many other musical pieces. These pieces are in every musical and make them very easy to read. In a musical it is precisely the fact that you do know what's coming that generates a bit of the awe. The other elements are the creative things that make a show unique. Because we know the formula, musical production teams have to get creative, using costuming, sets, lighting, backdrops, intricate dancing, music, and themes, in order for their musical to stand out.
I learned the formula when I was very young. I watched the Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and saw the themes, and sets, and acting without realizing the reason I loved watching them. It wasn't until a little bit down the road that I realized what I connected with: the music.
My Mom is an avid Musical lover. I remember her being on the treadmill downstairs listening to Moulin Rouge and Jekyll and Hyde as she ran. They became an inspiration for me too. She listened to them so often I didn't need to be taught the words or the notes or the inflections I just absorbed them all.
When I was twelve I asked for Musical Tickets for Christmas. I went and saw Oliver with my grandma. When I turned 15 I begged for voice lessons. And perfected notes that I'd only dreamed of singing.  At 21 I still sing, my husband (and neighbors) will tell you as much. As for musicals, I still can't get enough of them.

For my curation media project prototype I've decided to show moments of awe in music that have inspired me. And then ask others what music inspired them?
I am also working on an info graphic to try and make the formula for musicals that I describe above more transparent. But for now....

A Song That's Changed My Life: On My Own from Les Misérables (along with a description of it's meaning by Sam Cox)

 

 

"On My Own" it would seem remains the anthem for Les Miserables not only because we all relate to Eponine’s urequited love but because, for better or worse, aside from society and those who mistreat us on from the exterior, aside from those who inflict ‘la misere’ upon us, it is love which proves to be the one which ultimately inflicts the greatest amount of misery upon us. Whilst it proves to be the redeeming aspect of the novel and the show, Eponine is the distinctive reminder of love’s ability to act as a double edged sword. To love, to be good and selfless, whilst these are all such innate, inward qualities which come natural to mankind they are equally ones which we struggle with, ones which, as we lose touch with what would seem to be a cruel, unfair world, we also can forget to value and hold onto.

 

- Sam Cox

The Show Must Go On! So I go on, and on, and on, and

The Show Must Go On! So I go on, and on, and on, and

Musicals: People talking to People

Much like Kenna, and many of you, I chose my topic because I have a deep personal connection to Musicals. I saw my first musical at eight, an off-broadway production of The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews Edwards, or some of you may know her as Mary Poppins, became my idol. I was going to become her. But when I was young I often lost my voice due to nodules on my vocal chords. When Julie Andrews lost her voice for what some thought would be for good I knew I could do it too. Now it was obvious to me that the two of us were somehow kindred spirits.
She wrote a book in 1989 that convinced me that an actress could do anything. I still believe in the power of theater, and good writing to transform us. I read scripts voraciously and memorize show tunes for fun, I have been to the west side and lived a story, I know a phantom who needs me, and I go to the hills of Austria every time I hear the sound of music.

I think one of the draws of musicals is their themes, the theme must be based so much on human emotion that it is worthy to sing about.  For the project portion of my research I think a video where the words of songs from musicals written on the screen and background music sets a mood for that particular song. This would bring across the message of the words even though they are out of their original song.

This project is to convince non- musical lovers that musicals have a purpose and a power.
I realize that this all sounds idealistic but we're English majors so don't even get me started on that. But! I also realize that in order for this paper and this argument to work I can't keep talking with my head in the clouds. I need some support. So I thought I'd get that from other people.
Here are some options for my project. Let me know what you think.

 I've thought of doing a video where I quote a powerful line from a musical and play a bit of the song and then talk about the theme that the piece expresses and how it enstills awe in the listener.

or

Doing a conglomeration of testimonials to get people hooked on my topic. I know people might think it's cheesy. But we're dealing with musicals here so you kind of need to be over the top to show being over the top.

I talked to Dr. Burton about being entranced by language and that's my focus here. I want to stress that musicals are an artistically communal way of connecting to something beyond ourselves. The first song in a musical destroys the similitude of everyday talking and has every audience member astutely listening. People don't just start singing in real life so it is startling when it happens in a musical. Even if you are familiar with the genre, you come to a musical waiting for the dialogue to be broken.
Many people come into a theater and feel awe when someone sings the first song.

Here's a few examples of testimonials I might find to engage people in my topic. It will be people talking to people about people (actors and actresses portraying people). So cool!

These are about the musical, "Wicked"  and how it changed these people for good:

"I went to see WICKED for the first time with my best friend of 20 years. We have both been through everything together, dating, break ups, husbands, weddings, showers, 6 boys between us, and being thousands of miles apart. Being able to see the show with her and watching the beautiful friendship moved us both to tears. It changed me for good because all I have to do is start singing a song from the show and I'm instantly happy."
- MIRANDA P. / LONDON, UK

"During the final scene in act one when Elphaba rises while singing Defying Gravity, my teenage daughter reached over and grabbed my hand. The scene ended and the lights came up and I could see she had been crying. When I asked if she was OK, she reached over and hugged me tight and said "I will NEVER ever forget this moment, Mom!" Elphaba flew and so did my daughter's heart."- MARY M. / DETROIT, MICHIGAN

"My surprise 40th birthday gift from my husband was a trip that included 3rd row, center orchestra seats. He does not like musicals and had resigned himself to a miserable experience. In addition to WICKED making me cry (in the best way), I also cried to see my husband, who was the first one out of his seat to clap and whistle as he participated in the standing ovation."- PAM M. / CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE

http://www.wickedthemusical.com/changed-for-good

Go to the web address above for a video like the one I think I'll do. Well sort of... but with more people.

I think I'll do one that's more along the lines of every person saying why they love musicals. My plan is to go to the HFAC and then post it on Facebook. I think this could really be a driving force and great support for my topic.

Any thoughts?

How to.. Awe in Simple Life Discoveries

It is fascinating to me how many processes we can learn through digital media. We can do anything in many different disciplines at the click of a button. We don't even have to be with the person.

It's amazing how even simple things are on the internet. Before, like I am pretty sure all of us learned, you had a family member show you or you just heard and learned yourself. I think the thing that is awe-some, in an unsettling sense, about this one is the lack of dependence I feel we have on others. Why don't we ask for help from real people? Are we embarrassed? I'd like to think so, that's why people turn to the internet for way more embarrassing things than not knowing how to plunge a toilet.

How to plunge a toilet. (by two adorable old ladies)

We also turn to the media for more complicated things like how to beat a video game. We can go through whole processes with someone else showing us how to solve it.   Here's an intro on how to play Minecraft, which can also catch you up on the times.
Then here is a boy that plays the game Slender with you and helps you solve the game! It's incredible how much we can help people now from across the world. (The guy in the first video has an awesome accent.)

I was talking to my mom the other day about how anyone should be able to cook anything they want now a days because they can watch it step by step online. A video can turn anyone into a cook. In this day and age anyone can master anything. It's amazing!

You can easily learn a new skill you've never tried before. Digital media has made us crave learning like nothing else has, except maybe books. With the visual element we can learn much faster!
Learn to juggle, pick up a new skill, in under five minutes.

 You can connect through your devices in another way too. Take a screen shot of what you're doing on your device and send it to a friend and this erases all ambiguity of what you were trying to help them with. With technology we've taken a lot of the ambiguity out of things.

We can also connect to people of a different field. We can get the best of the best instruction on something we've never done from someone who is well-trrained in the area. That normally costs a lot of money. This how to shoot a gun according to the marine corp.

This is how to build a PC Computer Part one of three. Becasue it's on the internet we can stop and do a part and return to the video. There is not need to take a class and waste time getting there and home. You just do it from the comfort of your couch. The internet saves us lots of time.

This is a video of How to Be Irish. A little silly I know, but this is awesome because of the way it can transport you across the world into another culture. Talk about interconnectivity of the internet. You can be some where else as well in your living room.

This perhaps is the most interesting part of the internet for me. How by watching a screen we can become more physically healthy. No one looks at it that way anymore but think about it. It's incredible. How to get better Abs in 3 minutes.

Digital Media sources can also explain how we think. We can understand our own brains. This video is  about how violence affects how children think.

There is so much power in the collective human mind of the internet. We can understand so many processes, make some many things we would never be able to make otherwise, improve our health, and even understand our own minds. The internet can create the everyday awe we look for in life and inspire us to see the greater awe in the bigger picture of life.

Musicals and Awe

 Musicals are made up of the spoken word and song

 It is amazing to find out how many people

 are involved in making these spectacular events

There is editing and re-working of the script before the final pages even come out. 

 Musicals started as a slapstick humor

 They became popular entertainment and started to develop storylines

They even got very serious. Tackling topics like Gang life and leaving a home country.

In West Side Story there are racial tensions between Puerto Ricans and Americans 

In The Sound of Music there are Nazis and the war 

affecting a family in Austria. (This is a pic of Maria)

Some other serious lines from musicals

Showboat was one musical that really catered to the time period. The great Depression needed uplifting entertainment.

After the Depression, Musicals went through there growing stage, awe is developed by continually creating and then running in to a masterpiece. There were many bad before the good.

People decided to experiment with religious content 

They looked into problems of the day. Emotional disorders among them.

And began a series of  musicals that entertained and informed others about social issues.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about musicals is that it all must come together in the end so we can come step out of reality and view a spectacle of awe.

The Awe in Austen

I posted a question on Google+ asking what kind of awe Jane Austen had inspired in those who've read her. Here are two responses:

"She wrote depictions of everyday, ordinary activities and experiences, yet still became this phenomenon celebrated today. We've talked about the mundane, how it gets harder to find awe in the routine. Jane Austen created awe from the mundane. So it is possible to find awe in anything I suppose, mundane or grand, if you are consciously or subconsciously looking for it." -Amber

"I was always in awe of her ability to take the mundane and ordinary social interactions of her day and magnify them into these iconic stories." -Cara

This semester, I want to research Austen's literary texts as well as the cultural phenomenon surrounding her works. I had no intention to write about Austen for this class, but I experienced my own moment of awe in the form of an epiphany while reading from Wordsworth's "Preface to Lyrical Ballads." It was while reading the following two passages when I realized my love for Austen is something I could study and actually write about:

Ultimate Awe

I think we build up awe to only happen at moments of high sensory stimulation. I've decided there are moments of awe that I'm calling "ordinary awe." Things we all share like being in awe of a puppy running around in the snow without a care in the world while we are trudging home from school. How he is so warm-hearted in the cold. This type of awe equates to wonder.
But there is another type of awe, it is almost a common jealousy we all share, we look for awe in the ordinary things because we are looking for "Ultimate awe." Ultimate awe is the peak of emotion and understanding being reconciled. It is a place that is very seldom reached.
Plays and especially musicals are one way to produce "Ultimate Awe." They transform ordinary awe-inspiring things into one awe-inspiring experience. I think to experience awe you use or want to use all of the senses. Musicals can do this for us as they reproduce a heightened version of reality.  For example the song "Let it Go" in the new Disney movie "Frozen" appeals to our emotions.






We initially get lost in the moment and desire to vocalize our wants like Elsa does. We want to take off our outward facades, and be accepted for who we are. We feel a connection to her feelings because she's like us and at the same time we are in awe of her spontaneity and recklessness.

We progress to awe of how she, the song, the spectacle, has affected us. Perhaps next we stand in awe of how our emotional connection was created. And then, finally, we are in awe of what this means to us. I think this last realization is "Ultimate Awe," when the spectacle connects to the bigger outside world.
We realize this scene means more than to let ourselves go. The song relates to overcoming disabilities, emotional distress, loneliness, fear and realizing how to come into your own skin. We gain a new understanding of others and ourselves.  We gain a connection to others. and That is Ultimate Awe.
Ultimate Awe is in the spectacles of life, because what is presented to us with enough intensity leaves an impression.

Seeing without Seeing - Literature and Awe

I am 21 and have so much experience with Literature it's nearly choked me to death. But I still want to read it, still try and find a quiet place and time to read. It has to be quiet and I have to be able to get away for a bit because when I read I forget the practicalities of life, escape reality, and indulge for a while. It has never been easy for me to come out of a reading coma, emerging is kind of like making my real world a fantasy as much as the fantasy world I've just come from.

This can happen with any text, a biology book can take you into a reverie of the body just as easily as a novel will let you laugh and cry. 

I... I just... well... an example, one example? 

How about “Believing Christ” by Stephen E. Robinson.

Why? because it's the first book I saw on my bookshelf across the room, I have a blog post I need to write, and all those books meant something to me. We'll talk about this one.

Do I dare discuss a text I hold so dear to my heart.

I picked this book up from the local DI on a whim, a friend across the room told me to get it, one of his favorites. For $3 dollars that was the most wisdom I have ever gained. 

"We hope you will enjoy this book as much as we have. Read it often and "Believe in Christ."

All Our Love 

Mom + Dad

was written on the front cover. A message from a couple I didn't know, but now appreciate their gift to someone else.

From the opening I learned:

We live behind a wall of expectations in life.

"Documenting oneself or one's experiences, reflections, and views is very hard. Thus readers will either agree with my opinions or disagree, as they choose. Because the material here is personal, I have tried to use the same style I would in the classroom or in conversation, including the colloquial and elliptical, the ironic and the sarcastic. For this I apologize to Miss Wood, my seventh grade English teacher, who taught me to know better. I claim no outside authority as proof of any of these private opinions, though I have dutifully inserted as many notes as I could manage in a book of this nature, which though ostensibly theological is also unabashedly devotional. And I would like the reader to know that I believe what is said here."

This was the most honest a book has ever been for me. So easy to understand. And so self-aware. Self conscious almost.

Please forgive me but this I must say

Take this book at it's word,

they are my words.

I share them with you.

This is the power of Literature, the purpose we often forget and the reason we search for books like this. Literature is meant to inspire an awe of relationships and how, over years, or decades, or centuries we still get to communicate about what's in our hearts. 

"We make the most progress by working at the limits of our abilities..."

"Our very real goal is perfection..."

"Our salvation is not hanging in the balance, for that issue is already settled if we are keeping our covenants."

"Our best efforts will be accepted as payment in full- at least for now."

I spoke to Brother Robinson 

I picked up his book and we chatted

and talked about divinity and acceptance

and never looked at him once.

That is the awe of literature.