Journal

At April 8^th, I went to a Baroque concert in Chicago performed by a well-known orchestra and some guest artists. There are a total of four music performed, and each music was performed by different groups of members with different combinations of instruments.

The environment there is really nice, the style of adornment in the building is similar with the way churches are structured. For example, the windows are made by stained glass and the seats are arranged in a way such that there is an aisle between two groups of seats. As for the general demographics of the audience, the majority of the audiences are old people (Above 50 years old) and it seemed like they came from neighborhoods nearby. As the concert is not as formal as a typical classical or Baroque concert but only slightly looser, the way the audiences participate was simply sitting still in their seats and listening without talking, singing, moving, or dancing.

I was so delightful to attend this concert. I have been learning violin since I was 7 years old, and I joined orchestra in my junior high and high school. It felt so good and remind me of the good old time back in Taiwan when I was listening to the music. So thankful that my friend took me to this concert,

Overall, I really like all four music in this concert because personally, I am a lover of Baroque music. I listened to a lot of Baroque music and there are more than fifty pieces of Baroque music in my classical music playlist. The majority of them are composed by Vivaldi and Bach. In this concert, the favorite piece must be the last one, the Fourth Quartet in C Major. The reason is simply because I like the sound of pizzicato and fortunately, this technique is used largely in this piece. Moreover, the second music and the last music affected me the most in an emotional perspective because I could feel the transformation of joy to sorrow significantly in the second music and the last music sounded delightful almost throughout the whole performance. On the other hand, the first music and the third music does not have a specific part that affected me emotionally. However, I really like the horn appeared in the third music because it is looks so special with the beautiful totem. As for the thing specifically held my attention, it must be the performance of the cellists because of the large utilization of basso continuo. Cellists seemed to play an important role throughout the concert. In this concert, there was only Baroque music presented instead of a variety of music. Since the concert is a Baroque concert, in my opinion, it can be improved by having more pieces performed by more representative Baroque composers such as Bach and Vivaldi to highlight the characteristics of Baroque music.

Overall, it is my first time attending a Baroque concert, and it is a nice experience. I really enjoyed it. Especially, I had my differential equation exam that day, and it is so great to attend a Baroque concert after a stressful exam time.

Reading

            Just saw the news regarding the aftermath of United Airline brutally dragging passenger off the plane. I have to say that I am impressed and surprised how fast they have this thing settled, and I am also glad that Dr. Tao received the justice he deserves. Hope this sort of thing will never happen again.