Lukeman Exercise Part Three | Kimberly Bennett
I didn’t see a third exercise listed, so I figured I’d take this opportunity to have a little fun with punctuation. I liked how the book said that punctuation should be used to enhance text, not clarify. I feel like we’ve been taught quite the opposite for most of our lives. So, I guess I’ll take this moment to play with some of my favorite punctuation and see if I can be affective.
An Extremely Brief Overview of the History of Music
FIRST: there was rhythm.
From the beginning of time (meaning somewhere between the creation and the whole apple incident) there has been a beat.
DUH, DU DU DU DU! DUH, DU DU DU DU!
The pulsation echoed through valleys and bounced off of mountainsides; frightening dinosaurs and small birds.
Then after rhythm, there was the melody. The Greeks used this to great effect at funerals. The Seikilos Epitaph is one of the oldest pieces of transcribed music in existence. It was found near Turkey written on the headstone of some dead Greek person.
Melody didn’t change much.
The melody for many years was dominated by the Christian churches. Monks were very fond of it. That is where we get Gregorian chant. Then one day someone said:
“Hey, what if I sing two different notes at the same time?”
And harmony was born.
Now the church had the market cornered on both melody and harmony. But songs of lasciviousness were starting to creep in. (I won’t tell if you won’t.)
Then there was the Renaissance. Enlightenment for all; Music for everybody!
The Renaissance brought wide changes in the way music was thought of. After the Renaissance, there was the Baroque – If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it – in which composers like Bach and Handle were very prominent.
If you hate opera, you should blame its existence on the Baroque period. You should also blame Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote madrigals until some guy criticized his style. To get back at his critic Monteverdi wrote Orpheo. The first opera was written out of vengeance. Take from that what you will.
Then there was the classical music period. Mozart and Beethoven were the men of the day. Rock me Amadeus.
Next came the Romantic period: the favorite themes of the day were death and unrequited love. That just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?
At last we reach modernism. That would be from the turn of the century up till now. We won’t go into the more “interesting” styles of music (atonal) but will instead go right to Spirituals. From spirituals to gospel, from gospel to jazz and from jazz to rock and roll.
Elvis made us swoon and swing our hips in the 50’s. In the 60’s The Beatles made us Coo, Coo, Cachoo; The Who gave us Babba O’Reily with Teenage Wastelands.
Then there was the 70’s. Disco didn’t die. Rock and roll killed it.
In the 80’s we had hair bands and leg warmers. In spite of all its failings, most of us still love the 80’s. In the early 90’s we had rap music and in the later part of the decade, the invention of punk rock. Sadly, this was also a strong teeny bopper era.
Currently we have a diverse culture of music, consisting of everything from Opera to R and B. From Gilbert and Sullivan operettas to Simon and Garfunkle’s easy listening.
And that has been a brief overview of music.
Good day.
I hope that works. I’ve certainly enjoyed it. I’m mot concerned about my semicolon use. But I found it very interesting how I kept wondering if I should go with a period or a colon.
An Extremely Brief Overview of the History of Music
FIRST: there was rhythm.
From the beginning of time (meaning somewhere between the creation and the whole apple incident) there has been a beat.
DUH, DU DU DU DU! DUH, DU DU DU DU!
The pulsation echoed through valleys and bounced off of mountainsides; frightening dinosaurs and small birds.
Then after rhythm, there was the melody. The Greeks used this to great effect at funerals. The Seikilos Epitaph is one of the oldest pieces of transcribed music in existence. It was found near Turkey written on the headstone of some dead Greek person.
Melody didn’t change much.
The melody for many years was dominated by the Christian churches. Monks were very fond of it. That is where we get Gregorian chant. Then one day someone said:
“Hey, what if I sing two different notes at the same time?”
And harmony was born.
Now the church had the market cornered on both melody and harmony. But songs of lasciviousness were starting to creep in. (I won’t tell if you won’t.)
Then there was the Renaissance. Enlightenment for all; Music for everybody!
The Renaissance brought wide changes in the way music was thought of. After the Renaissance, there was the Baroque – If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it – in which composers like Bach and Handle were very prominent.
If you hate opera, you should blame its existence on the Baroque period. You should also blame Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote madrigals until some guy criticized his style. To get back at his critic Monteverdi wrote Orpheo. The first opera was written out of vengeance. Take from that what you will.
Then there was the classical music period. Mozart and Beethoven were the men of the day. Rock me Amadeus.
Next came the Romantic period: the favorite themes of the day were death and unrequited love. That just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?
At last we reach modernism. That would be from the turn of the century up till now. We won’t go into the more “interesting” styles of music (atonal) but will instead go right to Spirituals. From spirituals to gospel, from gospel to jazz and from jazz to rock and roll.
Elvis made us swoon and swing our hips in the 50’s. In the 60’s The Beatles made us Coo, Coo, Cachoo; The Who gave us Babba O’Reily with Teenage Wastelands.
Then there was the 70’s. Disco didn’t die. Rock and roll killed it.
In the 80’s we had hair bands and leg warmers. In spite of all its failings, most of us still love the 80’s. In the early 90’s we had rap music and in the later part of the decade, the invention of punk rock. Sadly, this was also a strong teeny bopper era.
Currently we have a diverse culture of music, consisting of everything from Opera to R and B. From Gilbert and Sullivan operettas to Simon and Garfunkle’s easy listening.
And that has been a brief overview of music.
Good day.
I hope that works. I’ve certainly enjoyed it. I’m mot concerned about my semicolon use. But I found it very interesting how I kept wondering if I should go with a period or a colon.
Labels: Kimberly Bennett, Lukeman Exercise 3, Puncuation
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