Lessons Learned from the Cultural Heritage Course
In this course, I have learned quite a several interesting topics. First, I have learned several core lessons in music and enjoyed listening to the performances of the symphony and orchestra. Some of the interesting performances include the music and orchestration of Leonard Bernstein in Young people’s Concerts that was performed in 1958, Pomp and Circumstance by James Elgar, and Fantasia by Samuel Armstrong and James Algar. Some of the unique features of the music mentioned above are the style of composition and how they introduce young performers to the world of music.
Besides, I have learned about literature and various classifications of stories. I have been influenced by European stories, especially the one on Greek mythology and its application everywhere. Stories on ancient Greeks, their rituals and cultic practices, the nature of their world, heroes, and gods have shaped my perception and enhanced my understanding of political and religious institutions as well as civilization. In the literature, I have learned about the Trojan Wars and the Epic poems of Odyssey and Iliad.
In terms of my faith and religion as a Christian, I have learned various religious elements, including a belief system, sacredness, and rituals. The latter are some of the most important components that relate humanity to moral values and spirituality. Learning from the gospel of Luke, it has become clear that Christianity is a religion that displays rituals and sacredness. Christian rituals are sacred and have their foundation on the teachings of Christ. Some of them include baptism, sacraments, daily worship, calendar cycle, confirmation, communion, marriage, ordination, funerals, and prayer.
Also, to folk arts such as dances and films that have influenced me, it is worth indicating that I have been moved by the arts of Pablo Picasso, especially the Guernica. This painting was a reaction to a war event that occurred in Guernica. In terms of dances, I have been greatly influenced by the Native American dances, especially by how they conduct buckskin dancing, cloth dancing, and men’s fancy dancing. Lastly, the movies that I have enjoyed most are the Crouching Tiger and The Hidden Dragon, both produced in 2001 due to the demonstration of protagonists’ heroic acts.
Description of the Study Areas
Through this course, I have learned important lessons that have changed what I already knew about arts, literature, stories, and music. I have learned about qualitative relationships and how to make good judgments with multiple perspectives and think within and through a material. Besides, I have come to understand that in literature, numbers, literal forms, and even words cannot exhaust the much we need to know.
Effective interaction with music and art around me has become an important practice that I have engaged in. I have achieved this via dialogues and relations with participants of arts and music, and the artwork. The participants include agencies and owners of a piece of work.
In terms of how I intend to appreciate art in the future, I will focus on a particular type of art, learn about it from lecture classes, friends, and books until I become an expert. The knowledge that I will gain will be used and shared with individuals interested in that field. In addition to the arts, I will hold meetings at home, invite guests who will perform the arts, and offer lively discussions. Also, I will set up budgets for entertainment, attend fundraisers, and galas for my selected art and assist in its growth and spread.
In this course, there are areas that I still want to learn more about. One such area is religion and its aspects. Palmberg indicates that the facets of a religion, including arts, music, architecture, a belief system, sacredness, and rituals, have become some of the important components that relate humanity to moral values and spirituality (33). While religion encompasses worldviews, belief, art, music, and cultural systems, they differ in different cultures. Palmberg indicates that this could be attributed to the difference that these religions express in the manner in which they emphasize the mentioned elements of religion (34). I would like to understand why some religions emphasize religious community activities and other subjective experiences while some on general beliefs and arts.
Basic Vocabulary Humanities
Music
Music has been defined by Chasteen as an art form with both silence and sound as the medium (550). The word music has become an important vocabulary to me since it bears unique sonic qualities, dynamics, rhythm, and pitch: the significance, performance, and creation of music exhibit rich social and cultural contexts.
Story/literature
Literature as a vocabulary in humanities is an important word since it makes use of words to paint pictures, create images, plot, and characters who appear to be real. Besides, Welch posits that while operating on the same principle as music, literature captures attention, imitates reality, and leads a reader to greater imaginations (74).
Religion
Religion is an important term that bears a peculiar mutual aid and kinship with arts. As a vocabulary, it is vital for me as it awakens us and raises us up, causing us to strive towards an ideal world. Religion does not only focus on communion with God but also on the artistic beauty of nature.
Art, including sculpture and folk art
Nickerson-Crowe defines art as a product of a diverse range of human activities such as sculpture, folk art, film, and painting, like literature such as dance and music (534). Art is an important word that creates an internal appreciation of rhythm, balance, and human instincts for beauty and harmony. Besides, arts enhance communication, is a source of entertainment, is used for political change, healing, psychological purposes, social inquiry, and commercialism.
Dance
This is a vocabulary used to denote the rhythmic movement to the sound of music. It is an important word and art used in social interactions, expressions, and performance settings. Dances vary and mare dependent on moral, artistic, aesthetic, cultural, and social constraints.
Film
Film is a terminology used to explain a series of moving or still images. It is an art form and a cultural artifact, which is important for me as it is created for different cultures by specific cultures for indoctrinating, educating, or entertaining people. Film as art comes in different dimensions, including audiovisual art, pictorial art, performing art, narrative art, and photographic art.
Realism
This term attempts to describe a situation or individual in the most accurate way possible. It is indeed a very important terminology that has been used in the field of humanities for a considerably long period of time.
Chivalry
Chivalry is terminology in literature and depicts stories of knighthood in medieval institutions. It is an important term for my course, especially in learning literature and understanding the various cultural codes related to courtly love, honor, and knightly virtues.
Languages
Language is a key term for studies in humanities as it is envisioned in every form of art. Languages, both verbal and non-verbal, vary in different cultures and are used uniquely to communicate and document with the world.
Architecture
Architecture is an important term for me since it involves mastering and employing special awareness, logic, and mathematics.
Three Important Things Learned in the Course
In the course of the study, I have learned quite a several lessons about individuals, communities, and their arts. First, I have learned that different communities use art to express their actions, thoughts, ways of life, and culture. The studies have explored the relationship between where people live, the houses they have built, stories they tell, and music they play with the art. However, it is imperative to point out that it has been evident that not all communities or individuals reflect their practices through the arts.
Besides, even among those groups that reflect the art, some do not do it perfectly. Many authors have expressed their concerns in their publications that most artistic practices of these groups lack familiarity and connection with nature and the environment (Bunting and Mitchell 268). Gaining this knowledge has been important for me as it has created in me the need to promote the work of arts in the present and future through learning and educating others on how to relate to it perfectly.
In the case of architecture, I have learned that it plays a symbolic role in arts by bringing out the uniqueness of a particular society or community in which structures and buildings are designed. Different communities have different architectural designs, which they use in a unique way to reflect their culture and style. However, it is imperative to observe from the lessons that architectural drawings, structures, and markings have fundamentally changed in status and style over the years.
This change has been due to an increase in expertise and introduction of technology, among other factors like the erosion of cultural barriers and the introduction of new techniques, which has seen many communities shift from the style that was long established in their cultures. The challenge this presents is the adoption of standardization that involves restriction and legal issues that not only fail to improve an artists’ repertoire of work but also alter the making process by causing less contact and exchange verbally or collaboratively between builders, craftsmen, and architects. Through this lesson, I have learned the great need to promote interactive art whereby technology is used appropriately to advance arts without eroding its originality.
Pieces of Advice to Succeed in the Course
The first piece of advice for an individual to succeed in this course is to believe in the vision he or she has, and have confidence in the art being learned, and how to use it to change the world and the surrounding community. Art is a practical subject that requires a display of confidence and a greater vision that will not only serve the needs of a community but the entertainment, business, and education demands of the entire world.
Secondly, I would like to advise learners to foster and seek out productive relationships with other learners and mentors. These are important tenets for navigating a career in arts and humanities. Mentors will provide learners with important information related to what they are studying. In contrast, other learners will be sources of strength, motivation, and competition, factors that will build on character and high performance.
Works Cited
Bunting, Trudi and Clare, Mitchell. “Artists in rural locales: market access, landscape appeal and economic exigency.” Canadian Geographer, 45.2 (2001): 268-84. Print.
Chasteen, John Charles. “A cultural history of Latin America: literature, music, and the visual arts in the 19th and 20th centuries.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 79.3(1999): 550-551. Print.
Nickerson-Crowe, Kate. “An arts-based approach to conceptual educational practice.” Canadian Journal of Education 28.3 (2005): 534. Print.
Palmberg, Elizabeth. “Faith at the tipping point.” Sojourners Magazine (2012): 33-44. Print.
Welch, Evie. “Living literature: using children’s literature to support reading and language arts.” Language Arts 83.1 (2005): 74-75. Print.