The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach

The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach The Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach Many important figures have impacted and shaped the comprehensive history of western classical music. Even today, most laymen know of the names of the great classical composers like prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and can even identify some of the most iconic melodies such as the opening subject to Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Surprisingly, these men of great talent all stem from the foundation set by one German composer: Johann Sebastian Bach. Now, the name J.S. Bach evokes the Baroque period of music and its influence can be seen throughout the works of later periods and other composers. With such a substantial impact, J.S. Bach in actuality had a very modest and local career and after Bach’s death, his music was almost completely forgotten. It was through his legacy among musicians and protà ©gà ©s which sparked a rekindling of Bach’s music and he now receives immense admiration and veneration for his technically challenging keyboard works, his pote nt liturgical works, and his vast amount of sheer repertoire. Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31st, 1685, into a highly musical family. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians and was skilled in the violin and harpsichord. J.S. Bach was the youngest of eight children all of whom were trained in harpsichord, violin, and basic music theory. Bach also had many uncles who were all professional musicians working as local organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. Thus, J.S. Bach was immersed in music from a young age and also was trained in music theory, composition, the harpsichord, clavichord, organ, and violin. In particular, his older brother Johann Christoph Bach, an organist at the St. Michael’s Church in Ohrdruf and pupil of Johann Pachelbel, became a prominent musical figure in J. S. Bach’s life and further engendered his passion for music. At the age of 14, Bach attended the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, Germany where he was exposed to a wide variety of c ultural sounds such as the music of Northern and Southern Germany, Italy, and France. In 1703, J. S. Bach was appointed the position of court musician at the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in the city of Weimar but was unhappy with his work as he was often unsatisfied with the church choirs and the amount of composing he was responsible for. Thus, Bach and his family was required to travel and move in order to seek better job opportunities. However, unlike most musicians, who would travel all across Europe performing and making a living, Bach lived relatively local moving from town to town all within the confines of Germany. Bach often had ideological differences with his employer and he would compose some of his greatest works all in different cities and churches as well require to teach students. For instance, in 1723, Bach was appointed the Cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig where he served and composed till his death 27 years later. Bach was required to teach the students of the St. Thomas Church singing and keyboard. It was at this time that Bach wrote his Inventions and Sinfonias for keyboard, a collection of exercises that most pianists play even to this day in order to improve their technique, articulation, dexterity, precision, and speed. It was also as Thomaskantor that he wrote his Mass in B minor, considered to be one of the greatest choral works of all time. Johann Sebastian Bach died on July 28th, 1750 and although he was celebrated as an organist and harpsichordist, very few people beyond the city of Weimar knew of Bach’s compositions. It was only the great composers and keyboardist to keep Bach’s music alive in conservatories and libraries. Thus, the even the greatest of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, and Felix Mendelssohn, all revered Bach’s work as excellent keyboard music. This is because Bach’s music was one of the most highly technical for the era, another being the music of Bach’s contemporary, George Frederic Handel. During the Baroque period, keyboard instruments were often for accompaniment to harmonize and contrast with the string instruments of the orchestra. However, substantial advances for keyboard in result of Bach’s compositions led to more solo prominence in music as well as facilitated the invention of the pianoforte, now one of the most learned m usic instruments. Moreover, Bach has left not only a large amount of music manuscripts but also his legacy as a keyboardist, and composer of liturgical and secular music. Through his travels and his encounters with different cultures and colleagues within the Baroque Era, Bach was able to capitalize on both the aesthetic culture of the time and the variety of styles across countries. Also, as Bach had shifted positions and employers many times, he was required to create new music contextually depending on purpose and location. As Bach was a religiously devoted man, he wrote a numerous amount of chorales, pastoral songs, and congregational hymns for the choir and organ or harpsichord. As Bach began teaching and instructing, Bach began to write more works for keyboard that included a variety of preludes and fugues, toccatas, fantasies, and theme and variation works. Baroque music in general is classified by its heavily ornate technicality and grandiose sounds all within a systematically controlled framework. Thus, Bach’s music is highly articulate and technical a reason why the great pianists Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt both practiced with Bach works and built upon his keyboard foundation. Bach also further developed German music through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic, and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures. However, after Bach’s death, much of his music was deemed archaic and old-fashioned as new composers such as Franz Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven brought forth the new era of Classical music. Soon, most of the general public did not know of J. S. Bach’s name in the beginning of the 19th century. Many pivotal figures reincarnated Bach’s name through the years. First, Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s wrote the composer’s biography in 180 2. The pianist and composer, Felix Mendelssohn further popularized Bach’s name by arranging and performing the St. Matthew Passion. The performance proved to be successful as Bach’s name and reputation as a composer soon revived. By the 1850s, the Bach-Gesellschaft, or the Bach Society, was founded in order to further preserve Bach’s works and promote his repertoire. New works by Bach are still being found to this day. Bach’s enormous library of music is simply a testament to his diligence and creativity. With such music, Bach was able to pave a way for future musicians and composers. Through his advancement in keyboard work, Bach provided the technique for great pianists. With his teachings and instructions, many of his protà ©gà ©s moved on to become great Classical era composers. Even presently, Bach’s works are performed by the finest of performers and has become truly a household name for both musicians and laymen alike. Works Consulted â€Å"Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750). â€Å"Encyclopedia of world biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998 Grout, D. J. (1980) A history of western music. New York, NY: W. W. Norton Kerman, J. and G. Tomlinson (2012). Listen (7th edition). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s Kennedy, M. (2006) The Oxford dictionary of music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press Kevorkian, T. â€Å"Bach Family.† Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the early modern world. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. Randel, D. M. (2003) The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Creating a Robot to Guard Property with Lego Mindstorm :: Robotics

The Protectobot Abstract My final project is to build a robot that will use non-violent techniques to keep animals out of yards. Using the Lego Mindstorm Kit I was able to complete this project. When certain animals walk by my robot, it throws gears towards the animal to scare it away. It can tell the difference between good animals and bad, and does not harm them in any way. Background For many years people have been trying to find non-violent ways to keep animals out of their yards and away from family pets. Various attempts have included motion detecting sprinklers, electric fences, fake smells, and ultrasonic sound bursts. These devices work in some cases but not in all. Motion sprinklers spray short bursts of water when they detect animals. Some animals however, like to get wet so the motion sprinklers will not necessarily work on all. Ultrasonic sound burst devices detect when an animal is near and sends out a two second ultrasonic sound burst. These bursts can be heard by animals but not by humans so they may have a hard time figuring out when the batteries run out or when it is broken. Electric fences can sometimes hurt animals, including pets that are allowed to be in our backyards. Fake smells of the animal’s enemy can also help scare the animal away. There are often unwanted animals in my family’s backyard. They eat our fruit from our trees, and tear up our grass. We have been trying to find more effective ways to keep them out for a long time. For my final project, I decided to make a robot that will detect when an animal walks by it. When it detects an animal, it will throw small objects at whatever it is that moved. I have not yet decided what it is that my robot will throw. It has to be harder than a sponge, but cannot be so hard that it will hurt something. As a warning to humans, it will make a beep noise before it throws the object. Procedures I built many small parts to put together to make my functioning robot. It is made up of the launching pad, gear/motor station, the RCX platform, and the head. I first built the launching platform. It is made up of black beams ranging in size from one to sixteen. They are put together in rows with reinforcements on the opposite sides running in the other direction. They came together to form a triangular shape with two gears at the end. I then attached gears and a motor to the platform so that the motor is able

Industrial and Personnel Psychology Essay

1. Personal biographical characteristics of note are factors that describe an individual. Factors such as age, gender, marital status and tenure. These characteristics have an impact on the attitudes that an individual may have towards work and dependent variable such as productivity, absenteeism, and turnover and job satisfaction. The relationship between age and job performance is of great importance because it is believed that job performance decreases as age increases. Though not all employers have perceptions of older employees. From a positive perspective it is noted that older employees have more experience, judgment, ethics and commitment. In addition, with older employees, labour turnover is reduced. Because of their longer tenure within the organization they tend to enjoy increased wages, pension and many other benefits and are therefore less likely to leave. With regards to absenteeism and older employees, the evidence is however mixed. Although there are decreases in avoidable absenteeism rates compared to younger employees, there is an increase in unavoidable rates due to poor health due to age, and longer recovery periods. However from a negative point it is noted that older employees lack flexibility, there is a decrease in their productivity due to decreased speed, agility, strength and co-ordination and resistance to change in a changing environment. Consequently, organizations are reluctant to hire older employees. In addition, they tend to retrench them first when it comes to downsizing. Gender in job performance has no evidence that it affects job satisfaction. However there is a difference in work schedules because women mostly prefer part time work or work flexibility due to family responsibilities. With regards to absenteeism women usually have a higher rate of absenteeism than men as women traditionally care for the family. For example when children are sick, it is the mothers who tend to take off work in order to take care of such sick children. Married employees generally have a decrease in absenteeism, turnover and an increase in job satisfaction. This may be due to increased responsibilities. With regards to tenure, there is a positive relationship between seniority and job performance and a negative relationship between tenure and absenteeism. That is an increase in tenure and seniority tends to lead to better performance and an increase in tenure to lead to decrease in turnover. People are organization’s most valuable and expensive resource, but they are the most difficult element of an organization to manage. Individuals are almost infinitely different, they act differently in different circumstances and are, in many ways, entirely unpredictable. This means that, unlike machines, they are not interchangeable or able to be easily designed to do the jobs required of them. In terms of the organization, what we are interested in is the way in which people behave at work-that they perform effectively in pursuit of the organisation’s goals. The starting point for this is an understanding of what makes people behave in the way they do. Although psychologists do not agree on a single definition of personality, there is some consensus that it is concerned with characteristics patterns of behavior and modes of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to the environment (Hilgard et al 1979:108). Two features of the above definition are noteworthy. In the first place, the word â€Å"characteristic† suggests a degree of performance in personality. In the second place, â€Å"environment† suggests that personality is displayed in a social and physical context. Beyond this consensus, there is a great deal disagreement over the development, structure and dynamics of personality. The correct interpretation and use of the results of personality measures and tests depends a great deal on the theory or approach on which the instruments are based. Without this knowledge, the description of personality may well be miused. Personality can therefore be referred to a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. It looks at the whole person rather than at the sum of the individual parts. It is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his or her unique adjustments to his or her environment. An altogether different approach to personality concentrates on identifying and classifying those features that individuals may share. The different categories or types serve to emphasise the similarities within each group and the differences between the groups. These attempts to classify personality features are often referred to as the type or trait approach. There are a number of personality determinants, namely, Heredity, the Environment, or the Situation. Heredity is the process of transmitting biological traits from parent to offspring through genes, the basic units of heredity. Heredity also refers to the inherited characteristics of an individual, including traits such as height, eye color, and blood type. Heredity accounts for why offspring look like their parents: when two dogs mate, for example, they have puppies, not kittens. If the parents are both Chihuahuas, the puppies will also be Chihuahuas, not great Danes or Labrador retrievers. The puppies may be a little taller or shorter, a little lighter or a lot heavier than their parents are. Their faces may look a little different, or they may have different talents and temperaments. In all the important characteristics, however—the number of limbs, arrangement of organs, general size, fur type—they will share the traits of their parents. The principles of heredity hold true not only for a puppy but also for a virus, a roundworm, a pansy, or a human. Genetics is the study of how heredity works and, in particular, of genes. A gene is a section of a long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, and it carries information for the construction of a protein or part of a protein. Through the diversity of proteins they code for, genes influence or determine such traits as eye color, the ability of a bacterium to eat a certain sugar, or the number of peas in a pod. A virus has as few as a dozen genes. A simple roundworm has 5000 to 8000 genes, while a corn plant has 60,000. The construction of a human requires an estimated 50,000 genes. Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity however, as otherwise they would remain the same throughout life despite the experiences we have. Environment is referred to all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic factors), such as temperature, rainfall, day length, wind, and ocean currents. The interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic factors form an ecosystem. Even minute changes in any one factor in an ecosystem can influence whether or not a particular plant or animal species will be successful in its environment. Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. Like all other living creatures, humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have all other species. Some of these human-induced changes—such as the destruction of the world’s tropical rain forests to create farms or grazing land for cattle—have led to altered climate patterns. In turn, altered climate patterns have changed the way animals and plants are distributed in different ecosystems. Scientists study the long-term consequences of human actions on the environment, while environmentalists—professionals in various fields, as well as concerned citizens—advocate ways to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world. Situation is one of the determinants of personality which influences the effect of heredity and environment on personality. Personality, which is generally stable, often changes in different situations.  For example, we may behave very differently at a party with our friends as opposed to how we would do at a social gathering of work colleagues and our managers. 2. Attitude refers to an opinion or general feeling about something. Attitudes are, essentially feelings towards people or things. How people feel, what they believe, what they intend to do, and whether and how they do it may all be connected, and may all be related to the process of perception. To try to reduce the confusion in this area over the use of words and concepts such as â€Å"feelings† and â€Å"beliefs†, Fishbein (19670 put forward the following hierarchical model. Beliefs What we think about people, things, relationships etc â€Å"My work provides no challenge† Attitudes Affective responses to those people, things, relationships etc. â€Å"I see work only as a means to getting money† Intentions Congnitive states â€Å"I will look for my challenge in my leisure time† Behavior or Action Observable events â€Å"I take up mountaineering† Attitudes are learned. They derive from our personal reaction to information and events, which manifest themselves as beliefs and feelings about a particular subject. We learn many of our attitudes when we are very young. They are conditioned by those around us and the conditions or situations in which we find ourselves. Some-particularly feelings-are so strong that they stay with stay with us and affect us for the rest of our lives. The range of influences is complex, but it includes the following: * The groups to which we belong-most notably, in early life, the family, but also friendship groups, work groups * Education * Life experiences- particularly the most profound personal ones such as bereavement, etc. but also those experiences which we observe e. g on Tv, or read about. We are aware, too, that our attitudes change over time as a result of the influence of the above factors. For example, it is very often the case that young people have more liberal attitudes than older people, but as they enter work and acquire family and financial commitments and responsibilities they tend to become more â€Å"conservative†. One of the key elemen ts of management in organizations is how to modify or change people’s behaviour. This is central to such features as motivation, securing effective performance, introducing change, etc. whilst as noted above, attitudes do not necessarily condition behaviour, and they are a significant determinant. In organizations, managers use attitude survey to measure and thereby predict behaviour. Managers use information gathered in attitude surveys to guide them in decisions relative to employees. Attitude surveys elicit responses from employees through questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs, work- groups, supervisors and or the organization. Attitude surveys provide managers with valuable feedback on how workers perceive working conditions, and alert them to problems or employee intentions early so that action can be taken in time. Increasingly, attitudinal surveys are being used within organizations to find out about the potential reactions of staff to particular courses of action (for example, organizational change) or to form judgments about their suitability for particular posts (in a similar way to how personality tests are used). Operational methods for attitude surveys generally seek to measure fire components for each belief. Thus, attitudes to work could be measured as follows: * Strength of feeling about the job itself. The strength with which various attitudes are held about different aspects of the job which are listed, measured on perhaps a seven point scale, from â€Å"agree totally† through neutral to â€Å"disagree totally†. * Value of job to self. Evaluating various aspects of the job, again, but in relation to its meaning to the individual. * Social factors. Attitudes and behaviour do not depend on inner perceptions alone, but also upon surrounding social pressures-the person’s perceptions of what others think he/she should do. The social factors must be investigated in order to understand all the factors determining behaviour. * Overall attitude An overall assessment of the respondent’s attitudes to the contex of the job and to work itself, for example, the value and meaning it has in his/ her life. This is a useful measure as it allows more generalized attitudes to the job to be explored. * Intended behaviour Potential reactions to different scenarios about the job or its context. Although hypothetical, this prediction makes an interesting correlation with actual behaviour. Surveys must have a very clear specification of what they are seeking to measure. Just as with personality tests, there is the ever present danger that the way in which questions are phrased, or the underlying assumptions made, will influence the outcome. Job satisfaction and its opposite, job dissatisfaction, refer to the attitudes and feelings job holders have towards their work. Morale can be viewed as a state of mind dependent on the dependent on the degree of job satisfaction experienced by an individual or group. There is general agreement that job dissatisfaction can have harmful effects on both job holders and the organization. Research has associated job dissatisfaction with all the indicators of low morale-high labour turnover, skills wastage, absenteeism, high accident rates, poor timekeeping and a lack of commitment to quality. An individual with low job satisfaction may suffer frustration and stress. Although stress may arise from many quarters, it is the inability to deal with and manage stress that afflicts the individual who suffers job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is determined by a number of factors namely, mentally challenging work, equitable rewards, supportive working conditions, and supportive colleagues. Research has shown that employees prefer jobs that give them opportunities to use their abilities and skills. Characteristics such as freedom, feedback and a variety of tasks make work mentally challenging and allow employees to feel pleasure and satisfaction. On other hand, jobs that are not mentally challenging create boredom, frustration and feelings of failure. Employees want rewards (e. g. pay, promotions) that they perceive as just and in line with their expectations. Satisfaction will occur if pay is seen as based on job demands, skill and community standards. It is not the actual amount of pay that counts, but rather the perception of fairness. Individuals that also perceive promotional decisions as fair will be job satisfied. Employees are concerned with working conditions that are comfortable and that enable one to do an optimal job. Environmental factors such as temperature, light, noise should not be too extreme. Factors such as proximity to home, cleanliness, technology and adequate tools, help increase job satisfaction. As well as tangible achievements, employees also work for social interaction. Therefore having friendly and supportive co-workers and superiors also lead to increased job satisfaction. On many occasions managers’ interest in job satisfaction centers on its effect on employee performance. Therefore studies have been made to identify the relationships between satisfaction and performance. Organized studies in particular have focused on the effect of satisfaction on the dependent variables such as Productivity, Absenteeism and Turnover. There is no real proof that satisfaction leads to productivity. The saying â€Å"a happy worker is a productive worker† is wishful thinking. Often productivity leads to satisfaction and not the other way around. Productivity leads to increase in rewards, recognition, which in turn increases satisfaction. Satisfaction may lead to productivity on an organization level rather than on an individual level. Dissatisfied workers are more likely to be absent. This relationship can be affected however by sick leave benefits which might encourage workers to be absent. While satisfied employees are less likely to leave work. This can however be affected by, labour market conditions, expectations about alternative job offers and length of tenure. Level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for superior employees as more effort is made to keep these individuals. Satisfaction-turnover relationship is also affected by the individuals disposition towards life. If two people are dissatisfied the positive one is more likely to leave.

Satire/Irony in ‘the Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson - 2034 Words

Satire/Irony in ‘The Lottery’: The Lucky Ticket The use of Satire/Irony within literature establishes situations where the unlikelihood of the occurrence of an event will happen. Jackson’s manipulation of his story, The Lottery, provides an unexpected twist to what one may seem to be a normal subject. Northrop Frye’s The Singing School, suggests that all stories are told in either one of four ways: Comedy, Romance, Tragedy or Satire/Irony (Frye 18). The use of Irony and its conventional associations eludes the reader from interpreting a story as a Romance, but instead give the reader a reversed twist. This use of ironic convention in literary work is seen through Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery; the story of Tessie†¦show more content†¦Mr. Summers, for example is a man that organizes the annual tradition of the village’s lottery. The name â€Å"Summers† has strong conventional associations with Frye’s convention of Romance, and is a suitable name for such suitable se tting. Furthermore, his physical appearance, too, matches this convention; Jackson describes him â€Å"in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, he seemed very proper and important† (Jackson 876). Mr. Summers, the organizer in charge of the lottery, in essence, oversees death. His actions of making the slips of paper for the lottery make him the bringer of death, determining the fate of the next winning candidate of the lottery. â€Å"Summers†, a name so fitting of happiness and zenith, ironically becomes the taker of life, which fulfils an ironic literary example of one of Jackson’s characters. The concept of the innocence of children contains the conventional association of Satire/Irony. According to literature, children are perceived to be innocent until exposed to the harsh realities of the world, where their maturity develops and the loss of innocence is achieved. The children in this story, however, appear as regular children in the beginning, with the normal intentions of playtime and fun. Jackson even describes Bobby Martin, a child of the village, stuffing his pocket full of stones with other boys following his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest ones (875).Show MoreRelatedThe Possibility Of Evil, And The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson1102 Words   |  5 Pagescomposes a compelling plot, with an ending that in someway either teaches the main character a lesson, or the reader themselves. Jackson acts as a master of literary devices, as she navigates the reader through intense scenes that evoke an emotional response to the experiences of the main character. In the short stories, â€Å"The Possibility of Evil† and â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson, she used the same three literary devices to grasp the reader’s attention from beginning to end. In â€Å"The Possibility of Evil†Read MoreTradition or Cruelty in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Essay2237 Words   |  9 PagesTradition or Cruelty in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Shirley Jacksons The Lottery satirizes barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village. As the story begins, the villagers appear to be fairly civilized and carry on fairly modern lifestyles. This is assumed by the mens discussion of planting, rain, tractors, and taxes. The lottery was outdated to such a degree that some may think that the tradition is primal competition of anthropoid beasts. On the other hand, some think that carryingRead MoreEssay on The Lottery1873 Words   |  8 Pages When â€Å"The Lottery† was first published in 1948, it created an enormous controversy and great interest in its author, Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, California on December 14, 1919. When she was two years old, her family moved her to Burlingame, California, where Jackson attended high school. After high school Jackson moved away to attend college at Rochester University in upstate New York but after only a short time at Rochester and, after taking off a year from schoolRead MoreEssay about The Life and Literary Works of Shirley Jackson4264 Words   |  18 PagesShirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1919 to Leslie and Geraldine Jackson. Her surroundings were comfortable and friendly. Two years after Shirley was born, her family with her newborn brother moved from San Francisco to Burlingame, California, about thirty miles away. According to her mother, Shirley began to compose verse almost as soon as she could write it (Friedman, 18). As a child, Shirley was interested in sports and literature. In 1930, a year before she attended Burlingame High School