Music 200X - Ethan Bowser

 Taking a Musical Trip: Indian Classical Music Ethan Bowser  History and Characteristics of Indian Classical Music     Indian classical music has a rich history. It began as a single musical tradition stemming from vocal chanting nearly 5,000 years ago, becoming highly diversified and developed by 1000 AD, when invading Islamic armies arrived in India and blended it with their own musical styles ("Indian Classical Music"). By the sixteenth century, musical performance had become a full-fledged profession, with artists connected by mentorship and lineage, supported by a network of patrons. Around the nineteenth century the system of patronage broke down, allowing new voices and styles to be heard. Today, Indian classical music is a more diverse genre than it ever has been.     Melody and pitch in Indian classical music are incredibly complex. The dynamics, or musical mood, of an Indian classical piece is called the raga, made of a collection of at least five...

  Innovations in Beethoven's Symphonies: Classical to Romantic Ethan Bowser       Like many of the major composers of his era, Beethoven started out very conventionally; his beginning works were written very much in line with the forms of the time. He had a rich heritage to draw upon—his teacher was the great composer Joseph Haydn, and one of Beethoven’s devotees, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, noted that Beethoven would “ receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands” (Hopkins).          Symphony 5, Movement 4 , Ludwig van Beethoven,  Austria, 1801.      Above is the fourth movement of Beethoven’s first symphony. Beethoven very much took after his teacher Haydn in this one—the finale, in particular, is typical of the time, with a carefree, dashing feel and short duration (Swafford). It is more dynamic than some of his louder, later symphonies, with both quiet parts and a rather loud finale, but stic...

Musical Analysis: Beethoven Symphony 3, 4th movement: Finale Beethoven Symphony No 3 "Eroica", IV. Finale - Allegro Molto 7 April 1805 Ludwig Van Beethoven Austria      Some pieces of music seem to stir the mind and mysteriously raise it to a higher level of self-awareness and confidence. Not everyone reacts in the same way to a piece of music; but one piece of music that raises my spirits and gives me a feeling of grandeur is the fourth movement, the grand finale, of Ludwig Van Beethoven's third symphony. The symphony was written at a time when Beethoven reached full maturity as a musician and has changed the notion of a symphony forever, raising the form to a new level of size, ambition, and individual personality (Swafford). Tempo      The song is written at an allegro molto speed, which is lively, fast, and bright (around 140 beats per minute). At times it slows down, especially during the end for a quiet reiteration of the theme. On particularly grand ...

  Unit 4 Musical Analysis: Billy Joel, "Piano Man"        Piano Man is a song by Billy Joel, written and released in the US on September 2, 1973, and often considered one of Joel's most popular works. The song is written as a narrative from the perspective of a piano player at a bar, who observes the unsuccessful lives of patrons as he plays his instrument. The lyrics drip with telling detail: "You can almost see the haze of cigarette smoke and hear the clinking of glasses" reports classicrock.com (Unknown 2025). Even if the picture is not familiar to listeners, it helps that even the narrator feels out of place; at one point, patrons ask him why he is even there. Melody      The melody is complex, almost whimsical, which serves as a counterpoint to the subject material. I would have expected a minor key in any other song full of downtrodden characters, but the major key fits the song well without making it sound too upbeat or cheery. A mandolin,...

  Hello, everyone. My name is Ethan Bowser. I am a computer science major in my sophomore year of UAF, but since I am taking the B.A. path (yes, UAF offers a bachelor of arts in computer science)  I need lots of humanities classes; hence why I am in this one. When I am not doing schoolwork or working, I like to ski, run, work on my fantasy novel, and read the classics. In the summer I work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a trail maintainer, a job I love (who wouldn't want to hike and get paid for it?). Aside from that, I like to cook, spend time with my family, and (oddly enough) wash dishes. Below is an image I took while at the Botanical Gardens in Washington, DC. I like the macro perspective emphasizing the detail of the plant structures, and I still can't figure out what species they are.  My tastes regarding music largely favor classical. It does not really matter what era; I enjoy listening to pieces from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. Some of...

 Here is a new post. -Ethan