Wednesday 20 November 2013

Vancouver in 1920s


Fortunes were made on the stock market and in the
province’s natural resources, and, for a select few, in the rum-
running business — satisfying America’s thirst for liquor
during Prohibition. With the opening of the Panama Canal
in 1914, Vancouver had emerged as a key port in global
trade, an ice-free harbor that could ship Canadian grain and
timber not only to Asia but also to Europe. Prairie grain
was increasingly flowing to the West Coast for export, and
by 1924 Vancouver boasted that the port’s wheat exports had
surpassed that of Montreal. Credit was easy to come by and
Granville Street’s theatres, cinemas, and garish electric signs
exemplified the city’s material progress and affluence.
 
The city had continued to grow. By 1925 the population
of just over 125,000 was expanding east along Kingsway to
Burnaby and New Westminster and west into Kitsilano.
The neighboring municipalities of Point Grey and South
Vancouver — closely connected to Vancouver by the
B.C. Electric streetcar lines — were also developing and
amalgamated with Vancouver in January 1929. Overnight
the city mushroomed to 242,000 people living on forty-four
square miles.
 
However, for all its seeming prosperity, Vancouver had
a dark underbelly. For many residents, the decade was a
time of poverty and destitution. In 1922, Hastings Park was
home to three thousand unemployed men and three years
later, eighteen hundred men were still on relief, getting fifty
cents a day to live on. The city remained racially segregated
— anyone not of white, Anglo-Saxon stock had little chance
of prospering. By 1923, federal laws prohibited immigration
from India, China, and Japan. Asian residents in Vancouver
found themselves largely excluded from civic life, denied the
right to vote or seek post-secondary education, and for the
most part confined to menial jobs.
 
Not a pristine city, Vancouver at times seemed
overwhelmed by the hundreds of industrial enterprises that
had taken root.
 
“In downtown Vancouver . . . the air was grime and soot
as boats and trains, sawmills and flourmills, breweries
and food-processing plants, shoe factories and clothing
factories belched clouds of heavy black smoke . . . . The
city was now held fast in the toils of industry — industry
constantly expanding to satisfy the apparently insatiable
demands of the export markets.”22
 
The inhabitants’ commitment to the arts and philanthropic
ventures was noticeably absent. The city lacked a museum,
and the public library and art gallery existed in rundown
buildings. In 1929, Duff Patullo remarked that of the city’s
eighty-three millionaires, not one had been known to make a
gift to or sponsor a civic enterprise.23


Vancouver: The 1920s

 

The Capitol Theatre in 1921. Vancouver Public Library VPL 16393

Research in singing


Synopsis 1

At this time, techniques and tool available to voice scientist are improving. This research has developed in to three main streams: acoustic studies such as laryngeal vibration efficiency and vocal tract resonance, clinical medical studies. Singing is a whole body/mind and energy field endeavor and we must begin to look to many more diverse areas of research that will aid in the quest for vocal excellence and performing in the public arena.

As more comprehensive approaches to teaching and research on singing evolve we need to explore questions relating to the dynamic muscular balances needed throughout the body for singing. These include: how balance or lack of balance affect the functioning of the laryne, pharynx, jaw, diaphragm, etc.; and the natural and spontaneous reflex actions of the body that produce the easiest, most beautiful sounds.

 

Observation and Thinking

The study of the biomechanics of the the body during singing has been largely ignored, compared to the huge amount of research, training, and equipment devoted to biomechanics by coaches and trainer of athletes. Energy work are providing great improvement for many performers, and yet little has been done to document their effects on singing. Simple exercises and muscles testing to help balance the right and left sides of the brain.
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 24 September 2013

PHYSICAL OR SEDENTARY??

  In the essay, ''a plea for the physical'', the author, Kate Braid emphasized the fact that we are getting further apart from each other. She believes that with the advancements in technology, people are more distant and that we are somehow out of touch with reality. However, she fail to see the many benefits of technology which bring people together.

  Actually, I am neither the physical nor the sedentary but a spectrum. There is no absolutely position for a person to be physical or sedentary. Instead there is a spectrum. For example, i really enjoy waking up early and not sleep in and i am always doing something. However, one of my favourite things to do is line on a beach in the sunshine. I wouldn't doing anything beside lying there and being lazy. Every person probably belongs to this spectrum so it isn't absolute.


But I iam the type of person who always entangled the opposite thought in my mind, on the other hand, i prefer both a sedentary and physical lifestyle depending on the situation. I love going out with friends, taking a walk, going for a run and eating out. Even though it's hard with my schedule, i try to spend time outside. When i have homework, i enjoy doing it on my balcony, breathing fresh air and seeing with natural light. However, with the ridiculously rainy weather in Vancouver, i find myself being lazier and wanting to stay inside. I like nature but i'm not a fan of carrying around a dripping umbrella and hearing the swish swash of the water in my shoes. While it is true that i go online everyday, i wouldn't say i depend on my computer. It's true how talking to someone face to face is more refreshing but it's not always easy to meet up with everyone, because everyone is so busy. I do find calling on the phone '' closer'' than texting or online instant messaging. As Kate Braid mentioned in her essay, ''A plea for the Physical', ''technology allows a voice without a body''(paragraph 18 line 14). Hearing someone talk helps me decipher his/her emotions. I have  family in distant countries so meeting up is virtually impossible. This is when i rely on staying at home and going on shype to communicate with them. I do agree with Braid that we are loosing touch with the physical, but i think we live our lives this way because we change with our environment.