Third Response

I liked how you were able to find tons of information on Mozart but it really stinks that you were not able to come to a conclusion and answer your thesis. However the amount of information and its quality made up for most of this short coming. Even though you were not able to find a decisive answer to your thesis your blog provided enough information to allow the reader to make his/her own conclusion.
Thor

Meaghan,
That stinks that you couldn't really find an answer to your conclusion, but it seems like instead you found how signicant Mozart is as a composer. I like how you used an AIM conversation to show Mozart's affect...or not-affect. You also used a lot of quotes which I think helps add to your blog because it shows other peoples points of view and then you can reflect on them. Good job!!

final response

Meaghan- I really like your blog. I thought it was sad that your isearch question has no answer... but I think that you did a great job of researching anyway, and It seems like you learned a lot about music. Nice job!

Musical Style

"There is a belief, which I do not share, that the greatest artists make their effect only when seen against the background of mediocrity that surrounded them: in other words, the dramatic qualities of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven are due to their violations of the patterns to which the public was conditioned by their contemporaries. If this were true, the dramatic surprises in Haydn, for example, should become less effective as we grow familiar with them."
The author continues to go on to discuss that the works by these three composers are so well-written and dramatic that no matter how many times you've listened to it it still evokes the same emotions, to the same degree, as the very first.
According to this author, Bach's work used very straightforward and equal rhythms. There wasn't much variation in accent. However, Mozart's work had a lot of expresssion. He used many accents and shorter notes, as well as fermatas (held notes) and martelatos, which are short and accented, adding much emphasis and feeling to a specific note.

Response

Hi Meghan! I love all the research you've done and how you've been able to include your personal thoughts (and perhaps frustration) into it as well. In my opinion, he might not have influenced the music directly with techniques and styles, but maybe he influenced music in others ways. He was the one who, as it sounds, "stepped-out-of-the-box" and tried things perhaps no composer has tried before. Could this have inspired other composers? Overall, excellent job!

Response

Meaghan

I think that you may have narrowed your topic and thesis down a bit too far. It stinks that you couldn't find any real hard facts or evidence of Mozart's influence on modern classical music. Maybe if you had broadened it to a few of the older composers it would of worked out better. I think you did a good job though coming up with the idea even though it didnt play out right. I also think you did a steller job on the research even though you didnt come up with any real evidence. Very well done though!

Third Post

Meaghan,
I guess you focused you topic down a little too much. Oh, well, I think you may still be able to salvage it.
How about this, instead of just leaving you answer at "Mozart did not affect modern-day classical music" you could go a little farther. For instance, you could first start out with what parts of a composer's music can have influences on other composers (feel, tempo, certain chords, melodies, even song titles). The list can go on and on. Then, once you identify the aspects of music that can influence composers, you can go through the list, show where Mozart may or may not have had en effect, but then mention composers that did have larger effects on modern-day composers. This way, you answer your thesis, and then some.
Keep up the good work, you chose a difficult topic, but one that I am interested in. Hope it all works out!

You could change your thesis so that you could include both Mozart and Bach's influences and it might enrich your topic even more.

Can you explain what his styl eis excatly? I know he's famous for his classical pieces, but what made them so unique? Was it just because he used his own technique? I think some more information on what is famous technique was would show exactly what set him apart from other composers.
Sierra

Troubles

So I've been looking at a lot of articles and they all say that Mozart has had a very big influence, but the more I look the more I'm realizing that nobody can actually tell me what this influence was. Its appearing more and more that Mozart is more a presence than an actual influence. Some people may see this next statement as blasphemous, and it can be removed if Mrs. Jewitt or Ms. Swazey feel that its nessecary. In some ways, Mozart is a musical god. He is considered amazing, some people have called him an angel of music, and composers say their influence was Mozart, but they've never actually pulled directly from any of his styles for their own.
Here is an excerpt of the transcript of a conversation I had with a soundtrack composer from LA today. (I have removed his screenname in order to respect his privacy.)
meaghan (5:07:38 PM): hey are you super busy?
cody (5:07:53 PM): hey - finishing lunch
cody (5:07:57 PM): how are you?
meaghan (5:08:23 PM): pretty good. I'm doing this report for school and I was wondering if I could ask you like, 3 questions?
cody (5:08:29 PM): sure
meaghan (5:08:31 PM): if not no biggy.
cody (5:08:33 PM): shoot
meaghan (5:08:42 PM): ok we can do it later too, if thats better
cody (5:08:48 PM): now's ok
cody (5:08:55 PM): like 5 minutes or so good?
meaghan (5:09:33 PM): yeah thats fine. so as a composer, would you say that Mozart's music has had any specific influence on your composing style?
cody (5:10:24 PM): hmm....not too much, i would say no specific influence for me personally
meaghan (5:11:08 PM): Do you know of anybody else that his music has directly effected? I mean naturally its diferent as a soundtrack composer rather than straight classical, but just asking hha.
cody (5:11:42 PM): i would say JS Bach has much more direct influence on today's composer

According to Mr. Westheimer Bach has had more of an influence. I didn't have as many questions prepared as I would have liked, but I got arather direct answer nonetheless. Now I feel that I must look into Bach's influence.

Outsider's Opinion

'"Mozart's influence on the music of western society is hard to overstate," says Wayne Bailey, director of the School of Music. "The beauty of his melodies has spoken to generations for 250 years, and the musicians in the School of Music have felt the impact of Mozart on their own lives." '

Apparently I wasn't mistaken when I thought that Mozart had a big impact on many musicians. Although this statement is from a teacher at a music school, who probably spends more time looking into such influences, I feel that nearly any 'follower' of classical music would notice a similarity in many of the lighter classical pieces of today.

A sample of Mozart's music. Serenade #13 in G major.

Mozart's Childhood

I was suprised to read that Mozart had a good family and a good childhood. Usually when you read the history of famous artists, especially those from so long ago, you read that they were abused, either mentally or physically, or they had some form of torn home. However, for Mozart this wasn't true.
His father, a composer, was very devoted to his mother. Both were kind and loved their children very much. His mother gave birth to seven children, only two of which survived to adulthood. Maria Anna, born in 1751, and Wolfgang, born five years later. Leopold, Wolfgang's father, wrote a letter to his friend in Augsburg to inform him gleefully of his son's birth.
From the time the children were very young Leopold wrote music for them. When Maria Anna was seven Leopold was very glad to find that she had a large amount of talent for the piano. Wolfgang was also very good, and starting at age three he often would sit at the piano by himself, carefully choosing chords that were pleasing to him.
Wolfgang and Maria Anna both continued to be taught by their father, and the boy was always glad to please him.
By the time Mozart was 6 he could play five pieces, plus one small six measure piece that he himself had composed. Leopold let his court career fall apart, instead devoting his time to teaching his children the music that they so apparently loved. When Wolfgang was six years old, his father took he and Maria Anna on a small European tour, in which they played before the Elector of Bavaria.
It wasn't long before Leopold decided to take his family to Vienna, at that point considered to be the most cultural city in Europe.