La Musica & Reflection: Final thoughts

Wow I cant believe how fast time flies! In the last two weeks of class we discussed, "La Musica" &  were given a few words to create work on. I selected "China Poblana & Cosechador" I created simple sketches of exactly what I thought about when I heard the words above. I drew simple water colored sketches of an early China Poblana with a simple umilde dress posing with a traditional mariachi sombrero. This image reminded me of the simplicity of the music and of the time when it was composed. My second image was one of a simple traditional Cosechador . The Cosechador was a simple man who worked and harvested the gifts of the land. He worked hard for himself, his family and for what he believed in. Never wanting anything handed to him and always proud of the little he and his family had. I feel that the Cosechador ties to the music because he is part of the land just like the maize and the people of the land. I feel all of this influenced music and its lyrics. These pieces were critiques well overall even though they were very simple. The following week I decided to expand of my original pieces and I created a woodedn interpretation of a Mexican paper China Poblana doll. These dolls were popular during music festivals in mexico. They originally were made of paper. They were handed to the children and they were cone folded to create a playful mona of a China Poblana that the children could play with or save as a celebration keepsake. My wooden rendition was a bit more structured and sculptural. I wanted to create a strong piece that reflected the music of the week. I feel as though I was successful. The wooden piece helped tie all three pieces together.
Reflection & Final Thoughts:  I can believe that the class is over and there will be no more Thursday nights of singing laughing and celebration. It makes me sad to think that its finally over, yet a small part of me is thankful and happy that we at least get to take away all the great music we heard learned and sang in class. The gift of music and sound given to us by Tony, that will be with us forever and can never be taken away!. I loved all the songs we sang and all the singers, composers, and authors we learned about . I feel this course really helped me learn about my culture heritage and traditions that I had maybe forgotten, never learned or heard about. The Music was life changing and the art inspiring. I feel this course helped me push myself to a place I had never explored while creating art. I feel that before the course I thought all art as created a certain way and that it had to have some sort of structure. I leaned that this is not the case and that its ok to think outside the box. I learned to use found materials and learned that it is ok to think outside the box. I learned that sometimes less is more and sometimes it is not. I really enjoyed listening to Tony. I feel his passion for the Mexican culture to be very inspiring to myself and others and he really helped me understand things I had never given the time to understood before. I rate this course and instructor overall a 10 out of 10. I hope Tony continues to teach this course as I feel it is an important one here at UC Berkeley and an important course for Tony to have in his life. He and only he can teach this course with the time energy and passion that he has for what he teaches. I am super grateful to have been a part of his course and I was honored to have meet all the great people I meet in class. Thank you all for the love, motivation and support. Without the course, you all and Tony I would not be the person I am today! I will see you all again soon !! God Bless and Take care!! Have a great summer!