Extra Event: Richard Clayderman's Piano Recital

For my extra event, I went to Richard Clayderman’s piano recital. Although I had experiences playing piano in the past, I was never really interested in it. Not a pianist myself, I went to the recital without knowing who Clayderman is. However, I got the chance to go to the backstage and through communicating with Mr. Clayderman, I found out that he is actually a great gentleman who dedicated his life to piano and music.

(Recital Ticket)

(Picture with Richard Clayderman)

I went to the rehearsal before the actual performance and even during rehearsal, he gave his best performance and communicated with the stage director in order to deliver the best performance.

(Rehearsal)

When the recital started, the audiences were awed with his piano skill. My dad, who never had any musical experience before, was even amazed by the amount of emotions that Clayderman put into his performance. I read a fellow student’s blog post for the neuroscience week before, and in that blog, the student connected neuroscience to music. She explained how different musical notes could trigger different emotions as the audiences’ brain processes the music. I think I understood her blog more while listening to the recital. As Clayderman shifts from slow, romantic melodies to fast, edgy songs, my brain processed the music differently, allowing me to change my emotion from relaxed to tensed up. It is as if each note that pounds on his piano was activating a specific nerve in my brain, leading my heart to pound with the music as well.

Another place where I found connections to this class is through a stage prop. Clayderman’s performances were accompanied with different stories and pictures that were projected on to the screen. The area of projection was designed in a way that it delivers a 3-dimensional feel to it. This reminded me of the lesson for math and art. Technologies like this utilized not only math, but also depth perception and proportion in creating the appropriate effect. I was amazed at how well the projection turned out because when I saw it during rehearsal, the staff was still trying to adjust the projection and it was not very successful.

(Projection area during rehearsal)

(Projection area during recital)

In addition to the performances, the highlights of this recital were the interactions that Clayderman had with the audiences. He would give away his piano sheets after he finishes playing his pieces. During the recital, he even mistakenly gave away a music sheet that he has not played yet, so he had to chase after the little girl who got the sheet and ask for it back.  Clayderman also interacted with the audiences by asking them to clap along while he played his piece.

(Richard Clayderman)

The recital allowed me to get to know about an amazing pianist, Richard Clayderman. I had a lot of fun as I not only enjoyed great music, but was also entertained by Clayderman’s spontaneous jokes and mistakes. Because I never went to piano recitals before, I thought this experience was something new and exciting. I am glad that the first piano recital I went to was done by an artist as great as Clayderman.

Extra Event: Ice Sculpture

I visited the Indoor Ice Sculpture Museum in Harbin, China. Due to the fact that Harbin is very cold during the winter, ice sculpture has always been a large part of the culture. This indoor ice sculpture museum offered me the chance to view beautiful ice sculptures even in the summer. After entering the museum, visitors can rent large coats because the inside where the ice sculptures are displayed is around -13 degrees Fahrenheit.

(Sign for the Museum)

(Me with ticket before entering the display room)

Because I have seen the winter ice sculpture festivals before, so in comparison, this museum looks very small. However, it does have the key characteristic sculptures, such as sculptures of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, various animals, and igloos.

(Ice sculpture of Saint Sophia Cathedral)

It is very noticeable that the sculptures are not made out of a single large block of ice. Instead, they are composed of several smaller blocks of ices and then carefully stacked up and carved to form the shape. This reminded me of this class. We learned about math and art, and building these sculptures requires a lot of math. Through talking to one of the staffs, I learned that the ice sculptors would first draw their designs on paper and then carefully measure out the sizes and calculate the numbers of ice blocks that they need before they start carving.

(Composed of blocks of ice)

Furthermore, similar to the winter festivals, this museum decorated the various sculptures with lasers to create different colored backgrounds. Again, the use of lasers for decorated connects well to what we are learning in the class. This is a perfect example of the combination of art and science. Laser produces its colors through the emission of electromagnetic radiations, which reminds me a lot of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology also deals a lot with electrons and atoms. Technological inventions, such as lasers, are combined with art works, such as ice sculptures, to present a better viewing experience for the visitors.

(Laser decoration for the ice sculptures)

In addition to ice sculptures, there are also snow sculptures. The staff explained to me that snow sculptures are very hard to create because the snow is soft, so it is not as easy to carve and manipulate as ice. Also, it is hard to keep the snow sculptures in good shape since the temperature is still a bit too high. But despite these hardships and difficulties, the museum had some very detailed snow sculptures that are very eye-catching.

(Snow sculptures of flying horses in celebration of the year of horse)

(Snow sculpture of a cow)

(Snow Sculpture of a lady with a dog)

Although there were not as many ice and snow sculptures as the annual winter festival would’ve had, it was still a great experience to view some ice artworks in the midst of the summer heat. This is my first time going to the Indoor Ice Sculpture Museum and not only did I get the chance to view the artworks, I also learned a lot of ice and snow sculptures. I will definitely visit again to see their new pieces. 

Event 3: Trick Eye 3D Museum

I visited a newly opened Trick Eye 3D Museum in Harbin, China. This type of museum has always been very popular and I have been wanting to visit one for a long time. When I found out that one was about to open in my hometown, I was very excited. The basic idea of the museum is that it contains a lot of 2-dimentional artworks that will create 3-dimensional feels to it when one takes a picture with them. It is somewhat similar to optical illusions. The ticket for the museum is the visitor’s first exposure to trick-eye art. The half face printed on the ticket is designed to fit perfectly (for some people) with the visitor’s face.

(Picture of a girl with with the ticket for the Museum. I got this picture online because my face did not fit the half face on the ticket at all)

(A picture of my ticket)

When I entered into the museum, all I saw are bunch of artworks hanging on the wall. It seemed like a normal art museum. However, as I observe each of the artworks carefully and start taking pictures with them, I noticed that there are a lot of carefully designed details, such as shadows, that create the 3-dimensional feeling. There are even signs on the ground marking the best place to take pictures, so that they can have the best effects.

(Me shaking hands with Mao ZeDong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China)

(Oops! My pants...)

There are two ways of “interacting” with the art pieces. For some of the artworks, I just stood or posed next to it while taking pictures. While for other artworks, there are actually cut out spaces where one can stand in it in order to create the feeling of being inside and a part of the artworks.

(Me "interacting" with the art piece by standing next to it)

(Me "interacting" with the art piece by being in a cut out space)

While touring through the museum, I thought of this class. Like I mentioned before, the trick-eye artworks work in a similar fashion as optical illusions. This relates well to our neuroscience lesson. According to Nierenberg, a neuroscientist at Barrow Neurological Institute, “an illusion is a phenomenon in which our subjective perception doesn’t match the physical reality of the world.” When we see artworks with our eyes, we send the information of what we saw to our brain, where the information is processed. Illusions play tricks on our brain to make us see things in ways that differ from the reality. The Trick Eye 3D Museum focuses on this idea and tricks the brain through pictures. This is a great example of the combination of neuroscience and art.

(Oh my! Danger! My head!)

(That couch hurts…)

(I got wings!)

(You jump, I jump)

(I'm not looking)

I visited the museum the second day it opened, so the staffs are still in the process of putting up more artwork for display. The Trick Eye 3D Museum was a lot of fun and despite my friend’s inadequate photo-shooting skills, some of the pictures turned out very eye tricking. It was an interesting experience and a great example of the combination of art and science in real life. I will be sure to visit again after the museum put up more art pieces.

Works Cited

Girl With the Ticket. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2014.

<http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/9bdcef57jw1eidwacc5ojj20dc0hsjtu.jpg>.

Nierenberg, Cari. "Optical Illusions: When Your Brain Can't Believe Your Eyes." ABC News. Yahoo! ABC News, 13 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 July 2014.