Aron Copland essays

Aron Copland essays Aaron Copland wrote a ballet about one of the most famous western gangsters in history: Billy the Kid. The work was written in 1938 and remained popular for over a decade. Unfortunately, his works are no longer heard or performed often enough today. In my opinion, Copland is one of the greatest American performers in music history, but he is not given the recognition he deserves by todays society. By looking at Coplands works and analyzing his Billy the Kid, the necessary proof of his greatness will, without question, show the fact that he is one of the greatest American composers of all time. Aaron Copland, whose family name was changed from Kapland by immigration officials in New York, was born on November 14, 1900 and died December 2, 1990. His parents were of Lithuanian Jewish descent. His parents emigrated from Russia to the United States. His father owned a department store and they did not live lavishly. As he explained, I was born on November 14, 1900 on a street in Brooklyn that can only be described as drab. It had none of the garish color of the ghetto, none of the charm of an old New England thoroughfare, or even a pioneer street....i He began to take piano lessons at the age of fourteen under the tutelage of his sister Laurine. Soon he wanted more professional lessons. Despite the fact that his four elder siblings had taken lessons with no success, he convinced his parents to pay for lessons. I distinctly remember with what fear and trembling I knocked on the door of Mr. Leopold Wolfsohns piano studio on Clinton Avenue in Brooklyn, and-once again all by myself-arranged for piano lessons.i The idea of composing music was not connected...with my family or with my street.iii By the age of 18 he had graduated high school and decided to devote all his time and energy to music. Under the direction of Rubin Goldmark he studied t...

The History of Life on Earth

The History of Life on Earth The Carboniferous Period is a geologic time period that took place between 360 to 286 million years ago. The Carboniferous Period is named after the rich coal deposits that are present in rock layers from this time period. The Age of Amphibians The Carboniferous Period is also known as the Age of Amphibians. It is the fifth of six geologic periods that together make up the Paleozoic Era. The Carboniferous Period is preceded by the Devonian Period and followed by the Permian Period. The climate of the Carboniferous Period was quite uniform (there were no distinct seasons) and it was more humid and tropical than our present-day climate. The plant life of the Carboniferous Period resembled modern tropical plants. The Carboniferous Period was a time when the first of many animal groups evolved: the first true bony fishes, the first sharks, the first amphibians, and the first amniotes. The appearance of the amniotes is evolutionarily significant because of the amniotic egg, the defining characteristic of amniotes, enabled the ancestors of modern reptiles, birds, and mammals to reproduce on land and colonize terrestrial habitats that were previously uninhabited by vertebrates.   Mountain Building The Carboniferous Period was a time of mountain building when the collision of the Laurussian and Gondwanaland land masses formed the supercontinent Pangea. This collision resulted in the uplifting of mountain ranges such as the Appalachian Mountains, the Hercynian Mountains, and the Ural Mountains. During the Carboniferous Period, the vast oceans that covered the earth often flooded the continents, creating warm, shallow seas. It was during this time that the armored fish that had been abundant in the Devonian Period became extinct and were replaced by more modern fishes. As the Carboniferous Period progressed, the uplifting of landmasses resulted in an increase in erosion and the building of floodplains and river deltas. The increased freshwater habitat meant that some marine organisms such as corals and crinoids died out. New species that were adapted to the reduced salinity of these waters evolved, such as freshwater clams, gastropods, sharks, and bony fish. Vast Swamp Forests Freshwater wetlands increased and formed vast swamp forests. Fossil remains show that air-breathing insects, arachnids, and myriapods were present during the Late Carboniferous. The seas were dominated by sharks and their relatives and it was during this period that sharks underwent much diversification. Arid Environments   Land snails first appeared and dragonflies and mayflies diversified. As the land habitats dried, animals evolved ways of adapting to the arid environments. The amniotic egg enabled early tetrapods to break free of the bonds to aquatic habitats for reproduction. The earliest known amniote is Hylonomus, a lizard-like creature with a strong jaw and slender limbs. Early tetrapods diversified significantly during the Carboniferous Period. These included the temnospondyls and the anthracosaurs. Finally, the first diapsids and synapsids evolved during the Carboniferous. By the middle the Carboniferous Period, tetrapods were common and quite diverse. The varied in size (some measuring up to 20 feet in length). As the climate grew cooler and drier, the evolution of amphibians slowed and the appearance of amniotes lead to a new evolutionary path.

Peer Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Peer Review - Essay Example Though a good paper, the author falls a victim of some of the highlighted mistakes, and, therefore, the quality of the paper has in a way been compromised. In this document, I will review the work so as to analyze its strengths and weaknesses and give my opinion on the nature of the work as a whole. This author, as I had hinted earlier, has done very much to address the points of the prompt. The author discussed all the points except one. The point that is explicitly noted to missing is where the author was required to state whether he/she is a monist, dualist, pluralist, an idealist or a materialist and the reason for being one. This point was one of the primary requirements of the paper, and its omission implies that the quality of the paper, going by the journal requirements, is relatively small. The author, according to my assessment, scored relatively high in the explication of some of the arguments offered by the philosophers and relatively little in others. I would give him the highest score in his elucidation of the arguments of such philosophers as Thales, Democritus, Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes. The only part where I would have given him a relatively lower score is the explanation that he gives to Pythagoras’ philosophy; it is not convincing at all. The student should have given more information about Pythagoras, for example, he defended pure monotheism and made pupils go through various degrees before he could allow them personal contact (The life and philosophy of Pythagoras). He literarily looks at some of the objects like fire, water, and grass in page 2 of the paper and hurriedly concludes that they are not made up of numbers, and then ends up finding that the philosophy is wrong. He fails to give it the inner eye so as to understand what t he philosopher meant by stating that the universe is made up of numbers. I find his argument on this

Critical Business Issues And Self-Evaluation Essay

Critical Business Issues And Self-Evaluation - Essay Example The global business environment is constantly changing by the day, and these changes impose certain limitations and requirements on the present day organizations; the successful organizations are those that are able to make appropriate adjustments in response to the changes taking place around them. Inability to respond to these changes undermines organizational effectiveness, leading to utter losses and organizational failure accordingly; in this respect, excellent managers are able to make intelligent trade-offs in pursuit of performance and sustainability in the long term. In the current global system, therefore, adaptability or, the capacity to change in the face of increasing pressure in the highly competitive and complex global business environment, is a fundamental precursor to the successful business. As it stands, organizations today are increasingly facing new challenges, and the role of managers has changed drastically from the traditional one since they have to find new w ays of addressing new challenges that beset their organizations today. In this respect, one of the greatest challenges faced by organizations today is the establishment of the right kind of leadership that can yield new innovative approaches to addressing current organizational challenges. Organizational management has to ensure that organizational goals and objectives are met in the most efficient ways possible, even as it strives to steer the organization towards that desired future state, where performance and sustainability are guaranteed. Due to the changing global business environment, particularly as a result to the increased global interconnectedness that has emerged following globalization and technological pressures, organizations have inevitably found it hard to continue operating in their conventional ways. New situations at the workplace have demanded completely new approaches to solution finding and organizations have come under great test as they have been subjected t o rapid changes that have necessitated rapid responses. The highly dynamic and complex business environment today has, therefore, instigated the evolution of the role of managers and leaders today; the changing roles of managers is a function of the new order, which requires that managers adopt new approaches to addressing organizational challenges. Apart from the changing role of managers, the other theme of fundamental importance at the workplace today is teamwork; successful organizations are those that are able to leverage on the pooling of talents, skills, and knowledge of teams to accomplish their organizational objectives. Teams possess greater capabilities as opposed to single individuals working independently because they bring together individuals who are jointly working towards the achievement of common objectives through shared commitment and mutual sense of purpose. Leadership, is a great organizational challenge today, particularly because, organizations seeking to res tate their presence in the global business space need to adopt a new kind of leadership capability that can reframe challenges, interpret options, and provide direction by reforming organizational operations (Powell 2007, p.2). The challenge of leadership, especially in these turbulent times, is becoming real by the day since organizations cannot continue to rely on conventional approaches such as restructuring and reengineering alone.  

Employees in an International Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Employees in an International Market - Essay Example As Groenewald (2009) states, â€Å"staffing, training, compensation, and performance management are basically important tools in the human resources practices† (p. 1). In this paper, we will examine the functions of human resource department in managing employees in an international marketplace. Most Critical Human Resource Functions To manage employees in an international marketplace, the human resource department of a company needs to execute some critical functions. These functions not only ensure a smooth running of business processes but also help a company achieve its corporate goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Some of the most important HR functions in this regard include aligning recruitment process with corporate objectives, starting programs for employee training and development, and increasing employee motivation. Let us discuss these functions in some details to know their significance for a better management of employees. Aligning Recruitment with Corporate Objectives One of the main roles of the HR department is to align the employee recruitment process with the overall strategy of the company in order to build an inspired and productive workforce. Employee selection is one of those functions that are critical to ensuring a company’s success. It is the responsibility of the HR department of a company to recruit such people, who can prove themselves productive for the company through their skills, talent, and knowledge. A skilled and experienced employee is a key towards the success of a company. Therefore, global HR managers look for such people who can give improved performances and can ensure high levels of profits for the company through their performances. In today’s competitive world, recruiting and forming a diverse workforce...This paper stresses that employee training also plays a valuable role in ensuring long-term profitability of a company. Therefore, HR professionals put their efforts in investing i n employee training and development programs to improve the individual performances of employees as well as to increase an overall organizational productivity. Employee training and development also help in creating a pool of suitable replacements for the employees who either resign from their jobs or get promotions within the company, hence, leaving their positions available for other suitable candidates. Employee motivation is the combination of employees’ job-related behaviors, the level of efforts employees exert, and the employees’ level of determination. Companies are at risk of facing many setbacks with a lower level of employee motivation.This report makes a conclusion that effective human resource management is one of the most important factors that determine the success of a company in local and international markets. The main functions of the human resource department in managing employees in an international marketplace include strategic employee selection and recruitment, developing effective employee training programs, and increasing employee motivation to meet corporate goals and objectives. Some of the main outcomes of focusing on employee management in broader terms include selective and strategy-oriented recruitment of employees, improved organizational performance, improved business efficiency, and formation of a skilled workforce which is able to meet the requirements of the international business environment.

Philosophy of God, Religion, and Spirituality Article

Philosophy of God, Religion, and Spirituality - Article Example The concepts are connected to God. Despite the differences in these understandings, both depict the concept of an individual may be religious but not spiritual (Berryman 67). Additionally, they both bring the understanding that a person can be both religious and spiritual in the context that religion connects to spirituality through an abstract feeling or a supernatural object that creates belief. Therefore, it is agreeable that religion defines guidelines and beliefs that its followers adhere to while spirituality defines an individual’s own reality, with direction to an object. Philosopher A is reluctant to quote that children are born with spirituality; thus, little should be done to influence their spirituality since they will bond to what society provides. On the other hand, B and I concede the necessity of upbringing children in an atmosphere where they get to understand the reasons why certain things happen in certain ways. Philosopher A espouses his position by identifying innate ability that children are born with that makes the newborn capable of identifying objects and activities or practices around them (the children or newborn). B identifies children as societal responsibility that will transform to become what they have been molded to be. From the above premises, it is certain that children are entire subjects of societal beliefs and dispositions. They often grow and become adults defined by the values the society has imparted on them. Certainly, Spirituality connects us to God through religion. Religion sets the guidelines and principles that direct an individual’s spiritual world (Berryman).

CAse study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CAse study - Research Paper Example The major considerations is whether there exists a trade off in the amount of revenue that hospital earns and the speed up to which the revenue is collected. According to an empirical test conducted between 2004 and 2006 on the relationship that exists among vital financial effective hospital revenue cycle management measures. The article clearly shows that with increased revenue collection there is an increased amount of net patient income for every adjusted discharge, reduced contractual budgets, as well as reduced bad debts. On the other hand, the charity care provisions are higher in hospitals with that have a higher revenue collection speed. Therefore, the article comes up with a conclusion that there is no evidence trade off that exists between patent revenue amount and the revenue collection speed. However, these financial gains of effectual hospital revenue cycle management in most cases go hand in hand. Thus, it is indicated that early results are a complementary, showing th at effectual hospital revenue cycle management attains a multiple of positive results. Another article â€Å"The State of Health Care Revenue Cycle.† By Solomon P. (2011). Suggests that revenue cycle management in all administrative and clinical activities have a relationship to generating and collecting patient revenue. These activates have gained a lot of importance in current business environment whereby hospitals receive challenges in underpayments and delay in payments. Although there is continued practitioners interest, there is no much attention drawn from revenue cycle management in health care financial research. There are studies that have been conducted on current revenue cycle management procedures with an aim of coming up with a financial gains measure in the context of increasing the amount of patient speed in the revenue collection. According to correlation analysis,