A career on the stage

People not content with amateur theatricals' but interested in beco­ming professional actors and actresses usually attend a school of acting. An agent may then find them a role/part in a new play, for which they must audition. Actors who have proved suitable at the audition are cast in various roles according to age, sex, ability and experience. The leading man and leading lady have the chief parts, while the juvenile lead is played by a young but gifted actor or actress. There are generally a number of suppor­ting roles. Young, innocent-looking girls are required for ingenue roles while character actors and actresses specialize in playing eccentric characters.

A small part which requires considerable talent is called a cameo role. Walk-on parts are those of actors who merely appear on stage without speaking. Should a member of the cast fall ill, an understudy who has learned the part takes over.

The players are given their scripts so that they can learn their lines and
cues by heart. Rehearsals under the guidance of the director continue until the dress rehearsal just before the play's premiere/first night. That night everyone suffers from first-night nerves: stage fright, fear of drying up, missing cues etc. Backstage, in the dressing-rooms, actors and actresses put on their costumes and are made up. The director waits in the wings with last-minute stage-directions, the stage manager makes sure that the previously built and painted set/scenety is in place, that the prompter is in position and that the lighting and props are ready. At last the lights dim and the curtain rises; the first scene begins.

When the curtain falls at the end of a successful performance, the performers, who may have to take several curtain calls, are rewarded by the audience with sustained applause, maybe even with a standing ovation. The critics who have attended rush off to write their reviews, in which they praise the actors' interpretation of their parts etc. A play receiving rave reviews invariably becomes a hit/smash.

Music

Basic information:

There is a wide range of pop(ular) music (rock, folk, jazz etc.) and classical music (symphonies or chamber music, operas, ballet music etc). As these different categories have various features in common, it is often difficult to draw a clear distinction between them.

The contemporary music scene is very diversified and the audience/following of pop and classical music is enormous. Music has become a multi-billion-dollar business worldwide, so that media and entertainment giants now control the international markets. Often a record company is organized as an entertainment conglomerate with a record music business and interests in TV (e.g. producing and distributing videos). In addition to many smaller labels, there are a few large companies: Bertelsmann Music Group, Warner Communications, CBS, EMI etc.

1. Pop music -the making of a star:

Your musical talent may be discovered early. At six, for example, you may play the recorder, at twelve the piano; you may sing in the school choir and later become the singer or the keyboard player in a band. The other musi­ci­ans in the band may play the (solo/lead, rhythm or bass) guitar, the saxo­phone, the drums or other percussion instruments. Your musical style may be influenced by rock'n'roll, hard rock, jazz, disco, country, folk music etc.

Expensive technical equipment (amplifiers loudspeakers, micropho­nes etc.) is required to produce a good sound. You practise a lot, record your songs and send demo tapes to a record company in the hope of making a contract. If a single, an LP or CD is to be produced in a (24-track) recording studio, you will need a producer, a sound engineer, someone to arrange the songs etc. unless you compose the songs, write the lyrics arrange the music and produce the disc yourself.

If your debut single or album is released and sells well, it may climb the charts (pop singers whose discs sell extremely well are rewarded with golden or even platinum discs). If you play jazz or pop music, you may have gigs in the concert halls around the country. Once you have made a name for yourself as a musician, you may tour Europe or the USA promo­ting your (latest) CD. Even when you are on tour you will have to rehearse constantly before performing at concerts attended by thousands of fans.

2. Classical music:

Pianists, violinists or cello virtuosus unable to reach the extremely high standards required of soloists may join a symphony orchestra, the most famous of which are the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra etc. Performances of works by great compos­ers, e.g. an opus like Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in A major, or Brahms' D minor piano concerto are particularly popular.

After attending a concert, a music critic may write about the sensitivity of the conductor's interpretation, about the brilliance of the brass, the precision of the wind, the clarity of the strings, the technique of the soloist, the acoustics of the concert hall and the applause with which the audience expressed its enthusiasm.

Art

Basic information:

Whether they have studied art at an art college or not, artists who have learned certain techniques are then free to develop their own personal styles if they are talented enough to be creative and innovative rather than resort to a derivative style. Various tools and materials are used, e.g. stone, metal or wood by a sculptor, oil colours, watercolours and brushes by a painter, charcoal for charcoal sketches by a drawer etc. The common aim of all is to produce works of art, preferably master­pieces, many of which are on display m famous galleries like the National Gallery or the Tate Gallery in London and the Guggenheim Museum or the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Exhibitions at art galleries include works displayed in permanent collec­tions: oil paintings, water-colours, landscapes, seascapes, (self-) portraits, still lifes, drawings, collages, and prints by graphic artists. In addition to permanent collections there are also touring exhibitions. For the purpose of special exhibitions, a museum may obtain objects of art on loan from other museums.

Art lovers with good taste and an aesthetic sense can become connoisseurs of such artistic achievements as Norman arches, Gothic cathedrals, Baroque architecture, the landscape paintings of the Impressionists, the rich colours of the Expressionists, the geometric designs of the Cubists, decorative Art Deco, the flowing lines and bright colours of Art Nouveau, the surrealist paintings of Dali, the pop art of the 1960s, Post-Modernism, and abstract art in its many forms.