Hi Everyone! Great job making it half way through the semester, I am really enjoying our class, you are all so unique and have such facinating insight and ideas. I am really looking froward to your next speeches, please email me if you have any questions before Friday. Okay--for this week's blog, I want to hear about a musician you admire, enjoy OR despise...and why. Also, how are music and speeches similar? What awesome quality of a singer or song writer you admire can you borrow in order to become a more engaging, colorful, attention-getting speaker?--S
PS: I'LL PROVIDE MY OWN ANSWER AS AN EXAMPLE TO GET YOU STARTED...I chose PINK because my friend Sam tries to keep my up to speed on the music scene and has burned me a few of her CD's -- I think she seems smart and I like that she is interested in empowering young women and being politically active about issues she feels are important. In that way, since both concerts and classrooms have "audiences" -- I hope I can find ways to be myself, stay a bit irreverent and speak out about important issues in my classroom and when I speak to students, but without compromising my credibility, which Pink seems to have done, unlike other irreverent musicians like Brittany, etc who have lost their intellectual credibility.
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17 comments:
Well first of all, I have to respond to PINK because I think she is "the bomb." I was at a week long Writing Teacher Trainer Training in San Diego this last summer, and the penultimate event was watching a video montage of kids writing while PINK's song "Unwritten" was blasting... totally rocking out. But, as far as music: I have a holy trinity:
1) Jackson Browne 2) Joni Mitchell 3) Robin Trower. They have seen me my whole life through. I am also VERY big on the Indigo Girls!!! "Hammer and a Nail" "Watershed" "Galileo" OH MY GOODNESS. Did I mention I like music? LOL Paul DeLong
OK, now that I got that out of my system, to answer the questions. Music is a form of speech, imo. In fact, imo, music is the poetry and the literature of the current age, although ephereral art at that ! Music, like speech, needs to entertain, persuade, inform. Music, like speech, needs an intro, body, a conclusion. Music, like speech, has a general message with a very personal delivery. Music, like speech, depends on the artistic crispness and credibility of the "performer" to be successful. Oh my goodness, do you know what that means? I'm on Consumnes River College Idol !
Of all the musicians I have ever heard, I think I admire Joni Mitchell the most. She created poetry and sang it, even though it never made her THAT much money. She wrote the song "Woodstock." "Clouds" was probably the first ephinany in my life as a person. That song taught me so much, even the first time I heard it, though sung by Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell wrote it. I feel very similarly about Jackson Browne. Every song he sings has a strong personal message for me. Jackson and Joni go out on a limb to tell the "naked" truth... but beautiful, with sorrow and joy in the same note/word/strum.
How would I like to be more like them? To be that honest, and to be that artistically beautiful at the same time... they are unmatched.. and they have kept the faith with the truths they have lived and suffered with all their lives. Other people like them are: Peter Gabriel; Paul Simon; Bruce Cockburn; Neil Young; Johnny Klegg; and Indigo Girls, perhaps, too. Even Dixie Chix in a way.
To be an artist is to create sunlight, and suffer midnight 24/7.
---Paul DeLong
Oh, yea, let's not forget BB King.
"That's Why I Sing the Blues."
LOL Paul
Haha... Paul just said it all. First, in response to Pink, I think she's pretty awesome. Im not the greatest fan, but I've heard many of her songs. In particular her song, "Stupid Girl" i believe was the last major hit... and the reason why is was so popular was because of her song lyrics of course. Oh and the rhythm. Generally she aimed for and audience and spoke out the younger generation of girls, and according to the music video, it was choosing the life between the typical role of botoxed, rich, and fake person or a NORMAL lifestyle of playing football in the yard... The video ended with this lady who seemed to be at least 200 years old with lips enhanced as big as her head and how she held her poodle or whatever dog it was near her, carassing it in a manner of disgust for the audience. By doing so and comparing the superficial lifestlyes she was able to play a major role of letting us know HER opinion. Especially the way her song ended, it like a conclusion, left her speech/song in deep thought.
-barira rashid
I am not saying I like his music but I do admire one thing that Will Smith does. That is he doesn't, or didn't when he did sing, use vulgar language in his songs. I had heard a while back about his grandma being disappointed in him for using this kind of language in his early music. I think that this would relate to speeches in not sacrificing ones morals for others.
Curtis Nelson
Well,my apologies and I stand corrected. "Unwritten" is written (an unwritten written?) and performed by Natasha Benifield. Sure does sound like Pink, though wouldn't you say?
Paul
I like music alot and have study it as a hobby and as a past time. The similarity of speech and music are many. For example you have to prepare ahead of time before your deliver.You have to always read the audience. Timing is important in speech and also verry important in music. The quality that make you a good musican are the same that make you a good orator.
When a person sing a song he/she is telling a small story.
Salih Qawi
I like music alot and have study it as a hobby and as a past time. The similarity of speech and music are many. For example you have to prepare ahead of time before your deliver.You have to always read the audience. Timing is important in speech and also verry important in music. The quality that make you a good musican are the same that make you a good orator.
When a person sing a song he/she is telling a small story.
Salih Qawi
I have been always a big fun of music. because music and songs just like speeches could be informative, persusive, or even be funny. If you are a good musician or a good speech maker you would express you thought or feelings in one little song or a short speech. In that way you will get your message across to your audience.
fatana amin
Good comment by Salih... Music-speak: An audience centered approach ! Interesting comparison between timing, prep, story, all involved. "The same things...musician...make you a good orator." Good writing Salih !
Paul
lol...Paul has said it all! Great job Paul. Now, although I am absolutely not a fan of Eminem, I do like his approach to his art. I have heard many songs by him and I like the way he raps/sings about the truth, allowing his audience and fans know that he too is a normal person. I guess his technique in music is useful in persuasive or debates. If the speaker tells the truth and relates themselves in the speech, the speech will seem more personal and down to earth.
--Chanel Cameron
Oby
I do agree with Curtis I like Will Smith because he does not use vulgar in his music.
Something I like doing at my spare time are dancing and listening to music. I love music. It keeps me focus when I have a lot of things going on. However, one of my favorite singer is Alicia Keys. I believe she puts out her heart in every one of her songs. I like her lyrics. She sings for the old, young, men and women about everyday experiences. I wounder what the world would have been like without people like James Brown, Micheal Jackson, Justin Timberlake etc.
Oby
Oby
You are right Salih. Music is all about stories. Maybe about the singer, his friends or about what is happening in the world.
Music is one of major part of my life. I love it a lot. I studied how to play guitar when i was ten years old. It helps me releasing stress as well as hardship that I have to confront everyday. I found there are similarities like expressing ideas and thought. Also, they are both have the same "general purpose", to inform, entertain and pursuate people.
Tram Nguyen
Believe it or not, the musician that I admire the most is Prince because 85% of his songs tell a story of some form. What's interesting about his music is the way he performs is convincing so I know he had to practice before he goes out on that stage. Kinda what we do before we give our speeches.
Prince was also one of those artists who pursued you to have an open mind even at the times that you didn't want to. Aside from getting a purple outfit, I would like to borrow his polished stage presence so that my messages will challenge my audiences to be open minded enough to enjoy.
Alicia
I love all types of music. If music be the food of love give me excess of it.The only problem I have is that I rarely know the artists. I however remenber Mariah Carey as one of my favorite musician. Her gospel influenced dance tunes moves me. Her choice of lyrics like good choice of words for a speech are touchy and relevant.
Euchay.
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