Strategies and Key Elements
Framework
I follow Bernice McCarthy's framework for lesson design throughout the unit. McCarthy incorporates the work of Dewey, Jung, Vygotsky and neuroscientists to provide a structure that will serve all types of learners. The structure, referred to as 4Mat, divides units into four quadrants. The first quadrant makes a personal connection between the concept and the student, the second brings in expert knowledge, the third allows students to practice new knowledge, and the fourth encourages students to create something new based on the knowledge and understanding gained. For a more comprehensive look at 4Mat, refer to McCarthy's books in the annotated bibliography.
Daily Exercise
Beginning with Lesson Three, students complete a daily exercise at the start of class. The exercise serves as a way to get focused while supporting the essence of the unit. There are two types of exercises that I use intermittently: one exercise is a music-related free-write; the other exercise involves writing as part of a group voice.
For the music-related free-write, I ask students to bring in a song or a compilation of music, not to exceed ten minutes. I will also bring in instrumentals to balance songs with lyrics. As we listen to the music, we write whatever comes to mind. We may be inspired by the mood or the lyrics of a song. The song may jog a certain memory. We may also critique the music. It doesn't matter, as long as we interact— or converse—with the music through writing. My Creative Writing students call this Stream of Consciousness writing. They compile elaborate collections of music and write silently for 40 minutes. We then read all – or part—of what we were inspired to compose. Students have written complete poems and stories in one sitting using this method. They find the musical inspiration – coupled with allowing the subconscious to emerge—to be liberating.
Another writing activity that is tied to the subconscious (in a less obvious way) is Exquisite Corpse. 4 In this exercise, every person writes two lines of poetry, folds over the paper so only the second line is visible, and passes it to the right or left. We read the whole poem once it has gone around the circle. This exercise allows students to be a part of something and to use their voices in a fun, low-pressure situation. Everyone is included, and no one is forced to stand out.
As the students become more familiar with writing techniques and terminology, I will ask them to apply one element to their free-writes. This will allow them to repeatedly use what we learn in class.
Unit Structure
The unit begins with a personal connection to the student, moves into the introduction of new information, allows the student to apply new knowledge, and ends with another personal connection to the student. On occasion, the unit will swing back from application to new information, and back again to application, eventually continuing its progression to the final connection to the student. Each lesson will contain methods of assessment. These methods also advance the student toward the final performance assessment at the end of the unit. This process is intended to show sensitivity to differentiated learning, but it is the process of the unit as a whole that will target diverse learners, not necessarily a unit in isolation. Of course, teachers may choose to make personal adaptations.
Silence
What does it feel like to be silent? When do we feel forced to be silent? When is it appropriate to be silent? When is it necessary to speak? Why do some people speak more than others?
We begin in a place of no-sound. We understand voice because we know what it is to be in a place of no-voice. It is only a visit to a place where some students may live; it is a brief tour of where some may eat silence, work silence, shop silence. We won't stay long. Besides, this place is not too strange – after all, don't we spend an awful lot of time asking students to be quiet?
Students experience silence in two phases. In the first phase, they are just silent; they don't communicate. They don't write or draw. In the second phase, they write or draw, but do so without talking. The two phases together remain under ten minutes. Once the silence is broken, students discuss the experience. What is the difference between writing or drawing and not doing anything? Is writing or drawing a form of silence or a form of expression?
During a class brainstorm, we generate ideas about the ways we express ourselves—especially the ways that go beyond using our mouths and vocal chords to speak. We must remember that music is a form of expression. The brainstorm leads to the idea of "voice" as a concept that can be applied to different forms of expression. Voice is more than the sound from our throats. Voice is the ability to express. It's a sense of identity. It's power.
Students use a journal to reflect and answer the question: What does it mean to have a voice? Anaphora is included by having students repeat the phrase, "I have voice when…" in their writing. Remember what it felt like to be silent. Do opposite feelings occur when we have a voice?
Some students begin right away to shape this into a poem. We discuss the aesthetic appeal of choosing when to repeat a phrase, rather than repeating it every single line. This exercise is for generating ideas, allowing students to have a voice, and for beginning to define what voice is in the first place. It is a first quadrant experience: it connects the concept to the student.
The Good Song
What makes a good song? Why do people like some music but not all music? How does the musician use singing, melody, beat, or rhyme as voice? What inspires the musician to use his or her voice?
For those who believe that asking students to be silent is like biting down on a battery, the exploration of a good song may also serve as a starting point. We are still in the realm of personal experience. This time, however, we begin in a place of sound.
Students bring a favorite song to class and develop criteria for what makes a good song. We are still in the realm of what the students already know. Dissonance, and whether it ever occurs in "good" songs, may be included in discussion. Do other students agree that the song is good? What specifically makes it good or not good? The focus on specific details will help students go beyond an initial emotional response. This exercise will lend itself to helping students understand what makes a "good" essay.
The musician may use singing, melody, rhythm, or rhyme as voice. The voice is a form of expression and a sense of identity and power. It may be used to express emotion, establish a relationship to the world, and encourage change. What inspires the musician to use his or her voice? What is the purpose of the song? Students tell a story, write a poem, or complete a journal entry that speculates why the singer / musician chose NOT to be silent about his or her topic.
Medium and Purpose
What are the differences and similarities among poetry, spoken word, performance poetry, hip-hop, rap and song? What are the literary terms that will help identify the different elements of poetry?
We now enter a place of newness. Spoken word artists and performance poets introduce themselves to the students through performance or through the page. Students are still able to respond personally, noting feelings and impressions, as they compare the new poets to the musicians they brought to class. We enter the second quadrant of the learning cycle with the new material and the introduction to literary terms.
Sekou Sundiata, Floetry, Ursula Rucker, and Saul Williams all have CDs available and have at least some selections suitable for the high school classroom. Laurie Anderson is a good example of turning a story into a performance with music. It may be interesting to compare a story accompanied by music with a poem accompanied by music. Anderson's rhythm is subtle, and she speaks in complete sentences. Her music and sound effects enhance the mood of her stories.
Poet Sekou Sundiata emphasizes his words with the sounds of blues and jazz. He also makes direct references to musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane and Mary J. Blige. Floetry consists of singer Marsha Ambrosius and poet Natalie Stewart. The duo work together to give poetry a sound that ranges from R&B love ballads to the more rapid rhythm of hip hop. Ursula Rucker's poetry often focuses social issues such as sexism and racism. It is easier to separate her poem from the music than it is in the case of Floetry. Saul Williams often appeals to young emerging spoken word artists. He uses alliteration and repetition to give his poetry a strong hip hop sound, although the music tends to be more similar to rock, particularly with the distinctly rock sounds of electric guitar and percussion. This combination creates a dramatic, at times frantic, mood. Williams' poems usually comment on social issues and the quest for personal truth.
This type of poetry can be compared to music. It can also be argued, especially when listening to Floetry, that the poetry is the music. However, half of Floetry is a poet, not a singer. The use of a refrain, which regularly appears in songs and ballads, also works its way into performance poetry—but not always. In examining the purpose of refrains in songs, students can analyze why certain lines are repeated in poetry. The use of rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition, mood, tone and possibly dissonance and cacophony can also be compared between performance poetry and music. For the purpose of clarifying different forms of verbal expression, students define and compare terms: Poetry, Spoken Word, Performance Poetry, Hip-Hop, Rap and Song.
A specific topic or theme can be voiced in different ways. For instance, the topic of revolution has been explored in Gil Scott-Heron's performance poetry (with music), "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," in the Beatles' song, "Revolution," in Robert Frost's poem, "A Semi-Revolution," in Diane Di Prima's "Revolutionary Letter" poems, and Daniel S. Solis' slam piece (a poem performed without music), "Welcome to the Revolution." Solis' poem can be found in the anthology, The Spoken Word Revolution.
Students can choose the form that best portrays the theme or topic by giving details to support an opinion. Students should also note whether the topic is best portrayed due to the form or to the skill of the artist. The use of literary terms will help students focus on details.
Same Good Song, Different Medium
How do I perceive my song, now that I have new knowledge of literary elements? What happens to my song when it is no longer a song? Will its voice remain in another form?
Students enter the third quadrant and practice their skills. It's a poetry-lab and a form of assessment. What can the student accomplish on his or her own? What will the student discover? It is time for students to re-examine the purpose of the songs they brought to class. What does it want to express? How do the literary devices previously examined add to the voice of the song?
The songs can be expressed in another way. Lines from the song that are central to its purpose may be turned into a poem for the page, a rap (if it isn't already a rap), or a performance poem. A song without lyrics is more challenging, but not impossible. Some of the literary elements, such as repetition, dissonance, refrain, and mood can still be used. The student will have to use his or her feelings and personal knowledge about the song to determine purpose. It would be very interesting to see what words emerge from the song, once it's in poem form.
Students begin to use their own voices now, but they are not alone. They join forces with the singer/ musician to create something new. They explore how to maintain the purpose even if the voice changes. The goal is to create a piece that feels just as effective as the old form. Students also pay close attention to voice.
A Survey of Voice: Harlem, Beat, Last Poets and Hip-Hop, and Slam
How are the connections between music and poetry expressed through the generations? How do the writers' voices reflect (or reject) the societal views of a particular era? What makes a "good" poem?
We return to the second quadrant of learning with new material. Students are introduced to poets of the Harlem Renaissance and the Beat Generation. They will continue chronologically to the Last Poets and Hip Hop, and finally to the Slam poets of our time. We focus on the voice of the poet and the historical context of the poem as we interpret meaning and speculate about the source of inspiration. Students add imagery, detail, diction, assonance and consonance to their vocabulary during readings and discussions.
Students complete a paper in order to show knowledge of a poem. In the paper, they describe the purpose, state musical and historical influences, and use literary terms to evaluate how well the poem expresses an idea. We come back to the concept of the "good" song – but now we are looking at poetry. Students choose a poem that they like. Ideally, it is one of the poems we discuss in class; however, I am not against students finding other poems from the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Generation, the Last Poets and Hip Hop, or Slam. I will present three poems from each section to the class and have other poems available.
The Harlem Renaissance began in 1917 on the occasion of three daring plays that produced dignified characters for an all-black cast. Two years later, Claude McKay published "If We Must Die," a poem based on the lynchings, massacres, and riots of the Red Summer of 1919. The NAACP, founded ten years earlier, encouraged writers, actors, musicians, and artists to stand as equal voices in an otherwise oppressive society. According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay, Harlem artists "rediscovered the ancient confidence and sense of destiny of their African ancestors and created a body of art on which future writers and musicians and artists might build."5 This explosive period of creativity lasted about twenty years, beginning its decline shortly after the Harlem Riot in 1935.
The influence of music, particularly the blues, is apparent in the voices of poets. Blues gave voice to the oppressed. Tyehimba Jess writes, "Black folks couldn't just go out and protest racism in the '20s and '30s. But we could give voice to our pain through a blues song." Jess states that the responsibility of speaking the truth was the job of "Harlem Renaissance poets who sang their blues to America's hegemony." 6
The blues began with the call and response model of field hollers during slavery and expanded from the South to the urban environment of the North during the early part of the twentieth century. W.C. Handy, often considered the father of the blues, established the three-line structure of four beats each.7 The first line is repeated twice. The third line follows with an end-rhyme. For instance, Handy's "St. Louis Blues" begins "I hate to see that evenin' sun go down / I hate to see that evenin' sun go down/ 'Cause my baby, he done lef' this town." The repetition of lines can be heard in other blues music and in blues poetry.
Langston Hughes, recipient of an award for "Weary, Weary Blues," is known for incorporating blues into his poetry. Students will read the lesser known "Po' Boy Blues," as the feelings and predicament of the speaker can be fairly clearly understood. The second poem for this section, "Song" by Gwendolyn Bennett, uses musical references to express strong emotion. Although "Incident" by Countee Cullen lacks both "blues" and "song" in its title, it has a distinct rhythm and rhyme that students will be able to hear. The poem is also an excellent example of how language – even one word – can have a devastating impact. Now we are not only concerned with having voice, but with what we do with it once we have it.
The Beat Generation broke language conventions established by earlier poets, much to the dismay of some literary critics of the 1950s and 1960s who proclaimed such poems to be non-literary. The Beat writers began as a small group of four, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, but it grew from the East Coast to the West, expanding to include other writers of the same sentiment and time period. The word "beat" has an immediate connection to music, namely jazz. Ann Charters writes that jazz musicians used "beat" as a slang term meaning poor, exhausted or down and out. The word also implies a sense of being outside of society and on one's own. Eventually "beat" was applied to anyone who appeared to be a rebel or who lived as a bohemian. The Beat writers were essentially voices for people rejected by mainstream society.8
It is interesting to note that both the Beat and the Harlem Renaissance writers engage a struggle with society. David Levering Lewis finds that for Harlem artists, art was a means to change society in order to be accepted into it. For Bohemians, art was a means to change society before they accepted it.9 The Beat writers, living in an era of McCarthyism and blacklisting, project an image of a lone visionary heroism simultaneously caught in and rejected by society while pursuing a quest for truth.
Jazz music, write Gates and McKay, "knows that, despite all hopes and efforts, things might not work out for the best." Yet humans persevere. Jazz improvises ways to cope with trouble. According to Charters, Jack Kerouac was thinking of himself as a jazz musician when he wrote "Mexico City Blues," the first of three Beat poems that we'll read. "Mexico City Blues" is a tribute to bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker. In the spirit of Jazz, Allen Ginsberg decided to let go of his usual form and meter and just write, extending the lines of "Howl" out to the length of his own breath. The poem reflects the people in Ginsberg's world, his view of America, and his encounter with Carl Solomon, a man he met in a psychiatric hospital. We will read excerpts from parts I, II and III. Both "Mexico City Blues" and "Howl" are dedicated to other people. Diana Di Prima's love poem, "Song for Baby-O, Unborn" is also a nice source of inspiration for students who wish to write a "song" for another person.
The struggle with society continues in the work of the Last Poets and Hip Hop artists. The Last Poets blended music with poetry in the late 60s and 70s and are considered to be the parents of today's hip-hop. They recorded "When the Revolution Comes" prior to Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and spoke boldly as voices of the civil rights movement. The song "Jazzoetry" reflects their style of writing and performing: a mixture of jazz, funk and poetry.
The origins of hip hop are thought also to include dub, a Jamaican style of music brought to New York in the late 1960s by artists such as DJ Kook Herc. Dub included energetic percussion rhythms that evolved into speech rhythms. In 1979, the first official hip-hop single, "Rapper's Delight," was released by the Sugar Hill Gang (although it is disputed whether the lyrics were stolen from Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers). Hip-hop can also be traced back to the African griots, oral historian-poets. It moved through time, picking up a taste of blues lyrics and jazz scat singing along the way.
During the late twentieth century, hip-hop was a means for artists to cope with an inability to be accepted by mainstream society – particularly mainstream music industries. Hip-hop was ignored by MTV until the mid 1980s when it became more violent. The impressive degree of social awareness and artistic flare may be lost in some of the music heard on hip hop radio stations today, but it is important to remember that although certain songs are profitable, they cannot wholly represent the expansive hip hop culture.
Queen Latifah and Mos Def draw the listener's attention to the state of society in the songs "The Evil That Men Do" and "Respiration," respectively. Queen Latifah makes allusions to the Declaration of Independence, apartheid, and slavery as she speaks about trying to live positively in a world of drugs, poverty, and the evil actions of mankind. Mos Def creates a metaphor for New York City as he laments the violence inflicted upon a breathing, bleeding, and sighing entity. His tone shows affection for the city, yet he urges his listener to be more aware of the violence that plagues society. The Last Poets, Queen Latifah and Mos Def push for social change, much like the writers of Harlem Renaissance and the Beat Generation.
The use of alliteration, repetition and internal rhyme in hip-hop can also be seen in Slam Poetry. Like the poetry of the Beat Generation, slam poets have been accused of being non-literary. Slam depends heavily on performance; line breaks and stanzas are most likely lost on the audience member. Recently, however, books have been published to showcase slam and performance poems exclusively. Perhaps this is an indication that performance poetry is making its way into mainstream literary culture.
Marc Smith started slam in 1986 as part of the Chicago Poetry Ensemble. The competition rules evolved from a desire to get audience members to participate (random audience members, rather than a panel of esteemed poets, judge the performed poems), a strategy to keep the suspense going throughout a show (competing poets must make it through three rounds in order to win), and an aversion to really awful poetry that goes on and on (all slam pieces must be three minutes or less). Slam emerged from a local event made up of a few people to become a national phenomenon. Slam poets compete nationally and internationally. Slam is a business: poets can pay to become a member of Poetry Slam Incorporated, a requirement in order to participate in the annual National Poetry Slam.
Slam poets are considered performance poets, but they aren't allowed to use music or props. A connection to music is apparent, however, through rhythm and cadence. Poets may sing parts of their poems, or even interject part of a popular song during the performance. Vocal sounds (non-words) are also used to emphasize mood or rhythm. Poets may also create dance-like movements, especially during team performances. It is rare to see a slam poet who holds still.
Like hip hop, slam poetry ranges from one-dimensional and lewd to socially conscious and deeply sensitive to the sound and meaning of language. Slam poets Sherman Alexie, Patricia Smith and Mayda Del Valle connect the use of language to social and cultural issues. In "Marriage," Sherman Alexie explores the meaning of bread. Patricia Smith shows the loss of identity in "My Mother Learns English," while Mayda Del Valle expresses the struggle of being caught in the middle of two tongues in "Academia Leaves My Tongue Heavy."
We end our survey of how voice evolves through different eras by examining how voice evolves in the individual, using the above poems as our guide. We listen to our own experiences, our own backgrounds, our own conversations with the world, our own voice.
A Battle of Voice: Harlem, Beat, Last Poets and Hip-Hop, and Slam
How effective is the voice of a specific poem?
It's time to put new knowledge to practice in a third quadrant exercise. Students have written a paper about the voice of a selected poem, now it's time to play. It's time to compete. We loosely follow the rules of a slam as students read their selected poems – the way they believe it should be read. Students work in teams of three, and each team has a chance to compete in all three rounds.
Now students get to experience performance poetry. They experiment with delivery. They pay attention to the musical qualities of the poem. They combine their own voice with the voice of the poet and create a new kind of sound.
A Poetry Concert
How can I express my own voice in a piece that uses poetry and music?
Students show off what they have learned in a final performance. They create a piece of their own and write a proposal that discusses the literary elements, the connection between poetry and music, and the purpose of the piece. They explain why the poems effectively express their own voices. Suggestions for student projects include the following:
- Original poem about music
- Original poem that uses sound devices
- Original poem performed with music
- Published poem performed with original music
- Original musical interpretation of published poem
- An original poem that responds to a song or another poem read /heard during the unit
- A poem sung to an original melody that captures the overall mood or tone
- A video or slideshow with poetry and music
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