I have attached 3 different directions sections – using all three publish the paper.
– investigate why the spoken word performance has such a significant emotional effect
– Analysis
– Keith LaMar and team journey to reaching this method of delivering their performances
– Why this method is as successful in reaching people as it is
– How can it improve/ reach a larger audience moving forward
– draw on Keith LaMar book as well.
– Make sure to tie the paper around the subject of Jazz and Social Justice
Music and Activism: How do the performers use their platform to highlight issues of racial, gendered, or class injustice? Please reference specific examples and speak on the interaction of word/syntax with sound, affect/emotion, history/memory, and more.
Interdisciplinary Connections: Connect the themes of the concert to the broader historical and socio-political contexts discussed in the course. How does a performance reflect ongoing struggles against structural inequality? What can performance do in this space that a traditional essay medium cannot? Please be specific about the performance(s) you are referencing and what aspects support your reading/listening.
Personal and Collective Experience: Near the conclusion, reflect on the emotional and intellectual impact of the works you are engaging with. How does the experience of bearing witness—deep listening—in this way shape your understanding of the intersection of music and social justice? What might this mean for your own work, as a musician, professional, or intellectual, today? For this part just pretend you attended a freedom first concert.
These were the directions that were given to me. You will attend the “Freedom First” concert, featuring Keith LaMar (phoning in from prison), pianist Albert Marques, bassist Jordan McBride, and saxophonist Salim Washington. The concert is a powerful intersection of music, activism, and the struggle for justice. After attending, you will write an analysis that explores the performance’s thematic content, the musicians’ expressions of resistance, and the broader social and political implications of the concert.
I will attach some pdf files, however also use some of your own online resources. Paper and Bibliography should be in Chicago format.
https://www.keithlamar.org
https://english.elpais.com/usa/2023-11-07/on-death-row-with-keith-lamar-the-prisoner-who-was-brought-back-to-life-by-jazz-im-not-ready-to-die.html
https://www.barrons.com/news/a-us-death-row-convict-releases-a-song-and-dreams-of-freedom-43cfb2d3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ohio_Correctional_Facility
https://amherststudent.com/article/death-row-inmate-keith-lamar-phones-into-symposium-and-concert/
The Music Of John Coltrane Once Saved His Life. Now It’s Our Turn
From Death Row, Keith LaMar Has Built a Movement for Love, Art and Abolition
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/spoken-word
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/231r4ZNg3LTSM3sH4sZmCjs/spoken-word-explained#:~:text=Where%20has%20it%20come%20from,American%20culture%20of%20the%20time.
https://folkways.si.edu/say-loud-african-american-spoken-word/struggle-protest/article/smithsonian