SPOKEN WORD: Expressing yourself in performance and words

 Spoken Word: Performance art that is word-based. It often includes collaboration and experimentation with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance.  Generally consists of storytelling or poetry  The Ancient Greeks included spoken word poetry in their Olympic Games  First adopted to explain the new art coming out of the postmodern art movement  Made popular by the Harlem Renaissance and The Beat Generation  Slam Poetry is the competition form of spoken word

The Beat Generation 1940s – 1950s “It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and, ultimately, of soul; a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being dramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself. A man is beat whenever he goes for broke and wagers the sum of his resources on a single number; and the young generation has done that continually from early youth.” -- John Clellon Holmes The Beat Generation

“The Beat Generation” and it’s “beatniks”.  Term coined by Jack Kerouac, famous Beat poet and author.  Describes the down and out status of himself and his peers during the post WWII years.  Jazz musicians on the streets in New York City, in response to how they were doing, sometimes said they were “beat,” meaning they were down and out, looking for work, a place to display their creativity, and they were open to whatever opportunities or inspirations offered to them.  Evolved in the mid-1940s in the work of writers and poets Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, William S. Burroughs, John Clellon Holmes, and Anne Waldman, among others.  These friends collaborated with one another and wrote pieces that rebelled against the popular poetry of the time

Non -Conformity The Goal of the Beat Generation writers was to defy conventional writing styles. They were against conformity and tradition. The generation that lived before them questioned WHY they lived, but the Beat Generation tried to figure out HOW to live. Questioned mainstream politics and culture. Politically radical and anti-authoritarian.

Experimentation Religion Eastern religions like Buddhism Meditation Drugs Psychedelic drugs such as marijuana, LSD, and mushrooms were taken to expand the mind and creative experiences of the poets who chose to take them Sexual Freedom They did not seek to hide their sexuality or beliefs or experimentation, some of the things that made them who they are. I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night... – “ Howl” by Allan Ginsburg

The Architects of Change Writing was based on life experience, and was always raw and uncensored. They looked for truth in their writing and spoke against social evil, such as injustice and racism, war and corruption. The openness and interest in trying new things made them aware of the world around them, and brought social issues to the forefront of their writing. The Beat movement was just one of the precursors to the love, freedom, and activism of the 1960s, including the fight for Civil Rights.

Key Things to Remember…. First things first..ALWAYS PICK A TOPIC YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT!!! Blurring the line between poetry and theater; performances are like one-person, one-act plays. Aggressive, clever, sometimes funny rhyme, not in any strict pattern (triple rhymes, internal rhymes, slant rhymes, repeated words, etc. In video, “Lazarus, Lazie, Lazy”). Projection! Loud broadcast. Number of unstressed syllables don’t matter, maybe. Success depends on how cleverly you get the four stresses in (rap). Getting into a groove. Memorizing the material adds interest. Mixing genres: insert singing, use accompanying sound, etc. Ritual presence of performer.

 Great performers make their performances seem natural and precise  The following three must be accomplished: Engage, Entertain & Affect

 Capture the audience’s attention  Acknowledge them  Different from what we usually do in workshop  Say “Hello”, present yourself, think almost like a comedian but not completely.

 Make your words interesting  Once you capture them, hold them  Variety of Choices:  Structure  Execution  Performance  Consistency in piece but not in performance

 Affect the audience to the core  Move them to change their perspective  Or at least get them to think about something you are passionate about  Enlighten them

 Vary in volume  The volume in which we speak words, lines, stanzas and entire poems naturally fluctuate and these fluctuations can influence the meaning and significance of those words.  Sometimes it can be slightly or considerably  Softer tones can convey one thing  Tenderness, timidity, secrecy  Loudness can convey one another  Think anger, alarm, distress and hatred  Activity!  Read this line: “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”  Starting from the first person in row one read the line very low  The next person a little bit louder  The next louder and louder and so on UNTIL WE REACH THE END!!

 The speed in which we say things conveys meaning all its own  Think of hip hop or song artist who speak quickly to go with the rhythm of a song  Remember how we read when breaking syllables down? Sometimes the technique works in certain themes  Stretch your limits on how fast or slow you can speak the lines  Activity!  Read this line: “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”  Next person read the line increasing the speed from person to person (per table)  Then read the line with decreasing the speed from person to person (per table)

 Articulation: The time value we assign to each syllable.  When the articulation changes, the inflection (the pitch a which we sound out the syllable  Think of how a teacher calls row and how the students all respond the same word differently Always remember to breathe deep and pause when need to control your breath and how you want to say something  Incorporate gestures, hand movements and the stage to play up to your words  Activity!  In table groups write 1 line of poetry switch lines and read  Pick the best line in the group  Re-read the line out-loud, change the articulation by playing with how long you say each syllable or words.  Each person should be different  When it’s your groups turn each person read it out-loud in a different way!  When you read every member of the group must have a different hand movement