The Power of Words and Performance: Making a Difference

The Power of Words and Performance: Making a Difference

Public Speaking for Change CurriculumCreated by Amanda

OttawaySummer 2011

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

–J.K. Rowling

Do you feel like the adults in your life could use a lesson or two from you?

Want to impress them, but aren’t sure how?

Let’s do it.

Before we begin, let’s look at three twentieth-century youths just like you who have changed the world through their experiences and words:

Anne Frank (June 12, 1929 – early March

1945)

Ruby Bridges (1954 – )

Ryan White (December 6, 1971

– April 8, 1990)

Anne Frank (1929-1945)Author of Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

• Anne grew up in a Jewish family in 1930s Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They became trapped there in 1940, when the Germans invaded and began persecuting Jews. The family went into hiding in 1942.

• In March 1944, Anne heard a radio broadcast by an exiled member of the Dutch government, who wanted to publish letters and diaries of his people after the war so that the world could hear about their oppression under the Germans. Anne decided right away she wanted her diary to be published, so she began editing it as she wrote.

• Anne’s diary was found by her father, the family’s only survivor, after the war. He had it published in 1947. The entries, spanning from June 1942-August 1944, have been praised by critics for the quality of the writing and the maturity of her opinions on the world and humanity.

Ruby Bridges (1954 – )Author of Through My Eyes

Racism is a grown-up disease. Let’s stop using kids to spread it.

• When Ruby was six years old, the NAACP asked her parents if they would be willing to have her attend a white school. She took a test and passed it, and became the only black student at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

• For her whole first year, Ruby was alone in a classroom with her teacher. White parents took their children out of the school because she was there.

• In 1999, Ruby published Through My Eyes, an autobiography about her experiences at William Frantz. It is written in first person in the voice of a young girl, with some more factual inserts by a third party. This format, especially Bridges’ choice to write simply, makes the overall effect of the book more dramatic as audiences realize the seriousness of her plight, yet simultaneously recognize her innocence as a six-year-old (for example, she wrote that she thought the angry mob meeting her at school was there for Mardi Gras).

Ryan White (1971-1990)Author of Ryan White: My Own Story

My family and I held no hatred for those people because we realized they were

victims of their own ignorance.• Ryan White, born a hemophiliac, received weekly blood transfusions for his

condition. One of the treatments was contaminated with HIV, and he acquired the virus.

• White was diagnosed at age thirteen, in 1984, and was expelled from school so he would not “spread” the disease.

• He became a national celebrity after the publicity of his battle with his middle school. Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all befriended him.

• Ryan wrote an autobiography with the help of Ann Marie Cunningham. It was published in 1991, a year after his death. This book is written in Ryan’s voice, with the perceptive honesty and innocence of a teenager. He describes in awe, for example, the day he spent with Michael Jackson at Neverland Ranch.

But how does this relate to me?

• These three young people obviously had some very unique experiences.

• BUT: Keep in mind that YOU may experience things that are just as interesting! Part of their legacy is that they were able to express themselves eloquently in the public eye. Being clear, concise and honest in their words on the page and their public speeches provided them with lots of support from people who sympathized with their causes.

Speaking of public speaking…

In 2009, Michelle Obama hosted the first-ever White House Poetry Jam. Penn junior Joshua Bennett and other poets as young as eighth grade performed for the President, First Lady, and a small crowd in the White House.

“We’re here to celebrate the power of words…the hope is that this evening’s gathering helps ensure that all voices are heard, particularly voices that are often not heard.”

–Barack Obama

What kind of poetry was it?

At the White House Poetry Jam, poets performed slam poetry.

In 1985, construction worker Marc Smith introduced this new kind of performance poetry reading – a mix between rap, classical poetry and theater – in a Chicago jazz club. Slam has since evolved into an increasingly popular art form.

Following in the footsteps of rap and hip-hop music, slam is a hybrid between the metaphysical and the physical, the contemplative and the rousing, the tear-inducing and the political protest. There is a quality to the spoken word that does not allow for passive absorption of its message, which I think is part of the reason that standard page poetry is so bemoaned in public education. In slam, the poet feeds off the energy of his or her audience, and vice versa, so both parties are crucial to the overall effect of the piece.

• Poetry slams are public events hosted by an M.C. The poets are generally predetermined, and a few are eliminated in each round, or “bout.”

• Each poet has a time limit of three minutes, with a grace period of ten seconds, to wow the audience and the judges with a work of writing and performance.

• Five audience members are randomly chosen as judges to score each poem on a decimal scale of 1 to 10. The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the three in the middle are added to get the poem’s final score.

Anyone can make a difference with their words and performance … (and yes, that

includes YOU!)

“Ranting hipsters, freestyle rappers, bohemian drifters, proto-comedians, mystical shamans and gothy punks have all had their time at the top of the slam food chain, but in the end, something different always comes along and challenges the poets to try something new.”

–Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

One of the things slam does best is to challenge literary authority. It is an open, honest form of self-expression. You can literally write about anything you want to, anything that moves you. There are race poems, political poems, sexual orientation poems, death poems, religion poems, socioeconomic status poems, war poems, disease poems, domestic violence poems, genocide poems…well, you get the picture.

No poet is beyond critique, and the better educated do not always score higher. A poet who receives a standing ovation in one venue might be booed in front of a different crowd. It all depends on the people. Slam poetry is essentially democracy in artistic form.

Some people have pointed to these aspects of slam as perfectly positioning it to be used as a form of political protest.

As Gehring says in his article “Outsiders’ Art”: “It’s raw, edgy, and delivered with an attitude that says revolution through words is possible.”

Later, he quotes slam coach Isaac Colon: “The people who are put down, and are not heard, pick up a microphone."

Most pieces are deeply personal, which gives the socially displaced and everyone in between a venue in which to question the world and themselves. The stage, as ironic as it sounds, becomes a safe place.

(The event at the White House was not a slam per se, because nobody got scored or eliminated. It was more of a showcase, a place for performers to rock the mic by speaking their minds in an eloquent fashion. But they still had to make sure that each piece was clear, concise and poignant.)

A Side Note:

Some Darn Good Slam Poems (in no particular order)

Clint Smith: “Welcome to the Mines”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DarcSNeh71g&feature=related

Neil Hilborn, Macalester College: “OCD”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6T8WDjImRo James Tolleson and Ashley Mincey: “Babel”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO1bZkIyILw Carlos Robson: “Amazing Grace”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgn1n2ffVc&feature=related

Damion Samuels: “Torture Rack”

http://www.youtube.com/user/katepark00#p/u/10/K8ULemPtyp8

The reason one writes isn't the fact he wants to say something. He writes because he has something to say. –F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do YOU have something to say?

If you had three minutes and ten seconds to present in front of the President of the United States, a crowd of fellow humans, or any other person who has the power to drastically affect your life or the lives of others, what would you say? How would you say it?

Your Presentation Strategy

Like a slam poet, you’ll need to have 1) A short, interesting introduction at the beginning

of your piece to get your audience hooked; 2) Some well-organized, pertinent information

leading to a climax; and 3) A so-what conclusion. (So-what conclusion: Why

should your audience care about this? Why does what you’re saying matter? Legitimize your cause.)

1) A Good Hookin’ Intro

Watch the first 15 seconds of this video.

SUNY Oneonta Group Piece: “Short Apology”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFrgJrYp3RQ&feature=related

. . . Interested in seeing the rest?

2) Solid Middle Ground

Watch this piece from 0:31-2:52.

Kate Kelly: “White Girl” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZfuASKEqOo

Kate does a great job of using careful pacing and a variety of interesting metaphors to keep her audience engaged, but she also gracefully connects them all to one common idea.

3) Finish Strong

Watch this poem from 2:48 until the end.

Spencer Retelle: “The Barista’s Love Song”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oYj5Qm9iE0

See how he wraps it up in a way that is funny, touching, and powerful, all at once?

Other stuff to

Extraneous Information = BAD!!

In a marathon, if you trip and fall a few times, or if you have to stop and go to the bathroom, that’s OK. The race is so long that you’ll still have time to catch up and win.

Writing a poem or a presentation is like running a sprint race, not a marathon.

But in the 100-meter dash, there is no room for error or distraction. Every step you take must be 100% focused on the finish line.

Stay Focused This means that in slam poetry and other short

presentations, every word, pause, breath, and meaning must contribute to the end result. If you are performing a piece about dog food, for example, bringing in a sentence or two about your pet cat – as much as she might act like a dog, and as funny as those sentences may be – is not beneficial to your cause. They will take valuable time from your presentation and energy from your audience, and distract you from your purpose.

• Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them. John Ruskin

• Resist the temptation to try to use dazzling style to conceal weakness of substance.Stanley Schmidt

Paris Hilton: A perfect example of someone who uses dazzling style to conceal weakness of

substance.

An Admonition Concerning Linguistics

• Slam poems are usually written in conversational, everyday language. It is much easier for a live audience to instantly comprehend simpler words and sentences than to try and decipher the meanings of any long, difficult words you might be hiding behind.

• The same goes for public speaking. While it is important to present sophisticated ideas, don’t try to impress anyone with your writing style. It will only gain you a yawning crowd.

These French politicians must have a boss with a big

vocabulary. Ah, c’est la vie.

Speak up!• It is very important to remain

confident. Say what you have to say firmly, loudly and with conviction, and people will buy into what you are telling them. Ever watch an infomercial? Know how convincing those people are?

• Project deeply with your diaphragm. To practice this technique, push against a wall with both palms as hard as you can and say a few lines. Do you feel the space between your ribs swelling up? That’s your diaphragm. It should puff out when you take a deep breath to get ready to speak.

Practice, Practice, Practice!• Believe it or not, reading poetry aloud can be

very helpful in public speaking practice. Two teachers did a study to find the benefits of poetry on other aspects of the learning process: “We used oral performances to challenge students to enunciate words carefully, to pause in order to convey the meaning of the poem, and to use intonations that would entertain as well as communicate meaning” (Sekeres and Gregg 468).

• Understanding where the natural rises and falls of the sentences should be pronounced, which words should be emphasized, and when to breathe will help you immensely in your performance.

In The Notebook, Noah Calhoun’s father cured his son of a childhood stammer by having him read poetry aloud on the front porch. Noah became such a good speaker, he even got to narrate the movie! AND it helped him cure Alzheimer’s! (Well, not really.)

…And practice some more!• Once you have your speech well-written, time yourself giving

it. It may surprise you that your presentation time will vary dramatically the first few run-throughs. Keep practicing until you get consistent times. If you know you are delivering a particularly funny line, allot time for your audience to laugh.

• If you decide to memorize, that’s great. If not, that works too – highlight key words and ideas that will trigger your brain into what to say next.

• When you read your speech out loud, be listening for words that disrupt the flow. You will find that you edit naturally at this stage. Don’t be afraid to cross tons of stuff out.

• Before you start, take a deep breath with your hand on your diaphragm. Feel it swell up. As you release this breath, begin to speak.

Some Helpful Hints• Try not to make direct eye contact with members of the

audience. It may distract both of you. Instead, look at peoples’ foreheads – this way, it will appear to them as though you are looking them in the eyes, without making you nervous.

• DO NOT APOLOGIZE! If you mess up, don’t say, “I’m sorry, that happened because I was nervous.” The audience is rooting for you before you start to speak. If you appear to lose confidence in yourself, they will start to lose confidence in you, too.

• Speak more slowly than you think is realistic. On stage, people tend to speak faster than normal.

• If you are able to watch yourself practicing on video, you’ll notice any tics you have, such as rocking from side to side or saying “uh” or “um” a lot. Practicing in front of honest friends or family members helps too.

So, are you ready to change the world yet?

Let’s do it.

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The

good news is that you don't know how great you can

be! . . . What you can accomplish! And what your

potential is!

–Anne Frank