Grade 9 Unit 4: Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir

Grade 9 Unit 4: Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Unit Objectives 2

Lesson 1: Features of Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations 3 Warm-up! 3 Learn About It! 4 Check Your Understanding 8 Let’s Step Up! 9

Lesson 2: Delivering Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations 10 Warm-up! 10 Learn About It! 11 Check Your Understanding 16 Let’s Step Up! 17

Performance Task 18

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn? 20

Wrap Up 21

Bibliography 21

GRADE 9 |English

UNIT 4 Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations Oral presentation can be performed in many ways. It is an expression of a group or individual’s emotions or insights about a particular issue or topic. Some oral presentations are ways for people to show their creativity through texts. Examples of oral presentations include jazz chants, raps, and speech choir presentations. In this unit, you will differentiate these kinds of oral presentations and gain insight on how they are delivered in front of an audience.

Unit Objectives

In this unit, you should be able to:

● use the appropriate and effective speech conventions expected of speech choir presentations.

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Lesson 1: Features of Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations

There are many ways in which we can express ourselves freely. It can be in a spoken word poetry performance, singing a song dedicated to a special person, or performing an act with a group of people. In this lesson, we will discuss some of the kinds of oral presentations we can use to express ourselves.

Warm-up!

Form a group with five members. Analyze the poem and think of a creative way to interpret it as a group. Present your interpretation in class.


Learn About It!

The activity earlier showcased ways on how you creatively express a poem in front of an audience. There are many ways to do so. In this lesson, we will discuss some of the most common ways of presenting poems. These are jazz chants, raps, and speech choir. 1. Jazz Chants Jazz chants were created by Carolyn Graham. These are helpful in practicing speaking skills such as stress and intonation patterns. When performing jazz chants, we express words, short phrases, and sentences that occur in natural conversations into rhythms of music. Features of Jazz Chants Jazz chants have the following characteristics:

1. It has rhythm. 2. It imitates the stress and intonation of a natural, spoken language. 3. It is usually delivered in the form of dialog.

Let us look at this example:

Davina likes lettuce but she doesn’t like peas. Does Davina like lettuce? Yes, she does. Does Davina like peas? No, she doesn’t.

Davina likes lettuce but she doesn’t like peas.

In this example, the jazz chant focuses on the stressed syllables in each line. This particular example practices how children can distinguish stressed and unstressed syllables by


activating the natural spoken language of the speaker. 2. Raps Rap has always been linked with African American culture for its origins could be traced back to the country of Africa. It has been developed in the 1970s by disc jockeys and urban people as a form of urban popular music. Features of Rap Rap has the following characteristics: 1. It uses slang words and does not follow formal grammar rules. 2. Its lyrics are sometimes used to insult someone or say something nonsensical but it may also be about life, contemporary society, or any topic. 3. It follows a rhyme scheme. 4. It has punchlines. 5. It uses metaphors. 6. It is delivered with smooth transitions.

An example of rap music is an excerpt from the song “Lose Yourself” by Eminem:

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already,

mom's spaghetti He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready

To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin' What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's chokin', how, everybody's jokin' now

Notice that in this example, slang words are evident such as forgettin’, chokin’, and jokin’ and does not necessarily follow formal language or grammatical rules. It follows a particular rhyme scheme such as heavy, already, and spaghetti and ready in the first few lines. In general, Eminem songs tackle about his life and his experiences.


3. Speech Choir The history of speech choir (or choral speaking) could be traced back into Ancient Greece where people featured choruses of speakers in their plays. In the fifth century, choruses in Ancient Greek plays are made up of approximately fifty members. Despite the size, these actors represent a single consciousness. They help tell the story of the piece and they usually wear masks for unification and anonymity. As time passed, the members of a chorus were reduced to twelve by Greek playwright Aeschylus and were changed again to fifteen by Sophocles. Features of Speech Choir

1. It commonly has 12-100 members. In competitions, the number may vary. Some school competitions require 25-40 participants. 2. It requires a piece to be recited. The piece is often a poem or poetic verses. 3. Some speech choirs have choreography. 4. Some speech choirs requires participants to be in costumes. 5. The quality of the participants’ voices is categorized into light, medium, and dark.

● Light voices are usually used for lines that suggest youth or happiness. They sound brighter.

● Dark voices are usually used for lines that suggest sadness. It is also richer, darker and more powerful.

● Medium is somewhere between light and dark. 6. Verbal expressions like proper diction, intonation and stress are observed by participants. 7. Non-verbal expressions like gestures and body movements are present in speech choirs. Take a look at an excerpt of Ballad of a Mother’s Heart by Jose La Villa Tierra:

Persistent Youth, You have to prove by deeds,

Dear one, He pleaded as he knelt before her feet in tears,

Your love is true.


“There’s not a thing I would not do for you, Beloved” said he, “Then go,” said she “to your mother dear,

And bring her heart to me.”

Without another word, Youth left and went to his mother dear.

He opened her breast and took her heart! But he did not shed a tear

This piece is a particularly good example of a piece fit for speech choir because it can present a number of verbal and nonverbal expressions. A group can play with its choreography and levels of voices and how they can show the imagery of the dramatic situation effectively.


Check Your Understanding

Accomplish the Venn diagram below:


Let’s Step Up!


Lesson 2: Delivering Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations

In the previous lesson, we discussed the difference between jazz chant, rap, and speech choir. These three are unique in many ways. This lesson will discuss ways to effectively deliver these three.

Warm-up!

Think-pair-share activity The class will watch a video of a group performing a jazz chant, rap performance, and speech choir. With a partner, they have to take note of particular details on how they performed on stage, giving attention to verbal and nonverbal expressions. After brainstorming, they will share their observations in class.


Learn About It!

Jazz Chants, Raps and Speech choir are delivered in different ways. Speech choir is reciting the piece in unison. Jazz chant is reciting a piece in fast rhythm but not as fast as rap. 1. Delivering Jazz Chants

Here are some tips that are helpful in a jazz chant performance:

a. Use fast rhythm when delivering jazz chants but don’t make it so fast to the point that it becomes a rap. b. Analyze the piece before the delivery to convey proper emotions. c. Use the appropriate voice. If the piece suggests happiness or if the persona is young, use a light voice. If the piece suggests sadness or if the persona is old, use a dark voice. If light and dark voices are inappropriate or lines need to be repeated, use a medium voice. d. Practice correct pronunciation for effective delivery of jazz chants. e. Use your diaphragm while delivering the piece for more power in the voice.

2. Delivering Raps Here are some tips that are helpful in a rap performance:

a. Deliver the lyrics in a fast rhythm. b. Keep a steady beat. c. Follow a rhyme scheme in the lyrics of a rap.


To identify a rhyme scheme, you have to assign a letter for each word that rhymes with another word. The first line is labelled “A” and the other lines should be “B”, “c” and so on. If a line rhymes with another, you label it with the same letter as the other one. To better understand how to identify rhyme schemes, examine an excerpt from the poem, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost:

Whose woods these are I think I know. A His house is in the village though; A He will not see me stopping here B

To watch his woods fill up with snow. A My little horse must think it queer A To stop without a farmhouse near A

Between the woods and frozen lake B The darkest evening of the year. A

The rhyme scheme of the poem for each stanza is AABA.

d. You may include punchlines and metaphors in your rap.

"No disrespect in terms of change I haven't seen any

Maybe he had good intentions but was stifled by the system And was sad he couldn't bring any"

–J. Cole speaks about President Barack Obama on “Be Free”

e. Have a wide knowledge of filler words you could use that could help your transition to the next part. Examples of filler words are yeah!, come on!, and yo!

3. Delivering a Speech Choir Here are some tips that are helpful in a planning and performing a speech choir performance:

a. Analyze the material - Read the piece several times for proper interpretation.


Consider the following questions: ● Is the material a poem? ● Is it a piece written solely for speech choir presentation? ● What is it about? ● What are the prevailing emotions in the piece?

b. Categorize the voices of the participants according to pitch - These are hi-mid, mid-low and low. Sometimes, there are parts of the piece which requires a certain pitch of voice. c. Decide on the kind of speech choir to perform. - A traditional speech choir is a type of speech choir where the piece is read orally without choreography, props and costumes. A dynamic speech choir is a type of speech choir where the participants recite a piece with choreography, props and costumes.

● If you are joining a contest, the type of speech choir will be dictated by the organizers of the contest.

● In other cases, if the speech choir is performed as a means to enhance speaking skills or as a subject requirement, it is the teacher who decides on the type of speech choir performance.

d. Practice the entrance as well as the exit. e. Gestures should match the words being recited. - There are gestures which communicate certain messages to the audience. They should match the lines being Recited.


Types of Gestures ● Iconic – a type of a gesture which is like painting using the hands

Illustrating the size of an object by using the hands to show how big or small it is


● Deictic – also known as “pointing gestures” that indicate imaginary, real or

implied objects, people, etc. ● Beat – rhythmic beating of a finger, hand or arm. They may be a short

beat, which can used to mark an important point, or a succession of beats, which can emphasize an important concept.

● Metaphorical – used to explain an idea without any physical form. Common forms of this gesture include waving of the hands and pinching with fingers

f. Choose the most appropriate formation. - Some of the factors you have to consider when deciding on a formation include the size of the stage, the size of the audience, classification of voices and so on. Those with similar pitch of voices should stand together for proper blending with other pitches.

g. Use appropriate sound and music - Choose a music that best fits the overall theme or message of the piece or the lines you are reciting.

● If the piece is about love of nature, choose a music that is all about love for nature.

● If the lines that the participants are reciting are sad, choose a sad accompaniment.

h. Props, costume and materials should have aesthetic appeal and should be relevant to the piece. Most of the time, all participants wear the same costumes. They may be as simple or elaborate depending on the piece.


i. Observe proper pronunciation, stress and intonation. j. Memorize the piece. k. Do not make unnecessary movements during speech delivery.

Check Your Understanding Analyze the excerpt of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and answer the following questions: I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee— With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me,


To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. 1. Who was the persona pertaining to in the lines “But we loved with a love that was more than love”? 2. What did the persona feel about the person he was talking about? 3. What happened to Annabel Lee? 4. What possible theme can be gotten from this verse? 5. Which among jazz chant, rap, and speech choir is most appropriate in reciting this poem? Why?

Let’s Step Up!


Performance Task

SPEECH CHOIR

GOAL: Your task is to perform a speech choir based on a scene from a chosen novel or short story. ROLE: You have been asked to choose a poem that is applicable to be converted to a speech choir and perform it in front of an audience. AUDIENCE: Your target audience are Grade 8 students and teachers.

SITUATION: The challenge involves dealing with a creative representation of a scene from a novel or short story you would like to share with the Grade 8 students and teachers. PRODUCT/PERFORMANCE AND PURPOSE: You will present a speech choir based on a scene from a chosen novel or short story.

1. The class will decide on a scene from a novel or short story they would like to convert to a speech choir. The class will be divided into groups who will be assigned for the speech choir piece writing, planning, choreographers, and props and costume makers. 2. The speech choir piece will be checked and revised based on the class’s consultation with the teacher. 3. The class will present the piece in front of the Grade 8 students and teachers. Take note of the following when presenting the piece:

a. Expression and gestures b. Voice quality c. Eye contact d. Knowledge of the piece


STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS: The performance will be judged based on the following criteria:

Criteria Beginning (0-12 points)

Developing (13-16 points)

Accomplished (17-20 points)

Score

Content (Focus on details/events are clearly evident; it is clearly related to the topic.)

Organization (Logical progression of details/events; clear transitions between ideas.)

Language (spelling, mechanics, grammar and usage)

Expression and gestures Lacks proper expression and gestures to express emotions

Presents appropriate gestures and expression throughout the performance

Voice quality Voices are monotonous and unclear.

There are some parts of the performance that has no variety and somewhat unclear.

Voices are varied and clear.

Eye contact All students avoided eye

Some students

All students connected


contact. avoided eye contact.

with the audience.

Knowledge of the piece Students did not memorize the piece and their part in the performance

Some students forgot a part of their lines in the performance.

All students know their lines and part in the performance.

Total Score:

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn?

Do a self-check on how well you learned the lessons in this unit. Place a checkmark in the appropriate box.

Skills I think I need more

practice and assistance

I am familiar and can perform well

with minimal assistance

I am confident that I can perform this on

my own

I can use the appropriate and effective speech conventions expected of speech choir presentations.


Wrap Up

Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir Presentations Jazz chant is expressing words in rhythms of music. It has rhythm and imitates the stress and intonation of a natural, spoken language. It is usually in the form of a dialog. Rap is a genre of music in which the lyrics are usually talked rather than sung. Its features include use of slang, rhyme schemes, etc. Speech choir is a type of oral performance where a group of individuals recite a poem in unison. It is also known as choral speaking.

Bibliography

Jones, David. (2008). Understanding the Vocal Weigh Factor in Singing. Retrieved from http://www.voiceteacher.com/vocal_weight.html

Sakamoto, Barbara. (2010). How to Create a Jazz Chant by Carolyn Graham [blog post].

Retrieved from http://www.teachingvillage.org/2010/05/23/how-to-create-a-jazzchant/ Shamontiel, Vaughn. (2014). Best punch lines in 2014 rap songs. [blog post]. Retrieved from

https://www.axs.com/best-punch-lines-in-2014-rap-songs-34172 Segal, Beth. (2014). “Teaching English as a Second Language through Rap Music: A Curriculum

for Secondary School Students.(Master’s Thesis).The University of San Francisco Soronio, Fritzie. (2010). What is Jazz Chanting? How to do it? [ blog post]. Retrieved from

https://ischoolsfritzie.wordpress.com/tag/jazz-chant/ Soronio, Fritzie. (2009).Some Tips for Speech Choir [blog post]. Retrieved from

https://ischoolsfritzie.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/how-to-do-a-speech-choir-2/ Waley, Arthur. (2008). A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.Great Britain: Chiswick Press:

Charles Whittingham and Co.


Recommended Links for This Unit: A. “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe JAZZ CHANT version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4doNs3OrPiM B. “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe RAP version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5LphnSeDGU C. “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe SPEECH CHOIR version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrdYxJ0Ak_g Jazz Ch


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Grade 9 Unit 4: Jazz Chants, Raps, and Speech Choir