Lauren Lark Reaction Paper

African American influence in music has been an ever present and controversial subject in American history. Stemming from many different cultures, religions and backgrounds, large portions of American music was introduced by, and credited to African Americans. Although in many cases, this music was used for entertainment by the masses or majority, contrary to popular belief, black music served a greater purpose than just recreation. Dating all the way back to the beginning of slavery in the U.S. during the 17th century, music has been used to make a statement and send a message. As African American music progressed over the years, there were common themes expressed as the genres evolved. It has been an open letter to the world, documenting and protesting the ongoing oppression faced by blacks in the United States, as well as an outlet for frustration. For many African Americans, the music gave them the only voice that couldn’t be silenced by their oppressors.

I.Introduction: Good afternoon everyone, my name is Giselle Levario. I am a freshman here at NMSU with a love for music and today I will be informing you all about one of my favorite music genres, Jazz and it’s history. First, I will talk why Jazz was important to society during the Great Depression. Second, I will discuss the various techniques and rhythms used in a Jazz ensemble and finally, I will discuss why Jazz music is still influential to today’s society and music culture.

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro Life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia clubwoman… turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifestations—likewise almost anything else distinctly racial…She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug as near white in smug as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist …to change through the hidden force of his art that old whispering “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to “Why should I want to be white? I am Negro—and beautiful.”

Jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America: the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul-the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile. Yet the Philadelphia club woman , turns up her nose at jazz and all its manifetations-likewise almost anything else distinctly racial... She wants the artist to flatter her, to make the white world believe that all Negroes are as smug and as near white in soul as she wants to be. But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, to change through the force of his art that old whispering "I want to be white, hidden in the aspirations of his people, to "Why should I want to he white? I am Negro-and beautiful"

Music is a passion of mine and has been for a long time (it's in my blood.) My dad played the bass guitar in a few groups, and he sings in our church's choir. His taste of music has been passed down and adopted by my brother and me.

My whole family does music, although only my sister does it for an actual living. My dad plays trumpet and accordian and can sing, my mom plays piano and sings, my sister plays flute and sings, my granny sings and plays piano, my paw paw sings, and I play guitar and sing. I've played other instruments too that I put behind me such as piano, and trumpet as well. My knowledge of learning to read music started when I was 6 and I started taking piano.

Going to the jazz performance at the Bechtler showed me a different side of the community in Charlotte coming together. At the Bechtler Museum host, an annual night of jazz the theme for this performance was Jazz Night for Lovers. They had two shows, which both sold out. The line to get in was so long and full with young couples and older couples as well. Once were allow inside the venue everyone took there sits and watched as a beautiful 14-year-old girl sing her heart to the crowd. The crowd loved her and her performance. Things got even better when the jazz band got on stage and there special performer.

The name of the music singer was Lauren Lark. According to the show program, Lauren brought the bright women music between the 1940’s and 1950’s into the 20th century. Lauren has completed her Bachelor in music performance at the University of the Arts, where she received the desirable Best Jazz vocalist. Lauren was made a history as the only vocalist to perform with the Reginal Grammy Award. She was a librettist and the singer. During the show performance, Lauren has sung so many works by the local and the international women artist. The show was started with an introduction, welcome the guest and the bright women in the music by professor Carol Evans.

On May 13, 2016, the Vocal Jazz Ensembles at Sacramento State University had their one of the last concerts before the semester ended, which was directed by our professor Gaw Vang Williams. This concert was performed by four groups and different solo, which was completely different experience from the first two concerts that I attended at Sac State. In this Vocal Jazz concert, there was packed and a lot of audiences who were friends, family and students come to support and enjoy before this semester ended. Overall, this was a good show and I found that Vocal Jazz was much more fun and enjoyable than the first two. In this concert, I enjoyed every pieces of performance and there were three pieces that caught my attention, which were “Hold On”,

(Padgett, 2016). Thankfully in the 1920’s, African American musicians began to more commonly take centre stage. This created a mesh of African American traditions and white middle class ideals, and represented a vast cultural shift, (Boundless,

On January 28, 2016 I went with my choir to the Peace Center to watch a poet and musician in a show called Southern Voices: Black, White, and Blues. The show included a African American female poet, Glenis Redmond, and a white male blues musician, Scott Ainslie who came together to spread the message of the Old South. Both Glenis and Scott shared personal experiences and then performed a piece based on the story. They mostly performed individually but did perform some pieces together.

In Bessie Smith’s piece “Young Woman Blues”, underlies a black feminist declaration of empowered femininity and proud black sexuality. In that respect, she follows along in the tradition of other black female musicians like Ma Rainey and Nella Laursen in challenging the status quo through their own music. As such, Carby is right in her analysis of Bessie Smith and other black female musicians in asserting their femininity whereas Chapman is limited in analyzing the perception of these musicians and not the actual music itself. Through Smith’s performance of the song underscores the vulnerability and by extension the strength that her and other black females possess to deal with the dual prejudices of racism and sexism. As such, the performance is liberating in terms of its challenging of racism through black pride, challenging of sexism through female sensuality, and advocating of personal independence.

Throughout this course we discussed the Jazz Age, cultural appropriation, racial and gender differences, and African Americans and Parisians during the interwar years. We looked at many African American performers and performances that had a huge impact on France’s cultural identity. After learning about all of this in class, I wanted to take my research further. I decided to research female foreign performers who have had a major influence on the Jazz Age in Paris. I decided to focus specifically on three foreign females, and they are: singer and dancer Josephine Baker, dancer Molly Spotted Elk, and dancer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Each of these female performers had a large impact on taking the Jazz Age in Paris to another level.

I really appreciate your proactive contact with me regarding scholarship programs at GCU. I apologize because I did not make my self-clear as I am looking for a Doctoral scholarship program at GCU because I will be completing my Master degree this March. I see you sent me scholarships for undergraduate and Alumni for different programs, however, this does apply to Doctoral students. Thank you for your time and information.

The Feiner Points of Leadership is one of the interesting and application oriented books I have read. I would recommend the book to my friends and colleagues who aspire to be a good leader. This book should be read by all the leaders and managers to be successful. It exemplifies some of the important skills manager or leader should practice at the same time it explains the mistakes one should avoid being a successful and effective leader. Michael Feiner’s experience in PepsiCo, given examples and instances in his tenure makes it easier to understand the facts in detail. These examples also helps retain all the points and laws explained in the book.