Perfection of Spoken Word Poetry

 This spoken word poetry assignment was extremely helpful, a little more so than the monologue, in getting used to the reality of speaking to a public audience in order to persuade them.  It was less about taking on a character and more about conveying a message or a story to the listeners.  It also shows how powerful music can be when added to a speech or for audience members because it can really emphasize the general mood of the speech, getting the message across more effectively. 

The most effective spoken word projects were the ones where the music fit perfectly with the mood of the poem and whose speakers were comfortable performing along to the music.  For example, Jade's poem was one of the most powerful ones for me.  After getting over the initial struggle of the memorization of the poem, it was more about being comfortable delivering the actual stanzas.   Jade delivered lines from a poem that told a story of the main character of his poem.  His voice rose and fell accordingly with the emphasis he needed on certain lines of the poem, we were able to feel the raw emotion, the sadness and despair of the slave, just from his words and his delivery.  The music was perfect for the poem and really emphasized the sadness of the poem.  He was able to keep a steady rhythm and delivering with a perfect pace.  Jade made great eye contact and seemed confident while performing.  He stood still and used his hands every so often to add emphasis to a line or two.  The memorization was perfect and he really got a handle on what he had to say.  I was really moved most by Jade's performance, it had made great progress from the first try and I enjoyed watching his takes.  

In my own performance I was very pleased with how I progressed from my first take to the final.  I felt better after this project even more so than I did after my monologue.  After finally memorizing all of my lines, which was easier considering I was delivering an original poem that I created, and picking the perfect music that was serious but had an even tempo for the message I was conveying, the rest was all about nailing my performance.  On my first take I stood still with my hands clasped and I wasn't into the true meaning of my poem, and I felt it could have been better.  It was tricky also to remember the words along with the music because it was hard not to get taken over by the speed and volume of it.  I then felt it would be more powerful if I were to move around from stanza to stanza, and also use my hands to act out some of the visuals in my poem.  This really intrigued the audience more and I was able to center my thoughts on delivering my lines really well.  I was able to work on speaking louder and I really was able to project my voice, even better than I did in my final take of my monologue. The only thing I could have fixed more would have been my pacing and my speed.  I tended to see that I rushed or said lines faster than I wanted to deliver them, so next time I would slow it down to get more emphasis and better pronunciation.