Similarities in Rhetoric and Music

In the middle of outlining a speech for my oral communications course this afternoon, I began to really understand the similar devices that are used in both speech and improvisation. One of the primary goals that is present in both speech and music is to tell a "story", so naturally the devices would be rather similar. Using this blogging site I plan on each week examining one similar characteristic. 


One of the devices that functions the same way in both formats is repetition. This device is used as a sort of "glue" to hold together the key points of both formats and gives the audience something that is simple to grasp on to.  A prime example of this is the word "we" in Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech in a literary context. One of the best examples of this in a musical improvisation is Sonny Rollin's saxophone solo on "St. Thomas", which begins at 0:55.

Essay #2: Reaction to Readings

After going through the three readings I tend to gravitate towards the writing in The Best Technology Writing 2009 and 2010. Janet H. Murray’s article, Inventing the Medium was much harder to grasp—in fact, out of the three selections, it was the only reading that I had to go over several times to retain even part of the information. The language here is much harder to understand, presenting the perspectives of engineers and humanists in the mid to late twentieth century—whereas the introductions by Julian Dibbell and Steven Johnson were much easier to understand and focused on past and present issues of technology.

            Some of the main issues that were quite interesting to me were the regrettable effects of the shift to technology brought up by Nicholas Carr. I tend to agree with Carr, citing the fact that it has become much harder for me to concentrate on reading in long formats since a broadband connection was installed in my house. However, I do understand the opposite side of the argument in that it is necessary for us to develop the skill of “skim-and-plunge” mode. The problem with this mode is that it is very difficult when you find a subject in the article interesting that is not the topic matter that you need to be focusing your attention on.

            Concerning the issue of writing itself, I tend to actually agree with the old perception that writing creates sort of a superficial form of knowledge—at least in some applications. Being a jazz musician it is necessary for us to memorize many musical pieces so that we are prepared when other musicians “call” tunes. Obviously, this does not apply to every musical situation but it is necessary if one is to focus mainly on the improvising aspect of the piece and not on the actual technicalities (what chord change is on this beat of the music, etc.). 

English 1020

Despite the fact that I wasn't expecting this course to be as technology-heavy, I am rather glad. Being a musician and artist, it's important to be fluent in many different mediums to market yourself to an audience - especially if you're a musician who's primary focus is an art music such as jazz that has a small following to begin with, and technology is one of those mediums I plan on taking advantage of.