Response to Lecture Week 6

This weeks’ art lecture was based on Spoken Word. I was really looking forward to this lecture because the professor said it was going to be fun. I wondered all week what it was going to be about. He first started out by defining what Spoken Word is. This definition was very broad because it had many definitions. The definitions were that it was one of the oldest form of expression, that it predated written word, and that include many forms of spoken word like talk radio, stand-up, poetry, and many more. I have heard talk radio and stand-up and now it is fascinating to know it is part of the spoken word definition. Now when someone tells me what we are listening to, I’ll say spoken word. The professor went on to tell us what to look for in spoken word. We need to look out for timing, pauses, repletion, and many more. When he finished with definitions, he presented some students who went up to the stage and gave their spoken word presentations. They talked about family and social issues. It was completely amazing to hear these students and their thoughts on stage. The audience really liked their speeches. It was cool because they make it seem easy, but I know it is not. It takes serious talent to do what these students did on stage. They did gestures and moves that made it seem so amusing. They weren’t just standing there. After the students performed their speeches, the professor introduced a spoken word artist who has been doing this for years.

Beau Sia made his way down to the stage. When he got up there, he introduced himself. He started doing his presentation and it was completely amazing to see how he performed it. He was moving around and he raised his voice when needed. His talks were mainly based on social issues and family. He is an inspirational figure and he knows how to get us excited. He made us laugh and we reacted in a very positive mood. This lecture was a really fun one and I got to see what spoken word is about.