Raven Friedman

For my Harlem Renaissance project, I decided to write a song.  The style and lyrics of the song are representative of the overall themes of the Harlem Renaissance – such as self identity, self-worth, new beginnings and inner strength.  Although the inspiration for the song came from what we are learning about that time period in America, the song itself is about what segregates people in our world today.  In earlier times, America was divided primarily by race.  I feel that what segregates our country most today is religion, class and social standing.  I decided to write a song because music is possibly the most influential way to convey an idea or belief.  I have very strong opinions about how society segregates people in modern America.  I didn’t feel that I could fully explain my opinions unless I was able to actually put my thoughts into a project you could see, hear, and feel.

I started out just writing a list of everything I thought about today that would also have been relevant during the Harlem Renaissance.  Once I completed the list, I slowly began to form my words into little poems that I would later string together into a song.  The lyrics themselves are all about how important it is to stand your ground, not judge others based on stereotypes and be true to yourself no matter what society you live in, or whether or not people agree with you.  Hence the lyrics, “bear you message, bear your truth” and “stand for your pride, stand forever.”  These ideas are as vital today as they were during the 1920’s.

The melody I wrote was based off of several jazz song melodies I had heard in the past.  I was trying to accomplish a similar vibe and tone but with a more modern sound.  I listened to songs like “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday, and “Strange Fruit” by Louis Armstrong and tried to envision how I wanted my song to sound.  Trying to create the song I heard in my head was probably the most difficult part of the entire project, because I am not exactly the greatest guitar player in the world.  However, I knew enough simple chords to construct the basic song.  After many hours of practice and turmoil bent over my guitar, I originally had a melody that was similar to the one I had envisioned.  Then with a lot of help from my vocal jazz teacher, Mr. Nolet, we were able to bring the song up to its full potential.    Then we recorded it.  On the recording I sang, while Mr. Nolet played a new and improved version of the melody I had written, and added fantastic piano accompaniment.  I could not be more pleased with the outcome of the song as a whole!