The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration arts education

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Teacher’s Guide 2012–2013
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration
arts education
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
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njpac.org • MLK Celebration   1
arts education
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
contents
Did You Know? 3
The struggle for civil rights
On Stage 4
Voices lifted in unity
In the Classroom 6
Related activities and resources
Kid Power!
Through energy efficiency and
conservation, kids can help preserve
our planet’s rich natural resources and
promote a healthy environment.
TIP OF THE DAY
Every drop counts
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was
a passionate advocate for environmental
justice, which is the community’s right to
clean air, water and soil. The human body
cannot survive a week when deprived of
water alone. Help conserve Mother Nature’s
liquid resources by brushing your teeth with
the tap off and taking shorter showers.
Made possible through the generosity
of the PSEG Foundation.
On the cover
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta
Scott King lead marchers into Montgomery,
Alabama in March 1965 (front row, from left:
Juanita Abernathy, Ralph Bunche,
Dr. and Mrs. King, Frederick Douglas
Reese, and Hosea Williams).
Copyright Morton Broffman.
Image generously provided by the Broffman family.
2   MLK Celebration • njpac.org
NJPAC’s Summer Youth Performance Workshop
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Arts Education Department presents
the 16th season of the Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series.
Teacher’s Resource Guide
This guide will help you prepare your class for an enriching experience at our
SchoolTime Passport to Culture Performance. We provide discussion ideas, activities
and reading resources that promote arts literacy in your classroom and link to New
Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards. You can find additional resources online
at artsed.njpac.org.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute this guide to any class attending a
2012–2013 SchoolTime performance (all other rights reserved).
NJPAC Arts Education
At NJPAC, our mission is to join with parents, teachers and community to cultivate
an appreciation of the arts for all children in all schools. We believe the arts provide
an effective means of knowing and learning that helps children find the self-esteem,
poise and confidence they need to succeed in every facet of life. Our innovative
programs are designed to engage the artist in every child.
In-School Residencies
NJPAC brings the joy of dance, music and theater directly into your classroom
with In-School Residencies. Our teaching artists create stimulating performing
arts experiences that engage students’ imaginations and encourage self-expression.
Residencies are customized to meet the curricular goals of the classroom teacher.
Each residency ends with a performance that teaches students to work together and
believe in themselves.
SchoolTime and Family Performances
Open a world of culture to your students through performances of music, dance,
storytelling, theater, and puppetry through professional stage productions by local,
national and international artists. Performances are enriched by teacher resource
guides as well as Q&A sessions with the artists.
Arts Training Programs
Students interested in acting, dance, musical theater, vocal or instrumental music will
find an artistic home at NJPAC where creative expression and solid technique serve as
cornerstones of the Arts Training programs. Teaching Artists with exceptional professional experience guide students at all levels of arts learning (beginner, intermediate
and advanced) to greater creative understanding and self-confidence.
visit artsed.njpac.org
Find additional resources by clicking on SchoolTime Performances
DID YOU KNOW?
The struggle for civil rights
In the late 19th century and into the 20th,
Southern whites had established a system
of authority that protected the privileges
of white society and generated tremendous
suffering for African Americans, controlling
them economically, politically and socially.
This climate characterized the era before and
after the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929
in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1944, at the age of
15, he was admitted to Morehouse College.
At 19, following graduation from college,
he was ordained as a Baptist minister. In
1953, he married Coretta Scott, and in
1955, he received a doctorate in theology
from Boston University.
Radical changes, rude awakenings
• The bus boycott in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana in 1953 was a mass movement
guided by the United Defense League in
which African-American citizens banded
together to fight the segregated seating
system on city buses. Though seldom
talked about, historians believe it set the
stage for desegregation in the Deep South.
• Brown vs. the Board of Education,
which has come to be known as the
beginning of the Civil Rights Movement,
was the culmination of an attack on
segregation in education by the NAACP.
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled unanimously that racial
segregation in public schools was
unconstitutional. A backlash by prosegregation groups throughout the South
followed the court ruling in favor of the
NAACP. African Americans, as well as
the few whites who supported the civil
rights cause, were killed, maimed and
starved. Among these was the highly
publicized killing and mutilation of
14-year-old African-American Emmet
Till, a Northerner visiting Mississippi.
MLK and the Civil Rights Movement
• The Montgomery bus boycott (19551956), led by Dr. King, was sparked by
the arrest of black seamstress Rosa Parks
for refusing to take her place at the back
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses an audience in front of the state capitol in Jackson,
Mississippi at the conclusion of the March Against Fear on June 26, 1966.
of a city bus. The boycott ended with the
U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
The protest propelled the Civil Rights
Movement into national consciousness
and Dr. King into the public eye.
• The philosophy of nonviolence practiced
by Indian political leader Mohandas
Gandhi was adopted by Dr. King after
visiting India in 1959. Dr. King, as well
as other civil rights activists and organizations nationwide, initiated examples
of wide-scale mass resistance to injustice
in the form of sit-ins, boycotts, marches,
and speeches.
• “The March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom,” led by Dr. King in 1963, was
the largest civil rights protest of the era.
During this march, Dr. King delivered his
famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which
underscored the need for a society where
“people would be judged not by the
color of their skin, but by the content of
their character.”
• The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964,
and Dr. King received the Nobel Peace
Prize. However, brutalities continued in
the South.
• Dr. King wrote the “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” during his imprisonment for participating in a Birmingham,
Alabama march in 1965. In summary,
the letter stated that he had come to
Birmingham because of the injustice
prevalent there. For Dr. King, injustice
anywhere led to the possibility of injustice everywhere.
• Dr. King’s last march led him to
Memphis, Tennessee in support of
the city’s African-American sanitation
workers. On April 13, 1968, he delivered his stirring “I Have Been to the
Mountaintop” speech. The following
day, an assassin’s bullet ended his life.
In 1985, Dr. King’s birthday was designated a national holiday, celebrated
annually on the third Monday in January.
Although the life of the “dream keeper” has
ended, his legacy and spirit live on, leading
all to a more profound understanding of the
need for human dignity and peace among
all people.
njpac.org • MLK Celebration   3
On STAGE
Words & Music
In praise of Dr. King
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration is NJPAC’s annual tribute to the civil rights
leader who gave his life so that others could have the freedom, justice and equality guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This commemorative program recalls past intolerance but also
seeks to inspire the whole community toward a better future where all people will be judged
“not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
For its 2013 tribute to Dr. King, NJPAC welcomes renowned gospel singer and minister Marvin Sapp as featured
performing artist. This year’s special guest speaker is acclaimed playwright, actor and educator Will Power.
Dr. King’s legacy of non-violent change and dignity for all people will be recalled and celebrated through uplifting
words and music. In his own words, “We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet
to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.” NJPAC’s observance revives his dream by unifying the
community’s brothers and sisters in an afternoon of jubilation and contemplation.
Marvin Sapp
(marvinsapp.com)
A contemporary gospel solo artist who
spreads his message with pride and reverence, Marvin Sapp describes himself as a
preacher “who happens to sing.” When he
isn’t traveling to more than 200 speaking
engagements each year, Sapp serves as
senior pastor of the Lighthouse Full Life
Center Church in his birthplace of Grand
Rapids, Michigan.
Young Marvin began raising his voice in
song as a preschooler attending church. He
was introduced to the gospel community
by vocalist Fred Hammond, who invited
him to sing with the group Commissioned.
Sapp launched a solo career in 1996 and his
successful crossover albums have consistently earned gospel music awards and
nominations, as well as recognition on R&B
and hip-hop charts. His newest album, I
Win, was released last year.
Thirsty (2007) produced the platinum
single “Never Would Have Made It,”
which held the No. 1 slot in gospel radio
for nearly a year, topped the Urban Adult
Contemporary chart and propelled Thirsty
to the head of the gospel charts for 27
4   MLK Celebration • njpac.org
weeks. Here I Am (2010), recorded in
Grand Rapids’ Resurrection Life Church,
contains the hit song “Best in Me,” voted
the Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song
of the Year at the 2011 GMA Dove Awards.
Sapp is also the recipient of two Best Gospel
Artist BET Awards (2008, 2010).
Among Sapp’s previous releases are the
self-titled Marvin Sapp (1996); Grace &
Mercy (1997); Nothing Else Matters (1999);
I Believe (2002); Diary of a Psalmist
(2003); and Be Exalted (2005). His songs
are infused with reassurance, praise and
guidance, while incorporating new musical
twists.
Most revolutionary of all is Here I Am’s
rock-infused anthem “Praise You Forever,”
a musical first for Sapp. “I wanted to stretch
out and do something totally different,”
says the singer-songwriter. “It’s where we
are as a musical society, crossing from
gospel to AC (Adult Contemporary). I took
a flying leap into another genre believing it
would be a positive, edgy challenge for me.”
Sapp holds a Doctor of Divinity degree
from Aenon Bible College and a Doctor of
Ministry degree from Friends International
Christian University. He says of his latest
albums, “I did my very best. After that, you
let God do the rest.”
Will Power
(willpower.tv)
Will Power is an award-winning playwright and performer. His adaptation of
the Greek tragedy Seven Against Thebes,
retitled The Seven, enjoyed a successful
off-Broadway run at the New York Theater
Workshop and La Jolla Playhouse. His solo
show, FLOW, was featured in the Hip-Hop
Theater Festival before touring nationally
and internationally to critical acclaim.
Power’s numerous awards include a
United States Artists Prudential Fellowship,
a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical,
the TCG Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, a
Jury Award for Best Theatre Performance
at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, a
Drama Desk Award nomination, and the
Trailblazer Award from the national Black
Theatre Network. His film and television
appearances include The Colbert Report
(Comedy Central) and Bill Moyers on
Faith & Reason (PBS). Power is developing
new works for the Dallas Theater Center,
the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles,
Hartford Stage, and the Royal Shakespeare
Company.
Power spent his early years touring and
recording extensively as a key member
of two highly praised avant-garde music
groups: Midnight Voices and the Omar Sosa
Sextet. More recently, Power has traveled
on many occasions to teach hip-hop lyricism and theater across the globe. He has
held artist fellowships and guest teaching
positions at institutions such as the City
College of New York, Princeton University
and the University of Massachusetts
Amherst.
As a guest of the U.S. State Department
on five occasions, Power traveled to South
Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Turkmenistan,
and Kyrgyzstan. On these trips and others,
Power taught community workshops in
shantytowns, worked with poets in former
regimes of the Soviet Union and lectured
at various libraries, grammar schools and
colleges. He is currently on the faculty at
the Meadows School of the Arts/Southern
Methodist University.
njpac.org • MLK Celebration 5
In the classroom
Before the Performance
1. Ask students why Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.’s birthday is celebrated. What are
the things he stood for? How does this
celebration connect African Americans to
their heritage? How does this celebration
connect all Americans to their heritage?
Why do students think that it is important
to remember Dr. King? (1.2) *
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, read to their children.
More Resources
CDs
Albums by Marvin Sapp:
Books for Students and Teachers
King, Martin Luther, Jr. Stride Toward
Freedom. Harper & Row, 1958.
I Win. Verity, 2012.
Here I Am. Verity, 2010.
____________. Strength to Love. Harper &
Row, 1963.
Thirsty. Verity, 2007.
Mfume, Kweisi and Ronald Stodghill II. No
Free Ride. One World/Ballantine, 1997.
Videos
Websites
nj.gov/state/programs/dos_program_mlk.
html
State of NJ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Commemorative Commission, Trenton.
Interview with Will Power at McCarter
Theatre Center, Princeton. youtube.com/
watch?v=QT2zKpXoBJs
marvinsapp.com
Marvin Sapp’s official website.
Interview with Will Power on The Colbert
Report. colbertnation.com/the-colbertreport-videos/75584/september-18-2006/
will-power
willpower.tv
Will Power’s official website and blog.
Marvin Sapp on YouTube.
youtube.com/channel/HCTP4Hwj1JTjM
visit artsed.njpac.org
Find additional resources by clicking on SchoolTime Performances
6   MLK Celebration • njpac.org
2. Prepare the class for watching a live
performance. Talk about proper audience
behavior. Good audiences listen attentively
and react appropriately to both funny
moments and scary or serious ones. Bad
audiences react too loudly, talk during the
performance, fidget in their seats, eat, drink,
or fall asleep. Discuss when it is appropriate
to applaud. Stress that talking during a
performance is rude and distracting both to
performers and others in the audience. (1.1)
After the Performance
1. The following activity is an arts integrated resource of Verizon’s Thinkfinity.
org. In this lesson, from ReadWriteThink,
students explore the ways that powerful
and passionate words communicate the
concepts of freedom, justice, discrimination,
and the American Dream in Dr. King’s “I
Have a Dream” speech. Have students pay
attention to the details of Dr. King’s speech
as they read and as they gather words to
use in their own original poems. The lesson,
which places special emphasis on Dr. King’s
use of literary devices, such as symbolism
and repetition, can be accessed at readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=258.
(1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
2. Discuss with the students how the
songs of Marvin Sapp helped the audience
understand some of Dr. King’s values and
beliefs. Verizon’s Thinkfinity.org provides
useful links to the different styles of music
performed, including information on spirituals from Edsitement at edsitement.neh.
gov/lesson-plan/spirituals. (1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
* Numbers indicate the NJ Core Curriculum
Content Standard(s) supported by the activity.
Teaching Science Through Music (Grades 6–12)
By Timothy & Katrina Macht
From the untrained singing of the
shower soloist to the professional opera
diva, everyone who is physically capable
has made music at some time. Singing, like
speaking, is produced by air passing over
the vocal cords and generating sound vibrations. The vibrations travel up the throat,
past the lips and out of the mouth.
This operation occurs in the body when
many separate factors work together. The
lungs, diaphragm, larynx (voice box), vocal
cords, pharynx, mouth, teeth, tongue, and
nose all must perform their functions to
produce all types of singing, from the pure
clarity of Marian Anderson to the twangy
nasality of Willie Nelson.
When we breathe, the diaphragm
contracts and lowers itself, enlarging the
chest cavity and pulling air into the lungs.
When we sing, the abdominal muscle
squeezes the chest cavity, causing a rapid
exhalation of air. The air passes through
the larynx and between the vocal cords,
causing the cords to vibrate. The vocal tone
is enhanced in the pharynx, mouth and
nose as they act as resonators to amplify the
initial tone. The pharynx extends up from
the larynx to the back of the mouth. The
soft palate is the roof of the pharynx and
the window to the nasal cavities. When the
soft palate is raised, the nasal cavities are
closed off. To maintain nasal resonance, the
soft palate is lowered, allowing the sound
to travel into the nasal region. Changing
the shape and size of the mouth produces
vowel sounds; the tongue and lips produce
consonants.
NJ Core Curriculum Content Science
Standards state that all students will “gain
an understanding of natural laws as they
apply to motion, forces, and energy transformations.” The exercise below investigates
how humans produce sound:
-- Sing a note or use a tuning fork to
strike a note. Have the students hum it
with their mouths and teeth closed and
their tongues resting on the roofs on their
mouths. Ask the students to record where
the vibration was felt and why. (Answer:
The vibration is felt in the nose. Why? Air
is pushed up, vibrating the vocal cords, but
the tongue is in the way.)
-- Next, have the students close their
mouths and teeth and place their tongues
flat below their bottom teeth. Ask them to
hum the same note they heard above and
record where the vibration was felt and
why. (Answer: The vibration is felt in the
teeth. Why? With the tongue out of the way,
the air is moving to the back of the teeth.)
-- Finally, have the students relax their
jaws. With their mouths closed, their teeth
apart, and their tongues placed flat below
the bottom teeth, ask them to hum the same
note and record where the vibration was felt
and why. (Answer: The vibration is felt in the
lips. Why? The tongue and the teeth are out
of the way and the sound travels to the lips.)
Teaching Science Through the Arts is made
possible through the generous support of
Roche.
MLK Celebration vocabulary list
anthem — a hymn of praise or loyalty;
gospel — a form of vocal music that
melody — an organized succession of
a choral composition having a sacred or
moralizing text.
developed in African-American churches,
especially in urban areas. It incorporates
elements of African rhythm and music,
African-American song forms, expressive
singing, and often musical accompaniment.
single musical tones arranged in a related
and recognizable pattern; a tune.
arrangement — a new adaptation and
orchestration of an already existing musical
piece.
musician — a person who plays a musical
instrument, especially professionally.
call-and-response — a communica-
harmony — the result of certain musical
tion pattern where one party sends forth a
message or “call” and another party responds.
This pattern is very common in African and
African-descended music and dance.
hip-hop — the stylized rhythmic music
rhythm — a regular pattern produced
by the length of strong and weak musical
sounds at a particular speed or tempo,
frequently called the “beat.”
that commonly accompanies rap; a popular
urban youth culture closely associated with
rap music and with the style and fashions of
African-American inner-city residents.
solo — a musical composition or passage
for an individual voice or instrument with or
without accompaniment.
choir — a group of singers.
chord — three or more tones having a
harmonic relation to each other and played
or sounded together.
composer — a person who writes music.
dynamics — the interplay between loudness
and softness and smoothness and “choppiness” of notes that are played or sung.
intervals or chords that relate to each other
and sound pleasing.
hymn — a song in praise of God.
in unison — in complete agreement;
harmonizing exactly.
lyrics — the words of a song.
syncopation — stressing the normally
unaccented beats, often used in Africanderived music.
tempo — the speed at which music is played.
njpac.org • MLK Celebration   7
Acknowledgments as of 11/27/12
NJPAC Arts Education programs
are made possible by the generosity of:
Automatic Data Processing, Bank of
America, The Arts Education Endowment
Fund in Honor of Raymond G. Chambers,
Leon & Toby Cooperman, William
Randolph Hearst Foundation, The Horizon
Foundation for New Jersey, McCrane
Foundation, Merck Company Foundation,
Albert & Katharine Merck, The Prudential
Foundation, PSEG Foundation, Marian
& David Rocker, The Sagner Family
Foundation, The Star-Ledger/Samuel I.
Newhouse Foundation, Verizon, Victoria
Foundation, Wells Fargo, John & Suzanne
Willian / Goldman Sachs Gives and The
Women’s Association of NJPAC.
Additional support is provided by:
Advance Realty, Anonymous, C.R. Bard
Foundation, BD, The Frank and Lydia
Bergen Foundation, Berkeley College,
Allen & Joan Bildner, Bloomberg, Ann
and Stan Borowiec, Jennifer Chalsty,
The Johnny Mercer Foundation, Chase,
Edison Properties, Veronica Goldberg
Foundation, Meg & Howard Jacobs,
Johnson & Johnson, The MCJ Amelior
Foundation, The New Jersey Cultural Trust,
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts,
Novo Nordisk, Panasonic Corporation of
North America, Pechter Foundation, PNC
Foundation on behalf of the PNC Grow
Up Great program, The Provident Bank
Foundation, E. Franklin Robbins Charitable
Trust, Roche, TD Charitable Foundation,
Turrell Fund, and The Blanche M. &
George L. Watts Mountainside Community
Foundation.
arts education
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
One Center Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Administration: 973 642-8989
Arts Education Hotline: 973 353-8009
schooltime@njpac.org
Editor: Linda Fowler
Designer: Bonnie Felt
NJPAC Guest Reader: Shirley Matthews
NJPAC Teacher’s Guide Review Committee:
Laura Ingoglia
Judith Israel
Mary Lou Johnston
Amy Tenzer
Photo on page 3 courtesy of Jim Peppler
and the Alabama Department of Archives
and History, Montgomery, Alabama.
Photo on page 6 courtesy of the King
family collection.
Copyright © 2013
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
All Rights Reserved
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
William J. Marino .................................................................................................... Chairman
John Schreiber ............................................................................................. President & CEO
Coming to NJPAC
passport
SchoolTime
to culture
Sandra Bowie ....................................................................... Vice President of Arts Education
Teacher’s Guide 2012–2013
Sanaz Hojreh ......................................................... Assistant Vice President of Arts Education
The Little Prince
Verushka Spirito .............................................................. Associate Director of Performances
Bristol Riverside Theatre
Caitlin Evans Jones ................................................................. Director of In-School Programs
Faye Competello ................................................................................ Director of Arts Training
Linda Fowler .................................................................. Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides
visit artsed.njpac.org
Find additional resources by clicking on
SchoolTime Performances or scan the QR code
displayed here.
For even more arts integration resources, please
go to Thinkfinity.org, the Verizon Foundation’s
signature digital learning platform, designed to
improve educational and literacy achievement.
8 MLK Celebration • njpac.org
arts education@
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Generous support
for SchoolTime
provided, in
part, by
The Little Prince
January 24 and 25
A magical, puppet-filled journey
through Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s
book, from some of the creative
minds behind the Muppets. For
grades 3-6. Call (973) 297-5828.