Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2023
Document Type
Capstone Project
Degree Name
M.A.
Program
Liberal Studies
Advisor
Eric Lott
Subject Categories
Aesthetics | American Literature | American Material Culture | Art Education | Art Practice | Music Theory | Painting | Poetry
Keywords
Music, American Literature and Culture, Visual Art, Creative Writing
Abstract
music lessons is a digital chapbook that explores the relationships between James Baldwin’s writing and Beauford Delaney’s paintings through music. From Delaney’s “Composition 16” (1954-56) to Baldwin’s “The Uses of the Blues” (1964), their collaboration with the core elements of jazz music gives their work rhythm and melodic contour that any/body can vibe with. Absorbing the influences of artists Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and putting them to paint and text, music lessons demonstrates how music not only transforms the ways we experience and move our bodies but also the ways that we perceive space, relationships, and time. What’s more, Delaney and Baldwin teach us the real and simple truth of music—that is, what a body can make of the past in the present, and how to press on from there.
Recommended Citation
Bender, Cecilia-Rose Louise, "music lessons" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5228
Included in
Aesthetics Commons, American Literature Commons, American Material Culture Commons, Art Education Commons, Art Practice Commons, Music Theory Commons, Painting Commons, Poetry Commons