Epideictic Speech Term Paper

Total Length: 1233 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

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Speech Communication

Coming Away with Norah Jones

Nightingale

Sing us a song

Of a love that once belonged

Nightingale

Tell me your tale

Was your journey far too long?

Norah Jones, "Nightingale" (2001)

(Attention Strategy: The speaker will sing or quote the preceding lines of Norah Jones' song, "Nightingale," as an introduction to the topic of the speech. This strategy is optional, and is intended only to provide the audience with a brief overview of Jones' music.)

Ladies and gentlemen, the song/following you have heard comes from Norah Jones' single "Nightingale," a self-composed song for her first album, "Come Away with Me," which was released in 2001. Indeed, the nightingale personifies Norah's roller-coaster ride to stardom as one of the best-talented jazz singers for the last two years. Combining both her characteristically lovely yet strong singing voice and her exquisite Indian-American features, Norah is the epitome of the 'hybridization of cultures' of the world. Norah's music is a hybrid form of the old and new music generation, combining jazz with the funky rhythm of popular music; bringing the joys of piano playing to the popular music arena, an extraordinary feat for a young woman who has yet to prove her worth as a musician to the incredibly "large music world," as Norah puts it; and bringing her music to all kinds of audiences, be they jazz music lovers or not. A closer look at Norah's life will give you a clear idea of the incredible achievements and skills of this young woman.

Born in 1979 and raised in Grapevine, Texas, it is a known fact among her fans and music lovers that Norah is the daughter of famous sitar player, Ravi Shankar. However, this fact has become public only when she was suddenly propelled into the limelight as a recording star, but Norah literally lived her life doing and studying her greatest passion -- music (jazz music, to be specific).


Growing up with her mother, Sue, in Texas, Norah was already exposed to jazz music, citing the great African-American blues singer Billie Holliday as her favorite and greatest influence. At the early age of five, Norah already possesses the ability to sing and play the piano and saxophone. It is evident that truly, music runs in the blood of this young singer, who, in order to further her skills and knowledge in music, attended school at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

In school, Norah excelled, having experienced her first gig at age 16, and winning various awards, such as "Best Jazz Vocalist" and "Best Original Composition" awards in 1996 and 1997. These awards highlight Norah's ability not only to perform musical compositions, but also to create and internalize them as well -- providing more depth and quality to the music that she produces and offers to her audience.

Her small feats of success in high school continued when she entered college education at the University of North Texas. In college, Norah started performing her music outside the confines of the university. She started doing gigs and formed her first band, Laszlo, in the late 1990s. Following Laszlo, Norah subsequently became the vocalist for the band Wax Poetic, which was formed in 1999. It is in this endeavor that Norah finally made into the popular (and highly commercial) music scene.

Looking into the life of Norah from her childhood to being a talented singer that she is today, it appears that this singer is a 'prodigy,' an individual who is indeed destined to live the life of a musician, and whose life evolves around music. These assumptions are all true, ladies and gentlemen. Her contemporaries consider Norah as a 'music….....

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