Kevin McClelland/ Josh Sailer

Mrs. Raymond
UWRT 1102
10 February, 2016
Multi-modal Proposal
Most of the music made today can find its roots in Jazz Music. Modern artist and bands
like John Legend, Sam Smith, and The Black Keys can trace their sound to Jazz. Jazz was a
product of old southern soul music, starting with the songs sung by the slaves. The music began
to gain popularity, sparking a new genre all over the world. This new rhythmic sound inspired
thousands of future musicians to come, with recordings finding their way across the pond to
England. These recordings of Jazz and the Blues heavily influenced some of the most famous
rock bands of all time, like The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles. Cities like New
Orleans, Memphis, and even Charlotte, were hubs for Jazz music. Over time, the music created a
culture that is still prevalent in many cities today.
Working on this project will be a difficult task. Since the topic of our project is very
specific, it may be hard to find the resources we need to make it a success. Both of us have a
passion for jazz music which will make the research a little easier, but still tedious. We will rely
on many different types of sources such as books, websites, and interviews. The jazz professor
on campus will be a crucial source of information about our topic.
Our project will consist of three ideas: Origin of jazz, connecting jazz with modern
music, and the impact of jazz and its culture on Charlotte. Using modes in our project is vital for

success. We will use many modes, but the three most important ones we will use are the
linguistic, visual, and aural modes. We will use the linguistic mode through written and spoken
word, having a predetermined dialogue corresponding to the slides. The slides will represent our
use of the visual mode, putting images and videos relating to our topic in the slide show
presentation. Since our topic is jazz music we will have a focus on the aural mode to convey our
ideas through music. Our presentation will consist of a power point, a descriptive speech, and
music.
With our group size the responsibilities will be shared between us evenly. We will
research individually and then collectively sort and finalize our information. This way we will be
on the same page throughout the project. For our timeline of the project we will split it up into
three goals. The first goal is to have all of the information connecting jazz in Charlotte. We plan
to reach this goal by February 24th. Our second goal will cover the origins of jazz. The deadline
for this goal is March 16th. Our final goal will be focusing on connecting modern music to jazz.
Our plan is to have this completed by March 30th.
Whether we know it or not, jazz has had an influence in our life. If you have ever started
swinging your arms to the rhythm of a song, its probably because of theory created in jazz. As
we mentioned earlier, jazz has influenced much of the modern music scene. For audiences in
Charlotte, finding out about a hot music community in the area should put excitement in their
eyes. Even if you do not like jazz, you can not say no to a music festival under the lights of
uptown Charlotte. Seeing how Jazz music and its culture had an influence on the city of
Charlotte is something we are looking forward to.