The project of Pride

After 8 years of not being in school, I went back. It was May 2010 of my first day of college. I took only two courses because I didn’t know that you could take more than two for the summer. Plus they were night courses. Both classes I loved. One I was studying about the introduction to business while the other one was Humanities. Well like every other course there’s usually one big assignment that has to get completed throughout the year and worth a hefty chunk of the overall mark. The project was about taking a piece of art and analyzing it to your own understanding. The wonderful twist that it could be music. I thought I would twist it around a bit more and ask the teacher if it was possible to do the project on an artist with three of their songs and how they all talk about love but in different ways. It was the same meaning but the mission was how to conquer the monster in altered ways. I had Janis Joplin in my mind and was so excited to start the project but all I needed was 3 songs. Then it hit me ‘Piece of my Heart’, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and ‘Get it while you can’ All three soulful jazz songs. I directed ‘Piece of my heart’ as a song for an independent woman who can strive through anything especially when her boyfriend leaves her. It was portrayed as an anthem to woman with broken heart and strong souls. The song was a thing of the past where as ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was a song of the present. It was directed towards being in the moment with that person and the time that was shared. It was about a true love for a friend who escaped within the night. ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was about understanding your present and enjoying that moment with them. ‘Get it while you can’ was based on the future of love. It was knowing and seeing when you can identify when love comes around. Just because of passed errors of previous relationships the songs possessed the free spirit of letting go of the past and embrace the new future of love.
I was soo excited on working on this project that I went at it for 2 days straight and I couldn’t stop. I was too eager to get this project done (not because it was due but to present magic) it was my piece of art that was dedicated to Joplin. The project was due at the end of the semester, so I figure I wouldn’t get to see any comments or to see if the teacher liked it. Till one day I got an email from the him. He wrote that my project was compelling and inspirational, he said that he enjoyed reading it and the direction of how I took the project into my own hands, he said it was powerful in the structure and the flow. Two days later I got my mark, 100% on my final project! Which it was worth 25% of my final mark. I know I made my teacher happy and myself, a true accomplishment thanks to the woman up top: Janis Joplin! May you rest in Peace!

Me and none other than Bobby McGee

I remember the first time I heard a Joplin tune on the radio, it was ‘Piece of my heart’ At first I didn’t know who it was so I thought it was Joan Jett, but man did I ever think it was an amazing tune. As days passed from the first time I heard the tune, all I kept thinking was playing that song again, only problem it wasn’t Joan Jett who was singing the song. I was surely out of my luck till I remembered a friend who only listens to old rock, so I gave her a call. She laughed when I tried to sing the song, I guess I wasn’t good enough of a singer, it was good ol’ Janis Joplin. I heard about her once or twice in passing but never really got to listen to any of her music, till that day I went to HMV and got her greatest hits cd. There it was track #1 ‘ Piece of my heart’. I replayed the song till I got home (20 minutes of a drive). Next day same thing played track one over and over again. It wasn’t until day 3 that I listen to the rest of the tracks and I was absolutely blown away by how she had one style but sang soo many different tunes. I kept listening track after track and couldn’t believe the way she would transform herself. I was hooked on Joplin.
I went through a breakup at the time and ‘Piece of my heart’ was a perfect melody to sing. I loved it because the song was telling me that enough is enough and I should stop playing the broken heart girl. I was a strong person all around and sometimes you need that one tune that understands what you are going through to help you along the way of the fight. Took one or two days and I got over the breakup. Then I began to YouTube her stuff and I couldn’t believe how amazing she was live! I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her how entertaining she was on stage. She was in her own happy world, where love, peace and happiness existed. It was the melody of Janis.

Piece of my heart goes to you

Janis Joplin, the legend of a soulful singer who bloomed her way into the rock and roll era. When people would hear her sing they would stop in their tracks to take a glimpse of the rock icon performing. At times you couldn’t help but stare at the starlet as she roared her soul through her voice. On stage she was an actor that exuberated all possession of what her little frame could hold and gave it all to her audience. The music she sang was deep, powerful and compelling. Every song was like telling a story, through her voice you could hear the pain and sorrow she went through as she dwelled into her journeys. Stealing the hearts of many, she become an iconic legend that people to this day 30 years later would still listen to her music and feel the tremor of her voice singing over the microphone. You could only sit and imagine the painful loss she had endured while attaining to the dangerous road to success. ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ is one of the greatest songs that I personally could sing on all hours of the day. When describing each moment of where she is, you can feel the rain trickling down your face as your looking for someone to stop so they can give you a lift. As she gazed into her partner you can sense the love she craved for him. ‘Freedom is just another word for nothing else to lose’ is such a powerful message, although when Janis sings this part she carefully slows downs and pronounces each word so that the audience could hear her and the words. This was a love that Janis once had, and then he slipped away as the cold New Orleans night. It truly reflects her real love life, has it for a brief moment that slips away before she could hold on. You could tell that Janis didn’t sing only about one ‘Bobby McGee’s’ but many that had escaped her life time and time again. A woman to love and to be loved, that was Janis.

Here a link to here singing piece of my heart................. ENJOY!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7JVxE2SYxo