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Students are either assigned this for their homework, or during class time. Each student (either on their own laptop, phone, or a district device) listens to one of the songs in full. Each song has its own prompt, which will form the basis of their poetry writing

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Music is itself a form of poetry; abstract, wordless, but grounded in the same feelings and experience as the written word. Today, I want us to take what we have heard and learned about the Coltranes, and interpret it with our own creative writing project.

In the spirit of Alice and John Coltrane, we are going to each write a poem based on one of the songs we listened to today. If you are more comfortable writing complete sentences, your poem can reflect your style; if you want to embrace a freer, more surreal style, you are free to do that! Whichever song you choose, you will listen to it in its entirety. As you listen, close your eyes and think about the song's corresponding prompt, and write words that pop into your head. When you finish the song, expand on the words as you craft your poem (minimum 7 lines). Here are the prompts for each song selection:

Alabama: Alabama is an expression of despair, and a call for action against hatred. Write about the feelings you experience, your thoughts about bigotry, racism, and those who fight back against it while listening. If it helps as a frame, you can write about a scene of John creating the track/his mission in sharing the song with the world. Remember that he wrote this track while performing for civil rights fundraisers, and while listening to the words of civil rights leaders like Malcolm X.

Peace on Earth: Peace on Earth is a meditation on the destruction of war, and the hope for a world based on common understanding and love. Write about the feelings you experience while listening to it, and/or the way music can be a means of connection across culture and nations, and how its ability to connect peoples is an anti-war act. If it helps as a frame, write about John and Alice in Japan; John looking to find the "sound of Nagasaki," for example, or praying at the site of the bombing.

Lovely Sky Boat: Lovely Sky Boat is a song expressing the love and joy Alice shared with John before his death, and how the memory of their happiness together endures through tragedy and loss. Write your thoughts and feelings about love and loss as you listen to it; if it helps as a frame, write about Alice playing the harp, channeling her memory and passion into her beautiful melodies.

Journey in Satchidananda: Journey in Satchidananda is one of Alice Coltrane's many experimentations in fusing eastern folk styles and free jazz. Listen, and write about how (similar to Peace on Earth) music can be a way of bridging divides and bringing cultures together, as well as the meditative and spiritual journey we take within ourselves when we listen. If it helps as a frame, write about Alice wandering a landscape in search of transcendence and musical styles yet unheard.

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*Teacher will explain Alice Coltrane's later life career, show examples of her music and its pursuit of inner healing.

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When John Coltrane passed away in 1967, Alice poured her heartbreak, her sorrow, but also the love and joy she shared with John into her first record: A Monastic Trio. As she and John used music as a form of global and political healing, Alice turned the journey inward. Exploring the ecstasy and discord of our own lives, she created some of the most incredible records in the history of music.

Lovely Sky Boat is about the love she and John shared. Journey in Satchidananda represents her continuing of the mission she and John shared in life: the fusing of eastern and western musical style, in pursuit of transcendence and understanding between cultures and people. She was often undervalued and compared to John when being written off by critics; however, the misogyny she faced has been outlived by her legacy. Today, Alice is considered a genius of equal caliber to John.

Alice's work later life became increasingly centered on spiritual pursuits, and the powers of meditation to transcend time and space. In her own words, "Just as it's fire's nature to burn, it is meditation's nature to heal, to bring peace and uplift you beyond your worldly environment and transport you to a higher plane." She never abandoned her quest to push the boundaries of music's transcendent potential, all the way until her passing in 2007.

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On August 6th, 1945, a young John Coltrane enlisted in the US Navy. That very same day, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. The man himself and this devastating event would become intertwined in his later life, when he and Alice visited Japan to tour.

This video, in which we hear from Japanese people who met the Coltranes during their visit, will provide us with the impression they left on those they met - one that is overwhelmingly positive and profound.

AFTER VIDEO:

As we saw, Coltrane went straight to the Nagasaki Memorial upon arriving at the airport. He wondered if a famous diplomat was aboard his plane, not realizing that the crowds gathered were for him. He wanted to pay tribute to the people of Japan and the victims of the atomic bombings in the way he knew best: raw emotional and artistic expression. His respect for the people of Japan was a reflection of his love for all people - something grounded in his belief that to be a force against hate was to be one that promoted love around the world. When speaking about both his anti-war and anti-racist philosophy, John Coltrane said this:

"Music is an expression of higher ideals... brotherhood is there; and I believe with brotherhood, there would be no poverty... there would be no war... I know that there are bad forces, forces put here that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I only want to be the opposite force, the force which is truly for good."

*Teacher plays excerpt from "Peace on Earth"

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Teacher jumps off of example of Coltranes making statement through music to discuss their visit to Japan. Teacher will give brief background on Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, then show documentary excerpt of Coltranes visiting Japan. Teacher will play excerpt of "Peace on Earth." Documentary explains significance of song as a eulogy for the victims of the atomic bombings.

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On September 18th, 1963, Ku Klux Klan extremists set off a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church was in a black neighborhood, and the klan members chose it as their target for their act of terrorism. This horrific attack claimed the lives of four young girls, and injured 22 people. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a eulogy soon after, calling the attack "one of the most vicious and tragic attacks perpetrated against humanity."

John Coltrane gave his own form of eulogy for the young girls whose lives were cruelly taken. His track "Alabama" centers on a mournful melody, expressing the pain that the attack caused for not just the loved ones of the deceased, but for black Americans across the nation. The beautiful recording, much like the Coltranes themselves, uses abstract expression to communicate in music what words can sometimes fall short at accomplishing.

The Coltranes continued to perform at fundraisers for civil rights and black liberation organizations, and attended meetings at Malcolm X's Organization for African American Unity. Alabama had, as it did for many Americans of all backgrounds, inspire greater political action in them both.

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This creative writing lesson plan is an attempt to bring subjects of history and poetry together. The final product students create will be a poem, but said poem will be informed by one of the four songs by either Alice or John Coltrane that we listen to and examine the political/social/spiritual context of as a group.

Teacher's Tasks:

Show the way John and Alice Coltrane used free jazz exploration as a form of political protest (track: Alabama), show how John's anti-war philosophy motivated him to perform a requiem for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (track: Peace on Earth), and leave with Alice continuing their musical quest after his death (track: lovely sky boat, journey in satchidananda).

Teacher will show excerpts of songs for sake of time. At the end of the lesson, teacher assigns students to listen to one of the recordings in full. As they listen, students write a poem. Poems are based off an open ended, but relatively focused prompt about what the song expresses about war, prejudice, the bridging of cultures, transcendence, or inner healing. In the spirit of the Coltranes, writing is not meant to be a traditional essay, but a guided artistic expression.

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Teacher refers to biographies of Alice and John, introduces them and gives background on musical career. Introduce concept of their music being an extension of their spiritual beliefs. Teacher does not have to refer to all information provided here if time does not permit (same for other background text: I merely wanted to provide enough information to not be a vague intro). End of life details can also be covered as teacher progresses through material rather than revealed upfront.

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Teacher transitions into discussion about John's anti-war, anti-racist beliefs. Explanation of 1963 Birmingham bombing. Play "Alabama" for students

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Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1937. She grew up in a musical household, and was encouraged by her father from an early age to pursue the art form.

She studied classical piano and jazz in Paris, the latter under the guidance of Buddy Powell (one of the original pioneers of bebop). While in Paris, she got consistent work as the intermission pianist (playing between the bands) at the famous Blue Note Club.

After joining the touring quartet Terry Gibbs (a jazz percussionist and vibraphone player), she met the already famous John Coltrane in 1962. They fell deeply in love, and were married in Juarez, Mexico in 1965. During this time, she also joined John's band as piano player.

Sadly, John passed away on July 17, 1967. While this was an immense personal loss for Alice, it also began a new era for her career where she was bandleader/chief creative force for her own records. The first she released in 1968, a love letter to her late husband called "A Monastic Trio." The record showcased not only her groundbreaking piano styles, but also the instrument for which she is most famous: the harp.

Her records expanded on the deeply spiritual exploration that she and John pursued together, incorporating eastern musical influence and increasingly psychedelic arrangements. Her collaborations with famous musicians like Pharaoh Jay Sanders, for one example, are some of the most unique jazz recordings of all time. Everything from sitars to full symphony orchestras accompany Alice's piano and harp experimentation.

Alice passed away in 2007, after a life spent creating beautiful music and serving as a spiritual guide during the new age movement of the 80's and onward.

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John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina in 1926. He was raised by his mother and cousin after the death of his father and grandparents. Before his father died, however, Coltrane was exposed to the culture of preaching and spirituality that both his father and grandfather practiced. This would have a lasting impact on his life and personal philosophy.

He played clarinet and alto horn as a child, eventually picking up the instrument he would be known for revolutionizing: the saxophone.

After initially struggling to make ends meet on a musician's salary, he began to find notoriety among the jazz scenes of the 40's and 50's: his own idols began to recognize the young man's talent, and Coltrane soon found himself rubbing shoulders with other icons of the era.

His major breakout, when the general public became most aware of his gift, was when he played on the best-selling jazz record of all time, Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue." At times, his style was almost too experimental for Miles' taste. An anecdote: at one point, Miles told him he had to shorten a solo, and John replied that he didn't know where to end his ideas. Miles, with his classic sharp wit, replied "you can always take your mouth off the horn."

John eventually outgrew his position in Miles Davis' band, releasing a host of his own albums. These included "A Love Supreme," and a record with his cover of Rogers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things."

In 1962, he met the love of his life, a talented multi-instrumentalist like himself named Alice.