the video

This is an example of a Wikicab Challenge Choral Chant as performed in class on 5/28/08 by Rohan Vashi, Amanda Jenks, and Jon Grum. As you will note from the instructions (reprinted below) there is no requirement either to sing or to rap your chant. This was an idiosyncratic decision by this group for its own purposes. What is required, as this group demonstrates, is to use the vocabulary in an inventive choreography that makes use of chant techniques (as outlined below) and makes logical sense.

OK, here again are the actual rules:

Extra Credit Opportunity
Wikicab Challenge #2

The Wikicab Choral Chant!

For this activity you will need to have at least one (and—even better—two) partners. You will also need intense amounts of creativity and a solid understanding of the wikicab words.

Oh, yes, and you’ll need to be utterly fearless.

In order even to attempt this dangerous and hitherto never successfully achieved accomplishment, you will first need to understand the meaning of the term “choral chant.” By a crazy coincidence, I am going to tell you what it means right now.

A choral chant is a specialized performance technique in which a group of players creates a script that is not meant to be acted but rather chanted—which is not to be confused with sung. A chant employs some pretty specific verbal techniques, among which are echoing, repetition, refrain, overlapping, and contrapuntal speech. It also employs movement in a kind of choreography designed to enhance the final product’s visual impact. Let me define these terms for you.

• Echoing: The immediate repetition of a line or phrase by others as in an echo, often employing the technique of overlapping.
• Repetition: The simple act of repeating words, phrases or lines, whether or not the repetition is immediate.
• Refrain: The repetition of a full line at various points in the chant.
• Overlapping: Beginning one speaker’s line prior to the completion of the previous speaker’s line. When used with repetition, this becomes echoing;
• Contrapuntal Speech: Two (or more) speakers saying different lines simultaneously.

Now I have only ever attempted this assignment in the past connected to verses of Shakespeare. But I managed, in my twisted and possibly psychopathic mind, to convince myself that it can be done with Wikicab as well. Unlike using Shakespeare, though, it will involve the additional step of writing the lines yourself.

With Shakespeare, all I needed to have students do was take a fragment of text and then reinvent it as a chant.

So how then to do this with Wikicab? Ah, as the Bard might say, There’s the rub.

We have about fifty selected “official” Wikicab words for the year, as well as many others that were voted on but did not make the cut. Using any of these words—yes, even the unselected words are in play, as long as they were in a poll at least once—you will need to create a brief script similar to the one I’ve cited above, using the techniques I’ve noted. Your script will need to footnote the words’ definitions and explanation of what your usage means or implies.

Once you have prepared a suitable script, you’ll need to work on movement. Choreographic movements, unison or otherwise, are used to enhance the words and experiences. Sometimes these are silly (if you’ve created a script that is silly); sometimes they are serious. Often they are artsy or metaphoric or even pom-pon-like in structure. They can even be little scenes, if your scripts have created actual characters playing off of each other.

Costume appropriately. Practice. Memorize. Record or prepare to perform live. Extra credit performances may be presented in class on Monday.

For a sampling of what a script would look like, see the bulletin board version. I cannot format it properly here.

OK, that’s a basic construction, at least. You will need to hand in a completed script with the presentation, so please be aware of how to organize its layers.

If you have questions, you know how to email me! (e2h@sunspark.com)