2007年VOA标准英语-New Orleans Jazzman Makes Music in Mississippi

By Erika Celeste
Mississippi
30 August 2007
 

It has  been two years since the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history swept ashore¹ in the form of Hurricane Katrina.  Lost lives, homes and businesses changed the American South and Gulf² Coast forever.  Yet amid the ruin and rebuilding are stories of positive change, that otherwise might never have happened.  Erika Celeste has one such story from Mississippi.

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Brice Miller

Jazz musician and musical promoter Brice Miller grew up surrounded by the music of New Orleans -- Mardi Gras festivities, social pleasure clubs and funeral parades. Trained on the streets by jazz greats, he viewed himself as a torchbearer of New Orleans jazz. "I had the dream job.  As long as I was allowed to keep doing what I was doing with the latitude⁴ I had, I would never have looked for anything else."

But that dream job came crashing down on a bright, blue Saturday in August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina swept ashore. 

Escaping to the neighboring state of Mississippi with his family, Miller decided⁵ to use the event as an opportunity.

"My true passion is, I love creating programs.  I love to sit down and ponder and say these are the attributes of a community, this is what I think is missing, I'm going to create a proposal and then I'm going to go out and sell the proposal."

Miller created a program called Jazz and Blues⁶ in the Schools.  The idea was simple. "Jazz is America.  Blues is America," he says. "They are the art forms that were actually created here on the soil of America and we need to keep them alive. The only way we're going to keep it alive is through education and the only way we're going to keep the education is if we get passionate⁷ about it and then kids will say, 'Ok there are other paths and objectives for me'."

The National Jazz Foundation of America underwrote the program for one year so that it would be free to Mississippi schools.  Miller then called upon musician friends, both from New Orleans and around Mississippi to join him in what he called "informances" or education performances for young people at schools and libraries.

"I can show them how it's relative to them.  I can show them how hip⁸-hop music is influenced by jazz, how rap is influenced by jazz, how pop and all the things they think are hip are influenced by jazz and once they hear that, that's it.  Then once they see the actual performance they are blown away.  You have dudes coming up after a performance saying, 'How can I do this?' "

The program connects with high school student Tierra Bynum in Starkville, Mississippi. Her friends good-naturedly tease her as she joins in singing with Miller and the band at a special welcome back to school event. "I was singing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.' My grandmother sings that song all the time and I think it's a good inspirational song."

Over the past year Jazz and Blues in the Schools has reached between 8,000 and 10,000 students like Tierra across Mississippi, and employed nearly three-dozen musicians, including guitarist Jeffrey Rupp. He says Jazz and Blues in the Schools fills a much-needed gap, not only for schools that often cannot afford music programs, but for the musicians too. "Twenty years ago we used to play music to make a couple of bucks⁹ and hopefully meet some girls.  Now it's therapeutic¹⁰ for me too.  And to do it on a level where you're actually taking it to the students, in a small way you're giving back. So I have the best of both worlds."

As the new school year begins in Mississippi, Brice Miller is looking for funding to continue his program, with the dream of one day taking the program nationwide.

1 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

7 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

8 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

9 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。