King's Vibrato: Modernism, Blackness, and the Sonic Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

by Wallace, Maurice O.
ISBN: 9781478018407
Availability:
$28.95

Available Offers

Pickup at {0} Out of stock at {0} Check other stores
FREE
Ship to Me
$3.99

Overview

In King's Vibrato Maurice O. Wallace explores the sonic character of Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice and its power to move the world. Providing a cultural history and critical theory of the black modernist soundscapes that helped informed King's vocal timbre, Wallace shows how the qualities of King's voice depended on a mix of ecclesial architecture and acoustics, musical instrumentation and sound technology, audience and song. He examines the acoustical architectures of the African American churches where King spoke and the centrality of the pipe organ in these churches, offers a black feminist critique of the influence of gospel on King, and outlines how variations in natural environments and sound amplifications made each of King's three deliveries of the "I Have a Dream" speech unique. By mapping the vocal timbre of one of the single most important figures of black hope and protest in American history, Wallace presents King as the embodiment of the sound of modern black thought.
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Author: Wallace, Maurice O.
  • ISBN: 9781478018407
  • Condition: New
  • Number Of Pages: 376
  • Publication Year: 2022
Language: English